Dyslipidaemia in rural Australia : the evidence treatment gaps

Aims & rationale/Objectives : Hypercholesterolaemia accounts for 11.6% of total deaths and 6.2% of the disability burden for the Australian population.1 This paper reports population lipid profiles for three rural Australian populations, and assesses evidence-treatment gaps against the most recent (2005-2007) Australian guidelines.

Methods : Three population surveys were undertaken in the Greater Green Triangle. 3,320 adults aged 25-74 yrs were randomly selected using age/gender stratified electoral roll samples and of these 1563 subjects participated in the survey. Anthropometric, clinical and self-administered questionnaire data relating to chronic disease risk were collected in accordance with the WHO MONICA protocol.2 A detailed investigation of dyslipidaemia was included.

Principal findings : All required data was available for 1255 participants. Age-standardised mean total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol concentrations were 5.36 mmol/l, 1.42 mmol/l, 3.23 mmol/l and 1.48 mmol/l, respectively. Amongst those taking lipid-lowering medication, just 11% categorised as secondary prevention/diabetes, and 39% as primary prevention, achieved all lipid targets. In the 20% of untreated participants at high risk of a primary cardiovascular event, 26% were aware of their hypercholesterolaemia and just 2% achieved all lipid targets (2.8% achieved TC?5.5 mmol, 8.5% achieved LDL<3.5 mmol/l). 11.2% of the overall population used lipid-lowering medication (95% was statin monotherapy).

Implications : Most adults do not achieve their target lipid profile. This paper identifies the subpopulations and lipid components which need to be targeted for future interventions. It also identifies substantial evidence-treatment gaps which should be addressed to help improve lipid profiles at a population level.

CRA/Rio Tinto in the 1990s : a decade of deunionisation

Given the scale of Rio Tinto's battles with the Australialn union movement during the roll out of its deunionisation program throughout its diverse miniing and manufacturing operations, there is much to be learnt from examining how the company first introduced its 'staff' employment system at its Tiwai Point smelter in New Zealand in 1991. Hamersley Iron in 1993, and at its Comalco-run Bell Bay and Weipa operations during 1994-96. More importantly, however, it is worth knowing why the company was so successful in deunionising previously 'soldered on' union territory. Though no doubt assisted by sympathetic legal, political and economic environments, it was ultimately the demonstrationl of managerial strength and determination, coupled with a hesitant union leadership, which led to the success of the company's deunionisation strategy. As the union movemenlt makes tenative steps to attract workers back to the fold, there are valuable lessons to be gained from analysing these momentous events which constitute such a transformational period in the history of Australian industrial relations.

Dyslipidaemia in rural Australia : prevalence, awareness, and adherence to treatment guidelines in the Greater Green Triangle risk factor study

Objectives: To determine population lipid profiles, awareness of hyperlipidaemia and adherence to Australian lipid management guidelines.
Design and setting: Population survey in rural south-eastern Australia, 2004–2006.
Participants: Stratified random sample from the electoral roll. Data from 1274 participants (40%) aged 25–74 years were analysed.
Main outcome measures: Population mean total, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC, LDL-C and HDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations, prevalence of dyslipidaemia, and treatment according to 2001 and 2005 Australian guideline target levels.
Results: Population-adjusted mean TC, TG, LDL-C and HDL-C concentrations were 5.38 mmol/L (95% CI, 5.30–5.45), 1.50 mmol/L (95% CI, 1.43–1.56), 3.23 mmol/L (95% CI, 3.16–3.30) and 1.46 mmol/L (95% CI, 1.44–1.49), respectively. Prevalence of hypercholesterolaemia (TC > 5.5 mmol/L or on treatment) was 48%. Lipid-lowering medication use was reported by 12%. Seventy-seven of 183 participants with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) or diabetes were untreated, and of the 106 treated, 59% reached the target LDL-C. Of those without CVD or diabetes already treated, 38% reached target LDL-C, and 397 participants at high absolute risk did not receive primary prevention. Ninety-five per cent of treated individuals with CVD or diabetes and 86% of others treated had cholesterol measured in the previous year. Sixty-nine per cent of individuals at low risk aged over 45 years had their cholesterol measured within the previous 5 years.
Conclusions: A comprehensive national strategy for lowering mean population cholesterol is required, as is better implementation of absolute risk management guidelines — particularly in rural populations.

Crossing Bowen Street : mapping interventions in the classed subject

Synopsis: Crossing Bowen Street Crossing Bowen Street is an extended novel set in Melbourne, Australia. The protagonist, Meg Flanagan, is accepted to teachers' college. Meg is 24 years old and has worked, and lived out of home, since 17. Having completed her year 12 studies part time while working, she has applied to the Melbourne State College for a Bachelor of Education. Melbourne State College is subsequently 'amalgamated'A into Philip University, the original 19th century sandstone institution which borders MSC. Meg has worked as a medical secretary prior to commencing her studies. An only child, she is the first member of her family to go to university, indeed to finish high school. Tertiary study is exciting for Meg and the novel explores the psychic journey as well as the intellectual one, as Meg experiences challenges to the possibilities for her life and the trajectory along which she once assumed it would flow. The narrative is told through episodic and epistolary forms, with particular periods in Meg's cultural and academic life forming the focus, picking up the integral elements of her journey and examining the psychic context and action. Characters in the undergraduate chapters of the novel are somewhat transient, although very important to Meg's rapidly developing, changing sense of herself. The constant 'trying out' of ways of being and even lifestyles sees Meg losing old 'friendships' and making new, even temporary, ones all the time. This allows the opportunity for Meg to explore her feelings about connecting to others and the nature of her relationships. The Meg reflected back to her by others is of constant interest to her, particularly as she is frequently reminded that others see a very different Meg than she does. The novel commences at the outset of Meg's tertiary career, as she initially articulates the extent of her aspiration, of her sense of the possibility of her own life. Each vignette deals, chronologically, with an aspect of Meg's expanding sense of possibility, socially, emotionally, intellectually. Certain vignettes explore her relations with friends and acquaintances in the course, which in turn provide A In 1988, Federal Labor Minister for Education John Dawkins, devised a plan to end the streaming of Australian tertiary institutions and created what is called the Unified National System. This meant that colleges of advanced education and institutes of technology were either created universities in their own right, or more commonly, merged with an appropriate existing university. This process allows a fascinating insight into the class dimensions of hierarchies and stratifications. The need of universities and their members for status has been profoundly underscored. the background and context for her sexual relationships. That aspect of her developing subjectivity provides a marked contrast, which Meg uses as leverage, when set against her sense of herself as a scholar and her growing notion of entitlement, which allows her to 'choose', where previously she believed she had no choice; the choice is a scholarly career. Within all this, Meg discovers and is deeply empowered by certain political left, and feminist, discourses within the university community. She is equally dismayed and alienated by other feminist practices; her growing engagement with her own agency sees her quickly abandoning feminist subject positions previously dear to her, which served a particular purpose and are now superseded. This notion of feeling betrayed by the promise of a value system (or rather, its practitioners) will recur throughout the action of the novel, as Meg moves into an academic role, first as doctoral student and then as academic, seeking to live her values as practice and to remain true to what her trajectory has taught her. This is crystallised in the novel as the role played by the place she came from, and how that informs, and complicates, who she becomes. The novel seeks to explore the fundamental contradictions in doing so, through Meg's increasing awareness that the academy is not the harmonious, class aware institution she has idealised, but a world driven by status and hierarchies. This realisation must be reconciled in the light of Meg's anxieties about her working-class background. Meg's doctoral training at an elite university underscores her developing sense of what constitutes excellence and the role played by highly influential conservative institutions in maintaining social arrangements. As her academic career unfolds, the holding of a Cambridge PhD allows Meg opportunities to make change as certain privileges are afforded her by virtue of her Cambridge status. Yet it is this very notion that she seeks to challenge. Her growing passion for the State University of Victoria, an institution developed for the education of working-class people, informs her activism within the academy. Why are excellence and equity polarised? Why does the institution matter more than the scholarship? Why is so much practice within universities contrary to the values scholars often claim? These questions are explored through the dynamics of academic working life as student and later as a teacher at a university with an explicit equity agenda. The Start of the End (2003): The action commences on a late Friday after at SUV, when the Department of Communication & Cultural Studies has just been advised of Meg's promotion to Associate Professor. This vignette sees the initial soiree and celebrations and allows Meg to reflect on her experience. As her colleagues and friends are congratulating her, a particular student comes looking for Meg. It is clear that Angela Watson needs course advice particularly from Meg. Their discussion seems a straightforward one on the face of it, but it underscores many things; that Meg has come the full circle in her academic life, and what it is that her journey has really been about. The route to professorial appointment is considered, as is the source of Meg's greatest professional joy and fulfillment; is it scholarship, followed by leadership, in her discipline? It is knowing she has continued to speak and act to change the life chances of all students, wherever possible? Or is it the subtle distilling of both of these, along with the knowledge which emerges from the nexus of teaching and research. That scholarship, new knowledge, surely must be taking us somewhere specific in relation to others? The more we know, the more we can do...to what end? From this reflection, we see the action of the novel unfold. We return to this scene at the end of the novel, as Meg considers the trajectory of her life and its themes in her work. The novel ends as she is faced with the next challenge. Arrival (1989): Acceptance sees Meg as she is attempting to transform her life and create a new one. She has just been advised of her admission to an undergraduate Bachelor of Education program, at the major Melbourne teachers' college. Meg shares her rented home with her high school best friend, Anna, and her fiance, Jason, who appears to be superfluous in her life. Meg is aware he is a partner for who she used to be. We see Meg in her job as a medical secretary and this allows the mapping of Meg's sense of her own world, as she travels between home and work. This first stage of seeking her aspiration- to be an English teacher-evolves. As Meg considers the meaning of what she is about to do and how she knows it is right. This involves a consideration of what work means in our lives and how this is different for jobs according to how they are classed. Her relationship with the life she has known, the person she has been, is changing and this change is represented through her relationship with Jason. Meg's first day at teachers' college demonstrates that she is in a constant, often painful, dialogue with herself. The difficulties she encounters in making sense of the relation between her two 'lives' are thrown into sharp relief. The preparation for college sees Meg interrogating herself about how she can be different. Her initial experiences at the College resonate with her highest expectations of the life that awaits her, of the multiple possibilities currently being authored for her. Her first attendance at classes offers the opportunity to try out some of those possibilities, to test them against those she meets and to map the ways she could discover to 'be'. There is much tension and fear, but also endless excitement and these conflicting emotional states parallel and marble each other. It is on this day that she meets Jennifer Wren, her first real friend at university, who offers so many challenges to Meg. Their friendship involves a constant exhausting shift of subject positions, which Meg is able to look back on with affection in years to come. Going Bowling (1989): within a few weeks of commencing at university, Meg is socializing with some of her new friends, having neatly segmented her home and college lives. Meg has already realised that her friendships fall into separate groups; her friendship with Jennifer and the people Jennifer knows does not find its way into this group. They meet in the city to go bowling and have a meal. While Meg really enjoys these new people, already tensions are developing in relations between the group. Their unofficial leader, Rosemary Marshall, has a tendency to seek control and already resistance is showing. Rosemary particularly does not like Jennifer. Meg is enjoying her flirtation with Pete Danville, whom she has assumed to be gay. His very flattering attention has already developed Meg's confidence and stoked her ego, which has eroded in her stagnating relationship with Jason. Rosie has developed a crush on Pete and seems to take the flirtation with Meg personally. Dynamics in the group become slightly uncomfortable but Meg has grown quickly fond of her new friends, especially flamboyant Marina, another whom Rosemary seems to dislike. The discussions which occur during their evening deepen both the relationships and the tensions between them and draw lines which will determine the outcome of their various friendships. The Ball (1990): In the third year of her degree, much has happened to Meg. She is married to Jason, although she omits him from much of her psychic (and practical) life. Meg and her friends attend the Faculty's annual formal dinner dance. Meg has so far managed to balance the competitiveness which occurs between all of them, both academically and personally. The negotiation of her respective friendships with Jennifer and Marina requires a great deal of diplomacy; the subtext in this is very disturbing to Meg. What exactly is the conflict about? She can't be sure why they don't like each other; it could be Marina's smoking, or Jennifer's confidence to spare, but these things also annoy her, yet she does not fight with either girl as they do with each other. Rose has always insisted that the problem is Jennifer's private school background, but Marina went to a catholic girls' school, so what could the difference be? The ball is initially a happy occasion; the girls dress up and they dance and drink champagne together with the boys. But dynamics operating beneath the surface force their way up. Rosie is ready to force Pete to confront her continuing crush on him; Pete confronts Meg about their ongoing flirtation. Meg gives in and admits to herself for the first time that she does want to be with Pete. He is grown up and exciting and strong. He offers her something she has never had with Jason. Married less than a year, she pushes her husband out of her thoughts. The events of the ball force Meg to confront the differences between all her friends and the discomfort this affords everyone. Rosie's continued need for control over the group is acknowledged. Future Present (1991): Meg lives in Carlton with Pete. This is the busiest year thus far in her academic career and the financial, academic and emotional pressure is showing. This vignette gives us the range of Meg's academic activities and the way her life has fallen since the events at the ball eight months earlier. We see Meg grappling with her own evaluation of the changes in her 'way of being'; trying on different ways of living that she has idealised and finding them just as wanting as the last. Meg faces some key existential questions in this vignette and seeks answers which she finally discovers only she can give. Her relationship with Pete, the values and goals they share (and don't share) are thrown into sharp relief and provide a touchstone for the clearer determination of Meg's aspiration and future. Her relationship with various female friends is also revisited and this offers insight into Meg's constant checking of herself against idealised female templates. There is a crisis of identity and strength which constitutes an important fork in Meg's road. Beyond (1992): Beyond sees Meg determinedly seeking ways she can progress towards her goal, while still constantly checking against herself that postgraduate study (let alone a scholarly life) is available to her. We accompany Meg as she seeks and locates the academic path she wants; this is the backdrop for her further psychic exploration of the women who intimidate yet fascinate her, particularly Heloise Waul, who is a significant influence through Meg's postgraduate career. The sites in which Meg's personal struggles manifest are highlighted in this vignette, particularly in terms of dress and cultural pursuit. The conversations between Meg and Heloise also allow an exploration of the feminist politics of that milieu and the class tensions which operate tacitly within those politics. Bound to the Caucus (1992); Meg has now nearly completed her undergraduate degree and has been active for some time in university life and student politics. Her feminist and socialist education is well advanced. Bound to the Caucus shows us Meg in her student politics world for the first time, where the segue of her activism and academic life have taken her. Meg has found female friends who understand that part of her which struggles with inadequacy, although at this point in the novel this common struggle is not well understood or articulated. It is in this vignette that Meg admits her growing attraction for a Liberal student activist, Stuart Noble; this proscribed liaison raises many questions about values and aspiration, as well as the dominant sexual politics of the time and place. Bound to the Caucus also offers insight into the student activism occurring at universities like Philip in the early 1990s. Divergence (1993): Set in 1993, Meg is now in the early weeks of her honours program, although she has been at work on her thesis on the poet William Blake for some months. Living unhappily in a share household near the University, her relationship with Stuart Noble continues to develop, reaching a crisis point in this period. These events occur in the context of Meg's activist career in the Student Left, particularly as she encounters issues of identity around her class, feminism and difference amongst Left women. While Meg fights these battles passionately in an intense milieu, she considers them emotionally in terms of her changing sense of herself. Meg is increasingly aware that the personal impact of her class is changing for her. Additionally, she explores her relation with a 'boyfriend' of right wing political affiliation; Meg comes to recognise that this relationship is undermining her sense of herself in a way that her relationships with women in the left previously did. Honour Roll (1993): Meg is now undertaking honours and this vignette opens with Meg seeing the honours coordinator, Professor Michaela Moore, who approximates all those apparently middle-class traits to which Meg has such a push-pull relation. We see the return of a chapter of the honours thesis, discussion of the content and the constantly shifting subject positions these experiences offer Meg. This vignette also directly introduces Agnes. Mia and Agnes meet Meg after her supervision and this conversation allows very distinct if tacit class themes to develop. Meg has warmed quickly to Agnes, who is unlike anyone she has known; they have much in common in relation to their work and this binds them. Mia continually presents a viewpoint which irritates Meg, in relation to entitlement: to academic life, to funding, even to questioning how these things are enabled. Honour Roll allows us to see Meg's flourishing theoretical and intellectual life and its role in assisting her emotionally as she re-frames the same conundrums that previously constituted obstacles. The Cusp (1993): Meg's developing friendship with Agnes offers her enormous insights into difference and her developing sense of self and aspiration. While the girls come from diametrical backgrounds, they are united by their passion for their research and scholarly work. Meg is increasingly self-conscious through their discussions in terms of how she has seen herself and allowed herself to dream and seek. Cusp is set at the end of the honours year, prior to the release of results. Meg and Agnes explore their feelings about academia and this leads to discussions of purpose and the role of class within that. This vignette also documents Meg's growing social confidence and those aspects of herself which have become so sure to her, that she no longer considers them at all. Whom (1996): [Not included in this abridged edition]. Set at Cambridge, two thirds into Meg's doctorate, Whom shows Meg in the mental space which will take her back to Melbourne and the State University of Victoria. Having risen to the challenge of doctoral study, she is confronted now by deeper demons, and the need to explore and challenge them in the ambivalent context of Cambridge, which so excites her still, but which has proved empty of the profoundly held higher ideals she expected to see reflected. Set in the midst of Meg's doctoral study, this vignette is dramatically abridged in the submission novel. The importance of Whom lies in its concern with Meg's rapidly shifting sense of herself and her own scholarly subjectivity and the changes to these that the culture of Cambridge has wrought. By the second year of her PhD Meg is crystal clear about her goals and decides to spend the long break at home, rather than travelling, because she wishes to 'touch base' with her future. The action described segues into that in Courting the Enemy. Whom describes Meg's ambivalent and contradictory but passionate feelings about Cambridge. Whom demonstrates Meg's increasing anger at the status and privilege to which her education now automatically admits her, and her need to find some sort of stasis and safety in her emotional life. In this vignette, Meg meets her life partner, Jeremy McCallum (I have intentionally reduced the attention in the novel to Meg's romantic life as she matures into her career). Courting the Enemy (late 1990s): By this time, Meg is a senior lecturer in English at the State University of Victoria, which was established in the nineteenth century as the Worker's College. This vignette starts with Meg's attendance at a University Committee which is considering a transformation in relation to equity in admissions policy. Meg was drawn to SUV because of its transparent and determined commitment to educate the children of working-class people. An attack on the equity admission policy of her university galvanizes Meg and some of her colleagues. The action of the vignette considers the role of the scholar, and of such an institution as SUV, in the light of daily academic life. This vignette is primary in its demonstration of the themes of the novel. In the unabridged version, I took the opportunity to illustrate some of the vast range of administrative, intellectual and even physical demands on a senior scholar in the routine of academic life. In placing Meg in this context, I sought to highlight how a scholar of her values and commitment makes sense of the constantly shifting terrain of her working world and how this continually informs her practice. This vignette is also significant for its retrospective description of Meg's employment at SUV some years earlier. Locus: (1995). This piece of writing stands apart from the rest of the novel. I wished to write in a reflective voice, which might be from Meg's journal, were it not in the (omniscient) third person, in order to consider the headspace and meaning-making which occurs as Meg settles into Cambridge, and the lifestyle her situation allows her. Locus is a deeper engagement with Meg's sense of her identity. It considers the impact on her of the physical journeys she must make to match those of her psyche. These are thoughts too personal for a letter, even to Anna. Meg is exploring her ever shifting self and the growth in her self-belief allows her to explore what is rage; that she was bounded by illusions about her worth. Locus seeks to allow some context for Meg's anger at the role Cambridge plays. I seek to create the space in which Meg's dawning self understanding will lead her to her next, driven, purpose. Letters: throughout the novel letters are used to reveal and inform Meg's relationship with her family. This is an intentional device to distance the birth family in an attempt to blur and muddy an assessment of Meg's class through traditional measures. The letters between Meg and Aunty Jean particularly reveal much of the classed emotional antecedents of Meg's life. There are also letters exchanged with Meg's high school best friend, Anna, who has moved to the country and a very different lifestyle. Meg writes to Anna often, using the acceptance she feels in the friendship and her sense that Anna understands her, to touchstone her own emotional growth. Formal letters from institutions ring changes in settings and mark significant points in the geographical and academic trajectory of the character. All the letters serve to introduce time and event changes consistent with the episodic style of the narrative.

Physical activity beliefs and behaviours among adults attempting weight control

Objective: To compare the frequency and duration of varying intensities of physical activity performed by adults trying to lose weight, avoid gaining weight and not actively trying to control their weight, and to compare these groups' beliefs about the physical activity they should perform.

Method: Random postal survey of 2500 Victorian adults selected from the Australian electoral roll (response rate=42%).

Measures: One-week physical activity recall (frequency and duration of walking, other moderate activity and vigorous activity), BMI (based on self-reported height and weight) and weight-control behaviour.

Results: At the time of the survey, 27% of respondents were actively trying to avoid gaining weight, 23.9% trying to lose weight and 49.1% undertaking no weight control. Respondents spent a mean time of 4.0 (±7.1) h walking, 5.5 (±7.9) h in moderate activity and 3.1(±5.9) h in vigorous activity during the week prior to the survey. Women trying to lose weight or avoid gaining weight engaged in vigorous activity more often than women not trying to control their weight. After adjusting for age, education and BMI, women trying to avoid gaining weight were 2.4 times more likely, and women trying to lose weight 2.5 times more likely, to have met current physical activity guidelines than women undertaking no weight control. On average, respondents believed they should spend 5.2 (±6.9) h walking, 6.5 (±8.2) h in moderate activity and 4.3 (±6.5) h in vigorous activity each week. Women trying to lose weight felt they should perform vigorous activity more often than other women. Weight-control behaviour was not associated with physical activity beliefs and behaviours of men.

Conclusion: Walking is a common activity among adults attempting weight control. However, many men and women do not fully recognize the value of moderate-intensity physical activity. Future efforts should be directed at promoting the role of moderate-intensity activity in weight control, particularly activity that can be performed outside of planned activity sessions.

Up to a quarter of the Australian population may have suboptimal health literacy depending upon the measurement tool : results from a population-based survey

The objective of this paper is to measure health literacy in a representative sample of the Australian general population using three health literacy tools; to consider the congruency of results; and to determine whether these assessments were associated with socio-demographic characteristics. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in a stratified random sample of the adult Victorian population identified from the 2004 Australian Government Electoral Roll. Participants were invited to participate by mail and follow-up telephone call. Health literacy was measured using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) and Newest Vital Sign (NVS). Of 1680 people invited to participate, 89 (5.3%) were ineligible, 750 (44.6%) were not contactable by phone, 531 (32%) refused and 310 (response rate 310/1591, 19.5%) agreed to participate. Compared with the general population, participants were slightly older, better educated and had a higher annual income. The proportion of participants with less than adequate health literacy levels varied: 26.0% (80/308) for the NVS, 10.6% (51 33/310) for the REALM and 6.8% (21/309) for the TOFHLA. A varying but significant proportion of the general population was found to have limited health literacy. The health literacy measures we used, while moderately correlated, appear to measure different but related constructs and use different cut offs to indicate poor health literacy.

Influence of deformation-induced heating on the bond strength of rolled metal multilayers

The bond strength of various metal multilayers produced by cold rolling of metal foils with different thermal conductivity was investigated. Results indicated that the metallic multilayer system with low thermal conductivity exhibited relative high bond strength while high thermal conductivity metal system may fail to be roll-bonded together. The relationship between the deformation-induced localized heating and the bond strength were discussed.

Modeling and control of flatness in cold rolling mill using fuzzy petri nets

Today, having a good flatness control in steel industry is essential to ensure an overall product quality, productivity and successful processing. Flatness error, given as difference between measured strip flatness and target curve, can be minimized by modifying roll gap with various control functions. In most practical systems, knowing the definition of the model in order to have an acceptable control is essential. In this paper, a fuzzy Petri net method for modeling and control of flatness in cold rolling mill is developed. The method combines the concepts of Petri net and fuzzy control theories. It focuses on the fuzzy decision making problems of the fuzzy rule tree structures. The method is able to detect and recover possible errors that can occur in the fuzzy rule of the knowledge-based system. The method is implemented and simulated. The results show that its error is less than that of a PI conventional controller.

Effects of deformation-induced heating on bond strength of rolled metal multilayer

The bond strength of various metal multilayers produced by cold rolling of metal foils with different thermal conductivity was investigated. Results indicated that under the same conditions of deformation and surface preparation, the metallic multilayer system with low thermal conductivity exhibited relative high bond strength while high thermal conductivity metal system may fail to be roll-bonded together. The relationship between the deformation-induced localized heating and the bond strength were discussed. The deformation-induced localized heating in the low thermal conductivity metal multilayer systems may provide opportunities for achieving a successful accumulative roll bonding or a “cold roll/heat treatment/cold roll” process to synthesize metallic multilayer materials.

The effect of skin passing on the material behavior of metal strip in pure bending and tension

The metal strip used in roll forming has often been preprocessed by (tension or roller) leveling or by skin-pass rolling, and as a consequence, may contain residual stresses. These stresses are not well observed by the tensile test, but could have a significant effect on the bending and springback behavior. With the advent of improved process design techniques for roll forming, including advanced finite element techniques, the need for precise material property data has become important. The major deformation mode of roll forming is that of bending combined with unloading and reverse bending, and hence property data derived from bend tests could be more relevant than that from tensile testing.

This work presents a numerical study on the effect of skin passing on the material behavior of stainless steel strip in pure bending and tension. A two dimensional (2-D) numerical model was developed using Abaqus Explicit to analyze the affect of skin passing on the residual stress profile across a section for various working conditions. The deformed meshes and their final stress fields were then imported as pre-defined fields into Abaqus Standard, and the post-skin passing material behavior in pure bending was determined. The results show that a residual stress profile is introduced into the steel strip during skin passing, and that its shape and stress level depend on the overall thickness reduction as well as the number of rolling passes used in the skin passing process. The material behavior in bending and the amount of springback changed significantly depending on the skin pass condition.

Structure and mechanical properties of asymmetrically rolled IF steel sheet

As-received hot-rolled 5.6 mm thick IF steel sheet was symmetrically/ asymmetrically cold rolled at room temperature down to 1.9 mm. The asymmetric rolling was carried out in monotonic (an idle roll is always on the same side of the sheet) and reversal (the sheet was turned 180° around the rolling direction between passes) modes. Microstructure, texture and mechanical properties were analysed. The observed differences in structure and mechanical properties were modest, and therefore further investigation of the effects of other kinds of asymmetry is suggested.

Lay people's views of the school food supply

Purpose – This article aims to examine lay-persons' views of school food services in Victoria, Australia.

Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey of a random sample of electors on the Electoral Roll in Victoria, Australia. Out of 1,000 potential respondents, 377 completed the questionnaire. Main outcome measures included responses to closed questions about foods supplied to children at school using five-point scales. Data analyses included frequency and cross-tabulation analyses, and multivariate analyses of principal component scores by demographic and personal values variables.

Findings – Many respondents were critical of children's school food services but they were generally supportive of food and health education, whilst holding ambivalent attitudes towards snacks and marketing practices.

Research limitations/implications – This was a cross-sectional survey with a relatively low response rate.

Practical implications – Understanding of laypersons' views of children's food services is likely to facilitate nutrition communication and promotion of healthy children's foods.

Originality/value – Lay views of children's food provision have rarely been reported, despite their importance for the support of public nutrition policies. The study identifies likely antecedents of lay people's views.

A new method to warm up lubricating oil to improve the fuel efficiency during cold start

Cold start driving cycles exhibit an increase in friction losses due to the low temperatures of metal and media compared to normal operating engine conditions. These friction losses are responsible for up to 10% penalty in fuel economy over the official drive cycles like the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC), where the temperature of the oil even at the end of the 1180 s of the drive cycle is below the fully warmed up values of between 100°C and 120°C. At engine oil temperatures below 100°C the water from the blow by condensates and dilutes the engine oil in the oil pan which negatively affects engine wear. Therefore engine oil temperatures above 100°C are desirable to minimize engine wear through blow by condensate. The paper presents a new technique to warm up the engine oil that significantly reduces the friction losses and therefore also reduces the fuel economy penalty during a 22°C cold start NEDC. Chassis dynamometer experiments demonstrated fuel economy improvements of over 7% as well as significant emission reductions by rapidly increasing the oil temperature. Oil temperatures were increased by up to 60°C during certain parts of the NEDC. It is shown how a very simple sensitivity analysis can be used to assess the relative size or efficiency of different heat transfer passes and the resulting fuel economy improvement potential of different heat recovery systems system. Due to its simplicity the method is very fast to use and therefore also very cost effective. The method demonstrated a very good correlation for the fuel consumption within ±1% compared to measurements on a vehicle chassis roll.