District 51 administration targeted for cuts

Less than 10 percent of District 51 administration employees outside of schools fit the mold of what people usually imagine when they think of administration: a person managing other people, coordinating programs, and often filling out seemingly endless reports to satisfy laws on educational achievement and assessment.

The rest work in schools or district offices, managing cafeterias, mowing lawns, taking calls, checking temperatures, mopping floors, coaching teachers and counselors, working on adaptive education, fixing computers or leaky sinks, and making sure people get their paychecks, to name a few duties.The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good ，

Suggestions for administrative cuts to cover a what will be a $2 million to $4 million shortfall in the 2012–13 budget poured in throughout four School District 51 community budget forums in February and March.At Blow mouldengineering we specialize in conceptual prototype design. Although some of the suggestions were specific, not everyone calling for the head of the district’s heads knew what the 495 people stationed at the district’s administrative building do, or even how the 192 front-office administration employees they see at schools spend their days. Those totals were obtained by the Daily Sentinel through directory searches and multiple open-records requests sent to District 51.

Administration in the school district means more than administrators. Nutrition Services employees — who are outside of the general fund budget, the focus of cuts -— may mostly work in schools,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. but they are based in administration buildings, as are school nurses and technology, grounds, maintenance and some custodial staff. There also are human resources, finance, warehouse, purchasing, printing and communication professionals in administration, plus assessment workers, curriculum specialists and people who work on special education for students with disabilities. Staff also work in the English Language Learner program, help homeless students and gifted and talented students, and work in remedial education. All are housed in five administrative buildings on four sites spread throughout Grand Junction.

District 51 estimates administration in its many forms absorbed $5 million worth of personnel budget cuts in the current school year. Eliminating a half-time assistant principal, nine curriculum staff, a human-resources employee and some support staff confused many onlookers, though, considering 282 positions went away this year, including 116 spots for reading aides and 57 1/2 teaching positions.

Administrative cuts for 2012–13 will be suggested by two groups — the citizen Budget Oversight Committee and local budget-study group Save Our Students — when they make budget presentations Tuesday to the District 51 School Board.

Budget Oversight Committee member Will Hayes said administrative cuts may be further away from affecting students, but could still lead other people to take on more duties. District 51 is one of 20 Colorado school districts that spend 7.3 percent or less of their budgets for salary and benefits on pay and benefits for administrators. In District 51, another 5.3 percent is spent on office administrative support. Teacher salaries and benefits take up two-thirds of that budget.

“My guess is (administrative cuts) will be disproportionate to the rest of the cuts that will be made because there are not as many dollars in administration. I think the general public assumes there’s a lot more money spent on administration than there actually is,” Hayes said.

Save Our Students member Rob Pierce said after months of studying the district’s organizational chart and spending, he believes the district isn’t as filled with administrators as some of the group’s 186 members assumed when the group formed last fall.

“If there’s fat there, it’s tiny little pockets of it,” Pierce said. “We’re going to recommend some cuts to administration, but we’ll say up front that’s necessary for the district only to maintain credibility to the public because there is that perception that the district is top-heavy.”

School Board member Ann Tisue said the committees will have an impact on how the board decides to balance the 2012–13 budget. Cuts could come from various areas, she said, and administration is likely to be included.Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete?

“I know on the budget committee they’ve asked if there are any redundancies” in administration, she said, referring to a district-assembled Budget Oversight Committee.

Board member Leslie Kiesler is less sure about administrative cuts. She said some administrative positions already have been combined, and more demand will be placed on administration next year when a new educator-evaluation law kicks in,There are 240 distinct solutions of the Soma cubepuzzle, and principals will have to evaluate every teacher every year.

Forteq counts on precision

Swiss company Forteq, with its headquarters in Nidau, designs, moulds and assembles precision plastic gear and transmission and mechatronic devices used in automotive, consumer electronics and healthcare industries.

Its expertise in precision moulding an asthma inhaler counter was explained by Dr Joachim Franke, Forteq Healthcare's managing director, at an open house event held in September at the Wiehe, Germany plant of Sumitomo Demag (SHI Demag).

In 2010, the inhaler accounted for around 80% of the production value in Nidau. The plant has 15 injection moulding machines (mainly SHI Demag machines) with 60-125 tonnes clamping forces, a 1,600m2 cleanroom, automatic assembly, printing machines and six Wittmann robotic systems.

Franke spoke in Wiehe about an aerosol asthmatic pressurised Metered Dose Inhaler (pMDI) counter, consisting of 14 parts - 10 of plastic and the rest metal springs. Numerical counter wheels and gears are moulded in POM, the housing in PP and the small viewing window in PMMA. Insys laser equipment writes numbers at 700 characters/min on the wheels, which are made in POM containing laser sensitive colour-change pigments.

Shot weight of the smallest plastic part is 0.73g, part weight 0.023g, requiring mould removal by Wittmann W721 and W723 linear robots with vacuum grippers.

Plastic part dimensions range from 3.5 x 3.55mm up to 22.35 x 16.75mm for the PP housing. Forteq moulds down to precision of 0.005mm, moulding small 0.5mm holes in some parts.

According to Franke, absolute precision calls for absolute process management in, for example, ejection control. Close tolerances ensure sufficiently low friction in the counter drive system, and an absolute fail-pass zero defect policy system is applied to ensure each "firing" is counted.

Forteq uses 32-cavity moulds with hot runners to ensure fastest possible cycle times for large production volumes of "millions per month", while keeping the number of moulding machines to a minimum. The machines are required to have fast parallel movements. There should also be "minimal use of expensive medical approval plastics and regranulate is not allowed", Franke observed.

As the machines are used in an ISO 7 cleanroom environment, they have to have low particle emissions and ease of maintenance, along with fast and easy changeover of tools and the 14mm screws.

Forteq carried out batch-to-batch variation studies using hydraulic, hybrid and all-electric drive machines from different companies. The machines used identical moulding parameters and the same 4-cavity hot runner trial mould.

When moulding a POM numerical wheel, hydraulic machines produced wheel thickness varying from 2.80mm to almost 2.90mm, while hybrid machines achieved 2.84mm to 2.87mm.

Repeatability tests on a production tool looked at drum wheel and ratchet pawl parts on hybrid and all-electric machines, using the same process settings and cavity. Results showed drum wheel diameter of 7.875-7.900mm using the hybrid drive and 7.91-7.92mm using the electric drive. Cycle time fell from 11.5s for the hybrid drive to 9.5s for the all-electric drive.

Tests were also done on a 22.35mm nominal diameter cap, which again showed less deviation with the electric drive, and with cycle time reduced from 11s to 10.2s.

The ratchet pawl inner diameter deviated from around 1.465mm to almost 1.51mm on hybrid machinery, compared with 1.485mm to just under 1.51mm with the electric drive, and cycle time fell from 7.6s to 6s. Process optimisation cut cycle time further to 4.2s, along with even closer dimensional tolerance .

Franke said: "Testing all part combinations is not economically justifiable, yet patient safety has to be ensured. Therefore, maintenance of tightest possible tolerances is absolutely essential."

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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rally Face touted as another way for fans to express themselves

Canada is about to have a new face unveiled at the world junior hockey championship.

The Rally Face. No paint required. Just hook it over your ears and cheer as loud as you want. You don't even have to remove it to have a sip from your favourite beverage.

"This one is a Canadian flag mask," said Charlie Simmer, one of two former NHLers involved with Rally Face. "You want to be behind your team and your country and it's just a different way of expressing yourself.

"Plus it's an item you can get signed and keep as memorabilia."

The company, which also includes Simmer's former Los Angeles Kings linemate Marcel Dionne and a couple of investors, is in its infant stages under the new ownership.

The masks, made of an injected PVC plastic mould, have been around for a little more than a year, mostly in the hands and on the faces of fans of NCAA teams.

"When we took it over we thought it was a natural for any sport really," said Simmer, who is a colour commentator for Calgary Flames broadcasts on Sportsnet West. "Fans are always painting their faces in support of teams, so the avenues are endless.

The faces sell for about $10 each and, in addition to being available online, are on sale at Source For Sports in Calgary, Sports Central in Sylvan Lake and the Red Deer Rebels pro shop. They also are going to try to get them into Rexall Place and the Scotiabank Saddledome.

"It's a very infant stage for us right now," said Simmer. "Marcel has been big into promotion of sports material since he retired, so he's been doing it for a long time. I'm just kind of the tag-along guy, but he's really excited about this. It's a smaller group, fun business we're doing, but we think the possibilities are endless. We can customize masks for any event or do them for business promotions.

"Looking around the corner, there's the Summer Olympics and looking to the future we're thinking about bringing out a blank mask that kids can do their own designs on."

Rally Face also put out a pink mask in support of the fight against breast cancer. All proceeds from those sales have gone directly to Alberta breast cancer.

But right now it's all about the world junior and getting the Rally Face into the crowds for what is sure to be worldwide exposure from the newsprint and television coverage.

"With Canadian hockey fans so passionate, I think if they see one, they'll want one," said Simmer. "I think once you see 500 people in the same section wearing them, it's going to be pretty cool looking."

Christmas asthma risks

The Asthma Society is warning people with asthma to be aware of hidden triggers over the Christmas period

Hidden asthma triggers at Christmas and severe weather can make keeping asthma controlled over the Christmas period challenging for many people with asthma and for parents of children with asthma in Ireland.

The Asthma Society of Ireland runs its ‘Control Asthma at Christmas’ awareness campaign in the lead up to Christmas to highlight the important message that this time of year can cause many problems for people with asthma.

It is especially important to follow your doctor’s medical advice if you notice your asthma symptoms worsening and to always make sure you or your child takes their asthma medication as prescribed.

The Asthma Society of Ireland recommends asthma sufferers to take the following steps to minimise exposure to triggers and maintain asthma control over the festive season:

Christmas trees gather mould from being outdoors in wet weather.  Mould spores are common asthma triggers. Ideally, buy an artificial tree for the home and wipe it down to remove any dust particles.  If you are intent on having a real tree, allow your tree to dry fully before bringing it into the home.

If you are using an artificial tree, which has not been stored in a sealed bag, it may be harbouring dust, it is advisable to vacuum artificial trees before use, to remove all dust particles.

Avoid artificial snow sprays and fragrance sprays which can all induce asthma symptoms.

Wash fabric decorations in hot water before displaying; this will get rid of any dust that has been gathered while in storage. Plastic, glass or metal decorations should be used in order to prevent them gathering dust mites. Put artificial trees in a closed or sealed bag for storing.

Always carry your reliever inhaler with you at all times.

Always take your asthma medication as prescribed by your doctor or health care professional.

If you know that cold air triggers your asthma, take two puffs of your reliever inhaler before venturing outside in the cold air. Remember to carry your Asthma Attack Card with you.

In freezing conditions, prescribed inhalers may not work properly. They should be warmed before use.

“Christmas and the festive season can be a difficult time for people with asthma for whom smoke fires, candles and New Year fireworks is a trigger,” says Asthma Society of Ireland Asthma Nurse Specialist Frances Guiney.

“It is recommended for asthma sufferers to avoid smoky situations wherever possible and to admire fireworks from indoors. Having a good asthma management plan is one of the best ways to control your asthma, so speak to your health care professional to make sure your plan is working to control your asthma.”

Christmas time can create additional pressures and the Asthma Society recommends people with asthma to try and avoid unnecessary stress. “If stress is a trigger for your asthma, monitoring your condition and taking your medicine regularly should help to minimise symptoms. Speak to your doctor or call the Asthma Helpline if you are going through a difficult time and feel you need more support,” says Ms Guiney.

By following these simple steps, people with asthma and parents of children with asthma can help to ensure they stay healthy and enjoy optimal asthma control over the Christmas period.

Renovating Basement Floors

Tired of looking at that concrete floor or that old flooring in your basement?  Want to cover the concrete or replace that old floor?

 If you said yes to these questions you should ask yourself some more questions.  Does the concrete floor get wet during the year?  Is the concrete floor painted?  Would you like the floor to be warmer?  does anyone in your house have allergies?  Do you have children that play in the basement?  These questions and other should be asked before choosing a floor.

Many products exist on the maorket that can solve a number of issues that you may have in your basement.  If your basement floor gets wet during the year, you may want to think about raising the floor a little and get it off the concrete.  Products like Tyroc, Dri-core and Ovrx can do this for you and allow water to pass under the finshed floor.  The added bonus of Tyroc and Dri-core are that they allow air and water movement, effectively stopping the growth of mould.  Each builds up the floor to keep it away from the cold concrete floor making the finished floor warmer.  If you are planning on using one of these products make sure that you will have enough headroom.

 Say you are lucky and have had no moisture in your basement, but you want the floor to be warmer.  Ovrx would be th solution to this situation, Ovrx is an underlayment system that uses OSB panel on the top like Dri-core, but has closed cell foram insulation on the bottom.  The panels are tongue and groove, 2'x2' in size, making for strong, stable and warm subfloor.  You can put almost any type of flooring overtop of Tyroc, Dri-core or Ovrx, some types like carpet ory vinyl have to have a wooden underlayment installed over before the flooring.

 You would like to install laminate flooring in your basement, but you also have someone with allergies in the house.  Delta floor is an underlayment product that looks like foundation membrane; it has cups on the bottom, which elevates it off the floor.   The advantage that Delta Floor has in this case is that you can put the laminate underlay and floor ing directly over top, on extra plywood or other subfloor needed.  The other advantage that Delta Floor has in this case is that it allows airflow under the finished floor minimizing or eliminating any dampness that may occur.

Before we had these fancy subfloor panels available, people used to lay plastic down on the concrete floor to block moisture, then tapcon screwed down PT 2x4's every 24" on centre.  Celfort (rigid foam insulation) in between and then lay down 3/4" thick plywood and screwed to the 2x4's.  This method leaves no room for air circulation or possible water movement like their modern counterparts.  So which would you rather use?

Christmas tree growers push back at allergy claims

Christmas tree growers say a family doctor's claim about Christmas trees triggering allergies is "unfair."

Dr. Peter Lin, who is based in Toronto, says Christmas trees may be partly to blame for winter allergies, asthma and sinus infections.

As soon as a tree is cut down, it's dead and allergy-causing mould sets in, he said.

"You bring it back into your home and now you've got some nice warm temperatures, it starts to dry out and the mould becomes air-borne and then people can have allergies to that."

Studies have shown the normal mould count inside a typical household is about 500 to 700 mould spores per cubic metre of air, said Lin.

But after having a Christmas tree  Plastic Mould up for two weeks, the mould count jumps ten fold to about 5,000 spores, he said.

Tree farmers aren't happy about what they see as an attack on the annual tradition.

"Christmas tree growers are like any other farmer - they take as many steps as possible to prevent any moulds, parasites, or contamination," said Shirley Brennan, executive director of the Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario, which represents 125 growers across the province.

"There is potentially mould anywhere. This is unfair to tree farmers," she said.

The group offers tips on its website about how to best care for Christmas trees to keep them fresh.

Suggestions include storing them outside in a cool, dry place until you're ready to decorate, making a fresh cut across the trunk once it's inside the house, keeping it away from heat sources and using a tree stand that can hold plenty of water. Trees may drink up to four litres of water per day, according to the website.
Artificial trees also problematic

Lin admits even artificial trees can cause allergic reactions.

They might be fine for the first year, but after being stored, they can cause problems.

"The artificial tree, we put in the basement where it's damp, and then guess what, you get mould going on that as well. And, you can also have dust."

For people who can't imagine celebrating Christmas without a Christmas tree, Lin suggests getting a real tree as soon as possible after it's been cut.

"Then want you do is bang it on the ground and that gets rid of all the dead needles and gets rid of the mould that might be growing on them as well."

Transporting trees on the roof of a vehicle can also help blow some of the mould spores off, said Lin.

The tree can also be hosed down, but must be left outside to dry before being moved indoors, he said. Otherwise, it will encourage mould growth.

Once the tree is moved indoors, it shouldn't be kept up for longer than three or four days and the water source should be kept covered because it could also become a breeding ground for mould.

Lin also recommends taking care with ornaments, particularly ones with fabric, which can get dusty and mouldy.

They should be vacuumed and wiped down before being placed on the tree and stored in plastic, he said.

Other holiday favourites that can cause allergic reactions include potpourri and scented candles, said Lin.

Poinsettias can also be a trigger for people who are allergic to latex gloves because they contain a similar chemical, he said. They're fine to have in the house, but should not be touched.

Chimneys should be cleaned and ready for festive fires and people with food allergies, such as peanuts, should be on the lookout any transfer or traces, he said.

Lin also recommends that anyone taking allergy medications that can cause drowsiness to be mindful of the potential risks of mixing them with too much holiday cheer, such as rum and eggnog.

Subaru XV

There are some big changes going on at Subaru. First the BRZ coupe, introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show, added some much needed sparkle to the line-up and now the XV crossover has arrived to boost flagging sales figures in Europe.Tooling  Subaru’s answer to the Nissan Qashqai, Mitsubishi ASX and Hyundai ix35 should open up the brand to a whole new type of customer, but is it a genuine contender in this lucrative segment?

With its established models like the Forester and Outlander, Subaru has always had a reputation for building robust and reliable cars. But the XV has been tasked with breaking that mould and bringing some more style and finesse to the table. Cast your eye over the exterior though and it’s clear the XV hasn’t forgotten its roots.

The hexagonal front grille and ‘hawk eye’ headlights make it unmistakeably a Subaru, while the jutting rear bumper and carefully placed plastic cladding give it a sturdy appearance. It’s a well-balanced profile and the newly designed 17-inch aluminium wheels add some unexpected flair.

On the inside Subaru has made a concerted effort to up the quality, and it shows. Soft-touch padding on the dashboard and upper door trims is a welcome addition, while the layout, consisting of three large dials for the air-con and a pair of colour displays for the sat-nav and other vehicle information, is logical and easy to use. Unfortunately there’s still cheap scratchy plastics on the centre console, glovebox and door trim that drag the premium feel down.

A thin and steeply-raked A-pillar means visibility is excellent, while there’s loads of legroom for rear passengers. Boot space is impressive too – 380 litres with the rear seats up and 1,270 litres with them folded flat, which is a full 410 litres more than the Qashqai.

There are three engines on offer - new 1.6 and 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol units, both available with a manual or CVT gearbox,  and the familiar 2.0-litre boxer diesel which is only offered with a six-speed manual. We drove the latter as, despite being the most expensive, it’s predicted to be the biggest seller in the UK.

It’s an impressive engine – smooth, punchy and eager to rev, although there’s little benefit to letting it spin past 3,500rpm. Fuel economy and CO2 emissions of 50.4mpg and 146g/km respectively won’t win any environmental awards, but are virtually identical to the equivalent Mitsubishi ASX, so at least it’s on a par with its peers. The gearshift has a fairly long-throw action, but it’s smoother to use than the manual ‘box on the current Impreza.

With its rallying heritage, you’s expect a Subaru to handle well, and the XV doesn’t disappoint. The steering could do with some more feedback, but there’s nothing wrong with the way the XV corners – resisting body roll and gripping the tarmac tightly as Subaru’s standard-fit AWD system constantly shuffles torque to the wheel that needs it the most.

After you’ve finished throwing it around in the bends, refinement on the motorway is also a plus with barely a whisper from under the bonnet and only a faint rustle from the wing mirrors. It’s a shame then that the ride is a touch too firm, especially at low speeds on bad surfaces around town – precisely where Subaru sees the XV spending most of its time.

Poland’s Boryszew bids for supplier to Rolls Royce and Bentley

Acquisitive Polish industrial group Boryszew continues to grow its automotive components business, staking a claim to the production assets of another insolvent German parts supplier, Ymos.

Boryszew has made a binding offer to purchase the German and Polish plants of Idar-Oberstein-based Ymos. It is a leading manufacturer of plastic, galvanised and chrome-plated car door system components for handles, hinge and locking systems.

Ymos also makes other metal and plastic auto parts. Its main customers include VW, Audi, Daimler, Bentley and Rolls Royce. The firm recorded 2010 revenues of around 80m but went into bankruptcy in August 2011.

Boryszew is one of three bidders for the Ymos assets which it believes will contribute to its continued rise to become a significant global auto components manufacturer, the Polish group said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Boryszew scooped up Theysohn Kunststoff, a key German parts supplier to VW, and its mould making partner from Austrian precision component group HTI High Tech Industries.

In August, the Sochaczew-based group agreed to pay 6.7m to purchase assets of insolvent German plastics auto parts moulder Altmrker Kunststoff-Technik (AKT), including a Czech plant.

In 2010, Boryszew had bought the insolvent Italian automotive tubing producer Maflow International Group.

Boryszew is considering constructing two automotive part production plants in Russia via two of the businesses it recently acquired, Maflow and AKT. In the first nine months of this year, the Polish group posted a net profit of 24.5m, up from 13.8m for the period in 2010, on sales of 710m, a 41% gain over last year.

What time is it? It's real time

Brad Gotts knows exactly how the FPE plant in Stratford is running, right down to a part, without ever needing to leave his desk at headquarters in Troy, Mich.

Dan Taylor, the plant's operation manager, can tap in to the same data from home in case there's a problem.

Honda, one of the company's customers, has the same "real time, any time" access online if it needs to track parts.

"We would never have been able to launch at the speed and rate and effectiveness that we did without the ability to measure those issues and be able to connect that (real-time) data," Gotts, the president and chief operating officer, said during a tour of the renovated 130,000-square-foot plant, the former home of Manchester Plastics in south Stratford.

Florida Products Engineering picked Stratford to debut its system that tracks all facets of production and inventory and makes it available instantly online -- password protected, of course.

"That's probably the best part of what our operating system provides me -- the data. We need to make strong decisions, good decisions based on the information that we have and it gives me real time in my hand," Taylor said.

Gotts said the systems allows FPE to ensure quality, accuracy and instant feedback to customers.

"Those are things that are very expensive, and we've seen good companies in this area go out of business because they can't compete. So this is one of the ways we will compete here against areas in which we said we couldn't compete against in Canada before," he said.

FPE announced in fall 2010 it was coming to Stratford and began making improvements and installing equipment including 300-to 1,500-ton presses at the Griffith Rd. facility. Just as production was reaching full stride the twin disaster earthquake and tsunami hit Japan March 11. Output was forced to slow and out of respect FPE put off an official launch.

"We're now starting to see the volumes come back," Gotts said.

A casual opening was held earlier this month. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was followed by a catered meal for salaried and production staff. Mayor Dan Mathieson, economic development director Larry Appel and The Beacon Herald were invited to tour the operation.

"You can't manage what you can't measure," an impressed Mathieson said.

Appel asked the company to include a brief about how it uses technology as part of the city's pitch for the Intelligent Communities Forum smart city in 2012.

Gotts said the plant is open to other manufactures to learn about the system as long as they're not competitors.

The goal is to have the system in FPE's six other North American facilities in the next 18 months.

The Stratford plant makes injection-moulded plastic parts for major automakers.

Gotts called them value-added assemblies.

"We have the ability, either within this facility or through our other facilities to mould, paint, chrome plate, assemble all those components for our customers," Gotts said.

An RT grill for Chrysler is one example. The grey plastic trim piece is sent next to the company's chrome-plating plant in Cleveland. FPE can also add mesh grating and an emblem to deliver it as a complete assembly to the automaker.

"Our real ability to grow the value of our company is being able to offer our customers more value-added than just moulding," Gotts said.

The company expects to have about 50 production staff in Stratford by year's end, plus eight salaried staff.

"We're going to be going to a multi-shift," Gotts said.

The plant's human resources department will take applications.

The company is already eyeing expansion.

"The beautiful part that this facility gave us is we have the ability to put up to 3,000-ton-plus presses here because of how this facility was built," he said.

Horace Silver's music pours out in golden performances

HORACE Silver is a many-sided musician and composer and nothing shows that quite like Sister Sadie and Peace, two showcase tunes performed Sunday afternoon.

Sister Sadie is a kick-ass party piece more in the recognized Silver mould and played with the requisite gusto, and funk, by tenor saxophonist Don Braden, trumpeter Derrick Gardner, pianist Peter Martin, bassist Steve Kirby and drummer Quincy Davis.

Peace is an almost delicate composition performed by pianist Martin and Braden playing flute in a clear crowd-pleaser during the first of two concerts Sunday in the season-opener of the Izzy Asper Jazz Performances series.

If Peace was like an elegant etude, Sister Sadie conjures a raucous party-goer who likes to dance all night.

Gardner, the new Babs Asper trumpet professor in the University of Manitoba faculty of music's jazz studies department, kicked it off with a blistering solo and the band kept it up through a string of solos that burned.

Guests Braden and Martin are wonderful players with the affinity for and chops to play Silver's music. With Gardner, who arrived in Winnipeg in August, and his faculty mates Kirby, director of jazz studies, and Davis they made a formidable band with the punch to do justice to classic Silver compositions such as Nica's Dream, Song for My Father and Strollin'.

Strollin' was a showcase for Martin, an excellent pianist, who turned in great solos and was a tasteful accompanist throughout the concert.

Braden is a terrific tenor player, and he surprised me, at least, with his flute playing. I confess to not being much as fan of jazz flute, but Braden may have found a convert with his performances on Peace and on Silver's Serenade.

The concert included many well-known Silver tunes, but Gardner added an arrangement of a lesser-known piece, Sweet Sweetie Dee that gave room for the trumpeter and Braden to blow hard.

Silver, a co-founder of The Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey, was known for funky, soulful compositions; the kind that make your feet move and that chase you onto the dance floor in a club. Songs like The Jody Grind that, along with Sister Sadie, gave the Berney Theatre audience a sense they were in just such a club.

Perhaps his best-known tune, Song for My Father, never fails to catch an audience's attention with its infectious music. Like so may Silver tunes, you've probably heard it before, many times, and it sounds and feels good when you hear it again.

The only non-Silver composition played was Braden's The Vale Jumpers, which he described as a cousin to Sister Sadie. And it had the same punch and ability to garb an audience that Silver's best work does.

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) is pleased to announce that Kai Syrjälä, PhD of Finland-based Nokia will be a plenary speaker at the first SPE EUROTEC(TM) plastics technical conference.

EUROTEC(TM) 2011 will be held November 14-15 in conjunction with the Equiplast exposition in Barcelona. Dr. Syrjälä's presentation, titled "Plastics Injection Molding and Tool Making: Challenges in China and Future Visions," will be delivered on Monday, November 14, 2011.

Many plastics companies now have suppliers in China owing to cost-performance advantages and high-volume capabilities, noted Dr. Syrjälä. In addition, because of China's large clusters of electronics companies and moldmakers, the country has been ramping up its automotive industry. Dr. Syrjälä's presentation will illustrate current working models and practices in tool and mold manufacturing in China, focusing on how to succeed, maintain progress, and manage quality. He will also discuss what can be expected in the future.

Dr. Syrjälä is Director, Tooling and Molding Sourcing, at Nokia, and has led R&D teams all over the world. He is also responsible for the development and maintenance of Nokia's global 3D-CAD systems and works with industrial designers on the company's key products. Nokia was one of the first companies to use full solid modeling to take plastics from "style to steel" with short lead times. Dr. Syrjälä has been active in implementing new business models between Nokia and its suppliers in China.

THE SOCIETY OF PLASTICS ENGINEERS (SPE) is the premier source of peer-reviewed technical information for plastics professionals. Founded in 1942, SPE takes action every day to help companies in the plastics industry succeed by spreading knowledge, strengthening skills, and promoting plastics. Employing these vital strategies, SPE has helped the plastics industry thrive for over 60 years. SPE has become the recognized medium of communication among scientists, engineers, and technical personnel engaged in the development, conversion, and application of plastics.