A common understanding of sustainable production principles and the identification of sustainable manufacturing practices among practitioners are key starting points in studying how manufacturers are ...making their operations more sustainable. However, there is a lack of insight in the literature connecting conceptual sustainable production principles, and the practices reflecting these principles. Using semi-structured interviews founded on the sustainable production principles posed by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, this paper presents an outlook of how companies in different industries carry out manufacturing practices related to the sustainability production principles. Results showed that the majority of sustainable manufacturing practices remain strongly centered on the environmental dimension of sustainability, with the greatest number of practices emanating from principles concerning energy and material conservation, and waste management. Similarly, reactive sustainable manufacturing practices prevailed over proactive sustainable manufacturing practices, as most of the practices aimed to comply with regulatory and market pressures. Quality and environmental management systems were acknowledged as important tools for putting sustainable production principles into practice; while Swedish environmental and social regulations were found to drive sustainable manufacturing practices. This study connects sustainable production principles with sustainable manufacturing practices and opens the way for further studies on a global or sector-specific scale.
•Adherence to the LCSP sustainable production principles in practice is explored.•Most practices respond to principles tackling environmental sustainability.•Energy conservation and waste management formed the majority of practices.•Reactive practices driven by legislation predominate in the companies studied.•Quality and environmental management systems support adherence to some principles.
In this paper, we consider a two-level system (TLS) coupled to a one-dimensional continuum of bosonic modes in a transmission line (TL). Using the master equation approach, a method for determining ...the photon number distribution of the scattered field is outlined. Specifically, results for the reflected field when driving the TLS with a coherent pulse are given. While the one-photon probability is enhanced compared to the incident coherent field, the system is still not a good deterministic single-photon source. Extending the system to contain two separate TLs, however, output fields with one-photon probabilities close to unity can be reached.
Background
Peanut oral immunotherapy (pOIT) has showed good short‐term outcomes, but allergic reactions may prevent effective up‐dosing and is a major cause of stopping OIT. In placebo‐controlled ...trials, omalizumab has been shown to facilitate allergen immunotherapy and increase tolerance to peanut.
Objective
We hypothesized that by combining omalizumab with pOIT, and monitor treatment effects with basophil allergen threshold sensitivity tests (CD‐sens), peanut allergic patients could safely initiate pOIT and thereafter slowly withdraw omalizumab.
Methods
This is the 2nd part of a one‐armed open phase‐2 study where peanut allergic adolescents (n = 23) started pOIT after an individualized omalizumab treatment. The pOIT dose was increased from 280 to 2800 mg peanut protein in 8 weeks followed by an individualized step‐wise withdrawal of omalizumab, based on clinical symptoms and CD‐sens levels. pOIT continued for 12 weeks followed by an open peanut challenge. Peanut CD‐sens and allergen‐binding activity (ABA) and IgE‐ab, IgG‐ab and IgG4‐ab to peanut and its components were measured during the study.
Results
All 23 patients successfully reached the 2800 mg maintenance dose. Moderate/systemic allergic reactions were rare while receiving full‐dose omalizumab. Eleven of 23 (48%) successfully continued with pOIT after omalizumab was stopped. Compared to treatment failures, median baseline IgE‐ab to peanut components Ara h 1‐3 and CD‐sens to peanut were significantly lower among successfully treated patients and IgG4‐ab to peanut, Ara h 2 and 6 increased significantly more during treatment.
Conclusions and clinical relevance
This study indicates that omalizumab is an effective adjunctive therapy for initiation and rapid up‐dosing of pOIT; however, adverse events from pOIT become more frequent as omalizumab doses are decreased.
Clinical trials registration: ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT02402231. EudraCT; 2012‐005625‐78.
We use measurements from the Rosetta plasma consortium Langmuir probe and mutual impedance probe to study the spatial distribution of low‐energy plasma in the near‐nucleus coma of comet ...67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko. The spatial distribution is highly structured with the highest density in the summer hemisphere and above the region connecting the two main lobes of the comet, i.e., the neck region. There is a clear correlation with the neutral density and the plasma to neutral density ratio is found to be ∼1–2·10−6, at a cometocentric distance of 10 km and at 3.1 AU from the Sun. A clear 6.2 h modulation of the plasma is seen as the neck is exposed twice per rotation. The electron density of the collisionless plasma within 260 km from the nucleus falls off with radial distance as ∼1/r. The spatial structure indicates that local ionization of neutral gas is the dominant source of low‐energy plasma around the comet.
Key Points
The spatial distribution of plasma around comet 67P is highly structured
Local ionization of neutral gas dominates the plasma environment
Plasma falls off with cometocentric distance as 1/r
Quantum fluctuations of the vacuum are both a surprising and fundamental phenomenon of nature. Understood as virtual photons, they still have a very real impact, for instance, in the Casimir effects ...and the lifetimes of atoms. Engineering vacuum fluctuations is therefore becoming increasingly important to emerging technologies. Here, we shape vacuum fluctuations using a superconducting circuit analogue of a mirror, creating regions in space where they are suppressed. Moving an artificial atom through these regions and measuring the spontaneous emission lifetime of the atom provides us with the spectral density of the vacuum fluctuations. Using the paradigm of waveguide quantum electrodynamics, we significantly improve over previous studies of the interaction of an atom with its mirror image, observing a spectral density as low as 0.02 quanta, a factor of 50 below the mirrorless result. This demonstrates that we can hide the atom from the vacuum, even though it is exposed in free space.
Engineering materials that can store electrical energy in structural load paths can revolutionize lightweight design across transport modes. Stiff and strong batteries that use solid‐state ...electrolytes and resilient electrodes and separators are generally lacking. Herein, a structural battery composite with unprecedented multifunctional performance is demonstrated, featuring an energy density of 24 Wh kg−1 and an elastic modulus of 25 GPa and tensile strength exceeding 300 MPa. The structural battery is made from multifunctional constituents, where reinforcing carbon fibers (CFs) act as electrode and current collector. A structural electrolyte is used for load transfer and ion transport and a glass fiber fabric separates the CF electrode from an aluminum foil‐supported lithium–iron–phosphate positive electrode. Equipped with these materials, lighter electrical cars, aircraft, and consumer goods can be pursued.
Structural battery composites offer mass‐less energy storage for electrical vehicles and devices. Structural batteries are enabled by the recently discovered multifunctional properties of carbon fibers and the development of a structural electrolyte matrix material. The emergent multifunctional properties reach a level that allows lightweight vehicles and innovations across and beyond all transport modes.
Purpose:
To follow children with a clubfoot by ultrasonography during the entire treatment period up to 4 years and compare with controls.
Method:
Thirty clubfeet in 20 children treated using the ...Ponseti method and 29 controls were followed by repeated ultrasonography investigations from neonates to the age of 4 years. The previously established coronal medial and lateral, sagittal dorsal and posterior projections were used. Changes over time, correlations to the Diméglio score, and the course of treatment were studied.
Results:
The medial malleolus–navicular distance was shorter, while the talar tangent–navicular distance and the talo-navicular angle were larger in clubfeet than in controls even after the initial correction. The healthy feet in unilateral cases did not differ significantly from the controls. The range of motion in the talo-navicular joint was approximately 20° less in clubfeet than in controls during the first four years of life. The medial malleolus–navicular distance (r = –0.58) and the talo-navicular angle (r = 0.66) at the first ultrasonography showed the highest correlation to the number of casts needed to correct the deformities.
Conclusion:
Ultrasonography can be used to evaluate the initial degree of deformities in clubfeet and to follow the progress of the treatment and growth. Ultrasonography showed a clear difference between clubfeet and controls during the first four years of life. Although it was not possible to define specific limit values as benchmarks in the treatment, dynamic ultrasonography can provide valuable support in the decision-making process when complementary treatment may be needed.
Level of evidence:
III
We explore routing of propagating phonons in analogy with previous experiments on photons. Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in the microwave regime are scattered by a superconducting transmon qubit. The ...transmon can be tuned on or off resonance with the incident SAW field using an external magnetic field or the Autler-Townes effect, and thus the reflection and transmission of the SAW field can be controlled in time. We observe 80% extinction in the transmission of the low power continuous signal and a 40 ns rise time of the router. The slow propagation speed of SAWs on solid surfaces allows for in-flight manipulations of the propagating phonons. The ability to route short, 100 ns, pulses enables new functionality, for instance to catch an acoustic phonon between two qubits and then release it in a controlled direction.
. Adamsson V, Reumark A, Fredriksson I‐B, Hammarström E, Vessby B, Johansson G, Risérus U (Uppsala University, Uppsala; Lantmännen R&D, Stockholm; Bollnäs Heart Clinic, Mitt Hjärta, Bollnäs; ...Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden). Effects of a healthy Nordic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in hypercholesterolaemic subjects: a randomized controlled trial (NORDIET). J Intern Med 2011; 269: 150–159.
Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a healthy Nordic diet (ND) on cardiovascular risk factors.
Design and subjects. In a randomized controlled trial (NORDIET) conducted in Sweden, 88 mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects were randomly assigned to an ad libitum ND or control diet (subjects’ usual Western diet) for 6 weeks. Participants in the ND group were provided with all meals and foods. Primary outcome measurements were low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and secondary outcomes were blood pressure (BP) and insulin sensitivity (fasting insulin and homeostatic model assessment‐insulin resistance). The ND was rich in high‐fibre plant foods, fruits, berries, vegetables, whole grains, rapeseed oil, nuts, fish and low‐fat milk products, but low in salt, added sugars and saturated fats.
Results. The ND contained 27%, 52%, 19% and 2% of energy from fat, carbohydrate, protein and alcohol, respectively. In total, 86 of 88 subjects randomly assigned to diet completed the study. Compared with controls, there was a decrease in plasma cholesterol (−16%, P < 0.001), LDL cholesterol (−21%, P < 0.001), high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (−5%, P < 0.01), LDL/HDL (−14%, P < 0.01) and apolipoprotein (apo)B/apoA1 (−1%, P < 0.05) in the ND group. The ND reduced insulin (−9%, P = 0.01) and systolic BP by −6.6 ± 13.2 mmHg (−5%, P < 0.05) compared with the control diet. Despite the ad libitum nature of the ND, body weight decreased after 6 weeks in the ND compared with the control group (−4%, P < 0.001). After adjustment for weight change, the significant differences between groups remained for blood lipids, but not for insulin sensitivity or BP. There were no significant differences in diastolic BP or triglyceride or glucose concentrations.
Conclusions. A healthy ND improves blood lipid profile and insulin sensitivity and lowers blood pressure at clinically relevant levels in hypercholesterolaemic subjects.
Six high temperature alloys have been exposed in N2/H2 environments at 900 °C. In order to study the efficacy of a chromia barrier layer against nitrogen ingress, experiments were performed in two ...environments having the same N2/H2 ratio but slightly different water content, chromia formation being spontaneous in one case only. The samples were evaluated by SEM/STEM/EDX, XRD, gravimetry and GD-OES. The presence of an external chromia scale reduced nitridation of the alloy by 50–95%. Furthermore, in the presence of a continuous alumina layer no nitridation of the alloy was detected.
•Nitridation was reduced by 50–95% by an external chromia layer.•An alumina without macro defects proved to prevent any detectable nitridation.•Nitridation resistance increased with the concentration of nickel in the alloy.
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