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Electronmicroscopic study of electrically coupled smooth muscles was undertaken to determine the distribution of nexuses in various types of smooth muscle. The study revealed that while nexal structures were commonplace in some types of smooth muscle, they were very rare or absent in others, even though in some cases these cells were only a few nanometers distant from one another. The persistence in thin section of these structures in the main circular muscle of dog intestine after poor fixation, fixation under strain, cell shrinkage, and metabolic damage of various sorts seems to rule out the thesis that they are labile. The absence of nexuses in longitudinal muscle of dog intestine examined both by thin section and by freeze fracture suggests that in this tissue they are absent or very rare in vivo and cannot account for electrical coupling. Nexuses were discernible in thin sections of main circular muscle after a variety of experimental conditions of fixation. Metabolic inhibition or in vitro permanganate fixation partially destroyed nexal contacts. These procedures induced tissue, membrane apposition and an accompanying increase in the number of structures which resemble nexuses at low magnification (nexus-like structures). "Nexus-like" structures occurred in all smooth muscle fixed by in vitro permanganate associated with apposition of membranes and poor preservation of basement membrane. A technique of in vitro permanganate fixation was developed which prevented tissue swelling; consequently "nexus-like" structures were absent in tissues so treated. The suggestion is made that some structures described in the literature as nexuses, following permanganate fixation, may represent "nexus-like" structures. The balance of evidence suggests that nexuses need not be present for electrical coupling of some smooth muscle cells, in which other types of cell-to-cell contacts must be invoked.

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In the flow around a circular cylinder, a sudden decrease in the mean drag coefficient occurs at a high Reynolds number, but the same phenomenon occurs at a lower Reynolds number in the case where there exist grooves or roughness on the cylinder surface. In this paper, in order to make clear the flow characteristics around a cylinder with 20, 26 and 32 triangular grooves, the mean drag coefficient, pressure distribution, velocity distribution and turbulence intensity distribution were measured. Moreover, the flow around the cylinder was analyzed by applying the RNG k -dž turbulent model, and the surface flow pattern was investigated using the oil-film technique. From these results, it was found that a sudden decrease in the mean drag coefficient of a cylinder with 32 triangular grooves occurs at a lower Reynolds number compared with 20 and 26 triangular grooves.

In the flow around a circular cylinder, a sudden decrease in the drag force occurs at a high Reynolds number, but the same phenomenon occurs at a lower Reynolds number in the case where there exist grooves or roughness on the circular cylinder surface. In this paper, in order to make clear the flow characteristics around a circular cylinder in the case of changing the shapes of grooves, the drag coefficient, pressure distribution, velocity distribution and turbulent distribution were measured. Moreover the flow around the cylinder was analyzed by applying the RNG k -dž turbulent model, and the surface flow pattern was investigated using the oil-film technique. From these results, it is clear that the drag coefficient of a circular cylinder with triangular grooves decreases by about 15% compared with that of a circular cylinder with arc grooves.