Two small faces pull the curtain back in a side room and peer round to see who is at the door. After they run back inside, their mother, Mrs Rashid, unlocks the front door. Five weeks ago, she came home one evening to find the door ajar. The downstairs floor of her house was relatively untouched but upstairs the bedrooms had been ransacked – drawers opened, wardrobes emptied, clothes and belongings scattered everywhere. "It was such a huge shock," she says, sitting on the sofa, her voice breaking slightly. Her husband, Mr Rashid , a big man sitting across the room, shakes his head. "They took it all," he says.
The thieves who broke into this semi-detached house in Earley, near Reading, stole around 70,000-worth of gold jewellery. To those who are not from a south Asian family, it might seem remarkable to own so much valuable jewellery, but families such as the Rashids live in ordinary houses and are not particularly wealthy. Their gold collection – elaborate necklaces, rings, earrings and bangles – is treasure that has been handed down from generations of their families in Pakistan or bought as wedding gifts. It's our savings, our security, says Mrs Rashid, visibly upset. If, in future, the family needed money, they would have sold some pieces. "It's like paying a mortgage for 20 years and then having a house worth thousands of pounds afterwards – it's the same thing with gold," she says. "Our parents gave it to us, we would have given it to our children, they would have given it to their children," says her husband. They tried to put their gold in the bank, but "there were no lockers available. Everyone is looking for one."
With other investments looking distinctly shaky in the economic crisis, last year gold prices reached record levels. In the autumn, an ounce reached a peak price of 1,194; today it is worth around 1,100 and analysts predict it could reach a new peak later this year or early next, as people seek safer investments, and demand for gold jewellery rises with the growing middle-classes in India. Asian gold (sometimes called Indian gold) is a broad term that covers jewellery bought and held by south Asian families, and often passed down through the generations. It tends to be the highest quality – often 24 carats, the purest gold – and it has vastly increased in value, sometimes to the point where a family can't afford to insure it. Thieves know that some south Asian families may have a large collection of gold at home, and it is these houses they target.
There are no figures for the number of gold thefts, let alone the theft of Asian gold, but everyone I speak to believes the number of robberies is increasing. Last year, several police forces in areas where there is a large Asian community, such as Leicester and Slough, ran awareness campaigns after a spate of opportunistic robberies – there have been several reports of women who have had their gold jewellery snatched in the street – and burglaries. For a while, an attempted gold theft was a line of inquiry in the murders of Carole and Avtar Kolar in Birmingham in January, though the police later ruled this out.
Mr Rashid shows me the window in the downstairs bathroom that was broken, and where the thieves must have got in. He thinks the house was being watched, because he noticed a silver car outside the front some days before. "My family is so frightened," he says. "My kids won't go upstairs on their own, it's a completely different life since it happened." They feel the police have not been very supportive, and they have little hope the perpetrators will be caught. "I was already upset, and a policeman said: 'Your gold must have been melted down by now,'" says Mrs Rashid. "I was even more upset when he said that."
The Rashids know of several other families in the area who have been burgled. "A few watches and a BlackBerry were taken, but they were looking for gold," says Vikas Tandon, whose house in the area was broken into in September. "They seemed to know where to look – I am confident they used metal detectors. There were bowls of jewellery in one of the rooms, with real gold and artificial jewellery mixed in together. They only took the gold, so they knew what they were looking for." Tandon has now installed CCTV cameras "to give the family more confidence. The loss of the gold itself is bad, but the psychological after-effects of being burgled are worse. Everyone is scared."
A local councillor, Tahir Maher, says: "A lot of residents have been very badly affected. It started in the summer. It is very much Asian families who are being targeted." In one day, he says, five homes in the area were burgled and gold stolen. He went door-to-door warning families to keep their gold in safes, or put it in the bank, "although banks have started to stop giving people safe deposit boxes, so people are keeping their gold at home".
It isn't just homes that are targeted. This month, in Bradford, two men wearing balaclavas stole bagfuls of gold worth up to 100,000 – a third man had driven a 4x4 into the back of a jewellers as it was closing up. The terrified staff fled. In areas of Birmingham where there are a large number of Asian jewellers, several shops have been robbed. In the Handsworth area, where many south Asian people come to buy jewellery, there are numerous jewellers. Wedding sets – an elaborate necklace and earrings in 22-carat gold – can cost upwards of 5,000 for a fairly basic design, though the sets I see on display in many of the shops are much cheaper, lesser quality versions. Most of the jewellers have CCTV cameras and metal shutters. One of the jewellers I go into is protected by cameras, a metal grille, bulletproof glass and two time-lock doors. Another jewellers across the road was robbed last year during the day by three armed men.
"There were customers in the shop," says the owner, who does not want to be named and is reluctant to go into details. He says there is an increased level of fear among jewellers specialising in Asian gold. "There is a fear daily. This is what we are living with now."
Nigel Blackburn is chairman of Lois Jewellery, one of the biggest gold buyers in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. The staff behind the counters are busy dealing with a steady stream of customers bringing everything from random old bits of broken chains and odd earrings, to cases full of gold jewellery. It is weighed, the quality gauged, and cash is handed over. I watch some people leave with bundles of notes – one man, who has brought in several kilos of gold, walks out on to the street with nearly 75,000 in 50 notes stuffed into a plastic carrier bag. Blackburn's company buys 4-5m worth of gold every week, and about 500,000 of that is Asian gold. Much of it comes from jewellers wanting to get rid of stock, from owners selling pieces and from smaller dealers selling it on. He shows me a tub of bangles ready for smelting (once molten, they are poured into a mould and come out as gold bars).
The prices have rocketed. Six years ago, a kilo of Asian gold jewellery would have fetched 6,000; now it is worth 30,000. How much of it is stolen? Hopefully none of it, he says. His staff do what they can – sellers fill out a form before their gold can be bought – but he says: "ID means nothing these days – criminals can forge anything." Mainly his staff rely on judgment. "If someone brings in a gold chain that has been snapped, it could have been pulled off someone's neck," he says. "If someone is out there" – he points to the timelock door where people can be seen before they are admitted – "and they look nervous or they just don't look 'right', that will raise alarm bells. We will not buy from anybody we're not sure of. There are unscrupulous [dealers] round here. They buy it, they melt it and then you can't prove anything." Many of the dealers have smelting equipment, and it can be done in a matter of minutes.
Inevitably, sometimes stolen gold "slips through the net. But we've got the CCTV to give the police. We have cameras trained on the scales, so we film everything we buy, and the people who sell it." He works closely with the police and they are called any time he is suspicious of somebody; he was responsible for 14 arrests one week. If there's a robbery, especially in the Midlands, he will be alerted, "so we know what to look out for".
Another jeweller in the area who buys gold says she knows of dealers who don't care if they buy stolen gold. She thinks she has been offered stolen Asian gold in the past, "but I refused to buy it. I don't want to make my money in a dishonest way." But there are numerous ways to easily sell gold with few questions asked. "There are places in shopping centres that will buy gold and pay good prices. Even Tesco now buys it," says one jeweller. There is also a wealth of online scrap gold dealers who will pay upwards of 800 an ounce for the finest quality (usually Asian) gold – simply send the jewellery off in an envelope and wait for money to be sent back.
"One of the issues is that gold jewellery is often not traceable," says Paul Uppal, MP for Wolverhampton South West, who has taken an interest in the issue of gold theft. "Constituents had spoken about it, and also coming from an Asian family it was word-of-mouth as well. At the moment, it's easy to smelt the gold down and sell it off."
Gold sales aren't covered under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act, which requires dealers to keep detailed records of metal received; many think the act is inadequate. It could be updated later this year if a current six-month pilot scheme is a success, but it isn't clear if precious metals will be included. "Anyone can walk into a jewellers and the gold can be smelted down within 20 minutes," says Uppal. "There needs to be some sort of audit trail. I've mentioned it to ministers whenever I can but the problem is, it seems to be viewed in the grand scheme of metal theft. This is quite nuanced, and very specific to the Asian community as well."
In Earley, councillor Maher has helped set up a neighbourhood watch-style group aimed at the Asian community worried about gold burglaries. It is still a new scheme, but he says it is growing. "People are looking out for each other," he says. He is working with the police closely because he says his big fear is that "people may take matters into their own hands in a bad way". The way he talks makes it sound like a community under attack – Maher knows of families who have lost tens of thousands of pounds' worth of gold, including elderly people, a single mother and another woman who miscarried after discovering her house had been broken into. "People are living in fear. Mothers were scared to be at home with their children in the day, and older people were frightened of being attacked in the street or followed home," he says. "There is a lot of mistrust. This has cost the community a lot."
2012年1月31日星期二
2012年1月30日星期一
Scientists demonstrate silicone rubber has self-healing ability
Using a mechanism discovered in the 1950s, known as ‘siloxane equilibration’, the team cut a silicone rubber shape in half with a razor blade and found that it completely repaired itself when it was heated up.
Peiwen Zheng, a researcher at Massachusetts University and co-author of the paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, said: ‘When we rediscovered the forgotten unusual properties of silicones and combined them with today’s research interests, we found that the silicone material with the siloxane equilibration was an obvious candidate for a self-healing material.’
According to a report in PhyOrg, the researchers performed several experiments to test the theoretical predictions from papers published more than half a century ago and to extend some of the experiments carried out at that time.
In one experiment, the team prepared a siloxane-based mixture containing a cross-linking agent and a catalyst. The scientists then poured the solution into moulds of various shapes and heated them at 90°C for four hours. After removing the clear, rubbery silicone shapes from the moulds, the scientists described the silicone samples as ‘living polymer networks’.
According to Zheng, this means the silicone network is at a chemically anionic equilibrium, where the reactive centre will split and reform a covalent siloxane bond.
These bonds are reversible, which enables the two sides of a crack to reconnect under the right conditions.
To demonstrate the self-healing ability, the researchers cut a 1cm-long cylindrical sample in half. The two halves were rejoined by wrapping them together with Teflon plumbing tape and heating them in an oven at 90°C for 24 hours.
When the researchers retrieved the sample and removed the tape, they found that the silicone cylinder had completely healed.
When they bent the cylinder by hand until it broke again, they found it broke in a different location to where it had previously been cut. The scientists repeated this experiment on different-shaped objects with the same results.
In another experiment, the researchers moulded a silicone dog bone, which they cut into multiple pieces. Then they rearranged the pieces to fit into a mould of a dog. Heating the sample resulted in a silicone dog with no visible fractures or weak spots where the pieces had been fitted together.
The researchers also quantified the strength of the healed samples in comparison with the original samples using fracture toughness measurements. The data for the two types of samples was indistinguishable, indicating exceptional self healing.
Zheng explained that self-healing materials, with some improvements, could lead to a variety of applications.
‘It [silicone rubber] can be developed into self-healing coatings on auto vehicles or countertops,‘ she said. ‘It is also a “plastic” elastomer, which can be used in moulding to form desired shapes and patterns. The concept of a self-healing silicone can be used to guide the preparation of elastomers with gradient modulus, Janus elastomers, reversible surface patterns when filled with magnetic particles and super-tough materials that can chemically relax stress.’
Peiwen Zheng, a researcher at Massachusetts University and co-author of the paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, said: ‘When we rediscovered the forgotten unusual properties of silicones and combined them with today’s research interests, we found that the silicone material with the siloxane equilibration was an obvious candidate for a self-healing material.’
According to a report in PhyOrg, the researchers performed several experiments to test the theoretical predictions from papers published more than half a century ago and to extend some of the experiments carried out at that time.
In one experiment, the team prepared a siloxane-based mixture containing a cross-linking agent and a catalyst. The scientists then poured the solution into moulds of various shapes and heated them at 90°C for four hours. After removing the clear, rubbery silicone shapes from the moulds, the scientists described the silicone samples as ‘living polymer networks’.
According to Zheng, this means the silicone network is at a chemically anionic equilibrium, where the reactive centre will split and reform a covalent siloxane bond.
These bonds are reversible, which enables the two sides of a crack to reconnect under the right conditions.
To demonstrate the self-healing ability, the researchers cut a 1cm-long cylindrical sample in half. The two halves were rejoined by wrapping them together with Teflon plumbing tape and heating them in an oven at 90°C for 24 hours.
When the researchers retrieved the sample and removed the tape, they found that the silicone cylinder had completely healed.
When they bent the cylinder by hand until it broke again, they found it broke in a different location to where it had previously been cut. The scientists repeated this experiment on different-shaped objects with the same results.
In another experiment, the researchers moulded a silicone dog bone, which they cut into multiple pieces. Then they rearranged the pieces to fit into a mould of a dog. Heating the sample resulted in a silicone dog with no visible fractures or weak spots where the pieces had been fitted together.
The researchers also quantified the strength of the healed samples in comparison with the original samples using fracture toughness measurements. The data for the two types of samples was indistinguishable, indicating exceptional self healing.
Zheng explained that self-healing materials, with some improvements, could lead to a variety of applications.
‘It [silicone rubber] can be developed into self-healing coatings on auto vehicles or countertops,‘ she said. ‘It is also a “plastic” elastomer, which can be used in moulding to form desired shapes and patterns. The concept of a self-healing silicone can be used to guide the preparation of elastomers with gradient modulus, Janus elastomers, reversible surface patterns when filled with magnetic particles and super-tough materials that can chemically relax stress.’
2012年1月29日星期日
UWI inventors seek investors
GASPS of amazement emanated from the group of onlookers gathered inside the demonstration tent on the lawns of the Caribbean's premier tertiary institution last week as researchers switched on what could be the world's first cardiac surgery simulator.
The machine with the pulsating pig's heart was the highlight of the University of the West Indies' (UWI) 13th annual Research Days, held last Thursday and Friday. It could also be the start of great things for cardiac surgeons Drs Paul Ramphal and Daniel Coore, who invented the machine, called the UWI Cardiac Surgery Similator.
According to the two, the instrument — a combination of mechanics, computerised electronics, artificial blood, and dead animal flesh — will not only shorten the time spent on training young local surgeons, but will also make them more competitive on the international scene.
"It is difficult to spend time during the (real life) operations taking junior surgeons through the procedure. Time is of the essence in cardiac surgery," said Ramphal, who said he was tasked with the challenge of training three new cardiac surgeons in 2001.
"So the inspiration really, was how do I get my new trainees to a level so that when they reach overseas to complete their training in a high-volume centre like the UK, Canada, or the US, they will not be behind, and preferably in a more advanced position than the other trainees who were at those centres?" he said.
The similator, which reanimates a pig's heart — medically, the closest in structure to a human heart — also pumps artifical blood through the organ and is programmed to duplicate real-life scenarios that a trainee surgeon would have to deal with on the operating table during open-heart surgery. Computer leads hooked up to the heart can make it beat in different rhythms, and also track artificial vital signs on an attached monitor.
It's considered a remarkable achievement, with nearly limitless potential if the simulator can be duplicated and sold in the specialised market for cardiac equipment.
This is why the success of the UWI Research Days notwithstanding, its inventors are looking for investors to help them duplicate their creation.
"Whenever we show it to the professionals in the field or the industry people who are involved with the equipment in cardiac surgery, they all want one," he said. They want to know where to buy one, but we just don't have the infrastructure here to be the production centre," said Dr Ramphal.
"We are not a factory. We need a commercial operation to do that," interjected Dr Coore. "So we are in the stage where we are looking for commercial entities to take it on, produce it and to sell it," he said.
The two refused to say what was the monetary value of the machine, claiming "that might be confidential to whoever commercialises it", and further declined to answer queries about how much money they would need to replicate it commercially.
The machine with the pulsating pig's heart was the highlight of the University of the West Indies' (UWI) 13th annual Research Days, held last Thursday and Friday. It could also be the start of great things for cardiac surgeons Drs Paul Ramphal and Daniel Coore, who invented the machine, called the UWI Cardiac Surgery Similator.
According to the two, the instrument — a combination of mechanics, computerised electronics, artificial blood, and dead animal flesh — will not only shorten the time spent on training young local surgeons, but will also make them more competitive on the international scene.
"It is difficult to spend time during the (real life) operations taking junior surgeons through the procedure. Time is of the essence in cardiac surgery," said Ramphal, who said he was tasked with the challenge of training three new cardiac surgeons in 2001.
"So the inspiration really, was how do I get my new trainees to a level so that when they reach overseas to complete their training in a high-volume centre like the UK, Canada, or the US, they will not be behind, and preferably in a more advanced position than the other trainees who were at those centres?" he said.
The similator, which reanimates a pig's heart — medically, the closest in structure to a human heart — also pumps artifical blood through the organ and is programmed to duplicate real-life scenarios that a trainee surgeon would have to deal with on the operating table during open-heart surgery. Computer leads hooked up to the heart can make it beat in different rhythms, and also track artificial vital signs on an attached monitor.
It's considered a remarkable achievement, with nearly limitless potential if the simulator can be duplicated and sold in the specialised market for cardiac equipment.
This is why the success of the UWI Research Days notwithstanding, its inventors are looking for investors to help them duplicate their creation.
"Whenever we show it to the professionals in the field or the industry people who are involved with the equipment in cardiac surgery, they all want one," he said. They want to know where to buy one, but we just don't have the infrastructure here to be the production centre," said Dr Ramphal.
"We are not a factory. We need a commercial operation to do that," interjected Dr Coore. "So we are in the stage where we are looking for commercial entities to take it on, produce it and to sell it," he said.
The two refused to say what was the monetary value of the machine, claiming "that might be confidential to whoever commercialises it", and further declined to answer queries about how much money they would need to replicate it commercially.
2012年1月19日星期四
Career guide to assist in creating jobs in plastics industry
Industry association Plastics South Africa’s training division plans to create an electronic career guide that will list the available skills and job opportunities in the local plastics industry.
Although the project is still in progress, the aim is to make the information available electronically on the association's website later this year, Plastics SA executive director Anton Hanekom tells Engineering News.
“This project is in line with Plastics SA’s training objective of promoting the career opportunities that exist in the local plastics industry,” he says.
The availability of the information is expected to assist companies that are recruiting and will provide information on the additional skills and the specific qualifications required for each position, as well as offer career guidance for job seekers.
“This initiative is aimed at creating an industry and skills development plan that is quantifiable, measurable and that will create jobs.
“Every profession in the plastics industry will now be linked to its relevant organising framework of occupations, alternative job titles, the various responsibilities associated with that job and the qualifications required for the position,” Hanekom notes.
Priority skills for the plastics industry, as identified by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority and Plastics SA, include plasticians, setters, mould makers and polymeric fabrication inspectors.
Plasticians are crucial in the manufacturing process, while setters are responsible for setting up the manufacturing equipment.
These priority skills were identified by Merseta’s Plastics Chamber, with the support of Plastics SA, which held a series of regional workshops in Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Gauteng last year to determine future skills needs in the industry and to design an Integrated Qualifications Frame- work – a first for the plastics industry.
The subsectors that were mapped during the workshops were packaging, engineering, industrial rubber, composites, thermoplastic fabrication and recycling.
“The main objective of this initiative was to map the industry to get a clear idea of the occupations that exist, and their details, the skills shortages and job vacancies. From this, a value chain was established for each subsector,” Hanekom states.
Meanwhile, in July last year, Plastics SA, together with the Whisper Boat Building Academy and the Cape Town Boatbuilding and Technology Initiative, began a one-year pilot project to train two groups of 15 deaf students to work with composites.
Merseta signed a memorandum of understanding committing itself to funding the full tuition costs of the 30 students recruited by the project.
Classes for the six-month course consist of theoretical and practical classroom-based training, combined with workplace experience that was presented as individual skills programmes.
The first group of learners graduated at the end of last year and will be issued with a Plastics SA certificate of competence in lamination.
This project will continue this year when another group of 15 deaf students will start their training.
Plastics SA supports the National Skills Development Strategy III that was launched in January last year by the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Hanekom points out that the key driving force behind this strategy is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the local skills development system.
“The strategy places significant emphasis on the relevance, quality and sustainability of skills training programmes to ensure that these impact positively on poverty reduction and the eradication of inequalities,” he adds.
The plastics unit within the Department of Trade and Industry, Plastics SA and other government departments, as well as key stakeholders, facilitated three provincial workshops in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban last year to finalise the draft strategy and action plan for the development of the plastics industry as identified in the National Industrial Policy Framework .
An Industrial Policy Action Plan was also developed to outline key action programmes that will be implemented to achieve the objectives of the NIPF.
Although the project is still in progress, the aim is to make the information available electronically on the association's website later this year, Plastics SA executive director Anton Hanekom tells Engineering News.
“This project is in line with Plastics SA’s training objective of promoting the career opportunities that exist in the local plastics industry,” he says.
The availability of the information is expected to assist companies that are recruiting and will provide information on the additional skills and the specific qualifications required for each position, as well as offer career guidance for job seekers.
“This initiative is aimed at creating an industry and skills development plan that is quantifiable, measurable and that will create jobs.
“Every profession in the plastics industry will now be linked to its relevant organising framework of occupations, alternative job titles, the various responsibilities associated with that job and the qualifications required for the position,” Hanekom notes.
Priority skills for the plastics industry, as identified by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority and Plastics SA, include plasticians, setters, mould makers and polymeric fabrication inspectors.
Plasticians are crucial in the manufacturing process, while setters are responsible for setting up the manufacturing equipment.
These priority skills were identified by Merseta’s Plastics Chamber, with the support of Plastics SA, which held a series of regional workshops in Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Gauteng last year to determine future skills needs in the industry and to design an Integrated Qualifications Frame- work – a first for the plastics industry.
The subsectors that were mapped during the workshops were packaging, engineering, industrial rubber, composites, thermoplastic fabrication and recycling.
“The main objective of this initiative was to map the industry to get a clear idea of the occupations that exist, and their details, the skills shortages and job vacancies. From this, a value chain was established for each subsector,” Hanekom states.
Meanwhile, in July last year, Plastics SA, together with the Whisper Boat Building Academy and the Cape Town Boatbuilding and Technology Initiative, began a one-year pilot project to train two groups of 15 deaf students to work with composites.
Merseta signed a memorandum of understanding committing itself to funding the full tuition costs of the 30 students recruited by the project.
Classes for the six-month course consist of theoretical and practical classroom-based training, combined with workplace experience that was presented as individual skills programmes.
The first group of learners graduated at the end of last year and will be issued with a Plastics SA certificate of competence in lamination.
This project will continue this year when another group of 15 deaf students will start their training.
Plastics SA supports the National Skills Development Strategy III that was launched in January last year by the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Hanekom points out that the key driving force behind this strategy is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the local skills development system.
“The strategy places significant emphasis on the relevance, quality and sustainability of skills training programmes to ensure that these impact positively on poverty reduction and the eradication of inequalities,” he adds.
The plastics unit within the Department of Trade and Industry, Plastics SA and other government departments, as well as key stakeholders, facilitated three provincial workshops in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban last year to finalise the draft strategy and action plan for the development of the plastics industry as identified in the National Industrial Policy Framework .
An Industrial Policy Action Plan was also developed to outline key action programmes that will be implemented to achieve the objectives of the NIPF.
2012年1月18日星期三
Maier to partner with India’s UM Group
Spanish automotive parts maker Maier has signed a partnership deal with the Indian industrial firm UM Group creating a joint production company in India.
Under the agreement, the Basque Country plastics processor, part of one of the globe’s biggest cooperative groups Corporación Mondragon, will create a jointly owned business Alpha Maier with its new partner.
The joint venture is to invest more than 5m to supply decorated plastic assemblies and parts to the automotive sector in India. Already, the enterprise has projects to start supplying Maruti Suzuki, one of the biggest car builders in the sub continent, according to Maier.
Alpha Maier aims to win further supply contracts from other global vehicle manufacturers such as General Motors, Honda, Peugeot-Citroen and Nissan with whom Maier does business in Europe.
This year, the new venture intends to create around 90 jobs and expects to achieve sales worth more than 4m. Alpha Maier intends to consolidate its position as a reference supplier in the Indian market which is set to grow rapidly in the coming years, said Maier.
Maier’s project is the second such Asian alliance announced by a subsidiary cooperative of the Mondragon group in the past six months. Last Autumn, Citautxo which designs and makes plastic and rubber car parts and assemblies agreed to take a 50% stake in the Pune business of Indian pipe and hose producer Taurus Flexibles Pvt. Ltd. of Jharkhand
The automotive division of UM Group, which is a diversified industrial business, makes a range of products such as car rear-view mirrors, horns and instruments with printed circuit boards. The Indian group also serves other sectors such as energy and equipment for electricity distribution.
Maier, an injection moulder and mould maker, is based in Ajangiz in the Basque Country and already operates five production plants. These include units in northern Spain in Gernika; in Iraizotz-Ultzama in the Navarre region; Maier Ferroplast near Vigo; at Attwood in the English West Midlands and in Prostejov in the Czech Republic. Maier has other strategic alliances in Turkey and Japan.
Its products include interior and exterior components such as front grilles, wheel covers, dashboard fascias, handles and trim. It also makes parts for domestic appliances.
Maier also has a technology centre in Ajangiz, Spain where it specialises in developing plastics technologies for the automotive sector. In 2011 Maier expected to achieve a turnover of 210m in 2011.
The annual group sales of all Corporación Mondragon’s industrial and retail businesses amounts to more than 13.82bn. Eighty five per cent of its 83,000 employees worldwide are worker-members of the democratically run industrial cooperative group.
Under the agreement, the Basque Country plastics processor, part of one of the globe’s biggest cooperative groups Corporación Mondragon, will create a jointly owned business Alpha Maier with its new partner.
The joint venture is to invest more than 5m to supply decorated plastic assemblies and parts to the automotive sector in India. Already, the enterprise has projects to start supplying Maruti Suzuki, one of the biggest car builders in the sub continent, according to Maier.
Alpha Maier aims to win further supply contracts from other global vehicle manufacturers such as General Motors, Honda, Peugeot-Citroen and Nissan with whom Maier does business in Europe.
This year, the new venture intends to create around 90 jobs and expects to achieve sales worth more than 4m. Alpha Maier intends to consolidate its position as a reference supplier in the Indian market which is set to grow rapidly in the coming years, said Maier.
Maier’s project is the second such Asian alliance announced by a subsidiary cooperative of the Mondragon group in the past six months. Last Autumn, Citautxo which designs and makes plastic and rubber car parts and assemblies agreed to take a 50% stake in the Pune business of Indian pipe and hose producer Taurus Flexibles Pvt. Ltd. of Jharkhand
The automotive division of UM Group, which is a diversified industrial business, makes a range of products such as car rear-view mirrors, horns and instruments with printed circuit boards. The Indian group also serves other sectors such as energy and equipment for electricity distribution.
Maier, an injection moulder and mould maker, is based in Ajangiz in the Basque Country and already operates five production plants. These include units in northern Spain in Gernika; in Iraizotz-Ultzama in the Navarre region; Maier Ferroplast near Vigo; at Attwood in the English West Midlands and in Prostejov in the Czech Republic. Maier has other strategic alliances in Turkey and Japan.
Its products include interior and exterior components such as front grilles, wheel covers, dashboard fascias, handles and trim. It also makes parts for domestic appliances.
Maier also has a technology centre in Ajangiz, Spain where it specialises in developing plastics technologies for the automotive sector. In 2011 Maier expected to achieve a turnover of 210m in 2011.
The annual group sales of all Corporación Mondragon’s industrial and retail businesses amounts to more than 13.82bn. Eighty five per cent of its 83,000 employees worldwide are worker-members of the democratically run industrial cooperative group.
2012年1月17日星期二
Georgia Salpa tells Celebrity Big Brother housemates she wants plastic surgery
Georgia Salpa has revealed she wants plastic surgery on two of her assets – her lips and her nose. The model said that she wanted bigger lips and a smaller nose and that she would be willing to go under the knife to make the changes.
Salpa’s shocked housemates tried to persuade her that any surgery would be a mistake. Natalie Cassidy told her: “You’re f**king mad. I can’t believe what I’m listening to.”
Nicola McLean claimed that she could understand Salpa’s reasons for wanting surgery, but urged her to reconsider. She said: “Do you know what, Georgia, and I’m not going to lie, you have a beautiful, beautiful face.
"Trust me when I say, you are stunning, beautiful and I don’t want to embarrass you... but don’t get anything done to your face. You are perfect.”
Meanwhile, Georgia’s real-life housemate Daniella Moyles reckons her busty pal is going to make it big even though she is hot favourite to get the boot for the second week in a row.
The feisty model told the Irish Daily Mirror she can see why Georgia’s Big Brother housemates think she’s dull because the “bubbly” Greek-born goddess hasn’t yet come out of her shell.
Daniella, who dubbed her pal Ireland’s Cheryl Cole, said: “I was with Georgia when she got the call to say she was going on Big Brother.
“I can tell you she was like the most excited person on the planet when she heard. She’s hilarious, she’s very easy to live with and she definitely didn’t get to where she is today by being boring but something isn’t clicking in the house.
"I fully accept there must be something in the other celebrities’ claims because this is the second week in a row she’s been up. But all I can think of is that the house must be the strangest environment and she just can’t adapt.”
Model Daniella said 26-year-old Georgia – who broke down in tears when she was told all but one of her celebrity housemates had put her up for eviction this week – had “bucket-loads of personality” that just wasn’t coming across on the show.
She added: “Georgia wants to be more than a photo-call girl and she’s already broken the mould and changed perceptions about Irish models so she really can’t lose even if she is evicted.
“I genuinely thought Georgia would win because she has a clean slate and no one knows her over there. But now I’m convinced that the fact that the British public and her housemates don’t know her is going against her.”
Salpa’s shocked housemates tried to persuade her that any surgery would be a mistake. Natalie Cassidy told her: “You’re f**king mad. I can’t believe what I’m listening to.”
Nicola McLean claimed that she could understand Salpa’s reasons for wanting surgery, but urged her to reconsider. She said: “Do you know what, Georgia, and I’m not going to lie, you have a beautiful, beautiful face.
"Trust me when I say, you are stunning, beautiful and I don’t want to embarrass you... but don’t get anything done to your face. You are perfect.”
Meanwhile, Georgia’s real-life housemate Daniella Moyles reckons her busty pal is going to make it big even though she is hot favourite to get the boot for the second week in a row.
The feisty model told the Irish Daily Mirror she can see why Georgia’s Big Brother housemates think she’s dull because the “bubbly” Greek-born goddess hasn’t yet come out of her shell.
Daniella, who dubbed her pal Ireland’s Cheryl Cole, said: “I was with Georgia when she got the call to say she was going on Big Brother.
“I can tell you she was like the most excited person on the planet when she heard. She’s hilarious, she’s very easy to live with and she definitely didn’t get to where she is today by being boring but something isn’t clicking in the house.
"I fully accept there must be something in the other celebrities’ claims because this is the second week in a row she’s been up. But all I can think of is that the house must be the strangest environment and she just can’t adapt.”
Model Daniella said 26-year-old Georgia – who broke down in tears when she was told all but one of her celebrity housemates had put her up for eviction this week – had “bucket-loads of personality” that just wasn’t coming across on the show.
She added: “Georgia wants to be more than a photo-call girl and she’s already broken the mould and changed perceptions about Irish models so she really can’t lose even if she is evicted.
“I genuinely thought Georgia would win because she has a clean slate and no one knows her over there. But now I’m convinced that the fact that the British public and her housemates don’t know her is going against her.”
2012年1月16日星期一
Looking beyond piano black in automotive
A large white "XXL format" central console demonstrator was the subject of several presentations and was also included among samples displayed at European Plastics News' Decorative Automotive Plastics conference in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from 30 November to 1 December 2011.
The demonstrator was shown earlier at K2010 and was developed by polycarbonate film supplier Bayer MaterialScience, ink supplier Prll, high-pressure forming machinery producer Niebling and the US company Artificial Muscle (with its Vivitouch tactile response technology). Prll's IMD development manager Hans-Peter Erfurt described the Vivitouch solution as "developed for the gaming industry, but not yet ready for automotive". However, the technology will receive a feasibility study in the "R&D pipeline for automotive applications", Erfurt added.
In his presentation on Prll's Dual-Cure lacquers, Erfurt pointed out that "secret-until-lit" features are more difficult in white, as a black colour behind a white top surface comes through as grey and becomes less sharp through diffusion, as the white is not very opaque.
A 100mm x 500mm Makrofol LM292 film applied to the centre stack requires high positioning accuracy. Printed hidden symbols not only become illuminated by means of integrated capacitive switches. Part of the stack is decorated with a Makrofol HF278 G4 475m film with a Prll Norilux DC-3 formable dual-cure UV-curing lacquer hardcoat, providing high gloss white backlighting as well as a partially coated matt finish.
In a presentation by Dirk Pophusen, functional films development manager at Bayer MS, he referred to another large central console or centre stack, a "black-panel" technology unit, shown by Preh with a glass based demonstrator at IAA 2011 in Frankfurt in September. Here too there is a similar plastic potential as with the white demonstrator, as German automotive supplier Preh already uses 3D film insert moulding (FIM) as one of the various IMD and IML processes.
Preh is, for example, involved with Bosch, B-LA Siebdruck- und Kunststofftechnik and Albea Kunststofftechnik in production of the BMW 7 Series black panel instrument cluster with secret-until-lit features. Bayer MS supplies a Marnot XL GU130 hardcoated matt surfaced film for the FIM parts moulded by Albea.
In a presentation entitled "Beyond piano black", Tim Wright, R&D director at formable hardcoated film producer MacDermid Autotype, said that although black remains a popular colour, his company is working on "making black even blacker", with "some products already in the marketplace".
He said hard coating originally arose as a solution not only to improve scratch resistance, but also to overcome polycarbonate developing a blue tinge over time due to crystallisation. With regard to current concerns about recycling, Wright pointed out that the hardcoat is not thermoplastic, so it can be filtered out from the PC remelt.
A breakthrough came in 2005, when Autoflex XF (Xtraform) film with high formability and fairly high chemical and abrasion resistance was first used on the Mercedes S Class. The part involved 44 different components and was the first major automotive piano black application.
Wright said: "It was a leap of faith by Daimler, but they recognised the potential compared with paint spray and etching."
Piano black decoration has since reached Audi, Ford, Fiat, VW, and GM/Opel models.
However, Wright continued: "Designers grow tired of the same discussion [of piano black]. They are thinking 5-10 years ahead, as I do. I am not clever enough to think of everything, but I want to hear about what is required and make it happen - with passion and energy."
For example: new textured hardcoats used for the Autoflex S film, with low haze through use of micro-replication technology; or overcoming PC film limits such as its needing a post-cure hardcoat to meet automotive standards, and its short life in switch applications. Here, Wright sees potential for HiForm PE in an oriented PET (OPET) film, as it "has good flex life (ten times that of PC), is surprisingly formable as a pre-cured hard material, and is already used in membrane switches".
HiForm PE has been formed to 7mm depth and can handle sharp corner radii. But as it is limited in thermal soaking performance, MacDermid Autotype has a 2012 R&D programme "to make it work in auto interiors", Wright says. One area for OPET in future could be soft touch surfaces, where other soft touch solutions have inadequate chemical resistance.
Although MacDermid Autotype has been coating PMMA for 10 years, Wright said it is very soft at 100°C and has too low birefringence for displays. But he sees potential for Toray Picasus non-metallic lustre film for badges and chrome replacement. Picasus is a multilayer film with layers of different refractive index, so it looks like sputtered or aluminised film. It is also compatible with hard coats such as Xtraform and is formable.
Wright said MacDermid Autotype had offered textured black film 10 years ago, but it was "not really taken up". Now the time is right, Wright says, for areas of text or ones with, for example, bird and leaf designs.
"Texture is the 'new black', for example economic combination of texture with gloss, lenses with textured bezel, textured feature lines or even mirror effects. But industry has not been brave enough yet to take the offer," he said.
In addition, MacDermid Autotype is working to reduce costs on nano replication moth-eye surface film, for interior surfaces, as fingerprints are reflected. It is also working with moulder Schuster on capacitive switches. Antenna integration with FIM "has already been implemented," Wright said, "but there has been no adoption yet, as far as we know, for inductive charging, even though it is used in the domestic environment, such as for electric toothbrushes".
Among many ideas at MacDermid Autotype, there is also one project that has started that is aimed at development of decorated door spar trim with a stroking action to open windows. Door strips with backlighting are also being developed. Looking at these ideas, Wright says: "15 years ago the FIM light bulb turned on for me. Let's make the same thing happen for designers."
Pieter van der Ster is business development manager for Europe and Asia at AkzoNobel Specialty Plastics and he mentioned in his presentation that a soft-feel rose petal tactile effect on laptops is a project close to market introduction. He also showed use of Reflex technology to orientate magnetisable additives in liquid paint coating. More recently, Reflex has been applied with Keballoy magnetic compound from
Barlog Plastics, enabling post-moulding magnetising of the part, followed by coating with liquid paint containing magnetisable particles. Either way, the result is an image formed by the particle orientation being "frozen" into the liquid paint.
He also highlighted a chrome bright film that is transparent to light for backlighting and brushed chrome. In connection with this, Van der Ster stressed: "Our systems are cost down, if there are higher costs, you can forget about it."
Rhl Puromer managing director Ingo Kleba said his company's PuroClear polyurethane withstands car washing better than paint. He went on to describe the crystal clear PuroClear S material that has self-healing properties, saying that people do not mind a scratch "as long as it disappears again after a certain time".
Kleba said there has to be "change management in the way of thinking. Making surfaces harder and harder is out, since any carbon-based material has a limited hardness. Making the surface self-healing is the silver bullet while maintaining all other surface properties".
The PuroClear S principle is based upon elastic behaviour of the molecular network with its combined structure of irreversible chemical bonds and reversible physical hydrogen bonds, so that the latter recover after damage. Kleba said PuroClear S has been proven in KraussMaffei's ColorForm and Engel's Clearmelt systems. The UV-stable coating is already used for real wood veneer coating and provides a 3D effect, along with covering sink marks.
A 2.5mm thick PC/ABS armrest demonstrator has been moulded with a PuroClear S skin with 1.9s moulding cycle time, followed by 40s curing time, giving overall production time of below 60s for the decorated part. PuroClear S can be demoulded up to 1,500 times without using an additional external mould release, Kleba said.
Looking ahead over the next 5-10 years, Kleba said PuroClear S also has potential to be used as a nanoskin in order to provide a durable anti-reflection solution. Work on this project has already started with the Fraunhofer IWM mechanics of materials institute in Freiburg.
But in the nearer term, Rhl Polymer, working with Abatek, has developed a Polyform 3D technology based on PuroClear and Abatek's Polyform keypad technology. The technology is aimed at centre stacks, with gloss and matt surfaces, back-panel lighting, tactile areas, a capacitive joy-stick and an integrated screen window with capacitive or resistive touch action.
The demonstrator was shown earlier at K2010 and was developed by polycarbonate film supplier Bayer MaterialScience, ink supplier Prll, high-pressure forming machinery producer Niebling and the US company Artificial Muscle (with its Vivitouch tactile response technology). Prll's IMD development manager Hans-Peter Erfurt described the Vivitouch solution as "developed for the gaming industry, but not yet ready for automotive". However, the technology will receive a feasibility study in the "R&D pipeline for automotive applications", Erfurt added.
In his presentation on Prll's Dual-Cure lacquers, Erfurt pointed out that "secret-until-lit" features are more difficult in white, as a black colour behind a white top surface comes through as grey and becomes less sharp through diffusion, as the white is not very opaque.
A 100mm x 500mm Makrofol LM292 film applied to the centre stack requires high positioning accuracy. Printed hidden symbols not only become illuminated by means of integrated capacitive switches. Part of the stack is decorated with a Makrofol HF278 G4 475m film with a Prll Norilux DC-3 formable dual-cure UV-curing lacquer hardcoat, providing high gloss white backlighting as well as a partially coated matt finish.
In a presentation by Dirk Pophusen, functional films development manager at Bayer MS, he referred to another large central console or centre stack, a "black-panel" technology unit, shown by Preh with a glass based demonstrator at IAA 2011 in Frankfurt in September. Here too there is a similar plastic potential as with the white demonstrator, as German automotive supplier Preh already uses 3D film insert moulding (FIM) as one of the various IMD and IML processes.
Preh is, for example, involved with Bosch, B-LA Siebdruck- und Kunststofftechnik and Albea Kunststofftechnik in production of the BMW 7 Series black panel instrument cluster with secret-until-lit features. Bayer MS supplies a Marnot XL GU130 hardcoated matt surfaced film for the FIM parts moulded by Albea.
In a presentation entitled "Beyond piano black", Tim Wright, R&D director at formable hardcoated film producer MacDermid Autotype, said that although black remains a popular colour, his company is working on "making black even blacker", with "some products already in the marketplace".
He said hard coating originally arose as a solution not only to improve scratch resistance, but also to overcome polycarbonate developing a blue tinge over time due to crystallisation. With regard to current concerns about recycling, Wright pointed out that the hardcoat is not thermoplastic, so it can be filtered out from the PC remelt.
A breakthrough came in 2005, when Autoflex XF (Xtraform) film with high formability and fairly high chemical and abrasion resistance was first used on the Mercedes S Class. The part involved 44 different components and was the first major automotive piano black application.
Wright said: "It was a leap of faith by Daimler, but they recognised the potential compared with paint spray and etching."
Piano black decoration has since reached Audi, Ford, Fiat, VW, and GM/Opel models.
However, Wright continued: "Designers grow tired of the same discussion [of piano black]. They are thinking 5-10 years ahead, as I do. I am not clever enough to think of everything, but I want to hear about what is required and make it happen - with passion and energy."
For example: new textured hardcoats used for the Autoflex S film, with low haze through use of micro-replication technology; or overcoming PC film limits such as its needing a post-cure hardcoat to meet automotive standards, and its short life in switch applications. Here, Wright sees potential for HiForm PE in an oriented PET (OPET) film, as it "has good flex life (ten times that of PC), is surprisingly formable as a pre-cured hard material, and is already used in membrane switches".
HiForm PE has been formed to 7mm depth and can handle sharp corner radii. But as it is limited in thermal soaking performance, MacDermid Autotype has a 2012 R&D programme "to make it work in auto interiors", Wright says. One area for OPET in future could be soft touch surfaces, where other soft touch solutions have inadequate chemical resistance.
Although MacDermid Autotype has been coating PMMA for 10 years, Wright said it is very soft at 100°C and has too low birefringence for displays. But he sees potential for Toray Picasus non-metallic lustre film for badges and chrome replacement. Picasus is a multilayer film with layers of different refractive index, so it looks like sputtered or aluminised film. It is also compatible with hard coats such as Xtraform and is formable.
Wright said MacDermid Autotype had offered textured black film 10 years ago, but it was "not really taken up". Now the time is right, Wright says, for areas of text or ones with, for example, bird and leaf designs.
"Texture is the 'new black', for example economic combination of texture with gloss, lenses with textured bezel, textured feature lines or even mirror effects. But industry has not been brave enough yet to take the offer," he said.
In addition, MacDermid Autotype is working to reduce costs on nano replication moth-eye surface film, for interior surfaces, as fingerprints are reflected. It is also working with moulder Schuster on capacitive switches. Antenna integration with FIM "has already been implemented," Wright said, "but there has been no adoption yet, as far as we know, for inductive charging, even though it is used in the domestic environment, such as for electric toothbrushes".
Among many ideas at MacDermid Autotype, there is also one project that has started that is aimed at development of decorated door spar trim with a stroking action to open windows. Door strips with backlighting are also being developed. Looking at these ideas, Wright says: "15 years ago the FIM light bulb turned on for me. Let's make the same thing happen for designers."
Pieter van der Ster is business development manager for Europe and Asia at AkzoNobel Specialty Plastics and he mentioned in his presentation that a soft-feel rose petal tactile effect on laptops is a project close to market introduction. He also showed use of Reflex technology to orientate magnetisable additives in liquid paint coating. More recently, Reflex has been applied with Keballoy magnetic compound from
Barlog Plastics, enabling post-moulding magnetising of the part, followed by coating with liquid paint containing magnetisable particles. Either way, the result is an image formed by the particle orientation being "frozen" into the liquid paint.
He also highlighted a chrome bright film that is transparent to light for backlighting and brushed chrome. In connection with this, Van der Ster stressed: "Our systems are cost down, if there are higher costs, you can forget about it."
Rhl Puromer managing director Ingo Kleba said his company's PuroClear polyurethane withstands car washing better than paint. He went on to describe the crystal clear PuroClear S material that has self-healing properties, saying that people do not mind a scratch "as long as it disappears again after a certain time".
Kleba said there has to be "change management in the way of thinking. Making surfaces harder and harder is out, since any carbon-based material has a limited hardness. Making the surface self-healing is the silver bullet while maintaining all other surface properties".
The PuroClear S principle is based upon elastic behaviour of the molecular network with its combined structure of irreversible chemical bonds and reversible physical hydrogen bonds, so that the latter recover after damage. Kleba said PuroClear S has been proven in KraussMaffei's ColorForm and Engel's Clearmelt systems. The UV-stable coating is already used for real wood veneer coating and provides a 3D effect, along with covering sink marks.
A 2.5mm thick PC/ABS armrest demonstrator has been moulded with a PuroClear S skin with 1.9s moulding cycle time, followed by 40s curing time, giving overall production time of below 60s for the decorated part. PuroClear S can be demoulded up to 1,500 times without using an additional external mould release, Kleba said.
Looking ahead over the next 5-10 years, Kleba said PuroClear S also has potential to be used as a nanoskin in order to provide a durable anti-reflection solution. Work on this project has already started with the Fraunhofer IWM mechanics of materials institute in Freiburg.
But in the nearer term, Rhl Polymer, working with Abatek, has developed a Polyform 3D technology based on PuroClear and Abatek's Polyform keypad technology. The technology is aimed at centre stacks, with gloss and matt surfaces, back-panel lighting, tactile areas, a capacitive joy-stick and an integrated screen window with capacitive or resistive touch action.
2012年1月15日星期日
'Nian gao' is property agent's best asset
This time of year, the property agent swaps the pens and the contracts for moulds and steamers to make nian gao.
His sticky rice cake is in demand locally and in Singapore.
The 43-year-old father of three has been making nian gao every year for the last 10 years.
He learnt how to do it while working at a Chinese-owned nian gao manufacturing factory back in the 1980s.
When the factory shut down, Balamurali became a property agent as nain gao is only popular during the Chinese festive season.
The traditional item, made of glutinous rice flour, syrup and brown sugar, is offered to the Kitchen God at this time of the year.
Folklore has it that a week before the Lunar New Year, the Kitchen God returns to heaven to with the year's report of the family's good and bad deeds to the Jade Emperor.
The Chinese community hence offers the nian gao to the Kitchen God's so that he would not be able to talk with his mouth full of sticky rice.
Customers have a choice of nian gao made using plastic-lined moulds or the traditional and pricier banana leaf-lined mould.
The moulds are placed inside a giant steamer.
Balamurali, who runs his business from NYCC Enterprise at 70, Jalan Bakawali 52 in Taman Johor Jaya, sells the cakes at between RM3.20 and RM8.50 each.
With the help of 30 part-time workers, Balamurali produces over 1,500 cakes a day.
His sticky rice cake is in demand locally and in Singapore.
The 43-year-old father of three has been making nian gao every year for the last 10 years.
He learnt how to do it while working at a Chinese-owned nian gao manufacturing factory back in the 1980s.
When the factory shut down, Balamurali became a property agent as nain gao is only popular during the Chinese festive season.
The traditional item, made of glutinous rice flour, syrup and brown sugar, is offered to the Kitchen God at this time of the year.
Folklore has it that a week before the Lunar New Year, the Kitchen God returns to heaven to with the year's report of the family's good and bad deeds to the Jade Emperor.
The Chinese community hence offers the nian gao to the Kitchen God's so that he would not be able to talk with his mouth full of sticky rice.
Customers have a choice of nian gao made using plastic-lined moulds or the traditional and pricier banana leaf-lined mould.
The moulds are placed inside a giant steamer.
Balamurali, who runs his business from NYCC Enterprise at 70, Jalan Bakawali 52 in Taman Johor Jaya, sells the cakes at between RM3.20 and RM8.50 each.
With the help of 30 part-time workers, Balamurali produces over 1,500 cakes a day.
2012年1月12日星期四
Argentine industry ‘under risk with new ‘super-license’ imports’ system
This week the Argentine government announced that written legal documents must be submitted to the tax agency, AFIP, ahead of approving imports. The measure becomes effective next February first.
Argentine manufacturers immediately reacted and said that the latest measures to closely monitor imports pose limitations and “put national industry under risk” for which the government should find a balance.
“Limitations always provoke reactions and worries among the affected sector. I do understand the government’s need to control imports in order to protect our domestic industry and the foreign currency reserves; it should look for reaching a healthy balance” said the former head of the Argentine Industrial Union Héctor Mendez during a radio interview.
Méndez also recalled that Argentine domestic industry depends heavily on imports. “My expertise in the plastic industry, where it currently takes one and a half years to bring a plastic injection mould is an example of what I’m saying. So, I can assure that in case imports stop or get blocked, I’ll have to stop all factory production.”
“It’s a delicate situation. At this point Argentina should have learnt what the cons of foreign dependence are. But it seems not to be the case. This is a country in which cars, just to give an example, are manufactured with 70% of their materials being imported. There is still much to be done in order to achieve a true national industry.”
Importers also questioned the Argentine government measure that sets a greater control on purchases made abroad.
Head of the Chamber of Importers of Argentina (CIRA), Diego Pérez Santisteban, bashed the measure: “More than 80% of imports go toward production in Argentina... given that there isn’t the fluency necessary for importing these types of products, there will be further problems ahead,” he said.
The CERA exporters’ chamber also asked the AFIP to “suspend” the resolution, which requires an advance import sworn statement to be submitted to the agency, and that the importing sector is calling a “super license”.
Argentine manufacturers immediately reacted and said that the latest measures to closely monitor imports pose limitations and “put national industry under risk” for which the government should find a balance.
“Limitations always provoke reactions and worries among the affected sector. I do understand the government’s need to control imports in order to protect our domestic industry and the foreign currency reserves; it should look for reaching a healthy balance” said the former head of the Argentine Industrial Union Héctor Mendez during a radio interview.
Méndez also recalled that Argentine domestic industry depends heavily on imports. “My expertise in the plastic industry, where it currently takes one and a half years to bring a plastic injection mould is an example of what I’m saying. So, I can assure that in case imports stop or get blocked, I’ll have to stop all factory production.”
“It’s a delicate situation. At this point Argentina should have learnt what the cons of foreign dependence are. But it seems not to be the case. This is a country in which cars, just to give an example, are manufactured with 70% of their materials being imported. There is still much to be done in order to achieve a true national industry.”
Importers also questioned the Argentine government measure that sets a greater control on purchases made abroad.
Head of the Chamber of Importers of Argentina (CIRA), Diego Pérez Santisteban, bashed the measure: “More than 80% of imports go toward production in Argentina... given that there isn’t the fluency necessary for importing these types of products, there will be further problems ahead,” he said.
The CERA exporters’ chamber also asked the AFIP to “suspend” the resolution, which requires an advance import sworn statement to be submitted to the agency, and that the importing sector is calling a “super license”.
2012年1月11日星期三
Three Winters
I am standing in a village on a morning like this one - crisp, with a definite nip in the air and a howling wind to match. I am cold but sweat is streaming down my face. I am watching my classmates perform a play on the value of sending the girl child to law school. Villagers sit around and watch without expression. They yawn a lot and begin to disperse quietly once the play is over. Always alive to the call of duty, I quickly corral one mustachioed gentleman attempting to leave with his cow. You have a daughter, why don't you send her to law school? I say. My daughter is a good girl, my friend notes generously. The comment is a little off-topic, but promising. People can pay for her if she does well, you know, I say with greater enthusiasm. Educating a girl child is educating the family, he says, as though repeating something off a billboard somewhere. So why don't you educate yours? I interject cleverly, with the feeling that I have caught him on a fine point. He sighs deeply and raises large grey eyes to mine - Arre beta, she is the only child… there is no help. A pause, and - you know how it is... he says. I plainly do not, but he does not elaborate.
After an uncomfortable silence of indeterminate length, I hand him a small booklet with a phone number to call if he ever ends up wanting to educate his girl child at a discount. He takes it quite happily from me. I already know that he will feed it to his cow.
We write up a report for our camp - "Visited Chotagaon village in Chotagarh district and performed several plays highlighting the importance of creating diversity in national law schools. Distributed pamphlets highlighting the same." We put this on our blog.
I dedicate a bullet point on my CV to the above statement in its entirety.
I take a sip of elaichi tea and cringe; are all college cafeterias obsessed with sugar? I give the plastic glass to the resident nogoodrascal dog, who stupidly pushes his whole snout into the glass and cannot take it out. He howls in perverse harmony with the wind, while I think about another winter..
I am sitting in front of an Important Person in his office. I sent you an email, I say. I saw it, very regrettable, he says. I am very disappointed. It was plagiarism, I say clearly, and he is a professor. Important Person agrees in soothing tones. Tomorrow I will email him and tell him his article cannot be published, I say, because he is a plagiarist. I’m afraid you cannot do that, says Important Person in the same gentle tones – (I am not prepared for this) - and why is that? I say, stupidly. He raises his old, brown eyes to me and sighs - "He is after all your teacher, is he not? Arre beta you know how it is...
He looks like a wise toad behind his glasses. I feel like a fly who has just been swallowed.
I look down and watch as my breath mists up his glass tabletop. I can't tell how long I sit there, perfectly still. It is our flagship journal, I finally say, without looking up. This one we will not send to Harvard, eh? says Big Man, with a small laugh. Do you want more tea, son?
One month later, I am standing outside a local press, shading my eyes from the sun, watching glossy piles of our new prospectus be brought out to be taken back to campus and posted to the law-school-ward headed masses. I read the front cover. "An institute of national repute in the field of legal education and pedagogy" it says. I open it and smell the paper.
It feels smooth and smells dirty.
It is the last winter in law school, the onset of this very one; I sit on the other side of a table in a beautifully appointed room, all teak and velvet (not unlike, I imagine, a high class bordello). I stuff myself awkwardly into a cushioned chair and face yet another powerful man, who sits in the chair opposite mine. You had shortlisted me for an interview, I say politely. I was wondering why you never took that interview, I say politely.
We liked your CV, but we ended up filling that position unexpectedly early, he says.
Filling it without taking any interviews, I say carefully, without meeting his gaze. It was not a question unless you wanted it to be one; just the gentlest interrogatory inflection - I had planned it so inside my head.
The briefest pause follows, and then - Yes, we found a candidate who was...closer to home, he said.
Closer to home, I see, I say. This time also, I am careful to keep any particular tone out of my voice. He is gentler in his reply - You have a good CV. But in this industry, you know how it is, we take many favours. Sometimes, well, we have many friends we are grateful to…
After an uncomfortable silence of indeterminate length, I hand him a small booklet with a phone number to call if he ever ends up wanting to educate his girl child at a discount. He takes it quite happily from me. I already know that he will feed it to his cow.
We write up a report for our camp - "Visited Chotagaon village in Chotagarh district and performed several plays highlighting the importance of creating diversity in national law schools. Distributed pamphlets highlighting the same." We put this on our blog.
I dedicate a bullet point on my CV to the above statement in its entirety.
I take a sip of elaichi tea and cringe; are all college cafeterias obsessed with sugar? I give the plastic glass to the resident nogoodrascal dog, who stupidly pushes his whole snout into the glass and cannot take it out. He howls in perverse harmony with the wind, while I think about another winter..
I am sitting in front of an Important Person in his office. I sent you an email, I say. I saw it, very regrettable, he says. I am very disappointed. It was plagiarism, I say clearly, and he is a professor. Important Person agrees in soothing tones. Tomorrow I will email him and tell him his article cannot be published, I say, because he is a plagiarist. I’m afraid you cannot do that, says Important Person in the same gentle tones – (I am not prepared for this) - and why is that? I say, stupidly. He raises his old, brown eyes to me and sighs - "He is after all your teacher, is he not? Arre beta you know how it is...
He looks like a wise toad behind his glasses. I feel like a fly who has just been swallowed.
I look down and watch as my breath mists up his glass tabletop. I can't tell how long I sit there, perfectly still. It is our flagship journal, I finally say, without looking up. This one we will not send to Harvard, eh? says Big Man, with a small laugh. Do you want more tea, son?
One month later, I am standing outside a local press, shading my eyes from the sun, watching glossy piles of our new prospectus be brought out to be taken back to campus and posted to the law-school-ward headed masses. I read the front cover. "An institute of national repute in the field of legal education and pedagogy" it says. I open it and smell the paper.
It feels smooth and smells dirty.
It is the last winter in law school, the onset of this very one; I sit on the other side of a table in a beautifully appointed room, all teak and velvet (not unlike, I imagine, a high class bordello). I stuff myself awkwardly into a cushioned chair and face yet another powerful man, who sits in the chair opposite mine. You had shortlisted me for an interview, I say politely. I was wondering why you never took that interview, I say politely.
We liked your CV, but we ended up filling that position unexpectedly early, he says.
Filling it without taking any interviews, I say carefully, without meeting his gaze. It was not a question unless you wanted it to be one; just the gentlest interrogatory inflection - I had planned it so inside my head.
The briefest pause follows, and then - Yes, we found a candidate who was...closer to home, he said.
Closer to home, I see, I say. This time also, I am careful to keep any particular tone out of my voice. He is gentler in his reply - You have a good CV. But in this industry, you know how it is, we take many favours. Sometimes, well, we have many friends we are grateful to…
2012年1月10日星期二
IMD answers multiple choice questions
Wilhelmsdorf, Germany based plastic processor Jacob Plastics Group has developed the MultiDecoMolding process that it says offers new design possibilities for decorative automotive interior applications. Designers can deceive the eye, Jacob Plastics maintains, by using MultiDecoMolding to produce components in one piece that "look like they're assembled from different parts".
The MultiDecoMolding process has already found a commercial application on the latest Opel Astra car, for the cover of the central console, as part of the trim covers for the Delta 2 platform.
The process is used to stunning effect on the Opel Astra parts that Jacob Plastics supplies via Johnson Controls. Of the various Astra models for which Jacob Plastic moulds the central console covers, the Cosmo, GSI and Sport versions are probably the most exacting, involving a combination of different structures and contrasting colours.
MultiDecoMolding was developed by Jacob Plastics specifically for these kinds of demanding tasks. The company says that its process produces better quality parts than the previous painted Astra central console covers, without some of the difficulties incurred with painting.
Key to the MultiDecoMolding process is a form of in-mould application of different decorative elements to a single moulded component. Jacob Plastics says the technique overcomes "creative limitations" such as diffusion, blurred interfaces at points of colour change in multiple-colour parts and the problem of clearance when changing film motives in outline and border areas.
Jacob Plastics said a previous drawback with decorative elements that were close to or interconnected with each other was that, often, in practice, they were separated by gaps, instead of being "closely affiliated".
This has been overcome with the new technique, which uses back injection moulding to apply and combine films or other decorative elements with different motives, structures or in different materials to the moulded substrate within a single moulding process. This eliminates the need to apply these features in separate post-moulding bonding operations with clips, welding or adhesion.
Jacob Plastics says that one of its future plans is to use MultiDecoMolding to apply electroluminescent foil as a functional element under a wood appearance surface dcor. This would allow a park distance control to remain invisible while driving normally, yet become visible through the dcor when making parking manoeuvres.
As Jacob Plastic Group is also a thermoformer, it produces the three thermoformed FIM insert films itself. These are placed into Reis positioning equipment with precision down to tenths of 1mm. A Reis multi-axial articulated robot then places the insert films held in the positioning equipment into a 550 tonne Engel injection moulding machine to mould the complete decorated covers.
The MultiDecoMolding trademark was registered in the EU trademark database by Manfred Jacob Beteiligungen on 27 November 2008, with expiry date 25 October 2017.
The MultiDecoMolding process has already found a commercial application on the latest Opel Astra car, for the cover of the central console, as part of the trim covers for the Delta 2 platform.
The process is used to stunning effect on the Opel Astra parts that Jacob Plastics supplies via Johnson Controls. Of the various Astra models for which Jacob Plastic moulds the central console covers, the Cosmo, GSI and Sport versions are probably the most exacting, involving a combination of different structures and contrasting colours.
MultiDecoMolding was developed by Jacob Plastics specifically for these kinds of demanding tasks. The company says that its process produces better quality parts than the previous painted Astra central console covers, without some of the difficulties incurred with painting.
Key to the MultiDecoMolding process is a form of in-mould application of different decorative elements to a single moulded component. Jacob Plastics says the technique overcomes "creative limitations" such as diffusion, blurred interfaces at points of colour change in multiple-colour parts and the problem of clearance when changing film motives in outline and border areas.
Jacob Plastics said a previous drawback with decorative elements that were close to or interconnected with each other was that, often, in practice, they were separated by gaps, instead of being "closely affiliated".
This has been overcome with the new technique, which uses back injection moulding to apply and combine films or other decorative elements with different motives, structures or in different materials to the moulded substrate within a single moulding process. This eliminates the need to apply these features in separate post-moulding bonding operations with clips, welding or adhesion.
Jacob Plastics says that one of its future plans is to use MultiDecoMolding to apply electroluminescent foil as a functional element under a wood appearance surface dcor. This would allow a park distance control to remain invisible while driving normally, yet become visible through the dcor when making parking manoeuvres.
As Jacob Plastic Group is also a thermoformer, it produces the three thermoformed FIM insert films itself. These are placed into Reis positioning equipment with precision down to tenths of 1mm. A Reis multi-axial articulated robot then places the insert films held in the positioning equipment into a 550 tonne Engel injection moulding machine to mould the complete decorated covers.
The MultiDecoMolding trademark was registered in the EU trademark database by Manfred Jacob Beteiligungen on 27 November 2008, with expiry date 25 October 2017.
2012年1月9日星期一
Ursula Owusu Kick-starts Campaign For 2012
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant for Ablekuma South, Ms Ursula Owusu, has urged polling station executives and members of the party in general to monitor with eagle eyes the 2012 general election from its beginning till the results were declared.
She explained that the admonition formed part of the legitimate steps instituted by the party to prevent electoral malpractices because a review of the 2008 parliamentary results indicated that the NPP lost the seat mainly because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had a free hand to perpetuated electoral fraud, including changes and increases to official figures declared at the polling stations.
Ms Owusu, who was addressing members of the party at the constituency just before the inauguration of the Polling Station Executives for Bishop John Daly, Home Care one and Two, on Saturday, said the NPP had seen through the tricks of the NDC and gave the assurance that the party would place an eagle eye on the process from the polling station to the collation centres till the proper results were declared.
“Come December 7, 2012, we will not relax, sleep nor blink an eye. We will ensure that every qualified voter voted once and that ballot is counted once and recorded as such at the polling station. We will follow the results from the polling station to the collation centre to ensure that what was counted and declared at the polling station was exactly what was collated and declared,” she added.
Ms Owusu accused Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Education and Mr Alex Mould of the National Petroleum Authority for short changing Ghanaians.
Elaborating her accusation against the two, she said Mrs Mould-Iddrisu was the one who did not put up any defence in court. Ms Owusu said when Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome made claims that the state owed him the Minister for Justice and Attorney General went ahead to pay Mr Woyome more than what the court had agreed to be paid.
On the part of Mr Mould, she explained that even when a court of competent jurisdiction had asked the National Petroleum Authority to stop certain components of the petroleum price build up because they were illegal, he had refused to heed the court directive and to make matters worse, had gone ahead to increase fuel prices.
She accused the Mills administration of bringing untold hardship on the people of Ghana by increasing fuel prices during what she described as “a dry Christmas festivities”.
Ms Owusu stated that there was every indication that the Mills Administration had failed Ghanaians and must be booted out for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to be sworn in as the next president to continue the good policies of former President Kuffuor.
She said the difference between the NDC and the NPP was that former was good in making promises they could not honour and assured the gathering that just as the Kuffuor Administration implemented the National Health Insurance Scheme, Nana Akufo Addo would make SHS free for parents to have some relief.
A Spokesperson for Nana Akufo Addo, Mr Abu Jinapo, indicated that the NPP Communication team had made the Woyome-Judgement Debt saga, a major campaign issue for the 2012 elections campaign message because to them, the payment amounted to a perpetuation of fraud on the people of Ghana.
He said the Communication Team was worried about the illegitimate payment of such a huge amount while the ordinary Ghana continue to wallow in abject poverty and deprivation and wondered why President JEA Mills, who was touted as the epitome of probity, accountability and transparency would allow such “day light robbery” under his watch.
He described as ironical the claim by the NDC that former President Kuffuor supervised corruption during his tenure of office. This was because “three years after Kuffuor had left office, not even a single messenger in the Kuffuor Administration has been convicted of corruption”.
Mr Jinapo said the NPP was committed to free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections but added that if the party realised that the security agencies would stand aloof in the face of intimidation and electoral fraud, “we will defend the ballot with our life”.
Inaugurating the polling station executives, a former Chief Executive of Accra and a leading member of the party, Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson urged the members not to pride themselves in the positions they have but to move from house to house to encourage people to register when the voters register was opened.
He also appealed to them to also educate the electorate about the policies and programmes of the next NPP and why they should reject the Mills Administration but cautioned the members not to use insulting language even in the face of provocation.
She explained that the admonition formed part of the legitimate steps instituted by the party to prevent electoral malpractices because a review of the 2008 parliamentary results indicated that the NPP lost the seat mainly because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had a free hand to perpetuated electoral fraud, including changes and increases to official figures declared at the polling stations.
Ms Owusu, who was addressing members of the party at the constituency just before the inauguration of the Polling Station Executives for Bishop John Daly, Home Care one and Two, on Saturday, said the NPP had seen through the tricks of the NDC and gave the assurance that the party would place an eagle eye on the process from the polling station to the collation centres till the proper results were declared.
“Come December 7, 2012, we will not relax, sleep nor blink an eye. We will ensure that every qualified voter voted once and that ballot is counted once and recorded as such at the polling station. We will follow the results from the polling station to the collation centre to ensure that what was counted and declared at the polling station was exactly what was collated and declared,” she added.
Ms Owusu accused Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Education and Mr Alex Mould of the National Petroleum Authority for short changing Ghanaians.
Elaborating her accusation against the two, she said Mrs Mould-Iddrisu was the one who did not put up any defence in court. Ms Owusu said when Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome made claims that the state owed him the Minister for Justice and Attorney General went ahead to pay Mr Woyome more than what the court had agreed to be paid.
On the part of Mr Mould, she explained that even when a court of competent jurisdiction had asked the National Petroleum Authority to stop certain components of the petroleum price build up because they were illegal, he had refused to heed the court directive and to make matters worse, had gone ahead to increase fuel prices.
She accused the Mills administration of bringing untold hardship on the people of Ghana by increasing fuel prices during what she described as “a dry Christmas festivities”.
Ms Owusu stated that there was every indication that the Mills Administration had failed Ghanaians and must be booted out for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to be sworn in as the next president to continue the good policies of former President Kuffuor.
She said the difference between the NDC and the NPP was that former was good in making promises they could not honour and assured the gathering that just as the Kuffuor Administration implemented the National Health Insurance Scheme, Nana Akufo Addo would make SHS free for parents to have some relief.
A Spokesperson for Nana Akufo Addo, Mr Abu Jinapo, indicated that the NPP Communication team had made the Woyome-Judgement Debt saga, a major campaign issue for the 2012 elections campaign message because to them, the payment amounted to a perpetuation of fraud on the people of Ghana.
He said the Communication Team was worried about the illegitimate payment of such a huge amount while the ordinary Ghana continue to wallow in abject poverty and deprivation and wondered why President JEA Mills, who was touted as the epitome of probity, accountability and transparency would allow such “day light robbery” under his watch.
He described as ironical the claim by the NDC that former President Kuffuor supervised corruption during his tenure of office. This was because “three years after Kuffuor had left office, not even a single messenger in the Kuffuor Administration has been convicted of corruption”.
Mr Jinapo said the NPP was committed to free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections but added that if the party realised that the security agencies would stand aloof in the face of intimidation and electoral fraud, “we will defend the ballot with our life”.
Inaugurating the polling station executives, a former Chief Executive of Accra and a leading member of the party, Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson urged the members not to pride themselves in the positions they have but to move from house to house to encourage people to register when the voters register was opened.
He also appealed to them to also educate the electorate about the policies and programmes of the next NPP and why they should reject the Mills Administration but cautioned the members not to use insulting language even in the face of provocation.
2012年1月8日星期日
Hurricane Harold had sports mojo
WHEN Harold Haslam died, Newcastle lost one of its true characters and sporting icons.
Harold, or ‘‘Doc’’, as he was fondly known, was an outstanding cricketer and a top-flight baseballer, and is one of a handful of people who can say they graced the rugby league field with the great Clive Churchill.
His sporting achievements aside, Harold was a friend to many and was always up to telling a good story or joke.
Harold, from Charlestown, died in a retirement home in Waratah aged 89 on October 26.
Good friend Judy Maynard said Harold died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes.
The Haslam family came from a strong working class background which helped mould them as local sporting high achievers.
Harold’s grandfather, Thomas Denny, began work with the Newcastle Morning Herald, as it was then known, in the 1880s and established what was to become a long-lasting family tradition with the newspaper.
Harold’s other grandfather, Benjamin Haslam, would eventually go on to become the first rail station master appointed at Glen Innes.
But it wouldn’t be in newspapers or on the rail that Harold Haslam would make his name.
He was a highly regarded plumber working for Middleby Brothers for years and also spent time at the state dockyard.
He was also an excellent cricketer, who played in Newcastle for more than 30 years, beginning as an exciting young wicketkeeper.
Despite his peers regarding him as one of the very best glovemen to play in the Hunter, it was his big hitting which coined his cricketing nickname, ‘‘Hurricane’’.
In 1947 he scored 50 runs in 26 minutes while playing for Hamilton against Stockton. The year before he had reached the milestone in an even quicker time, scoring a half-century in 19 minutes at the crease.
He made his maiden first-grade century against Stockton in 49 minutes, hitting 13 fours and five sixes, with 82 of his 101 coming by way of boundaries.
Harold would often tell people he always considered himself a rugby league player first, but despite his keenness and natural ability he realised he preferred cricket.
Harold, or ‘‘Doc’’, as he was fondly known, was an outstanding cricketer and a top-flight baseballer, and is one of a handful of people who can say they graced the rugby league field with the great Clive Churchill.
His sporting achievements aside, Harold was a friend to many and was always up to telling a good story or joke.
Harold, from Charlestown, died in a retirement home in Waratah aged 89 on October 26.
Good friend Judy Maynard said Harold died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes.
The Haslam family came from a strong working class background which helped mould them as local sporting high achievers.
Harold’s grandfather, Thomas Denny, began work with the Newcastle Morning Herald, as it was then known, in the 1880s and established what was to become a long-lasting family tradition with the newspaper.
Harold’s other grandfather, Benjamin Haslam, would eventually go on to become the first rail station master appointed at Glen Innes.
But it wouldn’t be in newspapers or on the rail that Harold Haslam would make his name.
He was a highly regarded plumber working for Middleby Brothers for years and also spent time at the state dockyard.
He was also an excellent cricketer, who played in Newcastle for more than 30 years, beginning as an exciting young wicketkeeper.
Despite his peers regarding him as one of the very best glovemen to play in the Hunter, it was his big hitting which coined his cricketing nickname, ‘‘Hurricane’’.
In 1947 he scored 50 runs in 26 minutes while playing for Hamilton against Stockton. The year before he had reached the milestone in an even quicker time, scoring a half-century in 19 minutes at the crease.
He made his maiden first-grade century against Stockton in 49 minutes, hitting 13 fours and five sixes, with 82 of his 101 coming by way of boundaries.
Harold would often tell people he always considered himself a rugby league player first, but despite his keenness and natural ability he realised he preferred cricket.
2012年1月5日星期四
Sun on the dark side
Facing south with magnificent valley and mountain views, they faced the challenge of designing a solar passive home that would keep them warm during winter, two months of which would be without any sun on the house.
There are many properties in Nelson city which lose the sun during the winter months and suffer for it because of bad design and orientation, lack of insulation and unsustainable heating. These properties are typically damp, with mould and condensation on the inside of windows, affecting the health of the occupants. Colds and flu, allergies and asthma are just a few of the symptoms of living in such homes.
So it was amazing to walk into Kirti and Sky's home, light and airy, warm and dry, where the astute selection of materials and products, and clever orientation maximising solar gain and passive solar heat retention have created an amazing space to live in – proof that south-facing sections can sustain habitations if well designed and built sustainably.
The 210sqm house lies east west, sitting on a flat pad up a zigzag driveway. The contemporary exterior of painted fibro-cement with batons sits comfortably with the light filled interior and extensive use of natural materials, all chosen for their environmental friendliness and energy efficiency.
The living-dining space is open plan but with the kitchen tucked around the side of the dining space, offering a sense of separation. At the east end is Kirti's office-workout room, a bedroom and bathroom for guests. The other wing of the house to the west features the master bedroom, ablutions and Sky's music room, which has access outside to a large courtyard relaxation space.
Sky and Kirti both worked on a simple design which would fit in with the landscape and follow the natural lay of the land, in "form follows function" philosophy. They worked with architect Mike Davies, then Mark Fielding from Ecotect to complete the plans, and enlisted Gerald Gaskell and Peter Randall to build.
Kirti worked with the builders daily, while Sky was kept busy with the daily cleanup of materials on site. Since the build, they have had volunteer workers from the Woofer scheme helping, in return for food and accommodation. Kirti says it has been satisfying to have them on board as he sees important principles of sustainable design are being passed onto others during their stay.
The choice of materials and products was important to Kirti and Sky to support the clever solar passive design. They chose to use a relatively new product in this country, German designed UPVC windows with steel interior framing. Essentially a plastic medium, UPVC is low in conductivity, lower than standard aluminium, meaning heat is retained inside in the crucial winter months, and kept outside during the summer. They have a concrete pad with 200mm polystyrene sheeting for extra insulation, both under floor and around the house perimeter. On the high feature walls in the main living dining space is a mud brick veneer, which acts as another heat sink. Winter heating is from a Metro Rad 23- kilowatt wood burner with wetback which feeds hot water to six flat radiators around the house. There is also solar hot water, which keeps their power bill to a minimum.
There are many properties in Nelson city which lose the sun during the winter months and suffer for it because of bad design and orientation, lack of insulation and unsustainable heating. These properties are typically damp, with mould and condensation on the inside of windows, affecting the health of the occupants. Colds and flu, allergies and asthma are just a few of the symptoms of living in such homes.
So it was amazing to walk into Kirti and Sky's home, light and airy, warm and dry, where the astute selection of materials and products, and clever orientation maximising solar gain and passive solar heat retention have created an amazing space to live in – proof that south-facing sections can sustain habitations if well designed and built sustainably.
The 210sqm house lies east west, sitting on a flat pad up a zigzag driveway. The contemporary exterior of painted fibro-cement with batons sits comfortably with the light filled interior and extensive use of natural materials, all chosen for their environmental friendliness and energy efficiency.
The living-dining space is open plan but with the kitchen tucked around the side of the dining space, offering a sense of separation. At the east end is Kirti's office-workout room, a bedroom and bathroom for guests. The other wing of the house to the west features the master bedroom, ablutions and Sky's music room, which has access outside to a large courtyard relaxation space.
Sky and Kirti both worked on a simple design which would fit in with the landscape and follow the natural lay of the land, in "form follows function" philosophy. They worked with architect Mike Davies, then Mark Fielding from Ecotect to complete the plans, and enlisted Gerald Gaskell and Peter Randall to build.
Kirti worked with the builders daily, while Sky was kept busy with the daily cleanup of materials on site. Since the build, they have had volunteer workers from the Woofer scheme helping, in return for food and accommodation. Kirti says it has been satisfying to have them on board as he sees important principles of sustainable design are being passed onto others during their stay.
The choice of materials and products was important to Kirti and Sky to support the clever solar passive design. They chose to use a relatively new product in this country, German designed UPVC windows with steel interior framing. Essentially a plastic medium, UPVC is low in conductivity, lower than standard aluminium, meaning heat is retained inside in the crucial winter months, and kept outside during the summer. They have a concrete pad with 200mm polystyrene sheeting for extra insulation, both under floor and around the house perimeter. On the high feature walls in the main living dining space is a mud brick veneer, which acts as another heat sink. Winter heating is from a Metro Rad 23- kilowatt wood burner with wetback which feeds hot water to six flat radiators around the house. There is also solar hot water, which keeps their power bill to a minimum.
2012年1月4日星期三
Cheese mould, a new sanitary sterilizer?
Since the days of the ancient Romans, humankind has relied on mould to craft pungent, tasty blue cheeses like roquefort, gorgonzola and stilton.
Now, researchers have harnessed that edible fungus, Penicillium roqueforti, to create a self-cleaning foil that contains an embedded mould that eats away at food spilled on it.
The product is still rudimentary – it took the mould two weeks to digest half a teaspoon of sugary broth.
But it is one of the first times scientists have combined living organisms and a material component. The researchers foresee complex future applications such as weaving toxin-producing mould into fabric to create a self-sterilizing surface.
The research team, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, has published its findings in the Jan. 3 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The project’s inspiration was the French cheese camembert, said one of the researchers, Lukas Gerber.
A soft-ripened cheese, camembert has a white, downy rind – or as the research paper calls it, “a living, functional biomaterial.” The rind, which is inoculated with the Penicillium camemberti mould, acts both as a ripening agent and a protective surface against other micro-organisms.
“Now, we want to take such a function from a living body and incorporate it into an artificial material,” Mr. Gerber said in a telephone interview. “It’s the first time have designed a flat surface combining these two domains, the plastic and the micro-organisms.”
The foil they created was like a three-layered sandwich, with two polymer films encasing a thin coating of gelatinous culture holding the fungi.
The layer at the bottom was made with polyvinyl chloride, the material used in plumbing pipes and fake leather. The fungi, suspended in an agar mixture, were spread on that layer, then covered by a porous polycarbonate plastic membrane.
The researchers analyzed two sizes of the self-cleaning material, one about the width of a dollar coin and the other as large as a sheet of letter paper. A sugary broth made from potatoes was dropped on the samples. Within 14 days, the fungi consumed the spill until the sugar dropped “below detection limit,” Mr. Gerber said.
“That was cool; that was what we expected.”
Once the food was consumed, the fungi switched to a dormant state until another spill activated them.
As long as the material was kept from severely drying, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology mould remained active, even after the foil was rubbed with alcohol hand disinfectant or scrubbed with dishwashing soap.
This showed that the material had a shelf life and might survive standard hospital washing routines.
The research opens the door to future applications that combine the benefits of micro-organisms with flat surface materials, Mr. Gerber said. For example, penicillin-producing fungi could be used to create antibacterial fabric that would generate antibiotics only in the presence of germs. Or large surfaces such as skyscraper facades could be coated with algae, which transform carbon dioxide to oxygen, to improve air quality.
“We wanted to show how easy it is to combine micro-organisms and polymer science,” Mr. Gerber said.
Now, researchers have harnessed that edible fungus, Penicillium roqueforti, to create a self-cleaning foil that contains an embedded mould that eats away at food spilled on it.
The product is still rudimentary – it took the mould two weeks to digest half a teaspoon of sugary broth.
But it is one of the first times scientists have combined living organisms and a material component. The researchers foresee complex future applications such as weaving toxin-producing mould into fabric to create a self-sterilizing surface.
The research team, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, has published its findings in the Jan. 3 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The project’s inspiration was the French cheese camembert, said one of the researchers, Lukas Gerber.
A soft-ripened cheese, camembert has a white, downy rind – or as the research paper calls it, “a living, functional biomaterial.” The rind, which is inoculated with the Penicillium camemberti mould, acts both as a ripening agent and a protective surface against other micro-organisms.
“Now, we want to take such a function from a living body and incorporate it into an artificial material,” Mr. Gerber said in a telephone interview. “It’s the first time have designed a flat surface combining these two domains, the plastic and the micro-organisms.”
The foil they created was like a three-layered sandwich, with two polymer films encasing a thin coating of gelatinous culture holding the fungi.
The layer at the bottom was made with polyvinyl chloride, the material used in plumbing pipes and fake leather. The fungi, suspended in an agar mixture, were spread on that layer, then covered by a porous polycarbonate plastic membrane.
The researchers analyzed two sizes of the self-cleaning material, one about the width of a dollar coin and the other as large as a sheet of letter paper. A sugary broth made from potatoes was dropped on the samples. Within 14 days, the fungi consumed the spill until the sugar dropped “below detection limit,” Mr. Gerber said.
“That was cool; that was what we expected.”
Once the food was consumed, the fungi switched to a dormant state until another spill activated them.
As long as the material was kept from severely drying, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology mould remained active, even after the foil was rubbed with alcohol hand disinfectant or scrubbed with dishwashing soap.
This showed that the material had a shelf life and might survive standard hospital washing routines.
The research opens the door to future applications that combine the benefits of micro-organisms with flat surface materials, Mr. Gerber said. For example, penicillin-producing fungi could be used to create antibacterial fabric that would generate antibiotics only in the presence of germs. Or large surfaces such as skyscraper facades could be coated with algae, which transform carbon dioxide to oxygen, to improve air quality.
“We wanted to show how easy it is to combine micro-organisms and polymer science,” Mr. Gerber said.
2012年1月3日星期二
Cheese mould, a new sanitary sterilizer?
Since the days of the ancient Romans, humankind has relied on mould to craft pungent, tasty blue cheeses like roquefort, gorgonzola and stilton.
Now, researchers have harnessed that edible fungus, Penicillium roqueforti, to create a self-cleaning foil that contains an embedded mould that eats away at food spilled on it.
The product is still rudimentary – it took the mould two weeks to digest half a teaspoon of sugary broth.
But it is one of the first times scientists have combined living organisms and a material component. The researchers foresee complex future applications such as weaving toxin-producing mould into fabric to create a self-sterilizing surface.
The research team, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, has published its findings in the Jan. 3 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The project’s inspiration was the French cheese camembert, said one of the researchers, Lukas Gerber.
A soft-ripened cheese, camembert has a white, downy rind – or as the research paper calls it, “a living, functional biomaterial.” The rind, which is inoculated with the Penicillium camemberti mould, acts both as a ripening agent and a protective surface against other micro-organisms.
“Now, we want to take such a function from a living body and incorporate it into an artificial material,” Mr. Gerber said in a telephone interview. “It’s the first time [people] have designed a flat surface combining these two domains, the plastic and the micro-organisms.”
The foil they created was like a three-layered sandwich, with two polymer films encasing a thin coating of gelatinous culture holding the fungi.
The layer at the bottom was made with polyvinyl chloride, the material used in plumbing pipes and fake leather. The fungi, suspended in an agar mixture, were spread on that layer, then covered by a porous polycarbonate plastic membrane.
The researchers analyzed two sizes of the self-cleaning material, one about the width of a dollar coin and the other as large as a sheet of letter paper. A sugary broth made from potatoes was dropped on the samples. Within 14 days, the fungi consumed the spill until the sugar dropped “below detection limit,” Mr. Gerber said.
“That was cool; that was what we expected.”
Once the food was consumed, the fungi switched to a dormant state until another spill activated them.
As long as the material was kept from severely drying, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology mould remained active, even after the foil was rubbed with alcohol hand disinfectant or scrubbed with dishwashing soap.
This showed that the material had a shelf life and might survive standard hospital washing routines.
The research opens the door to future applications that combine the benefits of micro-organisms with flat surface materials, Mr. Gerber said. For example, penicillin-producing fungi could be used to create antibacterial fabric that would generate antibiotics only in the presence of germs. Or large surfaces such as skyscraper facades could be coated with algae, which transform carbon dioxide to oxygen, to improve air quality.
“We wanted to show how easy it is to combine micro-organisms and polymer science,” Mr. Gerber said.
Now, researchers have harnessed that edible fungus, Penicillium roqueforti, to create a self-cleaning foil that contains an embedded mould that eats away at food spilled on it.
The product is still rudimentary – it took the mould two weeks to digest half a teaspoon of sugary broth.
But it is one of the first times scientists have combined living organisms and a material component. The researchers foresee complex future applications such as weaving toxin-producing mould into fabric to create a self-sterilizing surface.
The research team, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, has published its findings in the Jan. 3 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The project’s inspiration was the French cheese camembert, said one of the researchers, Lukas Gerber.
A soft-ripened cheese, camembert has a white, downy rind – or as the research paper calls it, “a living, functional biomaterial.” The rind, which is inoculated with the Penicillium camemberti mould, acts both as a ripening agent and a protective surface against other micro-organisms.
“Now, we want to take such a function from a living body and incorporate it into an artificial material,” Mr. Gerber said in a telephone interview. “It’s the first time [people] have designed a flat surface combining these two domains, the plastic and the micro-organisms.”
The foil they created was like a three-layered sandwich, with two polymer films encasing a thin coating of gelatinous culture holding the fungi.
The layer at the bottom was made with polyvinyl chloride, the material used in plumbing pipes and fake leather. The fungi, suspended in an agar mixture, were spread on that layer, then covered by a porous polycarbonate plastic membrane.
The researchers analyzed two sizes of the self-cleaning material, one about the width of a dollar coin and the other as large as a sheet of letter paper. A sugary broth made from potatoes was dropped on the samples. Within 14 days, the fungi consumed the spill until the sugar dropped “below detection limit,” Mr. Gerber said.
“That was cool; that was what we expected.”
Once the food was consumed, the fungi switched to a dormant state until another spill activated them.
As long as the material was kept from severely drying, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology mould remained active, even after the foil was rubbed with alcohol hand disinfectant or scrubbed with dishwashing soap.
This showed that the material had a shelf life and might survive standard hospital washing routines.
The research opens the door to future applications that combine the benefits of micro-organisms with flat surface materials, Mr. Gerber said. For example, penicillin-producing fungi could be used to create antibacterial fabric that would generate antibiotics only in the presence of germs. Or large surfaces such as skyscraper facades could be coated with algae, which transform carbon dioxide to oxygen, to improve air quality.
“We wanted to show how easy it is to combine micro-organisms and polymer science,” Mr. Gerber said.
2012年1月2日星期一
Miliy Balakirev. Alexander Scriabin. Tamara Gverdtsiteli
We have entered the new year of 2012 – something I would like to congratulate you all with, yet again! And now its time for us to take a look at the memorable historical dates of the opening month of the year.
The first significant date is the 175th birth anniversary of Miliy Balakirev.
In Russian music history Miliy Balakirev occupies a very special place. An outstanding composer, public figure, he was a highly authoritative individual throughout an entire epoch, and brought up a brilliant pleiad of composers, who joined forced to create a unique artistic association. Russian critic Vladimir Stasov dubbed the latter “The Mighty Handful, or “The Mighty Five” as they were known in the west.
Miliy Balakirev was born January 2nd 1837 in Nizhny Novgorod in an impoverished gentry family. From an early age he displayed a profound interest in m music, and having gained access to the richest music library of one of his compatriots, started mastering the music scores of the classics at amazing speed. A photographic memory and phenomenal ear for music helped him soon become one of the best-educated musicians of Russia.
When the young, enthusiastic, impassioned Balakirev found himself in Petersburg, he immediately started drawing young musicians like a magnet. Thus, he formed a circle, members of which were warrant officer Modest Mussorgsky, scientist-chemist Alexander Borodin, Military Academy Professor Caesar Cui and naval officer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Balakirev, who took it upon himself to enlighten these amateur music enthusiasts, transformed them into brilliant professionals – each with their own distinctive flair.
Miliy Balakirev himself did not write all that many compositions, overtime finding himself in the shadows of his charges. But we must not forget that it was his aesthetics, his creative art that determined the original, typically national direction taken by Russian music art.
And another striking name – Alexander Scriabin. A rebel at heart, who possessed a vivid imagination and truly cosmic energy. A man who dreamt, in the manner of God, to mould his own Universe, following the orbit of the arts. A composer endowed with a colour hearing, and ample imagination, who conceived a grandiose Mysterium, uniting music and art, architecture and dance, plastic movement and scents and aromas. Alas, Scriabin did not have enough time to realize all his astounding projects – he was fated to die at just 43.
Alexander Scriabin wrote either for the orchestra, or for the piano. He was an excellent pianist himself and possessed a particularly delicate touch which left the audience in raptures. Crowds of devoted fans called his playing divine.
The recordings of Scriabin playing that have survived to our time unfortunately do not do justice to the magic he was able to wield, driving audiences to ecstasy.
Moscow Philharmonic Society is celebrating its 90th anniversary. Russia’s leading concert association regards January 29th, 1922 as its birthday. That night there was a wealth of congratulatory speeches, and afterwards – the music took over – Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
Today Moscow’s Philharmonic, most probably, is unrivalled in quality and quantity of concerts. It has to its credit over 100 monthly concerts in Moscow’s central concert venues and many hundreds of literature and music programmes for children and the youth.
The capital’s Philharmonic society gathers under its wing the best musicians of Russia and invited numerous foreign celebrities. Annual philharmonic season-tickets are sold out in mere days.
And now we are shifting over to a different genre – songs. And with good reason, too: the jubilee of our popular vocalist Tamara Gverdtsiteli.
When still a girl she became soloist of the greatly-loved all across the soviet country children’s ensemble from Georgia “Mziuri”. Growing up, Tamara swiftly soared to the big solo stage, her art an embodiment of indelible ties linking Georgia and Russia. Her striking talent, inherent musicality, artistic charm, easily recognizable voice made Tamara Gverdtsiteli a star that numerous acclaimed composers, the best orchestras and ensembles of Europe are eager to collaborate with. Her birthdays are traditionally a festive event, where beauty and harmony reign.
In our final theme for today we are recalling Valeri Obodzinsky, an iconic soviet singer of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. January 24th would have been his 70th birth anniversary. Just 70! Alas, the singer has long since died.
Valeri Obodzinsky possessed a remarkably beautiful voice. However, even in the most carefree songs he performed there was always a hint of sadness. His songs were shrouded in a sensuality that the “virtuous” soviet censorship waged such a relentless war against, and the vocalist was not always granted the “green light”. Besides, Obodzinsky never performed loud and blustering songs about the Motherland and the party, something that could not fail to alert the powers-that-be and render them suspicious in his regard.
The artists’ fate was by no means an easy and smooth one. At the end of the 1970s he left the stage and it required a huge effort from him to return 7 years later. However, he was fated to live no more than three years.
The first significant date is the 175th birth anniversary of Miliy Balakirev.
In Russian music history Miliy Balakirev occupies a very special place. An outstanding composer, public figure, he was a highly authoritative individual throughout an entire epoch, and brought up a brilliant pleiad of composers, who joined forced to create a unique artistic association. Russian critic Vladimir Stasov dubbed the latter “The Mighty Handful, or “The Mighty Five” as they were known in the west.
Miliy Balakirev was born January 2nd 1837 in Nizhny Novgorod in an impoverished gentry family. From an early age he displayed a profound interest in m music, and having gained access to the richest music library of one of his compatriots, started mastering the music scores of the classics at amazing speed. A photographic memory and phenomenal ear for music helped him soon become one of the best-educated musicians of Russia.
When the young, enthusiastic, impassioned Balakirev found himself in Petersburg, he immediately started drawing young musicians like a magnet. Thus, he formed a circle, members of which were warrant officer Modest Mussorgsky, scientist-chemist Alexander Borodin, Military Academy Professor Caesar Cui and naval officer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Balakirev, who took it upon himself to enlighten these amateur music enthusiasts, transformed them into brilliant professionals – each with their own distinctive flair.
Miliy Balakirev himself did not write all that many compositions, overtime finding himself in the shadows of his charges. But we must not forget that it was his aesthetics, his creative art that determined the original, typically national direction taken by Russian music art.
And another striking name – Alexander Scriabin. A rebel at heart, who possessed a vivid imagination and truly cosmic energy. A man who dreamt, in the manner of God, to mould his own Universe, following the orbit of the arts. A composer endowed with a colour hearing, and ample imagination, who conceived a grandiose Mysterium, uniting music and art, architecture and dance, plastic movement and scents and aromas. Alas, Scriabin did not have enough time to realize all his astounding projects – he was fated to die at just 43.
Alexander Scriabin wrote either for the orchestra, or for the piano. He was an excellent pianist himself and possessed a particularly delicate touch which left the audience in raptures. Crowds of devoted fans called his playing divine.
The recordings of Scriabin playing that have survived to our time unfortunately do not do justice to the magic he was able to wield, driving audiences to ecstasy.
Moscow Philharmonic Society is celebrating its 90th anniversary. Russia’s leading concert association regards January 29th, 1922 as its birthday. That night there was a wealth of congratulatory speeches, and afterwards – the music took over – Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
Today Moscow’s Philharmonic, most probably, is unrivalled in quality and quantity of concerts. It has to its credit over 100 monthly concerts in Moscow’s central concert venues and many hundreds of literature and music programmes for children and the youth.
The capital’s Philharmonic society gathers under its wing the best musicians of Russia and invited numerous foreign celebrities. Annual philharmonic season-tickets are sold out in mere days.
And now we are shifting over to a different genre – songs. And with good reason, too: the jubilee of our popular vocalist Tamara Gverdtsiteli.
When still a girl she became soloist of the greatly-loved all across the soviet country children’s ensemble from Georgia “Mziuri”. Growing up, Tamara swiftly soared to the big solo stage, her art an embodiment of indelible ties linking Georgia and Russia. Her striking talent, inherent musicality, artistic charm, easily recognizable voice made Tamara Gverdtsiteli a star that numerous acclaimed composers, the best orchestras and ensembles of Europe are eager to collaborate with. Her birthdays are traditionally a festive event, where beauty and harmony reign.
In our final theme for today we are recalling Valeri Obodzinsky, an iconic soviet singer of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. January 24th would have been his 70th birth anniversary. Just 70! Alas, the singer has long since died.
Valeri Obodzinsky possessed a remarkably beautiful voice. However, even in the most carefree songs he performed there was always a hint of sadness. His songs were shrouded in a sensuality that the “virtuous” soviet censorship waged such a relentless war against, and the vocalist was not always granted the “green light”. Besides, Obodzinsky never performed loud and blustering songs about the Motherland and the party, something that could not fail to alert the powers-that-be and render them suspicious in his regard.
The artists’ fate was by no means an easy and smooth one. At the end of the 1970s he left the stage and it required a huge effort from him to return 7 years later. However, he was fated to live no more than three years.
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