Water wave overwash of a step by small steepness, regular incident waves is analysed using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and a mathematical model, in two spatial dimensions. The CFD model is based on the two-phase, incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, and the mathematical model is based on the coupled potential-flow and nonlinear shallow-water theories. The CFD model is shown to predict vortices, breaking and overturning in the region where overwash is generated, and that the overwash develops into fast-travelling bores. The mathematical model is shown to predict bore heights and velocities that agree with the CFD model, despite neglecting the complicated dynamics where the overwash is generated. Evidence is provided to explain the agreement in terms of the underlying agreement of mass and energy fluxes.

Gallium nitride (GaN) films grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy on a variety of substrates have been investigated to study what role silicon and oxygen impurities play in determining the residual donor levels found in these films. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy analysis has been performed on these films and impurity levels have been normalized to ion implanted calibration standards. While oxygen appears to be a predominate impurity in all of the films, in many of them the sum of silicon and oxygen levels is insufficient to account for the donor concentration determined by Hall measurements. This suggests that either another impurity or a native defect is at least partly responsible for the autodoping of GaN. Additionally, the variation of impurity and carrier concentration with surface orientation and/or nucleation density suggests either a crystallographic or defect-related incorporation mechanism.

Within the EURECA project (Towards self-sustainable EUropean REgional CAttle breeds), we interviewed a total of 371 farmers of 15 local cattle breeds in eight European countries. Besides collecting data on farmers, land use, herd composition and economic role of cattle, we aimed at understanding farmers' motives and values in keeping local cattle. The most frequent first reason to keep the local breed was productivity, followed by tradition. When comparing the local breed with a mainstream breed, only in four breeds was productivity considered the same, while in three breeds more than 50 percent of farmers valued the local breed as more profitable. The local breed was valued as always superior or the same on functional traits. Farmers were asked which type of appreciation they thought representatives of various stakeholders had on their local breed: a positive appreciation was observed in 33 percent of farmers. On average across breeds, 39 percent of farmers expect to increase the size of their herd in the next few years and 5 percent plan to give up farming. The degree of dependence of farmers on economic incentives was estimated by asking farmers their expected behaviour under three scenarios of change of subsidies. Most farmers demanded activities for promoting local breed farming. The results are discussed in terms of breed sustainability and conservation.

We model the dynamics of the human tear film during relaxation (after a blink) using lubrication theory and explore the effects of viscosity, surface tension, gravity and boundary conditions that specify the flux of tear fluid into or out of the domain. The governing nonlinear partial differential equation is solved on an overset grid by a method of lines using finite differences in space and an adaptive second-order backward difference formula solver in time. Our simulations in a two-dimensional domain are computed in the Overture computational framework. The flow around the boundary is sensitive to both our choice of flux boundary condition and the presence of gravity. The simulations recover features seen in one-dimensional simulations and capture some experimental observations of tear film dynamics around the lid margins. In some instances, the influx from the lacrimal gland splits with some fluid going along the upper lid towards the nasal canthus and some travelling around the temporal canthus and then along the lower lid. Tear supply can also push through some parts of the black line near the eyelid margins.

We studied whether bovine embryos developing after in vitro fertilization (IVF) with sex-sorted spermatozoa differed in developmental kinetics, quality and sex ratio from embryos produced with unsorted spermatozoa. Abattoir-derived oocytes were fertilized with X-sorted, Y-sorted or unsorted spermatozoa from a single bull. To evaluate economical use of the sex-sorted spermatozoa, washed spermatozoa from a single straw (2 million spermatozoa) were used to fertilize each batch of collected oocytes without any further isolation steps. Concentration of the unsorted spermatozoa was adjusted accordingly. Fertilizations were assessed by staining sperm asters at 10 hpi and pronuclei at 20 hpi. Embryo development and morphological quality were monitored on days 2, 7, 8 and 9 of the development (IVF = day 0). All embryos were sexed using PCR. Following fertilization, penetration and subsequent cleavage rates were compromised in the X-sorted group compared with the Y-sorted and unsorted groups (penetration: 58.0% vs. 89.8% and 90.0%, cleavage: 65.3% vs. 81.5% and 75.0%). The use of the sex-sorted spermatozoa did not, however, reduce the proportion of transferable embryos (sex-sorted 29.6% vs. unsorted 27.7%) or their quality (quality 1: sex-sorted 36.0% vs. unsorted 19.9%). The Y-sorted spermatozoa produced more transferable embryos of better quality than the X-sorted spermatozoa (days 7–8: 31.9% vs. 26.4%, quality 1: 38.9% vs. 30.6%). On average, out of 10 transferable embryos, nine were of the predicted sex in the X- and Y-sorted spermatozoa groups. These results indicate that low numbers of X- and Y-sorted spermatozoa can be used successfully for female and male embryo production in vitro.

Gluten sensitive enteropathy has various manifestations, of which the two major forms are classical coeliac disease (cCD) and dermatitis herpetiformis (DH). In cCD predominantly the small intestine is affected, whereas in DH also the skin is affected showing typical rash and IgA deposits. The symptoms in both forms are dependent on gluten intake. The factors diversifying these two clinical outcomes are unknown. In the present report we evaluated the role of the major genetic susceptibility locus, HLA DQ, in 25 families, in which both forms of the disease, cCD and DH, occurred in siblings. By using the family-based approach it can be assumed that within each family variation in environmental factors is substantially lower than in the standard case-control setting, and also the problems related to population stratification can be avoided. Results from the Finnish family material with 25 discordant and 85 concordant sib pairs, and from additional case-control material comprising 71 unrelated Hungarian DH and 68 cCD patients, together indicated that the HLA DQ locus did not differ between the two major outcomes of gluten sensitive enteropathy. The non-HLA DR;DQ factors are critical for the different clinical manifestations of gluten sensitivity.

The cytoplasm of soybean seed axes is known to undergo a glass transition as moisture content decreases. In this study we have investigated whether the glass transition is reflected in the macroscopic mechanical properties of the seeds. Constant-deformation-rate compression tests and constant-deformation relaxation tests were performed with a cylindrical indenter on soybean cotyledons equilibrated to moisture contents ranging from 2% to 16% (dry basis). The apparent modulus of elasticity was found to rise sharply as moisture content declined below 10%, showing an inflection point at 9.8%, and a relatively constant elasticity below 7%. Other measures of mechanical behaviour were also constant in the drier ranges, including linear deformation, and plastic deformation. Each of these viscoelastic characteristics showed an inflection point or a departure from a linear function in the region of 7.5–9.8% moisture content, the hydration region below which the tissue is in a glassy state. It is suggested that the viscoelastic qualities of dry soybeans are principally a consequence of the tissues being in the glassy state.