Lead-free bearing alloys for engine applications - Results of the ESA-MAP project MONOPHAS

Recent developments to reduce fuel consumption, emission and air pollution, size and weight of engines for automotive, truck, ship propulsion and electrical power generation lead to temperature and load conditions within engines that cannot be provided by conventional bearings. Therefore a European project has been established to develop a technically usable aluminium based lead free bearing material with sufficient hardness, wear and friction properties and good corrosion resistance to be produced with semi-continuous casting process. The paper describes the scientific challenges, approaches to tackle the solidification and casting problems and presents some illustrative research results

Size and power of some cointegration tests under structural breaks and heteroskedastic noise

power, size distortions, cointegration, common factor systems, regime shifts,

Pharmacological treatment of asthma in a cohort of adults during a 20-year period: results from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey I, II and III

Asthma often remains uncontrolled, despite the fact that the pharmacological treatment has undergone large changes. We studied changes in the treatment of asthma over a 20-year period and identified factors associated with the regular use of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment. Changes in the use of medication were determined in 4617 randomly selected subjects, while changes in adults with persistent asthma were analysed in 369 participants. The study compares data from three surveys in 24 centres in 11 countries. The use of ICSs increased from 1.7% to 5.9% in the general population and the regular use of ICSs increased from 19% to 34% among persistent asthmatic subjects. The proportion of asthmatic subjects reporting asthma attacks in the last 12 months decreased, while the proportion that had seen a doctor in the last 12 months remained unchanged (42%). Subjects with asthma who had experienced attacks or had seen a doctor were more likely to use ICSs on a regular basis. Although ICS use has increased, only one-third of subjects with persistent asthma take ICSs on a regular basis. Less than half had seen a doctor during the last year. This indicates that underuse of ICSs and lack of regular healthcare contacts remains a problem in the management of asthma