Tolerating the intolerable: Flash smelting of copper and the construction of technological constraints

The history of Outokumpu flash furnace and the construction of electricity constraints.</p

Overcoming Scarcities Through Innovation: What Do Technologists Do When Faced With Constraints?

The question that still divides many debates about sustainability is the possibility of technological substitution of scarce natural resources. While there is considerable debate among economists whether technology can mitigate scarcities through development of substitutes, there is little actual research on the mechanisms and limitations of this substitution process. In this study, I seek to build a bridge between scarcity and innovation literatures to study when technologists decide to develop technological substitutes. My starting point is the theory of technology as a recombination of existing mental and physical components. Combining this theory with modern scarcity literature that differentiates between absolute, relative, and quasi-scarcities yields a more nuanced framework for understanding both different types of scarcities, and how technologists decide whether or not to develop or adopt technological substitutes. This improves our understanding of the possibilities — and limitations — of scarcity-induced innovation. I then illustrate the use of this framework with two brief historical case studies about constraint-induced innovation. I conclude that the mainstream economic practice of assuming that substitution will occur automatically, even in cases of absolute scarcity, may hide extremely important phenomena from discussion and debate behind a veil of circular reasoning.</p

Dual-contrast micro-CT enables cartilage lesion detection and tissue condition evaluation ex vivo

Background: Post-traumatic osteoarthritis is a frequent joint disease in the horse. Currently, equine medicine lacks effective methods to diagnose the severity of chondral defects after an injury. Objectives: To investigate the capability of dual-contrast-enhanced computed tomography (dual-CECT) for detection of chondral lesions and evaluation of the severity of articular cartilage degeneration in the equine carpus ex vivo. Study design: Pre-clinical experimental study. Methods: In nine Shetland ponies, blunt and sharp grooves were randomly created (in vivo) in the cartilage of radiocarpal and middle carpal joints. The contralateral joint served as control. The ponies were subjected to an 8-week exercise protocol and euthanised 39 weeks after surgery. CECT scanning (ex vivo) of the joints was performed using a micro-CT scanner 1 hour after an intra-articular injection of a dual-contrast agent. The dual-contrast agent consisted of ioxaglate (negatively charged, q = −1) and bismuth nanoparticles (BiNPs, q = 0, diameter ≈ 0.2 µm). CECT results were compared to histological cartilage proteoglycan content maps acquired using digital densitometry. Results: BiNPs enabled prolonged visual detection of both groove types as they are too large to diffuse into the cartilage. Furthermore, proportional ioxaglate diffusion inside the tissue allowed differentiation between the lesion and ungrooved articular cartilage (3 mm from the lesion and contralateral joint). The mean ioxaglate partition in the lesion was 19 percentage points higher (P < 0.001) when compared with the contralateral joint. The digital densitometry and the dual-contrast CECT findings showed good subjective visual agreement. Main limitations: Ex vivo study protocol and a low number of investigated joints. Conclusions: The dual-CECT methodology, used in this study for the first time to image whole equine joints, is capable of effective lesion detection and simultaneous evaluation of the condition of the articular cartilage

Structural, compositional, and functional effects of blunt and sharp cartilage damage on the joint: a 9-month equine groove model study

This study aimed to quantify the long-term progression of blunt and sharp cartilage defects and their effect on joint homeostasis and function of the equine carpus. In nine adult Shetland ponies, the cartilage in the radiocarpal and middle carpal joint of one front limb was grooved (blunt or sharp randomized). The ponies were subjected to an 8-week exercise protocol and sacrificed at 39 weeks. Structural and compositional alterations in joint tissues were evaluated in vivo using serial radiographs, synovial biopsies, and synovial fluid samples. Joint function was monitored by quantitative gait analysis. Macroscopic, microscopic, and biomechanical evaluation of the cartilage, and assessment of subchondral bone parameters were performed ex vivo. Grooved cartilage showed higher OARSI microscopy scores than the contra-lateral sham-operated controls (p <0.0001). Blunt-grooved cartilage scored higher than sharp-grooved cartilage (p = 0.007) and fixed charge density around these grooves was lower (p = 0.006). Equilibrium and instantaneous moduli trended lower in grooved cartilage than their controls (significant for radiocarpal joints). Changes in other tissues included a 3 to 7-fold change in IL-6 expression in synovium from grooved joints at week 23 (p = 0.042) and an increased CPII/C2C ratio in synovial fluid from blunt-grooved joints at week 35 (p = 0.010). Gait analysis outcome revealed mild, gradually increasing lameness. In conclusion, blunt and, to a lesser extent, sharp grooves in combination with a period of moderate exercise, lead to mild degeneration in equine carpal cartilage over a 9-month period, but the effect on overall joint health remains limited. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Rhinoviruses in infancy and risk of immunoglobulin E sensitization

Previous data about the role of viruses in the development of allergic immunoglobulin E (IgE) sensitization are contradictory. The aim of this study was to determine the possible associations between exposure to different viruses (rhinovirus, enterovirus, norovirus, and parechovirus) during the first year of life and IgE sensitization. Viruses were analyzed from stool samples collected monthly from infants participating in a prospective birth cohort study. From that study, 244 IgE sensitized case children and 244 nonsensitized control children were identified based on their allergen-specific IgE antibody levels at the age of 6, 18, and 36 months. Stool samples (n = 4576) from the case and control children were screened for the presence of rhinovirus, enterovirus, norovirus, and parechovirus RNA by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The study showed that rhinovirus was the most prevalent virus detected, present in 921 (20%) samples. None of the viruses were associated with IgE sensitization in the full cohort but after stratifying by sex, the number of rhinovirus positive samples was inversely associated with IgE sensitization in boys (odds ratio [OR]: 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.69-0.94; P = 0.006). There was also a temporal relation between rhinoviruses and IgE sensitization, as rhinovirus exposure during the first 6 months of life was associated with a reduced risk of subsequent IgE sensitization in boys (OR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.6-0.94; P = 0.016). In conclusion, early exposure to rhinoviruses was inversely associated with IgE sensitization but this protective association was restricted to boys.Peer reviewe

Standard of hygiene and immune adaptation in newborn infants

Peer reviewe

Konstruoituja ratkaisuja konstruoituihin rajoitteisiin

Is necessity the mother of innovation, and if so, why many extremely urgent problems such as climate change or cheap electricity storage still remain unsolved? Why even extraordinary incentives often fail to generate technological change that would solve the problem in hand? This thesis examines the relationship between resource scarcities, in particular energy and raw materials, and technological change. Drawing on and developing the literature on resource scarcities, constraints and innovation, the study presented here helps us to understand how perceptions of scarcities influences technological change, and how scarcities may even reproduce themselves through technological decisions influenced by such perceptions. Scarcities are found to be very much a question of power between those who would use the resources and those who control the resource use. Amartya Sen's concept of ''entitlement'' or its developments (e.g. Daoud's ''quasi-scarcity'') are found to be necessary for understanding how technology developers - technologists - actually respond to constraints and scarcities. In short, the technological responses to resource scarcities, such as the development of less resource intensive technologies, are heavily determined by how much power the technologists possess relative to resource controllers. This power, or entitlement to a resource, depends not only on the importance of the industry or the resource, but also on the perceptions of technology. In cases where scarcity-altering novel innovations are perceived to be within relatively easy reach, the technologists have less power and lower entitlement to the scarce resource. These findings are based on and illustrated by two case studies in history of technology. The main case study examines the history behind one mining company's decision to develop a radically novel ''flash smelting'' copper furnace as a response to post-Second World War electricity shortage in Finland. This development, by state-owned copper producer Outokumpu, slashed energy requirements for copper smelting, and became almost the standard method for copper smelting, one point producing as much as 60 percent of world's primary copper. The second case study looks at the development of jet engine cooling systems in the Second World War Germany as a result of Germany's lack of access to nickel, a strategic metal necessary for, among many other uses, high-temperature jet turbine components. As such, this thesis contributes not only to the emerging ''ingenuity'' and ''scarcity, abundance and sufficiency'' research streams, but also to the history of technology and to the history of post-war Finland, particularly the so-called ''war reparations period'' (1944-1952).Onko pakko keksintöjen äiti, ja jos on, miksi emme ole keksineet ratkaisuja moniin äärimmäisen pakottaviin ongelmiin, kuten ilmastonmuutokseen tai sähkön edulliseen varastointiin? Miksi jopa erittäin hyvät kannustimet eivät useinkaan johda ongelmat ratkaisevaan teknologiseen muutokseen? Tämä väitöskirja selvittää resurssiniukkuuksien, eritoten energian ja raaka-aineita koskevien, yhteyttä teknologiseen muutokseen. Väitöskirja pohjautuu ja kehittää tutkimuskirjallisuutta resurssiniukkuuksista ja -rajoitteista sekä innovaatiosta. Tutkimus auttaa ymmärtämään kuinka mielikuvat niukkuuksista vaikuttavat teknologiseen muutokseen, ja miten niukkuudet voivat jopa toisintaa itseään mielikuvien ohjaamien teknologisten päätösten kautta. Niukkuuksien todetaan olevan hyvin pitkälti valtakysymyksiä niukkoja resursseja käyttämään pyrkivien ja resursseja kontrolloivien välillä. Niukkuuksien vaikutusta teknologioita kehittävien ''teknologistien'' ratkaisuihin ei voi ymmärtää ilman Amartya Senin oikeutus-käsitettä (''entitlement'') tai siitä johdettuja konsepteja, kuten Daoudin ''kvasiniukkuuksia''. Lyhyesti, teknologiset vastaukset niukkuuksiin, kuten vähemmän resurssi-intensiivisten teknologioiden kehittäminen, riippuu suurelta osin siitä, miten paljon valtaa teknologisteilla on suhteessa resurssien jaosta päättäviin. Tämä valta, tai oikeutus resurssiin, ei riipu yksin teollisuudenalan tai resurssin tärkeydestä, vaan myös teknologiaan liitetyistä mielikuvista. Silloin kun niukkuustilaa muuttavien uusien innovaatioiden arvellaan olevan suhteellisen helposti kehitettävissä, teknologisteilla on vähemmän valtaa ja alhaisempi oikeutus niukkaan resurssiin. Tutkimuksen löydökset perustuvat ja niitä havainnollistetaan kahdella teknologian historiaa selvittävällä tapaustutkimuksella. Pääasiallinen tapaustutkimus käy läpi suomalaisen valtio-omisteisen kaivosyhtiö Outokummun päätöstä kehittää radikaalisti uudenlainen ''liekkiuuni'' kuparinsulatukseen vastauksena sodanjälkeisessä Suomessa vallinneeseen sähköpulaan. Kyseinen teknologia vähensi selvästi kuparinsulatuksen energiavaatimuksia, ja siitä tuli liki standardimetodi kuparinsulatuksessa: eräässä vaiheessa jopa 60 prosenttia maailman primäärikuparin tuotannosta tehtiin Outokummun toimittamilla uuneilla. Toinen tapaustutkimus tutkii suihkumoottoreiden jäähdytysjärjestelmän kehitystä toisen maailmansodan aikaisessa Saksassa vastauksena Saksassa vallinneeseen nikkelipulaan: nikkeli oli strateginen metalli, jota tarvittiin monien muiden käyttökohteiden ohella suihkuturbiinien vaatimien kuumalujien metalliseosten raaka-aineeksi. Väitöskirja edistääkin paitsi nousevaa ''nokkeluus''-kirjallisuutta (''ingenuity'') ja niukkuuksien, runsauksien ja riittävyyden (''scarcity, abundance and sufficiency,'' SAS) tutkimusta, myös tekniikan ja sodanjälkeisen Suomen sekä sotakorvauksien historiaa