How math is used in firefighting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How math is used in firefighting - Research Paper Example According to the website XP Math, there are at least 20 Math topics that fire fighters need to know. Some of these fall under the realms of Basic Math/Algebra, First Year Algebra (which includes the use of formula), Geometry and Computer (T.L. Hui). Algebra is used in fire fighting hydraulics specifically in calculating the flow rates and capacities (WikiAnswers.com). There are fire fighting terms such as total engine pressure and nozzle pressure. â€Å"Total Engine Pressure is the amount of pressure (psi) that the fire pump (on the truck) is sending through the hose line. The engineer calculates the total engine pressure to adjust for changes in elevation pressure so that the nozzle can receive the correct amount of water pressure (in psi)† (San Bernardino Professional Fire Fighters). There is also the concept of nozzle pressure. It stands for â€Å"the amount of pressure that the nozzle requires to deliver the proper amount of water to the fire† (San Bernardino Professional Fire Fighters). To calculate the accuracy of this, mathematicians have created the nozzle pressure formula, given as: Where n – nozzle pressure in psi, t – total engine pressure and h – change in elevation. This formula â€Å"can be used to find out what the nozzle pressure is for a given height with a specific total engine pressure† (San Bernardino Professional Fire Fighters). There are other applications of math in fire fighting. Math is being used in perimeter, fractions, ratios, percentage and area of burns. The perimeter of burn is â€Å"the distance around the fire or along the hand line† and it is â€Å"determined by adding the lengths of the various lines that enclose the black area of a fire† (SEM and Missoula Fire Science Lab). There are also hydraulic concepts regarding the use of water in wildland firefighting. â€Å"These include determining

How useful are invertebrate infection models for studying bacterial Assignment

How useful are invertebrate infection models for studying bacterial pathogenisis and therapy - Assignment Example The infection cycle involves the disease causing agent managing entry into the host either through adhesion or penetration, assimilation of nutrients to generate more copies of itself and subvert the defence systems of the host and eventually exit from the host to start another cycle in a different target. Numerous in vitro and in vivo infection models have been developed over the years to identify virulence factors and understand its regulation. The fact that some of the host-pathogen interactions have been evolutionarily conserved has led to the establishment of model systems to understand pathogenesis from both the hosts’ and pathogens’ side. Much remains to be understood about the host-pathogen interaction at the molecular level and model systems that are most informative of this could be systems in which the pathogen and host are both amenable to genetic analysis (Pradel and Ewbank, 2004). A number of non-vertebrate model organisms have been developed in order to study host-pathogen interactions which facilitates not only a better understanding of virulence mechanisms but also permit direct genetic techniques to study host defences while reducing cost and ethical constraints associated with mammalian model systems. Non-vertebrate models have also been more popular in bacterial pathogenesis studies because of the following factors: To understand the complexity of virulence-defence interactions a number of pathogen-host systems are required. Simple easy to handle organism such as D. discoideum, C. elegans, D. melanogaster and G. mellonella helps in identifying virulence factors and understanding their functions. Comparative studies in host models also contribute to the identification of novel elements involved in host susceptibility and resistance. Some of these elements conserved over species may also contribute to our understanding of pathogenesis in vertebrates. The genetic tractability of the simple host models will also make possible refined