One-Year Monitoring of Daily Earthworm Cast Production: Surface Cast Contribution to Soil Fertility in a Subtropical Forest

The process of earthworm casting plays an important role in soil fertility. The contributions of earthworm casts to soil nutrients dynamics cannot be fully understood unless the temporal changes in earthworm cast production and the related nutrient resource pools are explored in the field. Here, we recorded the daily surface cast production of earthworms and monthly change patterns of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) in casts in a subtropical plantation for one year and compared the nutrient concentrations and microbial community traits (structure and bacterial activity) in casts with those in bulk soils. Our objectives were to characterize the temporal patterns of earthworm cast production and the C and nutrients in casts and to assess the potential contribution of earthworm casts to soil fertility. The results showed that the annual surface cast production at the study site was 8.3 tons ha−1; monthly cast production was >80 g m−2 during April to November and <30 g m−2 during December to March. The annual outputs of total organic C (TOC), total N (TN) and total P (TP) in surface casts were 68.10, 4.84 and 0.38 g m−2, respectively; the annual outputs of available P (AP), NH4+-N and NO3−-N were 22.4, 147.0 and 61.3 mg m−2, respectively. The concentrations of TOC and TN in casts were higher during warm months, but NH4+-N was higher during cold months, while both the concentrations of TP and AP in casts were constant throughout the year. The nutrient concentrations were 1.6–4.3-fold greater, and the microbial biomass C and N contents were 7–8-fold greater in earthworm casts than those in bulk soils. However, the bacterial stress index (BSI) was significantly greater in casts than in the bulk soil, which implies that bacteria in casts were under stress. Accordingly, the ratio of fungal to bacterial biomass (F/B) was significantly higher in casts than in the bulk soil. Earthworm casting activity can process forest soil into a “new soil”, which forms large amounts of earthworm-induced hotspots of soil fertility. These resource pools in casts, with monthly fluctuated C and N and constant P, could be more readily accessed by fungi rather than bacteria. Earthworm casting activity potentially changes both the nutrients available and the interactions of plants and rhizosphere microbiota.

3D printing technologies applied to the manufacturing of aircraft components

This study mainly aimed to make 3D printing technologies serve as the guidelines for the development of technology-oriented industries. The most important one was tasked to establish modeling technology applicable to 3D printing in view of technological development. For the substrate material of 3D printers, aside from commonly usable plastic, new carbon fiber composite substrates have been proposed. Substrates were selected for manufacturing dependent on different object characteristics. The components were manufactured mainly by focusing on small-sized aircraft components. Additionally, potential problems encountered during 3D printing were explored with feasible suggested solutions. In the aerospace industry, because of the extreme requirements for the weight reduction of aircraft components, in the past, this was limited by manufacturing difficulties. If specific shapes were required, it was highly difficult to produce a component in a single-cast production or cut from a single metal piece. Component manufacturing often had to be divided into several planning blocks, and then welding, assembly, or rivet connection was conducted. This situation was not only flawed with structural weaknesses but also extra weight. If metal powder was operable with 3D printing for integral molding, the above disadvantages could be avoided.

Current and Future Manufacturing of Chest Orthoses, Considering the Case of Osteogenesis Imperfecta

The present paper aims at discussing the current manufacturing processes of chest orthoses, considering patients affected by Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) and a possible future scenario. OI is a genetic disease caused primarily by the genes responsible for collagen production. One of the most common symptoms among the groups of living subjects affected by OI is scoliosis, the abnormal deformation of the spine curvature. The non-invasive treatments for realigning the spine consist of both physical exercise and use of chest braces. The latter are strongly patient-dependent devices; thus, the level of customization is high. The production processes can be classified in: traditional, modern and research process. The first one consists of a sequence of manual operations on plaster casts and final orthoses. The modern process integrates CAD/CAM systems for the first phases of virtual 3D modeling and the automation of the cast production using milling robot, but maintaining the second part of the process. The research process considers the introduction of polymer Additive Manufacturing (AM) in substitution to the thermoforming. Advantages and disadvantages related to each process are discussed in relation to the OI problem.

Improvement of Artistic Cast Production System

The paper presents the technology and organization of the artistic cast production. On the basis of the actual cast production system, the manufacturing process was shown, in particular sand–piece moulding, which is a very important process and a time-consuming part of the entire manufacture of the casts. The current state of the production process as well as the organization of the work and production technology were analysed with the use of methods and techniques of production improvement, the Lean Manufacturing concept and computer systems. The results of the analysis and studies were shown with use of schemes and graphs of the layout of the production resources, a flow chart of the production process, value stream mapping, and a costs table for the production and modernization of the moulding stage. The work has shown that there are possibilities to improve the artistic cast production system. This improvement leads to increased productivity, lower production costs of artistic casts and increased competitiveness of the foundry.

Manufacturing of Aluminum Metal Matrix Cast Composites with Carbon Based Additives for Thermal Management Applications

This work focuses on the production of new high conductive carbon based MMC (Metal Matrix Composites) or co-cast components obtained by casting processes. These novel thermally conductive structures are designed to face modern heat management challenges in critical fields such as power micro-electronics, automotive and aerospace industries, renewable energy generation as well as highest performance combustion engines. The sought parts will be assembled by different heat conductive aluminum-carbon composites and for this reason different heat conductive MMCs have been studied. Their combination into once cast aluminum part may allow the part to meet applicative needs for heat management challenges. The cast production routes as well as thermal behavior of the obtained materials has been studied by means of numerical (Finite Element Methods) approaches in order to determine the effective thermal conductivity in the different directions of heat dissipation. Some kinds of casting methods have been FEM simulated and then performed practically. TPG/aluminum interface microstructure has been studied.

Filmipildi märksõnastamisest Eesti filmi andmebaasis. Rahvusfilmograafias / Meta-Description of Films in Estonian Film Database. National Filmography

Summary 2012 was the year of film in Estonia, when the 100th anniversary of Estonian film was celebrated. One of the most significant undertakings planned for this occasion was the creation of the Estonian film database (electronic national filmography). Performing this large-scale task was undertaken by the NPO Estonian Film Database, launched in 2007. The main objective of the undertaking was to form a complete Estonian national filmography within ten years (2007-2018) and make it available in a web environment to everyone interested, both in Estonia and abroad. The access to the database was opened in late fall, 2012 (www.efis.ee). Together with newsreels, the number of produced items reaches over 12 000. Feature films, documentaries and popular films, anima, television, educational programmes, advertising films and newsreels form a rich collection of the life, history, culture and people of Estonia. Nearly 3 000 filmmakers and most Estonian actors and actresses have participated in creating the Estonian film heritage. Several thousand people, events, places, buildings, offices and institutions in Estonia participate in or are mentioned in the films. In addition, the films are adressing several thousand people shown or talking in films. The electronic database opens the film treasury in a summarised way, employing a variety of possibilities offered by modern electronic databases. A metadata system and coding instructions were prepared for each film, person and institution in the extensive space of attributes with search options, which combines the interactive features of a film directory and bibliographical, biographical databases. Each film is described as thoroughly as possible. The attributes of films contain data about the subject, genre, authors, cast, production team, locations, producers, copyrights and distributors of films and about the technical parameters of films, as well as the bibliography of films, references to the reviews, articles, books published about films and the makers of films, digitised frames and pictures from films, trailers and promotional clips, scripts, memories of the makers and other interesting details. The subject content of films is indexed in 12 categories and related sub-groups and enables the search of films by plot/subject content, physical items, themes of newsreels and feature films, people, time, events, locations, building sites and institutions. In addition, films are indexed by a film-adapted UDC. As a result, more than 50 000 keywords enable thorough multi-layered content and subject search. All filmmakers are given their personal websites, which provides an overview of their creative careers and filmographies. The electronic film database is interfaced with other similar databases at the Estonian Public Broadcasting, film archive of the National Archives, National Library and the Baltic Film and Media School of the Tallinn University. The web interface offers the possibility to enter with an ID-card and allows advance into several digital storages, where it is possible to view the films produced and purchase them for streaming. The filmography is interfaced with social networks (Facebook, Twitter) and is aiming the possibility to interlink it with the European Film Gateway in the future, thus offering access to a digitised film treasury through Europeana. The database is aimed at film professionals, teachers, students, researchers and the general public as the target audience. Among others, the key issues of cultural databases draw on the approaches and solutions for information retrieval and are relying in particular on the principles of conceptual (intellectual) subject indexing of audiovisual artefacts. Inspired by classical works of Panofsky, Shatford, Turner and others regarding image description, analysis and interpretation the article covers some main issues regarding options for a multifunctional film indexing metadata. The text tackles different aspects of the description of moving images for public needs in general and also describes the specific details of the system, developed for deep keywording of Estonian films. The rationale, limits and disputable issues as well as our experience and basic suggestions for professional indexers who are undertaking these kind of tasks are also revealed.

A357 Aluminium Cast Alloys for Extrusion Processes

The A357 Al-Si-Mg cast alloy is commonly used for cast production of automotive components in conventional HPDC and in semi-solid processes. The aim of this work is to study the application of A357 cast alloy in thixoextrusion processes. This technology offers new possibilities of application for cast alloys and several advantages in from of conventional processes of hot-extrusion: lower pressure, minor friction forces, higher material fluidity and longer tool life. The thixoextrusion was experimented in a pilot plant, at different speeds and temperatures, with an induction furnace and a 400 Tn press. With ingots of A357 as cast, a tool with a ratio of 8.5 and with temperatures of extrusion around 560 °C, it is possible to obtain extrusion speeds more than 3 m•s-1. In all cases, when the speed of extrusion increases, the press of extrusion decreases. The effect of heat treatments and extrusion speed in the microstructure of the extruded product is evaluated.