Deoxidation and Inclusion Control for Alloy Steel

DEOXIDATION of quality steels is directed toward the casting of sound ingots free from excessive segregation, having good rolling and forging characteristics, and containing it minimum of harmful impurity elements and inclusions. In addition, deoxidation is employed for grain size control to promote maximum toughness of the steel. These objectives are a chieved by selection of suitable charge material, slag control and initial deoxi-dation practice in the furnace, and final deoxidation practice in the ladle. Although much has been learned of the physical chemistry of the process,the art of steel-making is still in large part empirical, and successful practices are somewhat difficult to rationalize. For this reason, equilibrium relations in the iron-oxygen deoxidizer systems are important, but the kinetics of deoxidation and the sequence of operations may be more significant to the operator

Utilizing ERTS imagery to detect plant diseases and nutrient deficiencies, soil types and soil moisture levels

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery may be used to delineate soil associations. It does have the capacity to divide soils into groups such that their land use and management would be similar. It offers definite potential for making grass flood-plain, wetland, river shoreline, and land use change surveys. Production of volume strata and forest type from the two usable bands of ERTS-1 imagery were of questionable value. No imagery was received for evaluation during the time of year when maine dwarf mosaic virus and southern corn leaf blight were active

Utilizing ERTS imagery to detect plant diseases and nutrient deficiencies, soil types and soil moisture levels

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Microcirculation: Physiology, pathophysiology, and clinical application

This paper briefly reviews the physiological components of the microcirculation, focusing on its function in homeostasis and its central function in the realization of oxygen transport to tissue cells. Its pivotal role in the understanding of circulatory compromise in states of shock and renal compromise is discussed. Our introduction of hand-held vital microscopes (HVM) to clinical medicine has revealed the importance of the microcirculation as a central target organ in states of critical illness and inadequate response to therapy. Technical and methodological developments have been made in hardware and in software including our recent introduction and validation of automatic analysis software called MicroTools, which now allows point-of-care use of HVM imaging at the bedside for instant availability of functional microcirculatory parameters needed for microcirculatory targeted resuscitation procedures to be a reality

Toward a method for assessing the energy impacts of telecommuting based on time-use data

Most telecommuting (TC) studies focus on travel impacts and do not consider changes in time spent on non-travel activities (e.g. ‘leisure’) and the energy impacts of these changes. We demonstrate a time-use approach to assess interrelations between changes in commuting time and time spent on travel and non-travel activities and associated energy impacts. Time-use data analysis shows that spending less time on commuting is associated with more time spent on ‘sleep’, ‘leisure’, ‘personal, household and family care’, ‘private travel’ and ‘eating and drinking’. Substituting car commuting with ‘sleep’, ‘eating and drinking’, common ‘leisure’ and ‘personal, household and family care’ activities is likely to reduce energy requirements as these are associated with less energy requirements than car commuting. This is different for ‘private travel’, ‘meal preparation at home’, and energy-intensive or out-of-home ‘leisure’ activities, which are associated with relatively high energy requirements. The commute modal split is a key variable in energy impacts of TC, because transport modes differ in their energy requirements. While car commuters can realize high energy savings through TC, for people who usually bike or walk to work, direct energy savings through reduced commuting are zero. Thus, any additional energy impact due to substitute activities, increases net direct energy requirements. Future research should further investigate the relationship between TC and time spent on (non-)travel activities and the marginal energy requirements of these activities. If so, the time-use approach can become key for assessing energy impacts of TC and other applications which impact individual time allocation

Auswirkungen digitaler Produkte auf den Klimaschutz

The use of digital products and services has continued to increase, especially in recent years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in both work and private life. For example, people are using video conferencing systems and cloud services more than ever to work from home, ordering more and more products online, and accessing an inexhaustible selection of videos and music titles through streaming platforms. As the use of digital products and services leads to profound changes in working and private life, the question arises to what extent these contribute to a reduction or increase in the emission rate of greenhouse gases and are thus rather an opportunity or a hurdle for the achievement of climate protection goals. Research to date shows that a differentiated approach is necessary here and that blanket estimates of the climate impact of digitalization are not helpful

The Impact of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) Coverage Heterogeneities on the Changing Epidemiology of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Switzerland, 2005–2019

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) have lowered the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) worldwide. However, the influence of regional vaccine uptake differences on the changing epidemiology of IPD remains unclear. We aimed to examine the overall impact of both seven- and 13-valent PCVs (PCV7 and PCV13) on IPD in Switzerland. Three-year periods from 2005–2010 and 2011–2019 were considered, respectively, as (early and late) PCV7 eras and (early, mid and late) PCV13 eras. Vaccine coverage was estimated from a nationwide survey according to east (German-speaking) and west (French/Italian-speaking) regions for each period. Reported incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were compared between successive periods and regions using nationwide IPD surveillance data. Overall IPD incidence across all ages was only 16% lower in the late PCV13 era compared to the early PCV7 era (IRR 0.83, 95% CI 0.79–0.88), due to increasing incidence of non-PCV-type IPD (2.59, 2.37–2.83) in all age groups, except children <5 years. PCV uptake rates in swiss children were slightly higher in the west than the east (p < 0.001), and were accompanied by lower IPD incidences across all age groups in the former region. Post-PCV13, non-PCV serotypes 8, 22F and 9N were the major cause of IPD in adults ≥65 years. Increased PCV coverage in both areas of Switzerland resulted in a decrease in vaccine-type and overall IPD incidence across all age groups, in a regionally dependent manner. However, the rising incidence of non-vaccine-type IPD, exclusive to older adults, may undermine indirect beneficial effects

Variable host-pathogen compatibility in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Studies have reported human pathogens to have geographically structured population genetics, some of which have been linked to ancient human migrations. However, no study has addressed the potential evolutionary consequences of such longstanding human–pathogen associations. Here, we demonstrate that the global population structure of M. tuberculosis is defined by six phylogeographical lineages, each associated with specific, sympatric human populations. In an urban cosmopolitan environment, mycobacterial lineages were much more likely to spread in sympatric than in allopatric patient populations. Tuberculosis cases that did occur in allopatric hosts disproportionately involved high-risk individuals with impaired host resistance. These observations suggest that mycobacterial lineages are adapted to particular human populations. If confirmed, our findings have important implications for tuberculosis control and vaccine development

MicroTools enables automated quantification of capillary density and red blood cell velocity in handheld vital microscopy

Direct assessment of capillary perfusion has been prioritized in hemodynamic management of critically ill patients in addition to optimizing blood flow on the global scale. Sublingual handheld vital microscopy has enabled online acquisition of moving image sequences of the microcirculation, including the flow of individual red blood cells in the capillary network. However, due to inherent content complexity, manual image sequence analysis remained gold standard, introducing inter-observer variability and precluding real-time image analysis for clinical therapy guidance. Here we introduce an advanced computer vision algorithm for instantaneous analysis and quantification of morphometric and kinetic information related to capillary blood flow in the sublingual microcirculation. We evaluated this technique in a porcine model of septic shock and resuscitation and cardiac surgery patients. This development is of high clinical relevance because it enables implementation of point-of-care goal-directed resuscitation procedures based on correction of microcirculatory perfusion in critically ill and perioperative patients