Latest developments in mechanical properties and metallurgical features of high strength line pipe steels

In response to the increasing demand to improve both transportation efficiency and performance, the steel pipe industry has conducted extensive efforts to develop line pipe steel grades with superior metallurgical and mechanical (strength, toughness and ductility) properties in order to allow exploitation in hostile environments. This paper aims to give an overview of recent developments of high strength pipe steel grades as API 5L X70 and beyond, providing a detailed understanding of the continuous improvements with respect to a strain-based design context. Information regarding the metallurgy and processing, such as chemical composition, microstructural design, thermo-mechanical controlled process (TMCP) and accelerated cooling process (AcC), to achieve the target strength, ductility and toughness properties are discussed

The interplay between societal concerns and the regulatory frame on GM crops in the European Union

Recapitulating how genetic modification technology and its agro-food products aroused strong societal opposition in the European Union, this paper demonstrates how this opposition contributed to shape the European regulatory frame on GM crops. More specifically, it describes how this opposition contributed to a de facto moratorium on the commercialization of new GM crop events in the end of the nineties. From this period onwards, the regulatory frame has been continuously revised in order to slow down further erosion of public and market confidence. Various scientific and technical reforms were made to meet societal concerns relating to the safety of GM crops. In this context, the precautionary principle, environmental post-market monitoring and traceability were adopted as ways to cope with scientific uncertainties. Labeling, traceability, co-existence and public information were installed in an attempt to meet the general public request for more information about GM agro-food products, and the specific demand to respect the consumers' and farmers' freedom of choice. Despite these efforts, today, the explicit role of public participation and/or ethical consultation during authorization procedures is at best minimal. Moreover, no legal room was created to progress to an integral sustainability evaluation during market procedures. It remains to be seen whether the recent policy shift towards greater transparency about value judgments, plural viewpoints and scientific uncertainties will be one step forward in integrating ethical concerns more explicitly in risk analysis. As such, the regulatory frame stands open for further interpretation, reflecting in various degrees a continued interplay with societal concerns relating to GM agro-food products. In this regard, both societal concerns and diversely interpreted regulatory criteria can be inferred as signaling a request – and even a quest – to render more explicit the broader-than-scientific dimension of the actual risk analysis

Reproduction and Damage Potential of Five Geographical Ditylenchus africanus Populations on Peanut

Ditylenchus africanus affects peanut quality, which leads to downgrading of consignments and economic losses for producers.This nematode is difficult to control and host-plant resistance may be the most effective way to control it. Recently, the peanut breeding line PC254K1 has been identified as resistant to a D. africanus population from Vaalharts and will be included into the peanut breeding program. The objectives of our study were to compare the reproduction potential of D. africanus geographic populations from five different areas in the peanut production area of South Africa and to assess whether PC254K1 is resistant to all five D. africanus populations. Reproduction of the D. africanus populations was evaluated on peanut callus in growth cabinets at 218C, 288C, and 358C. The peanut cv. Sellie was included in the study as the D. africanus-susceptible reference genotype in the greenhouse and microplots. Reproduction potential of all five of the D. africanus populations was similar. Resistance of PC254K1 was confirmed to all five D. africanus populations. The resistance trait of a D. africanus-resistant cultivar developed from PC254K1 should, therefore, be sustainable over the five localities tested during this study

Effect of temperature on the in vitro reproduction of Aphelenchoides rutgersi

Summary -The effect of temperature on egg production, hatching and the Iife cycle from adult to adult of Aphelenehoides rutgeni was investigated in vitro. The optimum temperature for the reproduction of A. rulgersi was 28 oc. At this tempe rature, a freshly matured female deposited on average 60 eggs during the first 11 days of its reproductive period; hatching started on day 2; egg viabiliry was about 80 % in sterile tap water and over 95 % in axenic mectium; minimum development time was 6 days; and the time required for a 100 % increase in adult females was slightly more than 8 days. At 33 oC, A. rulgersi was unable to increase its population. As the temperature decreased below 28 oC, fewer eggs were produced, hatching started later, and both minimum and mean generation time were at least 2 days longer. Résumé

Perioperative factors determine outcome after surgery for severe acute pancreatitis

INTRODUCTION: There is evidence that postponing surgery in critically ill patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) leads to improved survival, but previous reports included patients with both sterile and infected pancreatic necrosis who were operated on for various indications and with different degrees of organ dysfunction at the moment of surgery, which might be an important bias. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of timing of surgery and perioperative factors (severity of organ dysfunction and microbiological status of the necrosis) on mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients undergoing surgery for SAP. METHODS: We retrospectively (January 1994 to March 2003) analyzed patients admitted to the ICU with SAP. Of 124 patients, 56 were treated surgically; these are the subject of this analysis. We recorded demographic characteristics and predictors of mortality at admission, timing of and indications for surgery, and outcome. We also studied the microbiological status of the necrosis and organ dysfunction at the moment of surgery. RESULTS: Patients' characteristics were comparable in patients undergoing early and late surgery, and there was a trend toward a higher mortality in patients who underwent early surgery (55% versus 29%, P = 0.06). In univariate analysis, patients who died were older, had higher organ dysfunction scores at the day of surgery, and had sterile necrosis more often; there was a trend toward earlier surgery in these patients. Logistic regression analysis showed that only age, organ dysfunction at the moment of surgery, and the presence of sterile necrosis were independent predictors of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort of critically ill patients operated on for SAP, there was a trend toward higher mortality in patients operated on early in the course of the disease, but in multivariate analysis, only greater age, severity of organ dysfunction at the moment of surgery, and the presence of sterile necrosis, but not the timing of the surgical intervention, were independently associated with an increased risk for mortality