Short-term oxygen consumption and filtration rate experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of edible cockle Cerastoderma edule when infested by the Digenean trematod Labratrema minimus. In this experiment the metabolic activities of bivalves were measured to detennine this particular aspect of the host-parasite interaction. We have used the Bucephalidae digenea Labratrema minimus inf...

Earlier, we developed a mathematical model of myocardial contraction-relaxation cycle regulation. A great number of mechanical experiments was simulated in the model, the phenomenon of load dependent relaxation (LDR) included. In the present work we used the same model to analyze experimental data revealing that high temperature leads to reduction of LDR. We simulated three main factors arising...

BACKGROUND The genetic tractability and the species-specific association with beetles make the nematode Pristionchus pacificus an exciting emerging model organism for comparative studies in development and behavior. P. pacificus differs from Caenorhabditis elegans (a bacterial feeder) by its buccal teeth and the lack of pharyngeal grinders, but almost nothing is known about which genes coordina...

Background: Impedance pump is a simple valveless pumping mechanism, which transports fluid through the mismatch of impedance in the system. Mismatch in impedance occurs when an asymmetrical periodic excitation is exerted on the elastic tube. Periodic asymmetrical excitation will then produce a unidirectional flow. Considering a multi-stage system with a single and constant power source, it is w...

A heat exchanger using nanofluid needs to operate at optimum mass concentration level to get the maximum heat transfer performance. A numerical analysis is performed on the heat transfer and pressure drop of water-based γ-Al2O3 nanofluid gasketed-plate heat exchanger to specify its optimum conditions. Cold water will be heated by γ-Al2O3/water nanofluid. The results showed that optimal volume c...

Head measurements at a single observation well during a cross-hole pumping test carry a great amount of information about aquifer heterogeneity other than the average property of the aquifer as implied in Theis analysis of aquifer test. In this commentary, we use simple examples and a probabilistic reasoning approach based on Darcy’s law to unravel this information, buried in the results of qua...

In this paper, the cooling performance of water-cooled heat sinks for heat dissipation from electronic components is investigated numerically. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are carried out to study the rectangular and circular cross-sectional shaped heat sinks. The sectional geometry of channels affects the flow and heat transfer characteristics of minichannel heat sinks. T...

Articular cartilage is avascular. Nutrients are transported to the cells mainly by diffusion from the synovial fluid. Nutrient transport is also sometimes thought to be assisted by movement of fluid in and out of cartilage in response to cyclic loading of the tissue ('pumping'). The influence of pumping on transport of solutes through cartilage was measured by subjecting plugs of human femoral ...