Development of new damage tolerant alloys for age-forming

The applicability of age forming for the forming of damage tolerant structures is investigated by formulating and testing new alloy-age forming combinations. The alloy formulation process is driven initially by modelling of strength and semi-quantitative understanding of other microstructure-property relations. Using this a range of Al-Cu-Mg-Li-(Zr-Mn) based alloys that are predicted to provide yield strengths in aged condition comparable with incumbent the 2024-T351 alloy for lower wing skins are selected. It is shown that several of these new alloys after artificial aging representative of age-forming have proof strengths (PS), fatigue crack growth resistance (FCGR) and toughness that are comparable or better than incumbent 2024-T351. UTS to PS ratios of the new alloys are lower than incumbent 2024-T351

Archetypical patterns and trajectories of land systems in Europe

Assessments of land-system change have dominantly focused on conversions among broad land-use categories, whereas intensity changes within these categories have received less attention. Considering that both modes of land change typically result in diverse patterns and trajectories of land-system change, there is a need to develop approaches to reduce this complexity. Using Europe as a case study, we applied a clustering approach based on self-organising maps and 12 land-use indicators to map (1) land-system archetypes for the year 2006, defined as characteristic patterns of land-use extent and intensity, and (2) archetypical change trajectories, defined as characteristic changes in these indicators between 1990 and 2006. Our analysis identified 15 land-system archetypes, with low-intensity archetypes dominating (ca. 55 % coverage) followed by high-intensity archetypes (ca. 26 %). In terms of change, we identified 17 archetypical change trajectories, clustered in four broad categories. Stable land systems were most widespread (ca. 40 % of the EU27), followed by land systems characterised by land-use conversions (ca. 26 %), de-intensification trends (ca. 18 %), and intensification trends (ca. 15 %). Intensively used and intensifying land systems were particularly widespread in Western Europe, whereas low-intensity and de-intensifying land systems dominated in Europe’s east. Comparing our archetypes with environmental and socio-economic factors revealed that good accessibility and favourable topographic, climatic, and soil conditions characterised intensively managed areas. Intensification was also most common in these areas, suggesting an ongoing polarisation of intensification in favourable areas and de-intensification and abandonment trends in more marginal areas. By providing spatially and thematically improved maps of land-use patterns and changes therein, our archetypes could serve as useful inputs for more detailed assessments of ecosystem service demand and supply, as well as explorations of land-system change trade-offs, especially with regard to land-use intensity. Further, they could serve useful for identifying regions within which similar policy tools could be valuable to develop regionalised, context-specific land-management policies to steer European land systems onto desired pathways

Use of the Mini Nutritional Assessment to detect frailty in hospitalised older people

ObjectivesThe aims of this study were to: (1) determine the prevalence of undernutrition and frailty in hospitalised elderly patients and (2) evaluate the efficacy of both the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) screening tool and the MNA short form (MNA-SF) in identifying frailty.Setting and participantsA convenient sample of 100 consecutive patients (75.0 % female) admitted to the Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit (GEMU) at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in South Australia.MeasurementsFrailty status was determined using Fried's frailty criteria and nutritional status by the MNA and MNA-SF. Optimal cut-off scores to predict frailty were determined by Youden's Index, Receiver Operator Curves (ROC) and area under curve (AUC).ResultsUndernutrition was common. Using the MNA, 40.0% of patients were malnourished and 44.0% were at risk of malnutrition. By Fried's classification, 66.0 % were frail, 30.0 % were pre-frail and 4.0 % robust. The MNA had a specificity of 0.912 and a sensitivity of 0.516 in predicting frailty using the recommended cut-off for malnourishment (ConclusionThe quickly and easily administered MNA-SF appears to be a good tool for predicting both under-nutrition and frailty in elderly hospitalised people. Further studies would show whether the MNA-SF could also detect frailty in other populations of older people.E. Dent, R. Visvanathan, C. Piantadosi, I. Chapma

Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable

Cellular mechanisms in basic and clinical gastroenterology and hepatolog