Fluid Mechanics of Biological Surfaces and their Technological Application

 A survey is given on fluid-dynamic effects caused by the structure and properties of biological surfaces. It is demonstrated that the results of investigations aiming at technological applications can also provide insights into biophysical phenomena. Techniques are described both for reducing wall shear stresses and for controlling boundary-layer separation. (a) Wall shear stress reduction was investigated experimentally for various riblet surfaces including a shark skin replica. The latter consists of 800 plastic model scales with compliant anchoring. Hairy surfaces are also considered, and surfaces in which the no-slip condition is modified. Self-cleaning surfaces such as that of lotus leaves represent an interesting option to avoid fluid-dynamic deterioration by the agglomeration of dirt. An example of technological implementation is discussed for riblets in long-range commercial aircraft. (b) Separation control is also an important issue in biology. After a few brief comments on vortex generators, the mechanism of separation control by bird feathers is described in detail. Self-activated movable flaps (=artificial bird feathers) represent a high-lift system enhancing the maximum lift of airfoils by about 20%. This is achieved without perceivable deleterious effects under cruise conditions. Finally, flight experiments on an aircraft with laminar wing and movable flaps are presented.     

Analysis of the hydrocyclone stock cleaning process for wasted fibre in a paper mill

The main objective of this project was to evaluate the possibility of reducing the quantity of fibre wasted at one of many hydrocyclone (centrifugal) cleaning processes in a paper mill. It was found that the application of elutriation water to both the tertiary and quaternary cleaners was essential to minimise the fibre discharged to the sewer, and the pressure of this elutriation water had a dramatic effect of reducing the fibre wastage. Accordingly, it has been shown that 150–160 kPa as the optimum pressure range to apply elutriation water to minimise the product grade fibre wasted whilst sending undesired shive fibre to the sewer. Also, monitoring of the press uhle box wastewater revealed that the paper mill has the potential to make substantial cost savings by reducing the waste stream. Further investigation is necessary to determine the types of fibre that are being wasted, and the viability of a screen to recycle the wasted fibre to the process. However, these fibres may be unsuitable to reuse in the process and alternative uses must be found.     

Concurrency: a system design approach to environmental management and sustainability

The lessons of history indicate that mismanagement of natural resources and the environment often leads to potentially adverse consequences.The increasing interest in economic development,particularly in the developing countries of the world coupled with increasing population pressures and the globalization of economic activity is placing noticeable stresses on the ultimate sustainability of both human and environmental systems.Sustainable development is not a new concept.It has been an area of concern for different elements of society for some time.Yet efforts to understand the implications of sustainable development have not,until recently,been formalized.We have focused singularly on economic development and environmental quality as if they were mutually exclusive.This paper focuses on the concept of concurrency as both a conceptual framework and practicable method of understanding and implementing the ecology and economy of sustainability.     

Was basking important in the evolution of mammalian endothermy?

The first mammals were small, nocturnal, and presumably had low metabolic rates and were therefore probably unable to maintain a constant high body temperature throughout cool nights. How these animals, without sufficient heat production for endogenous rewarming, were able to become warm and active again before the next activity period remains unresolved. However, we discovered that, similar to reptiles, the carnivorous marsupial mammal Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis (body mass 30.8LJ.0 g) uses the morning sun to rewarm from low (26.3dž.5°C) body temperatures during torpor. Our findings provide the first evidence of basking during rewarming from torpor in mammals and may provide an alternative explanation as to how ancestral mammals could have become nocturnal to avoid diurnal predators despite their small size and a low endogenous heat production.     

Maternal age specific rates for chromosome aberrations and factors influencing them: Report of a collaborative european study on 52 965 amniocenteses

Maternal age specific rates for all major chromosome aberrations have been determined in 52 965 pregnancies in mothers 35 years of age and over at the time of amniocentesis. Rates increase exponentially with advancing maternal age for trisomies 21, 18 and 13, and for the XXX and XXY syndromes, but in the autosomal trisomies this rise appears to be followed by a levelling off at the upper end of the age range. A significant inverse relationship with maternal age is found for 45,X cases. It is postulated that these various patterns are the result of the interaction of three principal factors: a maternal age effect acting particularly on first meiotic nondisjunction: a higher spontaneous abortion rate with advancing maternal age for aneuploid as compared to euploid conceptions; and an increased probability of spontaneous abortion before the time of amniocentesis for conceptions with more extensive chromosome imbalance. A stepwise logistic regression analysis of 13 299 pregnancies in which both parental ages are known shows that the father's age does not influence these maternal age specific rates, with the possible exception of the 47,XXY syndrome.     

Easurements of placental,decidual, and fetal proteins before and after chorionic villus sampling

Circulating placental [human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), Schwangerschafts protein 1 (SP1), pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A), decidual (pregnancy protein) 12 (PP12), and fetal alphafetoprotein (AFP)] proteins were measured immediately before and within 1 h in 18 women undergoing diagnostic chorionic villus sampling (CVS) in the first trimester. An elevation of serum AFP levels was consistently seen, while fluctuations in excess of 10 per cent of the pre-CVS levels of SP1 and PP12 were seen in the majority of patients. Fluctuations in hCG and PAPP-A were consistently less than 10 per cent of pre-CVS values. Post-CVS changes in levels were not apparently associated with any feature of the technique, the pregnancy, or its outcome (one missed abortion). As feto-maternal haemorrhage is a common event, anti-D should be offered to rhesus-negative women undergoing CVS. In the prediction of subsequent miscarriage, only hCG and PAPP-A measurements should be considered.