Comexi Group Introduces New Laser Technology

Common in-line laser processes include micro and macro perforations for the transmission of CO2 in packaging for fruit and vegetables, easy open systems for different types of packaging such as stand-up-pouches, the numbering of promotional offers, expiry dates and the printing of alphanumeric codes.

Thanks to the incorporation of this technology, Comexi Group’s slitting and rewinding machines can make 400 metres of micro perforations measuring 50u to 300u per minute and 150 to 200 metres of macro perforations of up to 6mm per minute; they can add easy open systems to packaging, using discontinuous or continuous lines in cross or web direction at speeds of 200 to 400 metres per minute depending on the system; and they can add barcodes, QR codes or numbers to different types of materials.

Designed and integrated by Comexi Proslit, CingularLaser heralds a new trend in in-line laser processes so that they evolve from a packaging process to a converting one.

Until now, packaging companies were responsible for this laser-operated stage of the process. This meant that a specialist laser marking machine was needed for different applications where a laser was used, thus affecting the productivity and versatility of the different machines while also raising costs due to the need for this specialist packaging equipment.

With the incorporation of CingularLaser to the Comexi Proslit range, laser applications have been integrated in the converting process, overcoming the previous drawbacks and boosting the versatility of both the converting company and packaging company’s machinery.

What is more, with a working life of 25,000 hours, CingularLaser brings numerous benefits to Comexi Group’s machines, enhancing their productivity and efficiency. Firstly, the machines have added flexibility, since with a single laser they can carry out tasks such as die cutting, rotary die cutting, hot needle perforation, pneumatic perforation, discontinuous pre-cuts on hardened roll both lengthwise and in the direction of the roll, and discontinuous transversal pre-cuts.

Secondly, it increases the precision of the diameter of the holes by synchronizing the diameter and shape. Thirdly, there are no limitations to the machine width, thanks to the bendable mechanical components.

As for the matrices, by incorporating CingularLaser, production times and the costs of die cutting can be reduced, as well as reducing stocks and the storage of the different matrices formerly needed with traditional systems.

Lastly, this kind of laser ensures substantial improvements when materials are handled, since they suffer less when they are perforated with this system. In short, this minor innovation will herald major new trends in the perforation of packaging.

To put this innovation into practice, Comexi Group has a production and assembly plant in Sant Quirze del Valles (Barcelona-Spain) where the entire process is carried out so as to ensure the device’s high standards and operational efficiency. Afterwards, the whole device is transferred to the company’s headquarters in Riudellots de la Selva, where it is fitted in machines from the Comexi Proslit range.

The incorporation of CingularLaser to the Comexi Proslit range forms part of the company’s bid for innovation and sustainability, which it applies to all its product ranges.

ART CNC plasma cutter pays

A plasma cutter from Advanced Robotic Technology has helped a sheetmetal processing company enhance its production levels multi-fold with ROI on the equipment achieved in just six months.

Progress Air, based in Hoxton Park, NSW makes sheetmetal parts for air-conditioning systems, servicing the local HVAC&R industry for more than 16 years. To serve their customers better in an increasingly competitive industry, Progress Air carried out a careful evaluation of various CNC plasma cutting machines before deciding to install an ART CNCXRP4800 plasma cutter in June 2012.

The ART CNCXRP4800 plasma cutter is well-known for its simplicity and ability to cut virtually any metal. Added to its productivity, these qualities convinced Company Director Rod Peters about the machine’s suitability.

Since the installation of the ART plasma cutter, the company’s production levels have gone through the roof. Additionally, Progress Air has managed to cut the monthly material expenses by more than half, mainly due to the nesting function, which leverages the mathematical processing power of the PC to optimise material usage and reduce cost. The company processes mild steel, galvanised steel, aluminium and stainless steel with the plasma cutter.

While Mr Peters is very happy with the CamDuct software being used at present, he is also considering investing in higher-level nesting software such as ART’s in-house ToolShop software because nesting software can play additional roles in three other areas: integration, automation and part quality.

Though the company did consider cheaper Chinese and American equipment, they decided to go with an ART machine, manufactured, sold and serviced in Australia by local people. Mr Peters explains that ART’s machines are serviced from Brisbane and are Australian-made.

According to Mr Peters, it took as little as six months for the machine to pay for itself, which is definitely worth the investment for the small workshop. Though he regrets his decision to opt for a small 3m table, he plans to get a bigger table to process two sheets at once, when they move to bigger premises. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.careel-tech.com.

ART’s CNC plasma cutter is also being used by Progress Air on subcontracted jobs from other sheetmetal companies. Mr Peters is very pleased with ART’s service and training, saying that it only took about two hours to run the first job on the machine after installation.

Our client is one of the leading global service providers within the Oil and Gas industry. They are currently seeking experienced CNC machinists to work in an exciting team in an impressive workshop. The firm is actively expanding internationally and work with all of the global Oil Majors, so this would be an excellent move for a qualified CNC specialist to advance their career.

In this position you will be responsible for programming, setting as well as operating a wide variety of special purpose and conventional CNC and Semi NC machine tools. This will include reading and interpreting engineering designs and drawings. You may be required to provide support for other members in the team, to help the development of the team.

3D Printing Doesn't Live Up To The Hype Yet

Say you lose the back of your TV remote. You have turned your house upside-down looking for the piece that holds the batteries in, but without any other choice, you surrender and secure a piece of duct tape to the back of the remote. What if you had the option to log onto your TV manufacturer’s website, download the 3D CAD file for the replacement part, send the CAD file to your local FedEx Office, they upload your 3D CAD file to a 3D printer, and you swing by to pick up the part within an hour.  This is the possibility that 3D printing brings.

There is a lot of buzz around 3D printing and it is easy to get excited about the potential impact it could have on how things can be made.  While the technology is still in the very early stages, 3D printing is nearing becoming a real world application.  3D printing is a tool that can be used to validate a design, ensure pieces fit together properly and even make a product mock-up for marketing.  But it is with rare exception that 3D printed parts are the actual products we buy.

The name 3D printing is a misnomer — it is more accurately called additive manufacturing.  In traditional manufacturing processes, such as machining, material is removed from a piece of raw material to produce a part, also known as subtractive manufacturing.  In additive manufacturing, material is added in small layers, cross section by cross section, to build a part.  Think of an inkjet printer with a print head that rises and continually prints on top of the last image it printed. Additive manufacturing can also be achieved by a number of other methods, such as selective laser sintering (SLS).

What are the challenges additive manufacturing must overcome to be a useful industrial tool?  Materials and speed.  The material choices for additive manufacturing are very limited, and for the most part, the materials are not strong or durable enough to be used in an actual product.  The only time this is an exception is when you combine specific types of polymers and metals with specific additive manufacturing processes.

Not only are you limited by the materials that can be used, additive manufacturing is much slower than subtractive manufacturing.   While this type of technology is dreamed about by every engineering and design team in manufacturing, you won’t find it on the production floor…yet.  For now, the only time producing a part by additive manufacturing makes sense is if it cannot be made by subtractive manufacturing.

I am bullish on additive manufacturing and I think it is going to change the way we make things—our supply chains will work differently and we will greatly expand our capability to customize products on an individual basis.

One real world example of the impact additive manufacturing is capable of, is the production of hearing aids that are customized for each patient.  Here, a patients’ ears are scanned and a digital 3D image is created.  The digital 3D image is then sent to the additive manufacturing machine where a 3D part is produced that will fit patients’ ear perfectly.  While this may cost more than a generic, mass produced hearing aid, a customized fit with both comfort and functionality is now possible.

Slowly but surely, additive manufacturing will find its way to more and more real world applications.  Advancements in materials and speed will be made simultaneously and additive manufacturing will become a brilliantly useful industrial tool.

Cajero expedites PCD-tipped machine tool production by 35 percent

The installation of a Walter Helitronic Power Diamond two-in-one CNC tool grinder/erosion machine is enabling machine tool manufacturer Cajero Ltd. to reduce the time previously taken to produce PCD-tipped tooling by up to 35 percent. The machine's robotic loader is also producing savings in machine operator costs by enabling the company to produce the complex tooling in a lights-out mode.

Supplied by Walter Machines UK of Honiley, near Kenilworth, U.K., the Helitronic Power Diamond uses a combination of grinding wheels and electrodes in the production of HSS, solid-carbide and/or PCD/CBN-tipped tools in a single set-up. The machinery is capable of processing tools up to 320-mm diameter and 350-mm long (12.6 inches by 13.8 inches), and has a 12 kW direct-drive spindle.

The machine incorporates the easy-to-use Tool Studio software, which enables operators to quickly and easily create tool machining and movement sequences by, for example, harnessing Wizard functionality to add all appropriate machining parameters then to utilize 3D-simulation to check and, if necessary, optimize grinding operations. Tool Studio also seamlessly integrates the robot load/unload facility: A Fanuc Robotics' (Rochester Hills, Mich.) six-axis LR Mate 200iC/5L robot loader that works in conjunction with a three-pallet storage system that can hold up to 1,500 workpieces, dependent on diameter.

"Compared with our former route of using separate machines and set-ups to machine the tools' carbide bodies/flutes, etc., then PCD tips, the Power Diamond is key to enabling the end-to-end manufacture of special tool designs to be reduced by up to three weeks," says Cajero's operations manager Alex Harding.

"The continued growth in the use of composites and carbon fibers," he continues, "has been matched by our pioneering development of groundbreaking bespoke tooling."

"Our thorough investigation of the machine included trips to Walter's HQ in Germany for cutting trials of a number of 'special' (rather than run of the mill) tools to really test the machine. We push the boundaries in terms of tool design, so it was essential we invested in a machine that would not only meet our current needs but also any potential future demands," says Harding. "It was clear that in addition to impressive savings in tool manufacturing lead times, the Power Diamond would also provide our PCD tooling team with a greater degree of control and process security, as well as production autonomy without impacting existing tool manufacturing routines." He adds that machine stability, and high precision positioning and repeatability, were other key factors in the choice of the machine, along with the record of service and support that WALTER Machines UK has provided over the long-term.

The new machine joined an impressive range of manufacturing technology used by at Cajero's 40 employees at its Isle of Sheppey (Kent) site, including an Ewag AG (Etziken, Switzerland) Ewamatic insert/tool grinder and a trio of Walter Helitronic Power tool grinders — one fitted with a Disc Loader pallet system that can accept up to 90 tools for processing in a fully automatic cycle — plus a Walter Helicheck four-axis, noncontact measuring center. This checks tool rake and helix angles, lead and relief angle, and automatically scans the tool profile.

Men find value in fat freezing

I've learned more about fat freezing during the past week than I ever imagined possible.

I wrote about the cosmetic fat removal process, with the brand name Cool Sculpting, in a column Friday, then chewed the fat with Jennifer Sanneman, who owns the Essence Skin Clinic in downtown Rochester. Jennifer's shop has been offering Cool Sculpting since December.

In fact, Jennifer's undergone the non-invasive procedure herself, as have her daughters, ages 27, 21 and 18, "along with my staff," she says. "I can show you before and after photos and you won't believe it."

A laser-like machine supercools the fat in your "love handles" or wherever else you want to dissolve some lard. "When we take the machine off, it's solidly frozen, almost like an ice cube," Jennifer says. A salon employee then massages the area for 2-3 minutes to break it down further, and then your body absorbs the disintegrated fat after that.

"You might see some results in three weeks, but by nine weeks you should definitely see results, and in 12 weeks, you're just overwhelmed," she said.

Jennifer, who's 48, has been in this line of work for 25 years and recently opened a second Essence clinic downtown.

The machines aren't cheap. They cost about $140,000. And in case you thought fat sculpting was primarily for women, she has a lot of male customers as well. "A lot of men have their breasts done," she says. "Any part of your body where you want excess fat taken off, we can do it."

My beat takes me to local city council or county board meetings where I'm one of the few reporters there. They are usually laid-back, friendly affairs. Or I go down into caves to count bats where there is no mob of reporters or fish on a trout stream that I also have to myself.

With P-B Capitol reporter Heather Carlson ill, on Feb. 19 I was told to go to St. Paul, where several busloads of people protesting the rapid growth of the silica-sand industry in Minnesota and those who back it appeared before a joint Senate-House committee. Before that, protesters held a press conference.

When they say "press," it can also mean the press of media bodies crowding into rooms, getting in each other's way and mobbing legislators who give out their gems of wisdom with smiles.

By the time the hearing was over, I was tired, frazzled and miffed. I wanted to get out of the building, out of the Twin Cities, out of the thundering herd of people. Wouldn't it be better to be out alone on a Mississippi River backwater or snowshoeing solo in the moonlight in the Whitewater Valley?

And last Tuesday, I was part of a crowded hearing on the silica-sand bill where I sat for 2 1/2 more hours, hearing many of the same people saying the same thing.

I left both meetings with more admiration for Heather. I called her a few days after the first round of chaos, inquired about her health and wished her a speedy recovery — for her sake and mine.

Wind turbine plans cause controversy among locals

PLANS to erect a wind turbine on Richmondshire farmland have caused controversy among neighbouring residents. But the applicant said it is a step towards cutting the carbon footprint of a successful farm shop and visitor attraction.

Mainsgill Farm, near East Layton, has submitted plans to Richmondshire District Council for a 50 metre wind turbine to help ease increasing rising electricity costs.

Farmer Andrew Henshaw said the decision was not taken lightly and has been making efforts to speak to local residents, many of whom frequently use the farm shop and cafe. But neighbouring villager Rob Simpson said it would be a blot on the landscape.

He said: “Our main concerns are the blot on the landscape, threat to birds and bats and the impact on visitors passing through the area, and we are quite proud of the fact that we don’t have any.“We understand Mainsgill Farm is a business but we think it’s a selfish act.”

Mr Henshaw said he had looked at various options to cut fuel costs but only the turbine would be appropriate for the farm.

“The turbine will be sympathetically located so it is in a dip in the footprint of the farm.“Fossil fuels are not going to last forever so we need to look at ways of keeping our costs down – that way we can keep costs down on our products for our customers.”

 He added: “We have approached local people and 90 per cent of comments have been very supportive but I would welcome both positive and negative feedback.”

Mr Simpson said he has been speaking to residents of East Leyton and Ravensworth, who together have written an objection letter to Richmondshire District Council planning officers.

Mr Henshaw said: “We want people to understand it is not a large turbine – I know there’s one going up near Darlington capable of producing 500 kilowatts of power and ours will generate a fraction of that.

“It will make a real difference to Mainsgill – I can understand people’s concerns but we are trying to lower our footprint and keep prices low for our customers.”

Richmondshire District Council planners said the application is in the consultation stage but Mainsgill Farm now has to convince the Highways Agency that the entrance to the farm from the A66 is safe for construction vehicles to enter before it can go before the planning committee.

Plans have been submitted to Stratford-on-Avon District Council for the Stoneton Wind Farm on land near the village by EDF Energy Renweables.

Villagers from Wormleighton, Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick have begun to register their opposition to the scheme on the council’s website and chairman of the Wormleighton Parish Meeting group, Irvin Klegerman, is calling on residents from surrounding villages to register their opposition.

Priors Marston resident Andrew Mills also registered objections to the wind farm, expressing concerns about the visual impact of the development and the effects on wildlife.

He also raised concerns about the proximity of the planned wind farm to the proposed route of the HS2 rail network which runs adjacent to the site.

“The development will have a significant adverse visual impact on local amenities such as viewing points, nature reserves and footpaths,” he said. “When taken into account with the cumulative effects of the proposed HS2 development, the loss and impact to leisure amenities becomes even more acute.”

Mr Klegerman added that while the Parish Meeting group has no official powers to challenge the application it will do everything in its power to register opposition.

Villagers are also hoping that the anticipated discovery of Roman remains under the site could help to slow the development.

Europe's "first" wind powered province touts renewables

Fifteen years ago, residents of the province of Burgenland would have laughed if you told them their region would one day be exporting energy.

But since the late nineties, the easternmost area of Austria has rapidly scaled up its wind power capacity from zero to 481MW today, so that by the end of this year it expects to become an Energieautarkie, the German term for an energy independent country, company, or even person.

With a population of less than 300,000 people Burgenland's power company, Energie Burgenland (EB), and private landowners have been able to install 286 turbines stretching as far as the eye can see. The fleet of large scale wind farms includes Europe's largest wind energy development in Andau and two giant 7.5MW Enercon turbines in Potzneusiedl.

Now the region is touting itself as a poster boy for the low carbon economy, offering real life evidence that backing renewables is key to delivering economic growth - a theme that has unsurprisingly been prevalent at the annual European Wind Energy Association conference in Vienna this week.

Michael Gerbavsits, chief executive of EB, says the utility has invested 300m so far in wind energy, plus another 85m in a transformer to ensure the power can be carried easily around the region and beyond.

Over the next few years, EB will invest another 450m in renewable energy, ramping up wind capacity to reach 1GW by the end of 2014 and enabling Burgenland to export power and cut CO2 emissions by the equivalent of taking 615,000 cars of the roads.

The feat will be a significant step towards fulfilling Austria's ambition of becoming Energieautarkie by 2050. Fuelled by a ban on nuclear that has been in place since the late 1970s, renewables already contributes 65 per cent to Austria's electricity mix and nearly 31 per cent of the total energy mix, most of which comes from hydropower, with about five per cent from wind.

The government is taking a bottom up approach to green energy, urging each local government to develop their own renewables plan with a view to gradually weaning itself off fossil fuels and nuclear power imports over the coming years.

Werner Friedl, Mayor of the town of Zundorf, believes 1,000 green jobs will be created in the region on the back of the wind power boom, making a dent in Austria's six per cent youth unemployment levels.

In fact, the region's commitment to wind energy, as well as its 9m investment to tackle youth unemployment is starting to pay off.

Germany's Enercon has recently opened a 40m production plant in Zundorf, making concrete turbine towers for its "cash cow" E101- 3MW machines.

The factory already employs 120 people, and is ramping up to operations in the early part of this year. It also has a nearby training facility for wind power apprentices and says it has made an effort to recruit local people into jobs, with most employees having to travel no more than 25 kilometers to reach the plant.

As well as tapping into local markets, Enercon hopes to use its fourth factory to reach the emerging Eastern and Central European wind power markets. Concrete towers could be floated on a barge up the Danube to Germany, or downstream to Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, the company says.

Hans-Dieter Kettwig, Enercon's managing director, has one message for countries where unemployment is currently at high levels - switch to renewables.

Want to get rid of that tattoo?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers the inks used in tattoos to be cosmetics, and takes action to protect consumers when related safety issues arise. At the other end of the tattoo process, FDA also regulates laser devices used to remove tattoos.

The FDA has approved several types of lasers as light-based, prescription devices for tattoo lightening or removal. A Massachusetts company recently received FDA clearance to market its laser workstation for the removal of tattoos and benign skin lesions.

According to a poll conducted in January 2012 by pollster Harris Interactive, 14 percent of the 21 percent of adults who have tattoos regret getting one. And the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery  (ASDS) reports that in 2011, its doctors performed nearly 100,000 tattoo removal procedures, versus only 86,000 a year earlier.

Artists create tattoos by using an electrically powered machine that moves a needle up and down to inject ink into the skin, penetrating the epidermis, or outer layer, and depositing a drop of ink into the dermis, the second layer. The cells of the dermis are more stable compared with those of the epidermis, so the ink will mostly stay in place for a person’s lifetime. Tattoos are meant to be permanent.

An effective and safe way to remove tattoos is through laser surgery, performed by a dermatologist who specializes in tattoo removal, says FDA's Mehmet Kosoglu, Ph.D., who reviews applications for marketing clearances of laser-devices.

"Laser" stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Kosoglu says that pulsed lasers, which emit concentrated light energy in short bursts, or pulses, have been used to remove tattoos for more than 20 years.

However, it can be a painstaking process. "Complete removal, with no scarring, is sometimes not possible," Kosoglu notes.

FDA clearance means this method for removing tattoos complies with agency requirements for safety and effectiveness, according to FDA dermatologist Markham Luke, M.D. Other methods include dermabrasion -- actually "sanding" away the top layer of skin, and excision -- cutting away the area of the tattoo and then sewing the skin back together.

There are also do-it-yourself tattoo removal ointments and creams that you can buy online. "FDA has not approved them, and is not aware of any clinical evidence that they work," says Luke. In addition, Luke says tattoo removal ointments and creams may cause unexpected reactions, such as rashes, burning, scarring, or changes in skin pigmentation in the process.

With laser removal, pulses of high-intensity laser energy pass through the epidermis and are selectively absorbed by the tattoo pigment. The laser breaks the pigment into smaller particles, which may be metabolized or excreted by the body, or transported to and stored in lymph nodes or other tissues, Kosoglu explains.

The type of laser used to remove a tattoo depends on the tattoo's pigment colors. Because every color of ink absorbs different wavelengths of light, multi-colored tattoos may require the use of multiple lasers. Lighter colors such as green, red, and yellow are the hardest colors to remove, while blue and black are the easiest.

"That depends on a person’s pain threshold," Kosoglu says. Some people compare the sensation of laser removal to being spattered with drops of hot bacon grease or snapping a thin rubber band against the skin. A trained dermatologist will be able to adjust the treatment to the patient’s comfort level.

Generally speaking, just one laser treatment won't do the trick. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, the procedure requires multiple treatments (typically six to 10) depending on a tattoo's size and colors, and requires a few weeks of healing time between procedures. Some side effects may include pinpoint bleeding, redness, or soreness, none of which should last for long.

Rail investment trend in Iowa still going strong

When the Iowa Interstate Railroad moved into a new $19 million locomotive maintenance shop and crew change center near South Amana on Oct. 25, it marked the latest example of private capital investment in Iowa’s rail infrastructure.

National, regional and local railroads operating almost 3,400 miles of track have invested close to $1 billion in the state since 2007. While some of the investment is related to replacing bridges and track destroyed by the 2008 flood, the largest percentage involves ongoing investment in infrastructure.

Union Pacific, which operates nearly 1,400 miles of rail line in Iowa, invested $540 million in Iowa between 2007 and 2012. The Omaha-based company made capital investments for branch line upgrades, east-west corridor capacity improvements, communication and signal improvements, ethanol- and grain-related projects, the growing wind turbine market, and major projects such as a new double-track bridge near Boone.

BNSF Railway, a subsidiary of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., operates 673 miles of rail line in Iowa. The Fort Worth, Texas, carrier invested $61 million in Iowa last year, according to Amy McBeth, regional director of public affairs for the railroad.

“We feel it’s important to note that railroads invest their own money in capital improvement projects,” McBeth said. “We do not get a fuel tax subsidy like the nation’s highways.”

The 30,000-square-foot Dennis H. Miller Locomotive Maintenance Works, named for the president of the Iowa Interstate from July 2004 to April 2012, replaced an outdated facility, according to Andrew “Butch” Reid, Iowa Interstate chief mechanical officer-locomotive.

“We outgrew our building in Iowa City, which was not even a one-stall barn,” Reid said. “When we would pull one of our new GE ES44AC locomotives in for an inspection, we had to do the tests with one door open because the locomotive wouldn’t fit in the building.

“We have to test every locomotive every 92 days under Federal Railroad Administration regulations and we average two to three tests each week. We are working toward doing everything in house so we have more control over how long an engine is out of service.

“A lot of the stuff we do now had been outsourced to National Railway Equipment in Silvis, Ill. It takes a day to get an engine to National, a couple of days for them to do the work, and another day to get it back.”

Reid said the new shop is designed to service up to four 4,400-horsepower locomotives at a time. It features fueling and sanding stations, a locomotive wash bay, overhead cranes and illuminated underground walkways.

Iowa Interstate employs about 40 workers at the facility, including locomotive machinists and electricians, car repair specialists, and track and structures personnel. Reid said there are currently two shifts in operation, which could be increased to three shifts with the hiring of additional workers to handle more work.

“We built the shop so we could handle additional work without having to physically expand it,” he said. “There’s a lot of concrete and steel in the facility. Each of our GE locomotives weighs 432,000 pounds, and we can remove the shell from the engine with a 35-ton overhead crane.”

“We’re outside of town, so we won’t be blocking crossings and upsetting the citizens of Iowa City,” he said. “We have a larger break room, more room for parts storage and a more modern facility that will serve us for many years to come.”

Whitehall's border bullies are driving overseas students away

When the Afghanistan veteran Mark Sedwill takes over as permanent secretary at the Home Office next month, his experience opposing the Taliban may help him deal with a scandal that must surely be at the top of his in-tray. The Home Office crackdown on immigration, laudable in itself, is being run in a way reminiscent of the Stasi when it comes to foreign students.

Tales are growing of the UK Border Agency’s bullying and its use of bureaucracy as a weapon against foreign students and our universities. Overseas students coming to this country are worth an estimated 8 billion a year to our economy, but academics say the agency’s hostile attitude is drying up the numbers – the total from India alone was down by nearly a quarter last year. Restrictions and regulations worthy of Kafka are damaging Britain’s reputation abroad and crippling private sector colleges.

The Foreign Office and the Business Department are privately dismayed at the Home Office’s insistence on cutting immigrant numbers, regardless of the cost to Britain in economic or reputational terms. So welcome to Whitehall, Mr Sedwill – Whitehall at its worst.

It is the crudeness of the agency’s tactics that is shocking. PhD students coming back here to do a viva – a short oral examination vital for their doctorates – are being told they have the wrong kind of visa and must go home to reapply. Universities that protest have been threatened unofficially with having their licences to admit foreign students withdrawn.

Prof James Dunkerley, director of graduate studies at Queen Mary, University of London – one of the elite Russell Group – says: “We are all being treated as if we were running some kind of scam with no room for officials to use any discretion. There is no point the Prime Minister going to places abroad to boost exports when this is happening at home to education, which is a major export business.”

 Other students are made to wait months for a visa, given “credibility” interviews where they can be turned down for the most minor things, or without any explanation. They are then charged an extra 500 if they reapply. There are also major restrictions on overseas students taking jobs here to help meet their costs and to gain valuable experience.

As Sir Christopher Meyer, our former ambassador to the US, said to me: “This is so typical of a government machine where everyone is desperate to avoid any blame, so they kick out at everyone and innocent people suffer.”

Sir Christopher, who teaches a politics course at the University of North Carolina, warns: “The danger is that students from countries like India and China will go elsewhere – notably to Canada, Australia and the US, which all have excellent universities and where there are also existing Chinese and Indian communities. David Cameron is always telling us we are in a global race for business, but it is as if other countries are forging ahead while Britain is in a sack race.”

It is true that the system for admitting foreign students has been abused, with bogus colleges setting themselves up in one room over a chip shop. Most of those have now been closed. Worse, London Metropolitan University clearly flouted the rules on overseas students and had to be stripped of its licence. What is more, the Government’s pledge to cut immigration has widespread public support.

It is also true that the official figures suggest the number of foreign students overall is stagnant rather than falling. But more detailed analysis shows a decline in the numbers coming from key countries – such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

PC MPP says province hid report on wind turbine health effects

A Progressive Conservative MPP is accusing the province of knowing about the adverse health effects of wind turbines as far back as 2009.

Through documents she obtained via a freedom of information request, Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson says she’s learned of one homeowner who complained about excessive noise from nearby turbines making it difficult for them to sleep.

 “It is 1 a.m. I can’t take much more of this. I don’t know what is going on but I have the worst headache in the world right now,” reads one of them. The ministry eventually closed the file, saying it couldn’t verify claims of excessive noise.

Another document shows that the ministry backed down from a turbine company after the company agreed to reduce overnight operations of 24 turbines due to complaints from neighbours.

Heather Johnston lives in Belwood, northeast of Fergus. She agrees with Thompson that wind turbines present health concerns and the Liberals hid reports saying so from the public.

“If you don't sleep, you’re not well, and they just don’t seem to care about the people that have to live near these things,” Johnston tells CTV.

“The [ministry] is being guided on how they go through these processes, and to tell you the truth, I’m a little dismayed that the ombudsman’s office hasn't done anything about this.”

Four new 500-foot-high turbines are slated to be built in Belwood in the near future. Another project comprised of 30 turbines has been taken off the table, but Johnston says she believes it’s only a temporary stop and the 30 turbines will be built eventually.

Environment Minister Jim Bradley didn’t respond to a request for comment from CTV, but a ministry statement says priority is placed on ensuring turbines are built in a way that protects human health and the environment.

Thompson says she wants more answers out of Bradley, but can’t get them while the legislature remains prorogued.

I’m not against wind if carefully sited to minimize bird and bat deaths, which hasn’t always been the case, but because wind is also “like burning $20 bills to generate electricity,” this is a case of deception by omission.

The wind tax credit was just extended for another year. First enacted by the Energy Policy Act twenty years ago, it has been extended four, make that five, times. Every honest estimate I’ve seen suggests that this credit costs taxpayers roughly a billion dollars a year, for a total of roughly $20 billion and counting.

$20 billion is roughly the price tag of three conventional nuclear power plants, capable of producing about a third of present wind capability just from the extra cost of building wind.  52/19 = 3/x, x = 1.1,  (104 reactors, average of 2 reactors/power plant, 19% of electrical energy from nuclear, 3% from wind, $6.7 billion per nuclear power plant).

If wind is economically viable (cheaper than fossil fuels), why do proponents always insist that the industry will collapse if it loses that credit? And wind can only scale so far before it becomes prohibitively expensive to compensate for its intermittency. We need other low carbon sources of energy to compliment it, and nuclear should be one of them. It may be more expensive than fossil fuels in the short run, but obviously, so is the “wind-enhanced combined cycle natural gas power plant.”

LED lights save Fort Smith

Citywide LED traffic light conversions are saving Fort Smith close to $7,000 per month since completion, according to Traffic Control Superintendent Steve Kelton - considerable savings, but less than originally reported.

Kelton verified on Monday that the latest electric bill was “about $5,000,” down from an estimated $12,000 per month in 2006 when the conversions began.

While the $7,000 per month cost savings estimate is less than The City Wire reported in July 2011, the latest energy bill is in line with estimates from that time. (It was initially stated that electricity costs prior to LED conversion were $15,000 per month.) As importantly for Kelton, the conversion has allowed traffic control personnel to work more efficiently.

“In prior years with the incandescents, we would change about 1,200 light bulbs per year. From July 2010 to July 2011, we changed 40 LEDs, and that was before we’d even completed our conversion,” Kelton said. “It has gotten us out of the street and the motoring public’s way. It’s safer for us and for them, since they (the lights) are brighter and easier to see. There’s just no downside to it other than the initial investment.”

That “initial investment” Kelton refers to was around $2,468 per intersection as of 2011. That amount covered the last remaining 64 traffic signals, which were funded by $158,000 in federal stimulus money.

Prior to those replacements, the city changed 85 traffic signals, which fluctuated in cost. Since the initial replacements occurred while LED lighting was still higher in cost, some ran the city as much as $7,000 with costs falling over time, Kelton said.

Assuming an average cost of $5,000 for the 85 signals completed without federal funding (a $425,000 total), the current rate of savings would replenish the city’s investment in approximately 5.5 years.

Replacement costs for an LED bulb are $75 to $80 per bulb but unlike incandescent bulbs, each LED has a “5- to 7-year warranty,” Kelton said, adding that the time savings allows the traffic control department to “do other tasks that we couldn’t do as regularly as we should have, because we were so busy changing light bulbs.”

“We’re more focused on preventive maintenance – cleaning lenses, tightening every screw or anchor bolt,” Kelton added.

The most commonly cited issues that arise with LED traffic lights include swaying signals attached to span wires and the lights freezing during harsh winter weather conditions. (LED lights do not grow hot enough to melt the ice.)

Kelton acknowledged that span wires can be a problem, but said “Fort Smith is now completely span wire-free.” Additionally, he said the snowstorm on Dec. 25 had no negative effects, nor have any such issues been reported since the conversions began in 2006.“It is a significant problem in northern parts of the country where they have big snows and lots of wind, though,” Kelton said.

That’s what the Endliss Smartcase, a new case for the iPhone 5, does, thanks to LED lights on the back of the case. Those multi-colored LED lights will flash and arrange themselves in different images as a way of notifying you of an incoming message. The smartcase works with Twitter, Facebook, texts, calls, and emails, so you can get a different LED pattern for each one of those alerts. The 8 x 16 LED light grid syncs up with your iPhone 5 via Bluetooth 4.0, and can also use that pairing to display the time using those LED lights.

You’d think this might be a tough sell, given that it sounds like a case that will put extra strain on the iPhone 5′s already limited battery life. Not so – the Endliss Smartcase is also equipped with a 1500 mAh battery, which powers the lights and manages to give your iPhone 5 a little extra juice in the process. Of course, that also means the case will add a lot of extra bulk to the iPhone 5′s very slim frame. If you like the idea of the Endliss Smartcase, but still want to slim down from time to time, you can slip the battery pack and LED light system off, revealing a plain black protective case underneath.

Wind Energy Production Grows in the Hawkeye State

You can hear the swift sound of movement as the turbine blades cut through the wind at this wind farm near Lake Park, Iowa. It's clean and efficient, and growing faster than any other energy source in the U.S.

"Iowa's 5100 installed megawatts are the equivalent to taking 13 million cars off the road," says Iowa Wind Energy Association Executive Director Harold Prior.

That's also equal to powering 85 million 60–watt light bulbs, and if you can believe it, the Iowa Wind Energy Association hopes to quadruple that 5100 megawatts by 2030.

If you're even considering a future in wind production, now is the time to get your turbines in a row.In 2012, producers received a 2.2 cent tax credit for every kilowatt hour produced.

But now, the federal government added new "in progress" language to the extension passed as part of the fiscal cliff deal, which basically gives wind producers a year to get their facilities in check.As long as they begin the construction before 2014, they'll still get that tax credit.

"It's going to open up another short term boom in the development of wind farm projects. There were a number of large projects and medium size projects that are already financed, they've done their power of purchase agreements, They've done all their permitting requirements. They just weren't sure they could get their product to the site and get the wind farm constructed before the end of December 2012. So they put those projects on hold," says Prior.

But now, Prior says, producers can get back on the bandwagon. It's the first step in the growth of the wind industry here in the Hawkeye State. But the Iowa Wind Energy Association is lobbying for a longer extension: they want it locked in for the next ten years.

And in half that time, the wind industry predicts it will be at the top of its game; functioning without the help of any subsidies. Prior says, there's a valid equity argument on the table.

"If other generators, like coal, oil or natural gas and nuclear are continuing to get tax subsidies through the tax code, or outside the tax code, then our argument is, look, let's have all the generators of electricity on a level playing field. So, if you're going to eliminate the subsidy for wind energy, than how about we eliminate the subsidy for all generators of electricity, and allow all of us to compete on a level playing field," he says.

He says that would also help reduce the federal deficit. Wind turbines currently generate roughly 20 percent of all the electricity produced in Iowa, enough to power more than 1.1 million homes.

Ecuador's Villonaco wind farm project, located in the province of Loja, is considered emblematic of the government of President Rafael Correa Delgado, himself a former economist. Morevoer, it is the world's highest such eolian structure, built some 2,720 metres above sea level.

On Wednesday January 2, 2013, President Correa refused to officially open the Villonaco wind farm, branding it incomplete because it does not have an access road.

The wind farm is made up of 11 generators with a total output capacity of 16.5 MW, a substation to step up power from 34.5 to 69 kilovolts, and a subtransmission line that links the Villonaco substation to its counterpart in Loja, which is on Ecuador's national power grid.

The system was set up by the Chinese company Xinjian Goldwind Science and Technology and will cut CO2 emissions by as much as 35.270 metric tons a year. It will also reduce diesel imports, the fuel needed to generate thermal electricity. As Correa points out on Ecuador's Ministry of Tourism website, "We would save almost USD 13 million per year in fuel costs alone."

Ecuador's electrical company CELEC is in charge of the infrastructure, with an investment of USD 36 million. The benefits are myriad, especially in terms of the environment insofar as the project will reduce toxic emissions in the atmosphere; in economic terms, it will satisfy 25% of the annual energy consumption of the province of Loja. The project will also cover 68,7% of the demand currently handled by the Empresea Eléctrica Regional Sur, the company that provides power to the provinces of Loja, Zamora, and sections of Morona Santiago.

MIT students develop oneTesla self-build

Educational electronics kits like the one from Minty Geek are a great introduction to the world of circuit building and electronic tinkering, but are perhaps a little too basic for more advanced hobbyists. Three MIT students are currently enjoying enormous success on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform with a DIY Tesla coil kit called oneTesla that can make artificial lightning sing ... well, erm, play music from a MIDI source. Now where did I put that polyphonic version of This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us by Sparks?

The first version of oneTesla, which didn't play music, was created over the course of three days in February last year. The development team of full-time MIT students Bayley Wang, Heidi Baumgartner and Daniel Kramnik added a MIDI controller a little later, followed soon after by the hatching of plans to obtain some boards, build a few coils and offer a limited number of self-build kits on eBay to help recoup development costs. A user manual was written, revised, written again, and remains in a state of flux until the end of the current Kickstarter campaign.

The 10-inch (25.4-cm) tall musical Tesla coil was designed as an educational development kit for high voltage tinkerers with a steady soldering hand and a patient eye for precision. The creators say that building a Tesla coil will facilitate learning about wireless power transfer, high voltage electronics and radio frequency engineering. The team also advises that oneTesla is not for beginners, so those ordering a kit should have prior experience of electronics kits and troubleshooting. Although not essential, having an oscilloscope on hand for troubleshooting purposes is recommended.

Recipients of a oneTesla kit essentially get shipped some PCBs and a bag of parts that will need to be assembled and soldered together as per the supplied instructions. Each device is made up of a driver board that sits inside the laser cut acrylic main chassis and powers the whole Tesla coil. There's a MIDI input for connecting the device to a keyboard and playing live sparky music, or the supplied USB-to-MIDI adapter can be used to feed in pre-recorded MIDI files from a computer.

Although snaps/pulses from the streamer normally resonate at 220 kHz (way beyond the range of human hearing), the boffins at oneTesla have built a custom interrupter that modulates the electric arc, creating pressure waves that sound like musical notes. Sparks turned on and off at a frequency of about 262 Hz, for example, sound like a middle C. The interrupter board also serves to isolate the high voltage from connected electronics.

The primary coil features six turns of thick 14AWG wire, is directly connected to the main control board and sits at the base of the secondary coil. The secondary coil has 1,800 turns of fine 36AWG wire and is topped by a toroid topload, which together form a resonant circuit that can build up to high voltages. oneTesla reports that the coil is capable of producing lightning arcs nearly two feet long.

"The Tesla coil poses many hazards, and taking safety precautions are an absolute must," says oneTesla. "The hazards can be lessened by being a careful worker, keeping a workspace clear of clutter, wearing safety glasses when the board is energized, ensuring that the capacitors are discharged before attempting work on the board, keeping sensitive electronics and flammable objects away from the coil when it’s running, and generally being intimately aware of the operation and hazards of the Tesla coil."

Full build and operation instructions appear in the user manual, and those who undertake the project can expect to spend a full day putting oneTesla together. A quality soldering iron, a screwdriver, some wire cutter, diagonal cutter, needlenose pliers, a crimp tool/large pliers and a glue gun (or superglue) will also be needed.

Rosati-Kain High School girls help “keep out the rain”

Can you imagine getting rained on while in class? This was a daily occurrence for children at Bar-Ogwal school in Nigeria, Africa.

In order to help solve this problem, Rosati-Kain High School, led by the Overseas Mission Club, held a fundraiser. The project netted more than $1,500 to send to the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) to purchase windows for Bar-Ogwal.

The Overseas Mission Club, or OSM, includes about 25 student members. Each fall, the girls review a list of needs from SSND in Africa and choose one on which to focus. The girls then create a theme for their fundraiser and encourage school-wide participation.

“The club’s purpose is to increase knowledge and awareness of needs outside the school, particularly with the financially poor, and raise funds to empower development,” said Dona Zeidler, R-K religion teacher and the club’s faculty advisor.

This year, Bar-Ogwal primary school had a great need for windows. Any surplus funds sent to Bar-Ogwal will address the school’s need for toilets, desks, text books and other essential items.

The OSM Club spent two weeks in November selling clothing that marketed this year’s theme “Buy a Pane, Keep out the Rain.”

The club, founded in 2003, challenges the R-K community with a new fundraising effort each year for the SSND’s schools in Africa.

One past project, “Bunks for Beauties,” raised $3,075 to build a dorm for school girls who were previously sleeping in a building intended for livestock.

The “Fences for Friends” project raised $3,277 to build a fence to prevent goats from eating the clean laundry at a girls' high school.

In yet another year, the “Help a Sister Out” project provided science lab equipment necessary for girls to pass their national exam.

Club President Jasmin Robles ’13 has been a member of the OSM Club since her freshman year.

“This year’s project is important to me because we are benefiting our sister schools in Africa and thinking about the students there that have to huddle in a corner in a storm,” Robles said. “The fact that we could put windows in helped their classroom environment. This is something we take for granted.”

The rule for reporting to work after a school closing was changed to match other agreements: Come to work as soon as possible; if delayed, make up the hours, take vacation, or take unpaid hours.

School-paid health insurance was increased to keep take-home pay intact. A floating holiday was added and the emergency leave policy was changed. Language authorizing lump sum payments was removed.

Custodial, maintenance and laundry employees earn from $14.51 to $21.89 per hour the first year and from $15.69 to $24.08 the fifth year, depending on the position.

Wage rates were adjusted: A step freeze in Year 1, one step granted in Year 2, and increases in the top step were approved. A shift premium of $.55 per hour applies for shifts beginning after noon. A janitor called back after his shift ends is paid double time for at least two hours of work.

An election equipment cost-sharing joint powers agreement with Anoka County was approved. Some grant money is available to help pay the annual fee.

The board also approved an agreement for providing mental health treatment services at a school site, and the student sex non-discrimination policy.

Europe's Energy Transformation

When residents of the small city of Freiburg, Germany, go to school or work in the morning, they pass dozens of solar installations. There are solar panels on homes, on churches, on the facade of the main train station, on the soccer stadium, throughout a "solar housing development" and a "solar business park" and on the roofs of schools. All told, Freiburg's solar photovoltaic (PV) installations produce enough electricity to meet the needs of tens of thousands of homes.

Additionally, five large wind turbines are situated on hilltops within the city's boundaries and contribute to the town's energy supply. Small hydroelectric plants sit on the river, as well as combined heat and power plants and biomass plants that burn biogas and rapeseed oil, along with other facilities that burn wood chips and pellets.

Freiburg is known as a "Green City," but it is not atypical for the region or the nation. In May 2012, solar PV supplied 10 percent of Germany's electricity. During the first nine months of 2012, Germany produced enough electricity from renewable energy sources including wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric plants to supply 26 percent of its demand.

This capacity has been growing rapidly from year to year, and renewables already represent roughly double the share of Germany's electricity production as compared to the United States.

A high percentage of renewable energy production is not unique to Germany. Spain has been averaging 30-31 percent renewable electricity in recent months, and Italy reached 24 percent renewables in its electricity production over the first 10 months of 2012. The Czech Republic also has installed enough solar to achieve nearly the same per-capita amount of solar electric generating capacity as Germany. In many other European nations, renewable energy capacities continue to grow rapidly.

In Germany, the shift toward renewable energy is called the Energiewende, roughly translated as the energy transformation. It includes not only a transition away from fossil fuels, but also away from nuclear power, particularly after the Fukushima Disaster of March 2011.

Few Americans know that this process is happening. And among those who do are those who would like to delay it happening here as long as possible.

The experiences of Europe have never been more relevant to our circumstances in the United States than now. Following Hurricane Sandy - the second most devastating storm to hit New York and the Northeast in as many years - the issue of global warming and climate change has taken on a new urgency. With the re-election of President Barack Obama, many environmentalists see the potential for national political action.

You would think that at this moment both activists and policymakers in the United States would be clamoring to follow Germany's lead. They aren't.

There are multiple probable explanations for why this is not happening. Regulatory barriers exist to establishing German-style policies here, but a larger problem is the ongoing political deadlock in Washington. This has narrowed our ideas of what is possible and reinforced an American exceptionalism, where we don't look to successful solutions from other nations.

Another central problem is that the US media has done a poor job of telling the story of the energy transformation, and misinformation abounds. While much of this confusion can be traced to the fossil fuel industries and right-wing think tanks, there is plenty of blame to spread around for the distortion.

Exterior Wanaque library renovations underway

It's been a long time coming, but the borough library's exterior makeover is underway and expected to be completed this fall.

Passersby might have noticed the recent arrival of a miniature excavation machine and a low orange hazard fence in front of the building and assumed these elements to be part of the ongoing water main replacement project beneath Ringwood Avenue, but they are not. Instead, they are the first indication that the 42-year-old library is poised to receive planned renovations that include redesigned steps, a new portico, and fresh roofing before winter.

When asked if the nearby road construction project has affected the day-to-day business of the library, Acting Director Gillian Buonanno told Suburban Trends on Oct. 10 that the "impact has been minimal. People who want to use the library are still coming."

Buonanno said that the exterior renovations were somewhat delayed by heavy rainstorms in the area late this summer. Public Service Electric & Gas Co. was required to mark the locations where the utility lines entered the building before actual construction could begin, but "they were backed up because of all the damage," she said.

Much of North Jersey experienced a fierce storm that came with tornado warnings and high winds on Sept. 18, causing widespread power outages and numerous fallen trees. Buonanno went on to say that PSE&G arrived to do the work "about 10 days" after it was initially expected.

The library has retained Element Architectural Group of Paramus to design and oversee all elements of construction. The library's contractual end date with the firm is Dec. 1.

However, Buonanno believes the project will be wrapped up in time, "as long as the weather cooperates," she added.

According to Buonanno, the exterior renovations will be completed at no additional cost to taxpayers. Money for the project was made available through the library's capital reserves and fund-raising efforts. Interior renovations were completed in early 2010.

Storms that occurred in 2011 necessitated the urgency of the exterior renovations, as noted by the rapid decay of the portico after Hurricane Irene swept through the region. Instead of diverting water away from the building, Buonanno explained, the damaged structure was absorbing it. The old portico was removed last December.

The library will remain open during construction. Children's story times and other activities will go on as scheduled. Patrons are being directed to use the backdoor to the facility, requiring them to maneuver a couple of stairs.