A generic time and space accurate numerical approach to closely coupled fluid-structure interaction problems

Fluid structure interaction, as applied to flexible structures, has wide application in diverse areas such as flutter in aircraft, flow in elastic pipes and blood vessels and extrusion of metals through dies. However a comprehensive computational model of these multi-physics phenomena is a considerable challenge. Until recently work in this area focused on one phenomenon and represented the behaviour of the other more simply even to the extent in metal forming, for example, that the deformation of the die is totally ignored. More recently, strategies for solving the full coupling between the fluid and soild mechanics behaviour have developed. Conventionally, the computational modelling of fluid structure interaction is problematical since computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is solved using finite volume (FV) methods and computational structural mechanics (CSM) is based entirely on finite element (FE) methods. In the past the concurrent, but rather disparate, development paths for the finite element and finite volume methods have resulted in numerical software tools for CFD and CSM that are different in almost every respect. Hence, progress is frustrated in modelling the emerging multi-physics problem of fluid structure interaction in a consistent manner. Unless the fluid-structure coupling is either one way, very weak or both, transferring and filtering data from one mesh and solution procedure to another may lead to significant problems in computational convergence. Using a novel three phase technique the full interaction between the fluid and the dynamic structural response are represented. The procedure is demonstrated on some challenging applications in complex three dimensional geometries involving aircraft flutter, metal forming and blood flow in arteries.

Advanced evacuation simulation software and its use in warships

The newly formed Escape and Evacuation Naval Authority regulates the provision of abandonment equipment and procedures for all Ministry of Defence Vessels. As such, it assures that access routes on board are evaluated early in the design process to maximize their efficiency and to eliminate, as far as possible, any congestion that might occur during escape. This analysis can be undertaken using a computer-based simulation for given escape scenarios and replicates the layout of the vessel and the interactions between each individual and the ship structure. One such software tool that facilitates this type of analysis is maritimeEXODUS. This tool, through large scale testing and validation, emulates human shipboard behaviour during emergency scenarios; however it is largely based around the behaviour of civilian passengers and fixtures and fittings of merchant vessels. Hence there existed a clear requirement to understand the behaviour of well-trained naval personnel as opposed to civilian passengers and be able to model the fixtures and fittings that are exclusive to warships, thus allowing improvements to both maritimeEXODUS and other software products. Human factor trials using the Royal Navy training facilities at Whale Island, Portsmouth were recently undertaken to collect data that improves our understanding of the aforementioned differences. It is hoped that this data will form the basis of a long-term improvement package that will provide global validation of these simulation tools and assist in the development of specific Escape and Evacuation standards for warships. © 2005: Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Review of models for predicting the discharge rates of bulk particulates from silos and bins

Various models for predicting discharge rates have been developed over the last four decades by many research workers (notably Beverloo [1], Johanson [2], Brown [3], Carleton [4], Crewdson [5], Nedderman [6], Gu [7].). In many cases these models offer comparable approaches to the prediction of discharge rates of bulk particulates from storage equipment when solely gravity is acting to initiate flow (since they invariably consider the use of mass-flow design equipment). The models that have been developed consider a wide range of bulk particulates (coarse, incompressible, fine, cohesive) and most contemporary works have incorporated validation against test programmes. Research currently underway at The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology, University of Greenwich, has considered the relative performance of these models with respect to a range of bulk properties and with particular focus upon the flexibility of the models to cater for different geometrical factors for vessels.

Notes and memoranda

A note about temperature observations off the southern coast of New England published in the bulletin of the United States Fish Commission. List of papers containing results of work done at the MBA but not published in the Journal. An important prosecution under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1888, following the dumping of sludge on a trawling ground. Details of a trawl net which seems likely to prove useful to vessels for which a beam trawl is prohibited by its size. Notes and observations on: Gadus esmarkii (Nilss.),Phycis blennioides (Brunn), Sebastes norvegicus (Ascau), Crystallogobius Nilssonii (Dub. and Kor.), Arnoglossus laterna (Walb), Raia alba (Lacep.), young lobsters, a new British nemertine and the culture of sea fish.

Relating plankton assemblages to environmental variables using instruments towed by ships-of-opportunity

Undulating Oceanographic Recorders (UORs) and Continuous Plankton Recorders (CPRs) equipped with a suite of sensors were towed by merchant vessels in the North Sea between 1988 and 1991, recording a range of environmental variables. These were used to interpret the results of analyses of the plankton taken on CPR tows off the northeast coast of the UK in 1989 and in the Skagerrak and Kattegat in July 1988 and through 1989. Correlations were found between the biota and the environmental variables. The tidal front off the northeast coast of the UK and the front between the low salinity water in the Kattegat and the higher salinity water in the Skagerrak were dominant factors correlating with the distribution of the plankton assemblages. Discontinuities, defining the positions of the fronts, in the values of physical variables (temperature and, where measured, salinity and turbidity) were closely identified with geographical divisions between plankton assemblages. Measures of irradiance were found to be important on several occasions, presumably due to diel migrations of the zooplankton.

A Bird’s Eye View of Discard Reforms: Bird-Borne Cameras Reveal Seabird/Fishery Interactions

Commercial capture fisheries produce huge quantities of offal, as well as undersized and unwanted catch in the form of discards. Declines in global catches and legislation to ban discarding will significantly reduce discards, but this subsidy supports a large scavenger community. Understanding the potential impact of declining discards for scavengers should feature in an eco-system based approach to fisheries management, but requires greater knowledge of scavenger/fishery interactions. Here we use bird-borne cameras, in tandem with GPS loggers, to provide a unique view of seabird/fishery interactions. 20,643 digital images (one min 21) from ten bird-borne cameras deployed on central place northern gannets Morus bassanus revealed that all birds photographed fishing vessels. These were large (>15 m) boats, with no small-scale vessels. Virtually all vessels were trawlers, and gannets were almost always accompanied by other scavenging birds. All individuals exhibited an Area-Restricted Search (ARS) during foraging, but only 42% of ARS were associated with fishing vessels, indicating much 'natural' foraging. The proportion of ARS behaviours associated with fishing boats were higher for males (81%) than females (30%), although the reasons for this are currently unclear. Our study illustrates that fisheries form a very important component of the prey-landscape for foraging gannets and that a discard ban, such as that proposed under reforms of the EU Common Fisheries Policy, may have a significant impact on gannet behaviour, particularly males. However, a continued reliance on 'natural' foraging suggests the ability to switch away from scavenging, but only if there is sufficient food to meet their needs in the absence of a discard subsidy.

The Continuous Plankton Recorder: towards a global perspective

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) began its first routine deployment to collect plankton samples in the North Sea in 1931. The better part of a century after that event, the Recorder is used for sampling plankton widely in many oceans. The CPR is designed to be towed behind ships of opportunity (such as commercial and passenger vessels) and to collect plankton samples along the ship’s path. The samples provide information on the broad scale spatial distributions of larger hard-shelled phytoplankton and robust mesozooplankton organisms (Richardson et al., 2006). Changes in these distributions provide indices for the biological health of the ocean including those required for fisheries and for assessment of climate change impacts.

A Quantitative and Mechanistic Assessment of Activated Thrombin-Activatable Fibrinolysis Inhibitor and its Role in Pathological Bleeding and Thrombosis

The coagulation and fibrinolytic systems are linked by the thrombin-thrombomodulin complex which regulates each system through activation of protein C and TAFI, respectively. We have used novel assays and techniques to study the enzymology and biochemistry of TAFI and TAFIa, to measure TAFI activation in hemophilia A and protein C deficiency and to determine if enhancing TAFI activation can improve hemostasis in hemophilic plasma and whole blood. We show that TAFIa not TAFI attenuates fibrinolysis in vitro and this is supported by a relatively high catalytic efficiency (16.41μM-1s-1) of plasminogen binding site removal from fibrin degradation products (FDPs) by TAFIa. Since the catalytic efficiency of TAFIa in removing these sites is ~60-fold higher than that for inflammatory mediators such as bradykinin it is likely that FDPs are a physiological substrate of TAFIa. The high catalytic efficiency is primarily a result of a low Km which can be explained by a novel mechanism where TAFIa forms a binary complex with plasminogen and is recruited to the surface of FDPs. The low Km also suggests that TAFIa would effectively cleave lysines from FDPs during the early stages of fibrinolysis (i.e. at low concentrations of FDPs). Since individuals with hemophilia suffer from premature fibrinolysis as a result of insufficient TAFI activation we quantified TAFI activation in whole blood from hemophilic subjects. Both the rate of activation and the area under the TAFI activation time course (termed TAFIa potential) was determined to be reduced in hemophilia A and the TAFIa potential was significantly and inversely correlated with the clinical bleeding iii phenotype. Using a novel therapeutic strategy, we used soluble thrombomodulin to increase TAFI activation which improved the clot lysis time in factor VIII deficient human plasma and hemophilic dog plasma as well as hemophilic dog blood. Finally, we briefly show in a biochemical case study that TAFI activation is enhanced in protein C deficiency and when afflicted individuals are placed on Warfarin anticoagulant therapy, TAFI activation is reduced. Since TAFIa stabilizes blood clots, this suggests that reducing TAFI activation or inhibiting TAFIa may help restore blood flow in vessels with pathological thrombosis.

Tight junctional abnormality in multiple sclerosis white matter affects all calibres of vessel and is associated with blood-brain barrier leakage and active demyelination

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) hyperpermeability in multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with lesion pathogenesis and has been linked to pathology in microvascular tight junctions (TJs). This study quantifies the uneven distribution of TJ pathology and its association with BBB leakage. Frozen sections from plaque and normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) in 14 cases were studied together with white matter from six neurological and five normal controls. Using single and double immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy, the TJ-associated protein zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) was examined across lesion types and tissue categories, and in relation to fibrinogen leakage. Confocal image data sets were analysed for 2198 MS and 1062 control vessels. Significant differences in the incidence of TJ abnormalities were detected between the different lesion types in MS and between MS and control white matter. These were frequent in oil-red O (ORO)+ active plaques, affecting 42% of vessel segments, but less frequent in ORO- inactive plaques (23%), NAWM (13%), and normal (3.7%) and neurological controls (8%). A similar pattern was found irrespective of the vessel size, supporting a causal role for diffusible inflammatory mediators. In both NAWM and inactive lesions, dual labelling showed that vessels with the most TJ abnormality also showed most fibrinogen leakage. This was even more pronounced in active lesions, where 41% of vessels in the highest grade for TJ alteration showed severe leakage. It is concluded that disruption of TJs in MS, affecting both paracellular and transcellular paths, contributes to BBB leakage. TJ abnormality and BBB leakage in inactive lesions suggests either failure of TJ repair or a continuing pathological process. In NAWM, it suggests either pre-lesional change or secondary damage. Clinically inapparent TJ pathology has prognostic implications and should be considered when planning disease-modifying therapy

Abnormal endothelial tight junctions in active lesions and normal-appearing white matter in multiple sclerosis

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown, demonstrable in vivo by enhanced MRI is characteristic of new and expanding inflammatory lesions in relapsing remitting and chronic progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Subtle leakage may also occur in primary progressive MS. However, the anatomical route(s) of BBB leakage have not been demonstrated. We investigated the possible involvement of interendothelial tight junctions (TJ) by examining the expression of TJ proteins (occludin and ZO-1 ) in blood vessels in active MS lesions from 8 cases of MS and in normal-appearing white (NAWM) matter from 6 cases. Blood vessels (10-50 per frozen section) were scanned using confocal laser scanning microscopy to acquire datasets for analysis. TJ abnormalities manifested as beading, interruption, absence or diffuse cytoplasmic localization of fluorescence, or separation of junctions (putative opening) were frequent (affecting 40% of vessels) in oil red-O-positive active plaques but less frequent in NAWM (15%), and in normal (

Differences in expression of junctional adhesion molecule-A and beta catenin in multiple sclerosis brain tissue: increasing evidence for the role of tight junction pathology

Previously we have employed antibodies to the tight junction (TJ)-associated proteins ZO-1 and occludin to describe endothelial tight junction abnormalities, in lesional and normal appearing white matter, in primary and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). This work is extended here by use of antibodies to the independent TJ-specific proteins and junctional adhesion molecule A & B (JAM-A, JAM-B). We have also assessed the expression in MS of ß-catenin, a protein specific to the TJ-associated adherens junction. Immunocytochemistry and semiquantitative confocal microscopy for JAM-A and ß-catenin was performed on snap-frozen sections from MS cases (n = 11) and controls (n = 6). Data on 1,443 blood vessels was acquired from active lesions (n = 13), inactive lesions (n = 13), NAWM (n = 20) and control white matter (n = 13). In MS abnormal JAM-A expression was found in active (46%) and inactive lesions (21%), comparable to previous data using ZO-1. However, a lower level of TJ abnormality was found in MS NAWM using JAM-A (3%) compared to ZO-1 (13%). JAM-B was strongly expressed on a small number of large blood vessels in control and MS tissues but at too low a level for quantitative analysis. By comparison with the high levels of abnormality observed with the TJ proteins, the adherens junction protein ß-catenin was normally expressed in all MS and control tissue categories. These results confirm, by use of the independent marker JAM-A, that TJ abnormalities are most frequent in active white matter lesions. Altered expression of JAM-A, in addition to affecting junctional tightness may also both reflect and affect leukocyte trafficking, with implications for immune status within the diseased CNS. Conversely, the adherens junction component of the TJ, as indicated by ß-catenin expression is normally expressed in all MS and control tissue categories.

An Immunohistochemical Study of the Distribution of the Measles Virus Receptors, CD46 and SLAM, In Normal Human Tissues and Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis

We have compared the expression of the known measles virus (MV) receptors, membrane cofactor protein (CD46) and the signaling lymphocyte-activation molecule (SLAM), using immunohistochemistry, in a range of normal peripheral tissues (known to be infected by MV) as well as in normal and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) brain. To increase our understanding of how these receptors could be utilized by wild-type or vaccine strains in vivo, the results have been considered with regard to the known route of infection and systemic spread of MV. Strong staining for CD46 was observed in endothelial cells lining blood vessels and in epithelial cells and tissue macrophages in a wide range of peripheral tissues, as well as in Langerhans' and squamous cells in the skin. In lymphoid tissues and blood, subsets of cells were positive for SLAM, in comparison to CD46, which stained all nucleated cell types. Strong CD46 staining was observed on cerebral endothelium throughout the brain and also on ependymal cells lining the ventricles and choroid plexus. Comparatively weaker CD46 staining was observed on subsets of neurons and oligodendrocytes. In SSPE brain sections, the areas distant from lesion sites and negative for MV by immunocytochemistry showed the same distribution for CD46 as in normal brain. However, cells in lesions, positive for MV, were negative for CD46. Normal brain showed no staining for SLAM, and in SSPE brain only subsets of leukocytes in inflammatory infiltrates were positive. None of the cell types most commonly infected by MV show detectable expression of SLAM, whereas CD46 is much more widely expressed and could fulfill a receptor function for some wild-type strains. In the case of wild-type stains, which are unable to use CD46, a further as yet unknown receptor(s) would be necessary to fully explain the pathology of MV infection.

Mouse Uterine Natural Killer Cell Functions During Early Pregnancy

Early pregnancy is characterized by complex interactions between blood vessels, leukocytes, and conceptus-derived trophoblasts within the gestational uterus. Uterine Natural Killer (uNK) cells become the most abundant leukocyte during decidualization and produce a wide array of angiogenic factors, yet little is known regarding their early pregnancy functions. To characterize the role(s) of uNK cells, whole mount in situ immunohistochemistry of live early implant sites was performed. A timecourse examination of murine early pregnancy (virgin, and gd4.5-9.5) implantation sites was performed. Comparison of Gd6.5, 8.5 and 9.5 implant sites from BALB/c+/+ controls (BALB/c) and BALB/c-Rag2-/-Il2rg-/- (alymphoid) identified anomalies that result from the absence of lymphocytes. In alymphoid decidua basalis, mesometrial angiogenesis was widespread but pruning of nascent vessels within alymphoid decidua basalis was deficient. As early gestation progressed, vessels of alymphoid decidua basalis showed no evidence for remodeling. Alymphoid implantation sites showed ~24h delay in uterine lumen closure and embryonic development. To determine if uNK cells would normalize the anomalies observed in alymphoid implantation sites, adoptive cell transfer of NK+ B- T- marrow to alymphoid mice was performed. All of the above anomalies were reversed by adoptive transfer of NK+B-T- marrow. My results suggest that uNK cells support vascular growth and development which ensures the decidua can support the growing conceptus early in pregnancy prior to formation and function of the placenta. Human decidual NK cells may fill similar roles and be important targets for strategies designed to correct intra-uterine growth restriction.

Altered pericyte-endothelial relations in the rat retina during aging: Implications for vessel stability

Mural cells (smooth muscle cells and pericytes) regulate blood flow and contribute to vessel stability. We examined whether mural cell changes accompany age-related alterations in the microvasculature of the central nervous system. The retinas of young adult and aged Wistar rats were subjected to immunohistofluorescence analysis of a-smooth muscle actin (SMA), caldesmon, calponin, desmin, and NG2 to identify mural cells. The vasculature was visualized by lectin histochemistry or perfusion of horse-radish peroxidase, and vessel walls were examined by electron microscopy. The early stage of aging was characterized by changes in peripheral retinal capillaries, including vessel broadening, thickening of the basement membrane, an altered length and orientation of desmin filaments in pericytes, a more widespread SMA distribution and changes in a subset of pre-arteriolar sphincters. In the later stages of aging, loss of capillary patency, aneurysms, distorted vessels, and foci of angiogenesis were apparent, especially in the peripheral deep vascular plexus. The capillary changes are consistent with impaired vascular autoregulation and may result in reduced pericyte-endothelial cell contact, destabilizing the capillaries and rendering them susceptible to angiogenic stimuli and endothelial cell loss as well as impairing the exchange of metabolites required for optimal neuronal function. This metabolic uncoupling leads to reactivation of