In Zimbabwe, female Chiromantis xerampelina construct spherical foam nests that are suspended above temporary water. The nests average 624 ml in volume and contain 854 eggs. The 1.7 mm ova have exceptionally thin jelly capsules and are dispersed in the foamy core of the nest, which is surrounded by a layer of eggless foam. At 25 degrees C, each embryo requires 3.5 days to reach hatching at deve...

Wet foams are used in many important technologies either as end or intermediate products. However, the thermodynamic instability of wet foams leads to undesired bubble coarsening over time. Foam stability can be drastically improved by using particles instead of surfactants as foam stabilizers, since particles tend to adsorb irreversibly at the air-water interface. Recently, we presented a nove...

To assess the performance of transducers used clinically to measure pressure at the skin-cushion interface of seated patients, transducers were placed between slabs of gel and/or foam materials compressed between platens. The recorded pressures consistently exceeded the nominal pressures calculated using the surface area of the slabs. This overestimation, observed in both miniature diaphragm tr...

BACKGROUND The hurricanes and flooding in New Orleans, Louisiana, in October and November 2005 resulted in damp conditions favorable to the dispersion of bioaerosols such as mold spores and endotoxin. OBJECTIVE Our objective in this study was to assess potential human exposure to bioaerosols in New Orleans after the flooding of the city. METHODS A team of investigators performed continuous ...

The objective of this paper is to explore the potential strength and serviceability implications of metallic foams, specifically steel foam, utilized as a thin-walled channel structural member. A typical advantage sought in the selection of a thin-walled member is minimal weight. However, the stability of the thin walls and the related limit states constrains the extent to which weight minimiza...

1. We studied the differences in root strength of species with contrasting root structural types (the grass Paspalum dilatatum and the dicot Lotus glaber ), and their relationship with tolerance to simulated cattle trampling under flooding conditions. 2. Root strength was analysed through measurement of the pressure required to cause root collapse. The responses of aerenchyma and plant mass to ...