EPSI makes HIP sale in Taiwan as prospects look up

US and Belgium_based Engineered Pressure Systems has sold a hot isostatic press (HIP) system to a customer in Taiwan. The unit has a maximum operating pressure of 200 MPa (29?000 psi) and an operating temperature of 1300°C.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

Hoeganaes funds new Chair in PM at Philadelphia's Drexel

Hoeganaes Corporation has established a $250?000 endowment for a Chair in Powder Metallurgy in the department of Materials Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

Copper gleams

Total world shipments of copper powder came close to 70?000 short tons last year. North America took 24?000 tons; Europe and Asia each took 20?000 tons and other countries 5 000 short tons. Bearing manufacture accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

More PM parts

The typical family vehicle built in North America contained 40 pounds of PM parts in the 2003 model year, up one pound from 2002. The 2004 model year should see 41.5 pounds of PM parts in the typical vehicle, a 3.8 per cent gain.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

New tech centre

Metaldyne's Engine Group has opened a 14?000-sq foot European Technical Centre in Dieburg, Germany, to support advanced development of the Engine Group's products.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

GKN puts positive spin on decline in sales

GKN put a positive spin on its PM businesses for the first half of 2003 despite a dip in sales to ?318 million ($512 million). The company attributed the decrease to the dollar’s decline against the Pound and the Euro. Sales levels remained stable in the face of reduced demand from markets in North America and Western Europe. The division is heavily dependent on U.S. automotive markets.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

Q2 Hawk up — but PM sales decline

US engineering group Hawk Corporation reported that second quarter income from operations increased by 16 per cent to $3.6 million, up from $3.1 million for the same period of 2002.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

Production and sales up for Höganäs

Swedish powder producer Höganäs increased sales by 13 per cent during the first half of 2003 to SK 1918 million — about $240 million. This figure includes earnings of around $43 million from SCM Metal Products, the former powder metallurgy arm of OM Group acquired by Höganäs for $65 million earlier this year.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

Cost of administering controlled drugs in a hospice ward

A study was undertaken in 1995 to examine the time taken to administer Controlled Drugs (CDs) in one of the two seven-bedded wards in the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice (PPWH) in the course of one week. A stop watch was used to measure the time taken from the decision to give a CD until its administration was entered into the CD Register. The drugs used were oral morphine, oral sustained release morphine and diamorphine for subcutaneous administration by syringe driver. The grade of nurses involved in administering the CDs was also recorded. The time taken by D, E, F, and G grade nurses was extrapolated to the number of hours per annum spent administering the CDs. The hourly rate for the various grades was documented and the total cost calculated. The total annual cost of administering CDs to the seven patients in the study was calculated to be 10,883.94 pounds. The total cost for the two wards was extrapolated to 21,767.88 pounds. The annual cost of the CDs was 7,294.63 pounds. The total cost of the CDs and their administration was 29,062.51 pounds: 75% of the expenditure is the cost of administration. Syringe drivers cost twice as much to administer as sustained release morphine tablets.     

Construction on Expansive Soils in Sudan

Expansive soils prevail over a large area of Sudan and have caused significant damages to irrigation systems, water lines, sewer lines, buildings, roads and other structures located on these soils. Damage caused by expansive soils is estimated by the writers to exceed $6,000,000 (8,000,000 Sudanese pounds) annually. The paper summarizes typical damages to show the type, extent and causes of damages and provides information on current design methods being used in Sudan to reduce potential damages. Based on soil surveys and soil properties collected from more than 30 sites, over one‐third of Sudan's 2,600,000?km2 area may have potentially expansive soils. It is recommended that all potential construction sites in the Clay Plain be evaluated for expansive soils.     

Dental fraud. A dental consultant's view

Since most plans today are based on "cost plus", employers and unions, whose plans were negotiated a long time ago, cannot afford to pay an increase of $13 per amalgam as they were asked to do when new codes for bonded amalgams were added to the provincial fee schedule. Similarly, demanding strains were placed on drug plans when a $16 per tablet medication for migraine headaches was placed on the market. The plan says that if a physician prescribed it, it will be covered. But by whom? And for how long? Dental insurance is not, and has not been for a very long time, a source of profit for the insurance carriers. One large company, for whom I worked for a number of years, just sold all their group dental insurance to a large carrier. Another well-known company has placed their group insurance on the market and is anxiously seeking a purchaser. It is too much to ask of a dental plan (and let's face it, without the plan, the patient may not seek dental treatment) to pay $100 or more for an "examination and one periapical radiograph resulting from the referral of a patient by a general practitioner to a specialist for endodontic treatment." In the case of a difficult diagnosis, this might be entertained, but why charge this fee in every case, even when the patient is holding a radiograph? I am not suggesting that fraud is being committed by a large number of practitioners on a regular basis. At the same time, I think that we must realize that this type of activity may result in the removal of dental "insurance" from the benefits provided by companies to their employees. Most dentists are extremely honest, but the backlash produced by the few who are involved in fraudulent practices is disturbing.     

Design and Operation of Point-of-Use Treatment System for Arsenic Removal

A point-of-use (POU) system was designed and constructed using commercially available activated alumina to remove arsenic from drinking water. Testing with City of Albuquerque chlorinated tap water containing an average of 23 ug/L arsenic found that 1 L of adsorbent would provide water for direct consumption by a family of four for 435 days. It was estimated that the POU system constructed for this study could be sold for $162, and the arsenic adsorption columns were estimated to cost $4. A monthly cost to the customer of $10/month was estimated to purchase, install, and operate this POU system, assuming annual replacement of adsorption media cartridges. The implications of relying upon POU systems to comply with a new drinking water standard for arsenic are discussed.     

湘钢 1# 90 m2 烧结机降低固体燃耗生产实践

介绍了湘钢烧结厂 1 #90 m2 烧结机近几年来通过进行热风烧结改造 ,配加生灰 ,增加料层厚度 ,改进焦粉粒度 ,优化配矿方案 ,改造电子秤等措施 ,从而大大降低固体燃耗     

Sandvik sells stake in French hardmetal producer as Q2 bites

Sandvik is selling its 49 per cent stake in French cobalt and tungsten producer Eurotungstene Poudres SA to the majority shareholder, Eramet. The move underscores the Swedish hardmetals and tooling group's determination to concentrate on core activities. Sandvik is a major supplier of cemented carbide and high-speed steel tools with 37,000 employees and annual sales last year of around $6 billion.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

Monetary contracts in weight control: Effectiveness of group and individual contracts of varying size.

89 overweight adult males (aged 35–57 yrs) drawn from a community population sample were assigned randomly to 1 of 6 treatment groups for weight reduction. All groups participated in a 15-wk behaviorally oriented program. Each involved a monetary contract in which participant deposits were returned contingent on weight lost. The program goal was 30 pounds lost. Groups varied in (a) amount of deposit ($30, $150, or $300) and (b) type of contract (refunds contingent on either individual or mean group performance). It was found that group contracts were associated with significantly more weight loss than individual contracts. This difference was maintained over 1-yr follow-up. Amount of deposit was positively, although weakly, related to short-term treatment outcomes. However, the short-term advantage of the larger contracts disappeared rapidly with time. Neither type nor amount of deposit significantly affected participation rates. Overall weight losses in the study were large. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of Irrigation Management Transfer on Land and Water Productivity and Water Supply in the Gediz Basin, Turkey

In the 1990s, Turkey started a fast transfer program in which a large proportion of government-managed irrigation systems were put into the hands of Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) in a very short space of time. One of the first systems to be handed over was the Gediz Basin. This study aims to set out the effects of the transfer of irrigation management in this basin on water and land productivity and water supply. For this purpose, the indicators of productivity and water supply proposed by the International Water Management Institute have been used to show changes between the pretransfer, transfer, and post-transfer periods. WUA averages for the post-transfer period calculated from the results ranged $2,076–$2,898?ha?1 for output per command area, $2,747–$4,585?ha?1 for output per irrigated area, $0.26–$0.68?m?3 for output per irrigation supply, $0.30–$0.63?m?3 for output per unit water consumed, 0.88–1.49 for relative water supply, and 0.99–1.99 for relative irrigation supply. During the period evaluated by the study, there was a decline in water supply indicators, as against a steady increase in the productivity of water and land use. The basic reason for this decrease in supply is the long-lasting and ongoing drought in the region.     

Being the best bearer of bad tidings.

Giving bad news is an unpleasant task, and the medical literature provides numerous guidelines for giving bad news well. However, what people mean by "giving bad news well" is less clear. What should be the goal when communicating bad news? The authors suggest that the goal of news-givers should be to guide recipients toward a desired response and the authors propose a theoretical framework, the Bad News Response Model, for delivering bad news that draws from research in health and social psychology. The model is applicable to all forms of bad news and specifies that three characteristics of the news (controllability, likelihood, and severity) influence which response (Watchful Waiting, Active Change, or Acceptance) will most often lead to the best quality of life for the recipient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of inbreeding on the lifetime performance of dairy cattle

The effects of inbreeding on the lifetime performance of dairy cattle were examined using data for production, somatic cell score, and linear type for all Holstein cows that were scored between 1983 and 1993. The results of fixed and mixed animal models differed. Relative net income adjusted for opportunity cost for the 2,610,123 cows with an 84-mo opportunity for herdlife was depressed by $14.79 for fluid market pricing and by $12.40 for manufacturing pricing per 1% increase in inbreeding. Mixed model estimates of depression per 1% of increase in inbreeding were +0.55 d for age at first calving, -6 d for days of productive life, and -4.8 for days in milk. Inbreeding decreased the mature equivalent production of milk, fat, and protein during first lactation by 27, 0.9, and 0.8 kg and the lifetime production of milk, fat, and protein by 177, 6.0, and 5.5 kg, respectively, per 1% increase in inbreeding. Inbreeding had little effect on conformation traits. The effects of inbreeding were cumulative, and effects on lifetime profit functions were relatively larger than the effects on lactation traits. Registered cows had higher levels of inbreeding and larger standard deviations than did grade cows. Inbreeding in registered cows depressed relative net income adjusted for opportunity cost for fluid and manufacturing prices by $24.43 and $21.78, respectively; income was depressed $9.43 and $9.02, respectively, for grade cows. The difference between registered and grade cattle is likely due to the incomplete pedigree information in grade animals. Inbreeding among cows in this study was not high on average, but economic losses represented a significant cost to the producer.     

A comparison of the relative costs of cast treatment and intramedullary nailing for tibial diaphyseal fractures in the UK

A retrospective study was undertaken to compare the costs of treating tibial diaphyseal fractures non-operatively in a cast or operatively with locked intramedullary nailing. In total 39 patients with isolated closed or grade I open, two-part, displaced tibial diaphyseal fractures were studied. Of these, 18 were treated by manipulation under anaesthesia and cast immobilization, and 21 by closed, reamed, locked intramedullary nailing. A detailed analysis of the cost of treatment of each patient was performed and analysed in terms of the in-hospital costs and the overall costs, taking into account time off work. The mean hospital costs were 2226 pounds for plaster treatment and 3727 pounds for intramedullary nailing (significantly different, p < 0.05). The mean time off work was 9 weeks longer in the plaster group and when the cost of lost production through time off work was added to the hospital costs, the overall costs of plaster treatment and intramedullary nailing were 6810 Pounds and 6592 Pounds (difference not significant). This study suggests that the cost to the hospital of treating these fractures is less with plaster treatment but that the overall cost to the community is no different.