Hydraulics of Minimum Energy Culverts and Bridge Waterways

The design of culverts and bridge waterways according to the approach described variously as "minimum energy" and as "constant energy" is summarised. The hydraulics of the flow in such waterways is discussed. Even though the flow occurring can be quite complex, the waterways can be designed with simple calculations within certain limitations. Some of these limitations are discussed. Some results concerning energy losses in the expanding part of the flow are presented

Introducing Originality and Innovation in Engineering Teaching: The Hydraulic Design of Culverts

Recently the teaching of engineering design has become a presentation of standards and codes rather than the learning of sound design practices. Too many students request formulae and equations to solve a design exercise and they fail to develop any design originality. The present student attitude leads to young graduate engineers without critical ability and innovative flair. The writer has developed an innovative hydraulic design exercise based upon culvert design. Each design exercise could lead to more than one correct design per student in the class. Students have to learn basic design calculations based upon lecture material, notes, field visits and laboratory experiment. The practical component (laboratory, field visit) contributes significantly to their understanding of the complete system, including some basic safety and professional issues

Discussion of "transcritical flow due to channel contraction" by O. Castro-Orgaz, J. V. Giraldez, and J. L. Ayuso

The design of channel contraction is not obvious when transcritical or near-critical flows take place. The concept of critical flow conditions was first developed by Bélanger (1828) and later expanded by Bakhmeteff (1912, 1932). Bélanger and Bakhmeteff both defined the concept of critical flow in relation to the singularity of the backwater equation. Herein further applications of transcritical flow in channel contraction are discussed and a solution of the critical flow singularity is presented

Protein interaction perturbation profiling at amino-acid resolution

The identification of genomic variants in healthy and diseased individuals continues to rapidly outpace our ability to functionally annotate these variants. Techniques that both systematically assay the functional consequences of nucleotide-resolution variation and can scale to hundreds of genes are urgently required. We designed a sensitive yeast two-hybrid-based 'off switch' for positive selection of interaction-disruptive variants from complex genetic libraries. Combined with massively parallel programmed mutagenesis and a sequencing readout, this method enables systematic profiling of protein-interaction determinants at amino-acid resolution. We defined >1,000 interaction-disrupting amino acid mutations across eight subunits of the BBSome, the major human cilia protein complex associated with the pleiotropic genetic disorder Bardet–Biedl syndrome. These high-resolution interaction-perturbation profiles provide a framework for interpreting patient-derived mutations across the entire protein complex and thus highlight how the impact of disease variation on interactome networks can be systematically assessed

Hydraulic engineering in the 21st century: Where to?

For centuries, hydraulic engineers were at the forefront of science. The last forty years marked a change of perception in our society with a focus on environmental sustainability and management, particularly in developed countries. Herein, the writer illustrates his strong belief that the future of hydraulic engineering lies upon a combination of innovative engineering, research excellence and higher education of quality. This drive continues a long tradition established by eminent scholars like Arthur Thomas IPPEN, John Fisher KENNEDY and Hunter ROUSE