Cavitation Bubble Observation in a Venturi

Observed collapse rate of water bubbles in cavitating Venturi compared with incompressible theory for spherical bubble

Collapse of a cavitation bubble in viscous, compressible liquid - numerical and experimental analyses technical report no. 15

Behavior of cavitation bubble and liquid adjacent to bubble in viscous compressible flui

Climate Change and invasibility of the Antarctic benthos

Benthic communities living in shallow-shelf habitats in Antarctica (<100-m depth) are archaic in their structure and function. Modern predators, including fast-moving, durophagous (skeleton-crushing) bony fish, sharks, and crabs, are rare or absent; slow-moving invertebrates are the top predators; and epifaunal suspension feeders dominate many soft substratum communities. Cooling temperatures beginning in the late Eocene excluded durophagous predators, ultimately resulting in the endemic living fauna and its unique food-web structure. Although the Southern Ocean is oceanographically isolated, the barriers to biological invasion are primarily physiological rather than geographic. Cold temperatures impose limits to performance that exclude modern predators. Global warming is now removing those physiological barriers, and crabs are reinvading Antarctica. As sea temperatures continue to rise, the invasion of durophagous predators will modernize the shelf benthos and erode the indigenous character of marine life in Antarctica

Effects of Annulation on Low-Reynolds-Number Flows over an Orthocone

This study numerically examines the influences of transverse annulation around a cone surface on the characteristics of a flow over an orthocone. This work is inspired by Spyroceras, a fossilized genus of the nautiloid family during the Paleozoic era, whose method of locomotion is understudied. As a baseline case, a flow over a smooth orthoconic model with a blunt cone end is investigated numerically at Reynolds numbers from 500 to 1500. As Reynolds increases, two different shedding mechanisms - hairpin-vortex wake and spiral-vortex wake - are captured. We notice that an introduction of annulation over the cone surface changes the critical Reynolds number for the transition of the shedding mechanism. The dominant shedding frequency increases with the Reynolds number for the smooth and annulated cone flows. Moreover, the annulation reduces the dominant frequency for the same Reynolds number and increases the time-averaged drag coefficient. Modal decompositions - Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Spectral Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (SPOD) - are used to capture the coherent structures and their oscillating frequencies. We have captured modes corresponding to the hairpin-vortex wake and spiral-vortex wake shedding mechanisms. Comparing the leading POD modes for the smooth and the annulated cone flows, we find that the annulation can reduce the twisting effects of the coherent structures in the wake. Additionally, we find that the SPOD analysis can identify modes presenting both hairpin-vortex wake and spiral-vortex wake in one flow condition as leading modes, while the POD leading modes only reveal one shedding mechanism in each flow

Molecular phylogeny and timing of diversification in Alpine Rhithrogena (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae).

BACKGROUND: Larvae of the Holarctic mayfly genus Rhithrogena Eaton, 1881 (Ephemeroptera, Heptageniidae) are a diverse and abundant member of stream and river communities and are routinely used as bio-indicators of water quality. Rhithrogena is well diversified in the European Alps, with a number of locally endemic species, and several cryptic species have been recently detected. While several informal species groups are morphologically well defined, a lack of reliable characters for species identification considerably hampers their study. Their relationships, origin, timing of speciation and mechanisms promoting their diversification in the Alps are unknown. RESULTS: Here we present a species-level phylogeny of Rhithrogena in Europe using two mitochondrial and three nuclear gene regions. To improve sampling in a genus with many cryptic species, individuals were selected for analysis according to a recent DNA-based taxonomy rather than traditional nomenclature. A coalescent-based species tree and a reconstruction based on a supermatrix approach supported five of the species groups as monophyletic. A molecular clock, mapped on the most resolved phylogeny and calibrated using published mitochondrial evolution rates for insects, suggested an origin of Alpine Rhithrogena in the Oligocene/Miocene boundary. A diversification analysis that included simulation of missing species indicated a constant speciation rate over time, rather than any pronounced periods of rapid speciation. Ancestral state reconstructions provided evidence for downstream diversification in at least two species groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our species-level analyses of five gene regions provide clearer definitions of species groups within European Rhithrogena. A constant speciation rate over time suggests that the paleoclimatic fluctuations, including the Pleistocene glaciations, did not significantly influence the tempo of diversification of Alpine species. A downstream diversification trend in the hybrida and alpestris species groups supports a previously proposed headwater origin hypothesis for aquatic insects

Estudo da radiosensibilidade ao 60CO do Vibrio cholerae O1 incorporado em ostras

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the effect of ionizing irradiation by 60Co on Vibrio cholerae O1, El-Tor, Ogawa, non-toxigenic, incorporated in live oysters Crassostrea brasiliana. METHODS: Samples of oysters were selected from Cananéia town in the South coast of S. Paulo state, Brazil, contaminated with Vibrio cholerae and irradiated with 60Co at 0.5 and 1.0 kGy dosages. RESULTS: Showed significant reductions of the initial number of V. cholerae , ranging from 3.4 x10(7) to 10³ and 10², respectively. The D10 values related with the respective doses of irradiation were 0.173 and 0.235. CONCLUSION: Considering a 6 value as safety factor, it is concluded that 1.41 kGy irradiation dosage is necessary to eliminate a high number of V. cholerae viable cells in oysters. Controls were used in the experiment.OBJETIVO: Avaliar a eficiência da radiação ionizante por 60CO na eliminação de Vibrio cholerae O1, El Tor Ogawa, não-toxigênico, incorporados laboratorialmente em ostras vivas da espécie Crassostrea brasiliana. MÉTODO: Foram selecionadas amostras de ostras provenientes de Cananéia (litoral sul de São Paulo, Brasil), as quais foram contaminadas com Vibrio cholerae e irradiadas com doses de 0,5 kGy e 1,0 kGy. RESULTADOS: Foram observadas diminuições significativas do número inicial do microrganismo indicado: de 3,4.10(7) para 10³ e 10², respectivamente. Os valores de D10 correspondentes foram de 0,173 a 0,235. CONCLUSÃO: Adotando-se o fator 6 como nível de segurança, conclui-se que a dose de irradiação de 1,41 kGy é necessária para eliminar números elevados de células viáveis de V. cholerae em ostras. Os experimentos foram realizados com os controles respectivos

Climate Change and Trophic Response of the Antarctic Bottom Fauna

BACKGROUND: As Earth warms, temperate and subpolar marine species will increasingly shift their geographic ranges poleward. The endemic shelf fauna of Antarctica is especially vulnerable to climate-mediated biological invasions because cold temperatures currently exclude the durophagous (shell-breaking) predators that structure shallow-benthic communities elsewhere. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used the Eocene fossil record from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, to project specifically how global warming will reorganize the nearshore benthos of Antarctica. A long-term cooling trend, which began with a sharp temperature drop approximately 41 Ma (million years ago), eliminated durophagous predators-teleosts (modern bony fish), decapod crustaceans (crabs and lobsters) and almost all neoselachian elasmobranchs (modern sharks and rays)-from Antarctic nearshore waters after the Eocene. Even prior to those extinctions, durophagous predators became less active as coastal sea temperatures declined from 41 Ma to the end of the Eocene, approximately 33.5 Ma. In response, dense populations of suspension-feeding ophiuroids and crinoids abruptly appeared. Dense aggregations of brachiopods transcended the cooling event with no apparent change in predation pressure, nor were there changes in the frequency of shell-drilling predation on venerid bivalves. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Rapid warming in the Southern Ocean is now removing the physiological barriers to shell-breaking predators, and crabs are returning to the Antarctic Peninsula. Over the coming decades to centuries, we predict a rapid reversal of the Eocene trends. Increasing predation will reduce or eliminate extant dense populations of suspension-feeding echinoderms from nearshore habitats along the Peninsula while brachiopods will continue to form large populations, and the intensity of shell-drilling predation on infaunal bivalves will not change appreciably. In time the ecological effects of global warming could spread to other portions of the Antarctic coast. The differential responses of faunal components will reduce the endemic character of Antarctic subtidal communities, homogenizing them with nearshore communities at lower latitudes

Shedding Light on Fish Otolith Biomineralization Using a Bioenergetic Approach

Otoliths are biocalcified bodies connected to the sensory system in the inner ears of fish. Their layered, biorhythm-following formation provides individual records of the age, the individual history and the natural environment of extinct and living fish species. Such data are critical for ecosystem and fisheries monitoring. They however often lack validation and the poor understanding of biomineralization mechanisms has led to striking examples of misinterpretations and subsequent erroneous conclusions in fish ecology and fisheries management. Here we develop and validate a numerical model of otolith biomineralization. Based on a general bioenergetic theory, it disentangles the complex interplay between metabolic and temperature effects on biomineralization. This model resolves controversial issues and explains poorly understood observations of otolith formation. It represents a unique simulation tool to improve otolith interpretation and applications, and, beyond, to address the effects of both climate change and ocean acidification on other biomineralizing organisms such as corals and bivalves