Vertical Integration and the Indian Steel Industry

1977 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. P. Simmons

At a very early stage in their respective careers, most of the major iron and steel plants of Europe and North America recognized the strategic importance of possessing colliery capacity in order to safeguard their requirements of coking-coal, a basic input to the blast furnace. In the Ruhr—where the tendency towards vertical integration probably reached its apotheosis—the Huttenzechen (tied mines), accounted for nearly twenty per cent of the total coal output at the turn of the century and no less than fifty per cent during the inter-war period. The precise legal standing of the integrated units naturally varied from country to country. In Britain and Germany, for example, the most favoured practice was for the iron and steel plant to establish outright ownership of the mines and to treat them merely as a department of the enterprise complex itself, whereas in the United States, the giant steel works such as Kaiser, Republic, and Bethlehem, preferred to create semi-autonomous subsidiary companies. In India, the two steel firms ofthe pre- Independence era, i.e. the Tata Iron and Steel Company (henceforth abbreviated to T.I.S.CO.) and the Indian Iron and Steel Company (I.I.S.CO.), inclined towards the former organizational model (with the single exception of T.I.S.CO.'s West Bokaro colliery which was purchased in 1947 and was wholly owned by the Company's shareholders).

Author(s):  
Michael K. Rosenow

This chapter examines the steelworkers' experiences with death and dying in western Pennsylvania, and more specifically in Monongahela Valley, during the period 1892–1919. It begins by recounting the Homestead strike of 1892, which pitted the wealthy owners of the Carnegie Steel Company against the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. It then considers other factors that shaped steelworkers' experiences with death after the defeat at Homestead, including work life and life outside of work. It also explores the responses of steelworkers and their families to death, focusing on their creation of networks of mutual aid by turning to religious and secular fraternal societies to help care for the sick and bury the dead. It also discusses the McKees Rocks strike of 1909 and the themes of death and dignity that defined it before concluding with a look at the story of steelman Joe Magarac and its similarities to steelworkers' experiences in turn-of-the-century steel mills. The steelworkers' rituals of death and dying suggests that death provided a key place where they nurtured spirits of resistance.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 747
Author(s):  
Nicola Pusterla ◽  
Samantha Barnum ◽  
Julia Miller ◽  
Sarah Varnell ◽  
Barbara Dallap-Schaer ◽  
...  

Here we report on an EHV-1 outbreak investigation caused by a novel genotype H752 (histidine in amino acid position 752 of the ORF 30 gene). The outbreak involved 31 performance horses. Horses were monitored over a period of 35 days for clinical signs, therapeutic outcome and qPCR results of EHV-1 in blood and nasal secretions. The morbidity of the EHV-1 outbreak was 84% with 26 clinically infected horses displaying fever and less frequently anorexia and distal limb edema. Four horses showed mild transient neurological deficits. Clinically diseased horses experienced high viral load of EHV-1 in blood and/or nasal secretions via qPCR, while subclinically infected horses had detectable EHV-1 mainly in nasal secretions. The majority of infected horses showed a rise in antibody titers to EHV-1 during the outbreak. All 31 horses were treated with valacyclovir, while clinically infected horses further received flunixin meglumine and sodium heparin. This investigation highlights various relevant aspects of an EHV-1 outbreak caused by a new H752 genotype: (i) importance of early detection of EHV-1 infection; (ii) diagnostic challenge to assess H752 genotype; (iii) apparent benefit of valacyclovir use in the early stage of the outbreak; and (iv) weekly testing of blood and nasal secretions by qPCR in order to monitor individual infection status and lift quarantine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Nash ◽  
Zohra Bhimani ◽  
Jennifer Rayner ◽  
Merrick Zwarenstein

Abstract Background Learning health systems have been gaining traction over the past decade. The purpose of this study was to understand the spread of learning health systems in primary care, including where they have been implemented, how they are operating, and potential challenges and solutions. Methods We completed a scoping review by systematically searching OVID Medline®, Embase®, IEEE Xplore®, and reviewing specific journals from 2007 to 2020. We also completed a Google search to identify gray literature. Results We reviewed 1924 articles through our database search and 51 articles from other sources, from which we identified 21 unique learning health systems based on 62 data sources. Only one of these learning health systems was implemented exclusively in a primary care setting, where all others were integrated health systems or networks that also included other care settings. Eighteen of the 21 were in the United States. Examples of how these learning health systems were being used included real-time clinical surveillance, quality improvement initiatives, pragmatic trials at the point of care, and decision support. Many challenges and potential solutions were identified regarding data, sustainability, promoting a learning culture, prioritization processes, involvement of community, and balancing quality improvement versus research. Conclusions We identified 21 learning health systems, which all appear at an early stage of development, and only one was primary care only. We summarized and provided examples of integrated health systems and data networks that can be considered early models in the growing global movement to advance learning health systems in primary care.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492110112
Author(s):  
Hongjie Liu ◽  
Chang Chen ◽  
Raul Cruz-Cano ◽  
Jennifer L. Guida ◽  
Minha Lee

Objective We quantified the association between public compliance with social distancing measures and the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave of the epidemic (March–May 2020) in 5 states that accounted for half of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States. Methods We used data on mobility and number of COVID-19 cases to longitudinally estimate associations between public compliance, as measured by human mobility, and the daily reproduction number and daily growth rate during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Results The 5 states mandated social distancing directives during March 19-24, 2020, and public compliance with mandates started to decrease in mid-April 2020. As of May 31, 2020, the daily reproduction number decreased from 2.41-5.21 to 0.72-1.19, and the daily growth rate decreased from 0.22-0.77 to –0.04 to 0.05 in the 5 states. The level of public compliance, as measured by the social distancing index (SDI) and daily encounter-density change, was high at the early stage of implementation but decreased in the 5 states. The SDI was negatively associated with the daily reproduction number (regression coefficients range, –0.04 to –0.01) and the daily growth rate (from –0.009 to –0.01). The daily encounter-density change was positively associated with the daily reproduction number (regression coefficients range, 0.24 to 1.02) and the daily growth rate (from 0.05 to 0.26). Conclusions Social distancing is an effective strategy to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 and illustrates the role of public compliance with social distancing measures to achieve public health benefits.


Metallurgist ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1234-1238
Author(s):  
P. V. Shilyaev ◽  
V. L. Kornilov ◽  
L. S. Ivanova ◽  
A. A. Demidova ◽  
P. A. Stekanov ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Esteban Correa-Agudelo ◽  
Tesfaye B. Mersha ◽  
Adam J. Branscum ◽  
Neil J. MacKinnon ◽  
Diego F. Cuadros

We characterized vulnerable populations located in areas at higher risk of COVID-19-related mortality and low critical healthcare capacity during the early stage of the epidemic in the United States. We analyze data obtained from a Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 database to assess the county-level spatial variation of COVID-19-related mortality risk during the early stage of the epidemic in relation to health determinants and health infrastructure. Overall, we identified highly populated and polluted areas, regional air hub areas, race minorities (non-white population), and Hispanic or Latino population with an increased risk of COVID-19-related death during the first phase of the epidemic. The 10 highest COVID-19 mortality risk areas in highly populated counties had on average a lower proportion of white population (48.0%) and higher proportions of black population (18.7%) and other races (33.3%) compared to the national averages of 83.0%, 9.1%, and 7.9%, respectively. The Hispanic and Latino population proportion was higher in these 10 counties (29.3%, compared to the national average of 9.3%). Counties with major air hubs had a 31% increase in mortality risk compared to counties with no airport connectivity. Sixty-eight percent of the counties with high COVID-19-related mortality risk also had lower critical care capacity than the national average. The disparity in health and environmental risk factors might have exacerbated the COVID-19-related mortality risk in vulnerable groups during the early stage of the epidemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Weirong Li ◽  
Kai Sun ◽  
Yunqiang Zhu ◽  
Jia Song ◽  
Jie Yang ◽  
...  

In order to understand how these studies are evolving to respond to COVID-19 and to facilitate the containment of COVID-19, this paper accurately extracted the spatial and topic information from the metadata of papers related to COVID-19 using text mining techniques, and with the extracted information, the research evolution was analyzed from the temporal, spatial, and topic perspectives. From a temporal view, in the three months after the emergence of COVID-19, the number of published papers showed an obvious growth trend, and it showed a relatively stable cyclical trend in the later period, which is basically consistent with the development of COVID-19. Spatially, most of the authors who participated in related research are concentrated in the United States, China, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, India, and France. At the same time, with the continuous spread of COVID-19 in the world, the distribution of the number of authors has gradually expanded, showing to be correlated with the severity of COVID-19 at a spatial scale. From the perspective of topic, the early stage of COVID-19 emergence, the related research mainly focused on the origin and gene identification of the virus. After the emergence of the pandemic, studies related to the diagnosis and analysis of psychological health, personal security, and violent conflict are added. Meanwhile, some categories are most closely related to the control and prevention of the epidemic, such as pathology analysis, diagnosis, and treatment; epidemic situation and coping strategies; and prediction and assessment of epidemic situation. In most time periods, the majority of studies focused on these three categories.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (28) ◽  
pp. 2887-2894 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda D. Mellby ◽  
Andreas P. Nyberg ◽  
Julia S. Johansen ◽  
Christer Wingren ◽  
Børge G. Nordestgaard ◽  
...  

Purpose Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a poor prognosis, with a 5-year survival of < 10% because of diffuse symptoms leading to late-stage diagnosis. That survival could increase significantly if localized tumors could be detected early. Therefore, we used multiparametric analysis of blood samples to obtain a novel biomarker signature of early-stage PDAC. The signature was derived from a large patient cohort, including patients with well-defined early-stage (I and II) PDAC. This biomarker signature was validated subsequently in an independent patient cohort. Patients and Methods The biomarker signature was derived from a case-control study, using a Scandinavian cohort, consisting of 16 patients with stage I, 132 patients with stage II, 65 patients with stage III, and 230 patients with stage IV PDAC, and 888 controls. This signature was validated subsequently in an independent case-control cohort in the United States with 15 patients with stage I, 75 patients with stage II, 15 patients with stage III, and 38 patients with stage IV PDAC, and 219 controls. An antibody microarray platform was used to identify the serum biomarker signature associated with early-stage PDAC. Results Using the Scandinavian case-control study, a biomarker signature was created, discriminating samples derived from patients with stage I and II from those from controls with a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve value of 0.96. This signature, consisting of 29 biomarkers, was then validated in an independent case-control study in the United States. The biomarker signature could discriminate patients with stage I and II PDAC from controls in this independent patient cohort with a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve value of 0.96. Conclusion This serum biomarker signature might represent a tenable approach to detecting early-stage, localized PDAC if these findings are supported by a prospective validation study.


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