A young boy killed in a road accident

On Saturday night many people go toward sea side to enjoy on independent`s day this crowd become more. An eighteen years old young boy belongs to Sector 8/F Gulzar colony Korangi Industrial Area Karachi was killed in a road accident at 2.00 AM night he was on his motorbike he was brought hospital but all in vain he could not live more. His death body was brought home at 3.00 AM

The wood trade of the world

According to a cautious estimation, fifty percent of the world trade of wood takes place through Europe. Common trend is that the wood is sent from North to South. Wood is exported by Harvey and Finland to Britain, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and France.
Thirty percent of world trade of wood depends on America. Canada is the biggest exporter of wood while America is the biggest importer of wood while other countries have less share in the world trade of wood. Philippine is the biggest exporter' wood in Asia while Japan is the biggest importer.
Wood is specially used in buildings and paper making is the second important use of wood and the remained' used in different uses. Per ca pita use of wood is highest in Finland and Central Africa, Canada are ranked at No 2. South and North America and Europe use the wood on largest scale in the world. Africa and Asia are at lower in the world production of wood.

Some fact about Turkey

Turkey is the country which half part is located in Asia and half part in Europe so it is the door for Europe to Asia. The total population of Turkey is 72 million and about 61 percent are below age 43 years. The rate of young people among 27th European countries is higher in Turkey. In higher education sector there are 450000 students, 143 universities. At school level there are 730000 students and 1third of this count is studying in technical institute. There are 24 million qualified young labor forces in Turkey. Among the 27th European countries for young educated qualified people turkey stands at 5th place. Turkey is the 15th economical power of the world and at 6th place among 27th European countries. From 2003 to 2008 an increment in GDP is 143 percent and its volume has reached to 742 $. Export 179 percent rate increase and its volume has reached 132 $ and increase in export is 188 percent. The transport system in Turkey is very advance. The current oil supply to the world is 121 million ton and it continues to increase to 221 million ton. About 90 percent people live in flats which consist in 3 rooms normally. The minimum salary in Turkey is 800 to 900 lira and maximum 5000 to 6000 lira. About 60 to 70 percent people have their own cars.
Comparing these fact with Pakistan we able to know that we are still very backward in educational sector our result is not satisfied. Only 5 t o7 percent study at universities level. Technical education is much low government technical collage standard is not good and privet sector is very expensive.
The transport system is traditional old enough instead to increase and make it advance we are decreasing it as we stopped travel trains. Only 15 to 20 percent live in flats and same or less can afford their own cars.

WORLD PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL.

The iron and steel prodcrction of 18 important steel producing countries, for the year 2000, is being quoted
which indicates their importance for producing steel: -
                        000 METRIC TONES
    COUNTRY                       PIG IRON             STEEL
     China                                118,636,7              115,590
     Japan                                74;481                   93,548

      Federation of Russia          37,079                 49,453
      U.S.A                                                            88,000
      Canada-                                                       45,000
      South Korea                       23,328                41,024
      ­Germany                            27,340                39,496
      Brazil                                 25,111                25,760
      Italy                                   10,324                 24,285
      India                                  2,99                    22,654
      Britain                               12,409                 12,446
      France                               11,547                 17,633
      Spain                                 4,127                  12,038
      Belgium                              8,618                  11,404
      Australia                             7,928                   8,356
      Poland                                6,326                   9,915
      North Korea                       6,600                   8,100
      South Africa                        6, 878                  7,970

Street crime

Yesterday night at Bilal colony there was dispute between two different language speaker. both party fired each other and one person was killed after this event all market was immediately shutdown and police arrived on the spot.
this sad event feared the people to move outside and they got back home who buying national flag on Independent day all Azadi Mobarik activities was stopped and still market is not completely opened.

What this independent day brings us

 Is that our homeland? How it will survive 
* Flood in country

* Target killing in Karachi

* Expenses
Highest rate of fruits and vegetable
Highest rate of dresses and shoes
Highest rate of grocery
Highest collages and universities fees
Highest rate of utilities bills
Highest electricity charges

So in this situation how can we celebrate this independent`s day proudly asking many peoples about their activities we get answer that they like to sleep at home instead going anywhere. If you go somewhere in the city you are afraid for your life or buses high rent or expensive food. That`s why Karachi`s citizen do not show the sprit as they were shown in past to celebrate independent`s day
Flood tragedy in country also shocked the citizen to travel anywhere.
What should we do?
We must helped the people who are in trouble in flood as this is the month of Ramdan we must sent them dry fruits, milk , juices and flour so the can enjoy Ramdan also we need to unite whether we speak any language Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto and Sindhi.
Finally say prayer in this Holy month of Ramdan to save and secure Pakistan

               Love and Save Pakistan

Admission open at National Institute of Leather Technology

National Institute of Leather Technology has open admission for both boys and girl in science and commerce intermediate classes. This will a part collage section in collaboration with National Institute of Leather Technology interested students should contact at NILT to get admission in science and commerce. 

Leather unit performs well for LANXESS

Germany

Published:  09 August, 2010

Good sales performance in emerging markets have led to Lanxess, the German specialty chemicals company, to lift their full year outlook they reported on August 6. The leather business unit performed well within the Performance Chemicals segment. Second-quarter net profit hit euro 131 million up from euro 17 million last year. Q2 sales rose to euro 1.83 billion. Full year forecasts have been adjusted to euro 800 million up from an original range of between euro 650-700 million. Demand from markets in Asia and Latin America helped lift profits.

Sales of the Performance Chemicals segment rose 40% year-on-year to euro 537 million in the second quarter, with all seven-business units showing volume improvements. EBITDA pre exceptionals rose 91% year-on-year to euro 84 million. The strongest contributor to operating earnings was the Leather Business Unit, which registered a significant increase in demand for its products from the clothing, furniture and automotive industries.

How to find out the basicity in recyled chrome

How to find out Chrome content in leather and recycled chrome

Bacteriostatic and bactericidal actions of boric acid against bacteria and fungi commonly found in urine

Abstract
 Boric acid has been used for  over 20 years to preserve urine while in transit fer bacteriological examination.
It has been suggested that it may be toxic for some urinary pathogens. To investigate this several strains of
bacteria and fungi commonly found in urine were exposed to different concentrations. of boric acid in
nutritnt broth. Viable counts were made at the outest and nt intervals for up to 24 hours at room temperature todetect bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect at the concentration between 10 and 20 g/l boric acid was bacteriostatic or fungi static for very nearly all the common urinary pathogens. At 10 g/l boric acid acid was weakly bactericidal for Some strians  of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa though higher concentrations were bacteriostatic only Group B streptococel varied in their response to boric acid but for most of them 10 to 20 g/l was satisfactorily bacteriostatic. It is concluded that boric acid is rarly toxic and when it is the effect is usually sufficiently delayed to be of only theoretical importance In 1969 Porter and Brodie described the use of boric acid at a concentration of 18 g/l to preserve urine while in transit for bacteriological examination. Although urine is a culture medium, they showed that when boric acid was added the number of any bacteria presented did not chnge significantly for up to 48 hours at room temperature and other cellular elements remained substantially intact.
 They claimed this effective bacteriostasis allowed the numericla criteria for the labooatory diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI) to be applied despite delay in performing the examination. This cheap and simple way to increase accuracy in the diagnosis of bacteriauria and pyuria has not been widely adopted.

How to Alleviate an Orbital Traffic Jam

Spacemaker. Assisted by solar sails, spacecraft could park in uncrowded geostationary orbits.

Credit: ASCL/University of Strathclyde

There's gridlock in orbit. More than 400 telecommunications satellites, plus an indeterminate number of retired, failed, and secret spacecraft, occupy a narrow band of space some 35,000 kilometers above Earth's equator. Now, researchers have found a way to alleviate the congestion: attaching solar sails to satellites that would propel them 10 to 30 kilometers north or south of the standard orbit. Space experts say that such sails could also open up other orbital positions that were previously considered unattainable.
Telecommunications satellites must remain in the same position above Earth at all times—in a so-called geosynchronous orbit—so that satellite dishes don't have to constantly swivel to track them. Thanks to the laws of gravity and orbital mechanics, the only way for a satellite to maintain a geosynchronous position has been to orbit above the equator.
But this prime real estate is growing scarce. The satellites could move north or south, but the extra rocket fuel needed to maintain these less-stable orbital positions would be expensive and would limit the life of the craft.
That's where solar sails come in. A large square of reflectively coated Mylar—say, a hundred meters on a side—could catch enough sunlight to propel a satellite above or below the plane of the equator and maintain enough thrust to hold it in geostationary position.
To see if the idea would work, aerospace engineer Colin McInnes and one of his graduate students, Shahid Baig, at the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom started with calculations developed by Robert Forward, a physicist and NASA consultant. Forward, who died in 2002, posited that the photons of sunlight streaming across the solar system contained sufficient energy to push a solar-sail–arrayed satellite out of geostationary orbit and maintain its new position without the need for heavy, liquid-fueled thrusters. The Japanese IKAROS spacecraft, which was launched last month, is testing the basic solar-sail concept.
Other scientists questioned Forward's calculations, because, they argued, his figures weren't precise enough. But using superaccurate computer models, McInnes and Baig have determined that Forward was indeed correct. The new calculations, published in the May/June Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, showed that sunlight hitting a solar sail would be sufficient to push the satellite into a geostationary orbit. And due to its continuous pressure, the sunlight could also hold the spacecraft in that orbit indefinitely without the need for thrusters.
Although the research provides only a theoretical proof of concept, experts see a bright future for solar-sail satellites. For example, says aerospace engineer Ben Diedrich of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland, researchers could park satellites over Earth's poles to provide continuous climate monitoring at these latitudes. Or the sails could push solar-research spacecraft into more advantageous orbits to study the sun. Solar-sail–assisted orbits, he says, are "one more viable option for future mission planners to consider."
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000032201752

Different kind of steel

Steel, on the basis of its nature and components, can be classifi~d into five kinds as under:
1. CARBON STEEL:
Most of the kinds of steel ,in use are classified ,as 'carbon steel', The proportion of carbon in different kinds of carbon steel but Manganese proportion is not more than 1 .65 per cent nevertheless, the proportion of Silicon is 0.60 per cent and copper is also 0.60 per cent. In other words, Manganese, Silicon and Copper are mixed in Carbon Steel.Carbon steel is used .for making springs for bed mattresses, structure of the ships, buildings structure, motor cars body and machines.
2. ALLOY STEEL:
Different kinds of Alloy steel are being made in which different proportions of various metals are mixed to change their properties so that they could be used for desired purposes. 20 per cent in the world production of steel is constituted by Alloy Steel. If a certain proportion of Vanadium and Molybdenum is mixed, the steel becomes more hard and strong having the capability of bearing the shocks and vibrations. This is the reason that his kind of alloy steel is used for making the Excel and gear of motor vehicles.
If high proportion of manganese is mixed in steel, steel becomes more hard and is used for mining machines electric machines and heavy machinery. If Nickel is mixed,steel, it becomes very hard to be used for boll bearing armourd plates.By 'mixing chromium, steel is can into Stainless Steet
and used in man~fact!Jring such which can be rusted like milk bottles&nd,airplanes etc.
If Tungsten and Cobalt is mixed in steel, it can be used in making iron cutting blades like blades of lath machines. By mixing Silicon and Copper: common steel is made.
3. HIGH STRENGTH lOW-ALLOy STEEL:
 " This kind of steel is the most modern invention amongest all the kinds of steel in use'which is a1so termed as HSLA is called  'low alloy' because the cheap metals are mixed in this kind of steels.But this steel is more strong than t·carbon steel. For example, loading trucks and vehicle are made' of this steel because the walls of the vehicle arEin weight but stronger that the Carbon Steel.
4. STAINLESS STEEL:
Nickel, Chromium and other elements are mixed, Stainless Steel. Stainless·steel is not only strong but retain its glittering and is save from rusting and moisture Gases and acids do not a.ffect the stainless steel. Sta steel is used for making chemical plants and petre refininy pipes. Apart from it, it is also used for airplane:
space capsules. Surgical instrunents are also mE' stainless steel. In the home kitcher,s, food processing and for cutlery making, stainless steel is utilized because this metal is not only rust proof but it can also be cleaned easily.
5. TOLL STEEL:
Toll steel is fabricated in the bands of different tool and implements. It is also used in machines generated by energy. Molybdenum, Tungsten and such other metals mixed in Toll Steel which provide iron extra ord strength, hardness and power of resistance.
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000032201750

Principal basic fatliquoring substances

The degree of purity of the oils should be observed. Filtered or refined products are suitable. Heavy impurities cause odour problems. Products of high iodine value (except for chamois tannage) have a tendency to effect intensive yellowing of the leather and quick oxidation.When using neatsfoot oil, cold-resistant products should be chosen. Lard oil should not have solid constituents either as otherwise
there is a risk of fatty spew. All products have an increased content of stearic fatty acid and thus a very strong tendency to form fatty spew. The use of raw materials which have been stored for some time should be avoided because of the rancid smell.Only refined products should be used as this category of products is prone to rancidity which may cause disagreeable smells. Only scmi-drying and non-drying oils are suitable for fat liquoring of leathers. Some products have a tendency to oxidation and thus to develop strong,
 disagreeable smells. Wool grease (lanolin) should be used in purified form because products of inferior quality have a disagreeable smell. Products based on wool grease reduce the wetting properties of the leather.
Paraffin oils only have an adequate fatliquoring effect from a medium chain length of C 20.
Mineral oils should be Iight-coloured, odourless, and the viscosity should not be too low. Furthermore they should have only a low content of aromatic hydrocarbons as othenvise increased yellowing may occur.

http://gan.doubleclick.net/gan_click?lid=41000000029162358&pubid=21000000000291333

Mayor visits Fuxin tanning complex

China

Published:  28 July, 2010

Fuxin Leather Production Base is a newly established leather processing centre located in Liaoning province, Northern China. The local authority plan to build a modern leather complex for northern China.

Fuxin Mayor, Pan Liguo, is behind the development of an important leather processing base, and paid a visit to the area on July 22.
During his visit Mayor Pan visited the central effluent treatment centre, Richina in Fuxin, and Henxin Leather And Fur Co. The Mayor carried out the groundbreaking ceremony for Henxin Fur and urged the production base to improve and complete construction of the facilities and services system in order to attract other businesses.
When talking about the issues of environmental protection he stressed the balanced and coordinated development of Fuxin city with the development of a tanning cluster.
Source: www.chinaleather.org
www.leathermag.com

Ambur Open’ show inaugurated

India

Published:  28 July, 2010

On July 24, Ambur Open, a 2-day exhibition of footwear components, accessories and finished leather was inaugurated. The event took place at the newly built Ambur Trade Centre, Ambur and is about 3 hours from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Many large tanneries are located in the area. 120 companies exhibited in the first Ambur Open event.

The Ambur Trade Centre has been constructed with financial support from the government of India and industry. The centre consists of three floors with each floor having an area of 10,000 sq ft and contains an exhibition hall, convention centre, conference hall, a trading and testing centre, e-readiness centre and guest rooms for the visiting entrepreneurs and overseas buyers. The site is fully air-conditioned.
The centre will provide a platform for holding exhibitions, conferences, workshops and will also provide testing and training services to the leather industry in the region.
Ambur Open was officially opened by Durai Murugan, minister for law and prisons, government of Tamil Nadu, C Rajendran, district collector, Vellore and Mohamed Hashim Sahib, chairman, Indian Leather Industry Foundation.

Ecology and fashion at ACLE from Clariant

China

Published:  28 July, 2010

Clariant will show their cutting-edge performance- and ecology-focused technologies and product innovations on show at the 2010 All China Leather Exhibition in Shanghai. The show takes place September 1-3.

Visitors to Stand E10 Hall W2 will ‘Sense the Difference’ Clariant’s revolutionary new products and systems are making to improving performance and boosting manufacturing efficiency.

Following their strong commitment to always be ‘one shoe step ahead’, Clariant forecasts the autumn/winter 2011/2012 seasonal leather trends with an eye-catching new fashion collection. Clariant’s contributions to a greener world, by eliminating salt during tanning or developing NMP-free topcoats for example, will also be featured. From Wet End through to Finishing, the following highlights will be among the exciting innovations presented at the ACLE 2010.

Wet-end developments

Clariant continues to use leading edge technology in order to provide chemicals that meet today’s requirements for ecological, innovative and aesthetically pleasing leathers, while giving the tanner maximum added value and process simplicity.

Chrome-free leathers

Clariant introduces a step-change innovation in tanning with the forthcoming launch of a new technology that generates a leaner, faster and cleaner process than ever before. The process does not require a pickle stage and therefore eliminates the need for salt. This provides a more environmentally friendly and safer tanning process for a wide range of leather types such as shoe upper, hand bags, suede, automotive, garment, etc.

Nappa and sofa collections

Clariant offers Natural Nappa and Superb Sofa collections produced using its specialty retanning and fatliquoring systems, Tergotan PMB and Tergotan TSP. These intelligent polymer retanning agents deliver even softness, tightness and grain pattern. Tergotan
PO-60, a brand new development from Clariant, is a true retanning and softening polymer that gives superb softness / tightness when used as a replacement for conventional retanning agents and fatliquors. On a phenol and formaldehyde free basis, it can meet even the toughest ecological legislation. In combination with Clariant’s specialty fatliquoring systems featuring the new Derminol SO-31, a highly softening synthetic fatliquor, Clariant can offer total solutions for all nappa and sofa requirements.

Vegetable look and handling from chrome and chrome free substrates. To meet current market trends for vegetable type leathers Clariant presents a full range of new articles with that classical vegetable look and feel using our new specialty fatliquors: Derminol DDS and Derminol PUA. These products along with innovative processing techniques offer the tanner the opportunities to produce beautiful vegetable type articles with the simplicity and economy of traditional chrome leathers.

Finishing innovations

Clariant’s innovations for the topcoat market have been leading the way in offering NMP-free products that also improve aesthetics and physical performance. Clariant’s Aqualen topcoat range meets strict customer requirements without the use of Phthalates, Alkylphenolethoxylates, and NMP, and with very low VOC levels. These benefits support Finishers’ efforts to comply with current and future market specifications.

Clariant’s new topcoat system based on Aqualen Top DC-2050.B (dull) and Aqualen Top GC-2051.A (gloss) is a brand new development especially for soft leathers such as furniture leather or shoe upper nappas.

Both products can be mixed in any ratio in order to adjust the desired level of gloss or dullness. Common to both products and therefore the whole system is the very elegant optic achieved as a result of the softness, very high resistance to rubbing and flexing, no hardening even after long period of time, and a very natural appearance and pleasant feel.

Aqualen Top IL

To support the market’s drive for greater environmental care and trouble-free embossing and milling, Clariant’s new aqueous Aqualen Top IL provides an easy and effective intermediate lacquer for base coated leathers without the use of solvents.

Performing similarly to commonly-used emulsion lacquers in terms of plate release milling behavior, Aqualen Top IL only needs to be diluted with water before it is ready to be used as a substitute for intermediate coats based on nitro cellulose emulsion lacquers.

Elegant upgrading

Elegant upgrading continues to play an important role in today’s leather manufacture. The importance of cutting yield and increased profitability are still at the forefront of Clariant’s finishing developments. As one of the market leaders in specialty chemicals and in upgrading technologies, Clariant offers its customers complete tailor-made solutions with real benefits.

Finishing techniques for upgrading using Melio^® Aquabase and Melio Ground systems provide solutions for the low grade raw materials currently available and meet the current requirements of the market. In particular, customers can take advantage of the outstanding upgrading and natural looks obtained with Clariant’s highly innovative cationic prebase compound Melio Ground UP.

Melio Aquabase technique – to cover hide defects

This new innovative development is used to cover deep defects, in order to make them invisible after finishing. Melio Aquabase M-90 is applied by hand with a spatula. The application is extremely simple due to its special composition which allows application without drying too quickly and enables buffing without smearing. Melio Aquabase M-90 is suitable for a wide range of leathers, including automotive, shoe upper and upholstery leathers.

Beautiful rich wax effects and versatility for both shoe and upholstery styles. Clariant offers a new water-based wax with excellent burnishability along with high gloss and a natural waxy touch that make it suitable for both shoe and upholstery leathers. Clariant’s new Melio 06-F-88 gives versatility and ease of use to the finisher.

Two new developments complement Clariant’s already outstanding aqueous topcoat systems. Melio WF-5238, a highly concentrated silicone with a luxurious smooth feel which also improves physical properties of aqueous topcoats, and Melio WF-5243, an additive with a natural pleasant feel and the ‘wet touch’ which now features strongly in customer requirements.

Supronil HK dyes

Discover Clariant’s very well established Supronil HK range, a complete range of versatile colors suited to today’s fashion demands.

Critical Ocean Organisms Are Disappearing

The number of marine phytoplankton, the microscopic organisms that gobble greenhouse gases and directly or indirectly feed every animal in the ocean, has been declining by about 1% per year, according to a new study. If the trend continues, it could decimate ocean food chains and accelerate global warming.
Researchers know that phytoplankton numbers have been dropping for the past 30 years. Satellite images show a decline in the concentration of chlorophyll—a green pigment that helps phytoplankton photosynthesize. But because satellites have been collecting data only since the late 1970s, scientists couldn't determine whether this drop was a long-term trend or just a fluke.
To get a more comprehensive record of phytoplankton numbers, Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and colleagues dug into old shipboard records from sailors who had studied the ocean as far back as 1900. In those days, sailors used a tool called a Secchi disk to gauge how clear the ocean was. They weren't trying to measure phytoplankton, but they inadvertently did because chlorophyll clouds the water.
When Worm and colleagues combined the satellite data, the early shipboard records, and direct measurements of chlorophyll made from the 1950s onward, they found that the recent dip in phytoplankton wasn't a passing phase. It had been happening in most parts of the ocean for more than a century. On average, the planet has lost 1% of its phytoplankton every year since 1900, the team reports in the 29 July issue of Nature.
"You compound that over a century, this becomes a huge, huge decline," says Paul Falkowski, an oceanographer at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, who was not part of the study. Indeed, Worm's team estimates that phytoplankton numbers have plummeted 40% since 1950.
What's more, the team found that phytoplankton numbers were more likely to dwindle in areas of the ocean that were warming, suggesting that climate change is responsible for the drop.
The loss of phytoplankton is a huge problem for marine food chains, says Worm, because every creature in the ocean either eats phytoplankton or eats other organisms that depend on it. If their numbers start to decrease, the populations of these species would drop as well. "The rest of the food web would basically contract," he says.
Even more chilling to marine biologist Anthony Richardson of the University of Queensland in Australia is the potential impact on our atmosphere. The ocean absorbs 40% of the CO₂ humans emit. Phytoplankton, in turn, convert that CO₂ into oxygen or die and bury it at the bottom of the ocean. If the phytoplankton are disappearing, Richardson says, "the ocean as a carbon sink is declining, and what that means is ultimately more CO₂ will stay in the atmosphere instead of being dissolved in the ocean." That will translate into a warmer world, which will wipe out even more phytoplankton.
The study has its drawbacks. The older shipboard data weren't collected with nearly as much regularity as the satellite data, notes marine biologist Mike Behrenfeld of Oregon State University, Corvallis. Still, marine biologist David Siegel of the University of California, Santa Barbara, says that given the sporadic records, Worm and colleagues have constructed a solid report. "They've squeezed as much as possibly can be squeezed out of this data set."
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/

Argos insurer issue lawsuit against leather company United Kingdom

Published:  26 July, 2010

Insurers acting for UK retailer Argos have launched a £13 million ($19.4 million) lawsuit against a Northamptonshire leather company in a dispute over the so-called toxic sofas imported from China.

It emerged on July 21 that Argos have mounted a compensation battle against Leather Trade House Ltd, based in Kings Park Road, Moulton Park.
According to a High Court writ, the Northampton firm claimed to be a leading independent leather technology centre with expertise in restricted substances and chemicals. Argos paid it £750 ($1100) in October 2004 to become a member of Leather Trade House and allegedly gave the company two orders for compliance costing £10,000 ($14,900) each as well as discussing problems with mould and fat on leather furniture imported from China.
The retailer then used packs of an anti-mould agent, dimethyl fumarate (DMF) stapled into the wooden frames of the furniture to prevent them going moldy during shipment to the UK.
The writ states Argos forwarded samples of the DMF sachets to Leather Trade House in November 2005, but claims a Leather Trade House analyst failed to carry out proper checks, and allegedly claimed the substance was safe and used in the food industry as a preservative.
But it is alleged the analyst had looked at a website which was not a scientific or research site, but an internet trading site which has since been taken down. Argos says Leather Trade House should not have advised it to continue using the sachets, nor advised that it was safe to use.
Customers who subsequently bought the leather sofas from Argos suffered severe allergic reactions to toxic sachets containing dimethyl fumarate concealed within the furniture. About 4,475 people are now suing a number of furniture retailers, with around 1,840 claims against Argos, in a consolidated legal action worth up to £20m ($30 million) and believed to be the biggest consumer litigation in British legal history. Many claim they have suffered skin and severe eye irritation.
Argos is suing Leather Trade House for £12.98 million for breach of contract and duty, and an indemnity against the costs of the court action by the individual customers affected in the UK and Ireland. It is also seeking damages for the cost of contacting customers, picking up and disposing of the contaminated furniture, investigation costs including trips to China, damages to its reputation, and loss of profits.
Paul Pearson, company secretary, Leather Trade House, told Leather International that they had been advised by their legal team not to discuss the lawsuit at the moment.
In a statement on the BLC website it says the following. ‘It should be noted that BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd is not subject to the litigation action brought by Argos Insurers against Leather Trade House Ltd recently reported in the media.’

Blinded by the X-ray Light

by Ken Croswell on July 14, 2010 4:24 PM |

Credit: NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler

Modern telescopes are optimized to ferret out the faintest sources, but that spells trouble when a dazzling explosion erupts. On 21 June, a dying star in a distant galaxy unleashed a siren song of x-rays so intense it briefly blinded the x-ray telescope aboard NASA's orbiting Swift observatory. At its peak, the burst slammed the telescope with 143,000 x-ray photons per second, making it the brightest x-ray burst ever seen beyond the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies. The intense radiation was part of a gamma-ray burst that lasted a minute and which marked the death of a massive star transmogrifying itself into a black hole. Not surprisingly, the brightest celestial x-ray source is our sun, but that's hardly fair competition, since it's so close. In contrast, the June burst arose from a star located 5 billion light-years away—300 trillion times more distant than the sun.

US interset in Pak- Afghan Dialoge on strategic ' interset of India

WASHINGTON: The US envoy Richard Holbrooke has welcomed the recent improvement in Pak-Afghan ties and asserted that the efforts in this direction were part of a policy to reduce the historic gap between Islamabad and Kabul while taking into account India's strategic interests.

"In fact, (the Pak) General (Ashfaq Pervez) Kayani and (the Afghanistan) President (Hamid) Karzai, as you just said, have begun to have a dialogue. That is a good thing, not a bad thing," Holbrooke said in an interview.

"As long as they had no dialogue, you couldn't get anywhere. The previous administration in Washington made no successful efforts at this," he said.

He said the American commanding general of ISAF and NATO representatives, along with General McChrystal, were also present during the Kayani-Karzai meeting.

"I'm sure General Petraeus will continue to play the same role, if not more so. I've talked to David (Petraeus) about that," Holbrooke said.

He said these efforts were part of the Obama administration's policy of bringing Afghanistan and Pakistan closer and enable them to work together, and at the same time not to harm India's strategic interests in the country.

India has been a major contributor in the rebuilding programmes in post-war Afghanistan, but Pakistan has resented India's growing involvement in the country.

"We have a policy here which is to try to reduce the gap between Islamabad and Kabul, a historic gap which goes back to the independence of Pakistan 63 years ago, and to make them work together for a common objective while taking into account the strategic interests of India and other regional neighbours," he said.

"It's a tough, difficult policy, but it is the only one that meets our regional and international, national security interests," Holbrooke said.

He pointed out that among the Taliban leadership, some people were reconcilable, but some were not.

"The United States has had no direct contact with any of the Taliban leadership, but we read constantly, we hear constantly of other groups in touch. We support a policy in which the Afghan government of President Karzai takes the lead," Holbrooke said.

Shrinking Temperature of Leather

The change of area is tested by exposing the leather to boiling water. A so-called "boiling test" is performed
at the end of tannage for wet chrome-tanned leathers. Dry leathers are first soaked in water at 20 ± 2 °C for one hour.
Determinarion afthe degree af shrinkage:
Leather samples of exactly 10 x 10 em are prepared and the outlines drawn on paper or preferably on graph paper. Then the leather sample is immersed in boiling \vater for exactly 1 minute and after shon draining placed onto the paper with the previously drawn outlines. The loss of area compared to the original sample is determined by plainmetering. It is indicated as % degree of shrinkage.

This test determines the temperatures at which leather begins to shrink under the action of damp heat.

Shrinkinge temperatures and types of tannage:
 Chrome leather                                       90-100 °C
 Vegetably/synthaically tanned leather       70-85   C
 Aluminium/iron !ealher                             70-80  °C
 Aldehyde leather                                     75-85   C
 Chamois leather                                      65-70   C
 Alum/Glace leather                                  70-75   C


The resistance of leather to higher temperatures varies considerably depending on the type of tannage.
Damage caused by shrinkage is irreversible in most cases.In vegetably tanned leathers.temperature exceeding
45 degree C may darken the tanning color and impair distension of grain up even before shrinkage.

 Determination of The shrinking temperature
  A strip of length 50 mm is cut Out to be tested, If the leather is max. 3 , strip is 3 mm wide, if the
  thickness exceeds 3 mm the strip is 2 mm wide. Two small punched into the ends of the strip. hooks. 350 ± 10 ml of warm. distill water filled into a 500 ml glass vessel (inside diameter 70 ± 2 mm), and the vessel is placed (80~IOO watt output) which heat slowly by 2. °C per minute. The vertical thermometer with a measuring range  50 - 105°C (maximum deviation circular dial with pointer and a rigid which a thread is led. To tighten the thread a 3 g weight is fixed to the outer end and the strip of  leather to the other end. A magnectic stirrer is connected to heat the water evenly. When the leather clearly starts to get warped or to shorten the temperature is read off and is indicated as «shrinking temper-Jture".

Marine Creatures Survived Ancient Ocean Acidification

Researchers studying an ancient episode of high ocean acidity have discovered that a group of marine creatures living at the time adapted to the change in water chemistry. But the findings may provide little comfort for scientists worried about ocean conditions today, which are changing much more quickly.
About 120 million years ago, during the early part of the Cretaceous period, a series of massive volcanic eruptions pumped huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂)into Earth's atmosphere. The air's CO₂ content rose to about twice today's level. Eventually, the oceans absorbed much of that CO₂, which significantly increased the water's acidity. The change reduced the amount of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) in the water, making it more difficult for creatures such as some kinds of plankton to form shells. Ocean pH returned to normal after about 160,000 years.
Micropaleontologist Elisabetta Erba of the University of Milan in Italy, and geochemist Helmut Weissert of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland, wanted to gauge how the high acidity affected the ancient marine ecosystem. They examined fossils from ancient ocean sediments at two drill sites—one from a now-above-ground formation in northern Italy and the other from deep water in the mid-Pacific Ocean. "The Pacific Ocean was the only big ocean at that time," Erba says. In particular, they studied the numbers and condition of fossilized specimens of calcareous nannoplankton, the microscopic ancestors of modern plankton. The creatures' shells consist mostly of CaCO₃ and therefore could reveal their overall health and the state of the ocean's chemistry.

Reporting in tomorrow's issue of Science, Erba, Weissert, and colleagues reveal that the effects on the nannoplankton varied. As acidity increased, for example, the tiny skeletons of some species became malformed, other species shrank, and some died out altogether. Most striking, most nannoplankton seemed to adapt to acidification.
The study produced a second surprise. The acidification occurred progressively, from the surface down to deep waters. That's something unseen today, Weissert says, "perhaps or probably because it will take a long time to happen."
It's a "very important paper [that] provides state-of-the-art understanding of the effects of massive amounts of CO₂ in the oceans," says marine geologist Timothy Bralower of Pennsylvania State University, University Park. The difference today is that the rate of CO₂ increase "is far faster than anything we see in the ancient geologic record," he says. "The big question is whether modern species will be able to adapt to what I expect will be much more rapid pH reduction in coming centuries."

The city peace has disturbed by target killing

Targeted killings in city: MQM, ANP not involved: Malik

By Razzak Abro

KARACHI: Neither the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) nor the Awami National Party (ANP) are involved in targeted killings in Karachi, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.

Malik was speaking at a press conference held at the Sindh Chief Minister’s House soon after holding separate meetings with the officials of the Sindh government and the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh.

He supported MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s previously expressed apprehension regarding the city witnessing Talibanisation, and said a third element was behind the targeted killings.

Malik, Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza appealed to the political parties, especially the MQM and the ANP leaderships, not to accuse each other for incidents of targeted killings.

He held the government responsible for identifying the real culprits involved in the murders, and asked the media to avoid declaring all incidents as targeted killings without confirmation.

“The government will take action against the terrorists at any cost, and it does not care whether it remains in power or not,” he said.

He added that the government would pursue the terrorists even if they crossed the border, and would apprehend them by asking for Interpol’s assistance.

He said he had directed the Rangers officials to increase deployment of their personnel in most of the affected areas of the city.

All the mobile phone companies have been directed not to issue SIM cards directly to the consumers, and send them at their residential addresses after verifying their computerised national identity cards through the National Database Registration Authority, he added.

He also said information through mobile phones was acceptable as evidence in the court, and the government would reward the people who provide information or photographs in connection with the incidents of crime and terrorism.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani have also expressed concern over the incidents of targeted killings in the city, he added.

He further said Gilani had assured all-out help including financial aid to combat the incidents of murders.

China has assured to provide loan on soft terms, and the government has planned to install closed-circuit television cameras on all the highways to monitor the activities of the criminals, he added.

Malik said the government was aware of the situation wherein the criminals are acquitted by the courts due to lack of evidence.

In this regard, the government is working on introducing necessary amendments in the Anti-Terrorism Act and Criminal Procedure Code, Malik added. He said the government was already working on steps to deweaponise the country and rid it of illegal arms.

He also emphasised the need to revise the policy of licensed arms.

Judicial probe of targeted killings: The Sindh CM announced conducting a judicial probe of incidents of targeted killings in the city.

He said a judicial commission would be established and given 30 days to submit its report.

He also announced a reward of Rs 5 million for those who provide video films of the recent targeted killings.

He termed “outsiders” responsible for trying to disturb the peace in the city and attempting to destabilise it.

Responding to a question, he said the Pakistan People’s Party government was in constant touch with the MQM and the ANP leaderships.

ANALYZING THE ROAD DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTAN,THE EXISTING SITUATION OF ROADS.

 At the time of inception of Pakistan in 1947, the road situation was very precarious here. The total length of all kinds of roads at that time was 20,238 Km. in the country and out of which 8,130 Km. were the highways and remainder were non-metaled (Karachi) roads. The road mileage which was needed at the time' for transferring the people and goods were very few and they were also in very bad condition.In the light of this situation, a conference was convened  in 1949 at Karachi ,for chalking out the road development programme.During 19·1S· 35, a sum of Rs. 380 million was spent on construction of new roads due to which the length of metaled roads increased to 30,735 Km. During 1955-60

(The first Five Year Plan period), the length of roads increased to 30,885 Km. by spending Rs. 200 million.During the 3rd. Five Year Plan period, a sum of Rs. 595 million were spent on the construction of roads due to which the roads mileage increased to 35,008 and during the same period 2,900 Km. existing roads were repaired. Similarly, the :ontinued to develop till 2003.

Exiting SITUATION:

During 2003-04, the total length of roads in Pakistan 255,856 Km. out of which 157,975 Km. are highways 97,881 Km. are the common roads.
The total length of roads in 1990-91 was 170,823 Km. which increased to 256,168 Km in 2002-03 and 255,856 Km. in 2003-04. The totallength of high class roads was increased by 3.1 percent 2002-03 but length of common roads was decreased . per cent which means that common roads were converted into high class roads. This could be possible due to implementation of Khush Hal
 Pakistan Programme.During 1990-91 and 2003-04,annual increase in the road mileage in Pakistan can be shown by the table given below:
LENGTH OF ROADS IN PAKISTAN    
        Kilometers    
       
Financial Years   HIGHWAYS       COMMON ROADS              TOTAL LENGTH
                      length % change             length % change                length % change

1990-91       86,839         -          83,984     -                                170,823    
1991-92       95,374       9.8        87,335     4.0                             182,709      7.0
1992-93       99,083       3.7        90,238     3.3                             189,321      3.6
1993-94       104,001     5.0        92,816     2.9                             196,817      4.0
1994-95       111,307     7.0        96,338     3.8                             207,645      5.5
1995-96       118,428     6.4        99,917     3.7                             218,345      5.2
1996-97       126,117     6.5       103,478    3.6                             229,595      5.2
1997-98       133,462     5.8        107,423    3.8                            240,885      4.9
1998-99       137,552     2.9      110,132      2.5                            247,484       2.7
1999-00       138,200     0.6      110,140      0.0                            248,340       0.3
2000-01       144,652     4.7      105,320     -4.4                           294,972        0.7
2001-02       148,8n      2.9       102,784      -2.4                           251,661       0.7
2002-03       153,225     2.9      98,943-      -3.7                           252,168        0.2
2003-04       157,975     3.1      97,881       -1.1                           255,856        1.4
Ministry of Communications            

NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY:

There are 18 highways connecting the provinces of Pakistan are called 'National Highways' including Motor way also. All these highways are under the control of National Highway Authority. The total length of the highwayunder NHA is 8,885 Km. These highways are just 3.5 per cent the total length of all types of roads in Pakistan but 90 per cent of commercial load of the country is borne by these highways. The success of Deep Sea port Gawadar depends on the connection of Northern Areas with this Port.
National Highway Authority aims at connecting the Gawadar Port to the lands of the country via Afghanistan and Khuzdar.

Australia, Antarctica Linked by Climate

Researchers have found an intriguing climate link between the southwestern corner of Australia and a region of eastern Antarctica. When the former suffers a drought, the latter is often battered with heavy snowfalls. More provocative: Several climate models suggest that human activity could be strengthening the connection.
The scientists noticed the link after nearly 30 years of studying Antarctic ice cores extracted from Law Dome, an ice field near Cape Poinsett, which lies almost exactly south of the southwestern tip of Australia. There they found evidence that the area had been experiencing abnormally large amounts of snowfall for several decades. They also knew that southwestern Australia had been suffering from severe droughts for approximately the same time.

So the researchers--climate scientists Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan of the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania--examined the ice-core records from Law Dome going back 750 years. Then they compared the ice-core records with meteorological records to gauge precipitation patterns in southwestern Australia, as well as atmospheric circulation patterns in the Southern Hemisphere for the past 4 decades. As they report online this week in Nature Geoscience, about 40% of the rainfall variations in southwestern Australia were mirrored by snowfall variations at Law Dome. "The connection really stood out," van Ommen says.
More intriguing, the Law Dome snowfall patterns seem to have intensified over the past several decades. The pattern, van Ommen says, is "so unusual that we believe it lies outside the range of natural variation." Because of the link to southwestern Australia, he adds, "the implication is that the drought could be similarly unusual."
Indeed, climate models predict such an anomaly when humanmade carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions over the last century are factored in. According to the models, higher levels of CO₂, coupled with reductions in atmospheric ozone, create an atmospheric circulation pattern in the Southern Ocean that brings drier air to the farming regions of southwestern Australia and heavier snows to Law Dome. But as the models show, by boosting CO₂ and cutting ozone, the normal cycles can be cut, and that is what seems to be happening now.
It's "a very solid piece of evidence" for the influence of human activity on regional climates, says climate scientist James White of the University of Colorado, Boulder. "Can very odd climate just happen at a time when we humans are also causing unusual climate change?" asks White, who specializes in arctic research. "I wouldn't bet the farm on it."
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/

Earth as an Extrasolar Planet

Somewhere in the Milky Way, astronomers have found a world that sports crucial ingredients for life. When they trained a high-resolution spectrograph on starlight reflected from the planet's moon, they picked up traces of ozone, oxygen, sodium, and nitrogen. Alas, the planet is Earth. But the researchers say a similar technique could be used to find signatures of life on planets orbiting other stars.

Astronomers have discovered hundreds of planets beyond our solar system, but they know very little about them. Telescopic surveys usually reveal just basic information about an extrasolar planet's minimum mass, its distance from its parent star, and whether it is likely to be gassy or rocky, like Earth.

To learn more about these alien worlds, astronomers have taken advantage of a phenomenon called stellar occultation. When a planet transits, or passes between its star and Earth, components of the planet's atmosphere subtract some wavelengths from the star's light and add others. By training a spectrograph on this light, scientists can tease out the composition of the planet's atmosphere. In 2001, astronomers led by David Charbonneau of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, used the technique to detect sodium in the atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" orbiting a star 150 light-years from Earth.

But no one knew if the approach would work with a much smaller, Earthlike world. Astrophysicist Alfred Vidal-Madjar and colleagues at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris decided to test the idea on the most Earthlike world they could find: Earth. To treat Earth like an extrasolar planet, the researchers looked at the sunlight filtered through Earth's atmosphere during a partial lunar eclipse in 2008. In a lunar eclipse, Earth passes between the sun and the moon. The moon's-eye view of sunlight when that happens best replicates what can be seen when an extrasolar planet passes in front of its parent star, says Vidal-Madjar.

Using SOPHIE, a high-resolution spectrograph attached to the Observatoire de Haute Provence's 1.93-meter telescope in southern France, the researchers successfully detected ozone, oxygen, nitrogen, and sodium in the reflected light from Earth's atmosphere. "The surprise was that we succeeded with extremely sparse observations under relatively bad weather conditions," Vidal-Madjar says. "But seeing how easily oxygen was seen strongly argues in favor of high-spectral-resolution searches [of Earthlike extrasolar planets]." The team reports its findings in a paper accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"This is an important paper," Charbonneau says. "Many of us have great hopes for the use of this method to make the first honest search for life outside the solar system." That's going to be tricky, says planetary scientist James Kasting of Pennsylvania State University, University Park. "The [French team] has done a nice job," he says, "but it is very difficult to get a transit spectrum of an Earthlike planet in the habitable zone of its parent star." The problem, Kasting notes, is that Earthlike worlds would have thin atmospheres, which would be hard to detect, and their small size makes them harder to catch during an occultation.

Those odds may improve if the European Space Agency launches its PLATO (Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars) mission in 2017, which should give astronomers a complete atlas of transiting planets within some 300 light-years. Vidal-Madjar says he and colleagues will be waiting to see if they'll have as much luck with these planets as they've had with Earth.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/

Major brand suppliers switch to Indonesia

Indonesia
Published: 23 July, 2010

Indonesia’s footwear industry has won an investment of US$550m from six Taiwanese and South Korean footwear manufacturers who are relocating their plants from China and Vietnam, according to the Indonesian Shoes Association (Aprisindo).

The relocation, mainly to East Java, has been prompted by rising labour costs and raw material issues in China and Vietnam, and is expected to finish within this current year.

In all, six manufacturers are outsourcing a significant amount of shoes and products for world famous brands, including Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Geox.

Among these manufacturers, four Taiwanese firms who produce shoes for Nike and Reebok are completing their relocation with a total investment capital of $400m. In the meantime, two South Korean producers based in Vietnam, who outsource for Adidas and Geox, will invest $150m in Indonesia.

‘Geox was targeted to produce up to 100,000 pairs of shoes per month, while Adidas would produce up to 850,000 pairs of shoes until the end of 2010’, Eddy Widjanarko, chairman of Aprisindo said.

‘In January 2011, Adidas is targeted to produce 1.2m pairs of shoes per month’, he added.

Aprisindo said further footwear manufacturers are expected to relocate to Indonesia over the next few years, but that current electricity tariff hiking will hamper further investment.

Source: chinaleather.org

National vocational and technical education commission

  In collaboration with recognized technical institutes NAVTEC offers free technical courses for non skilled and unemployed people. In this way the following courses are being held at National Institute of Leather Technology  

The detail of free courses in leather are given below

S. No	Courses	Duration	Date of course starts
1	Certificate in leather processing	3 months	July, 08 2010
2	Certificate in quality control/assurance	3 months	July, 08 2010
3	Certificate in leather goods	3 months	July, 08 2010
4	Certificate in leather garments Pattern making	3 months	July, 08 2010
5	Certificate in leather garments cutting Technology	3 months	July, 08 2010

Important information

1.       All courses are free no fee no charges further more the selective applicant  will be given a scholarship of 2000 PKR/ month the minimum qualification of above courses is metric

2.       The applicant age must be in between 18 to 35 years  the minimum attendance must be 80 %

3.       The people from Baluchistan, Fata  and earth quick effected areas are preferable

4.       The applicant must submit an under taking to prove that they are unemployed

5.       With the application form academic certificate, marks sheets, attested  photo copy of NIC 1 passport size photo must be attached

Send your application at the following address

In charge NAVTEC program National Institute of Leather Technology Plot ST-20 Sector 7/A

Korangi Industrial Area Karachi.

   Test Date 27/07/2010 Interview Date 28/07/2010

The successful applicant name list will be available at NILT on 03/08/2010

For further information and detail visit 

www.navtec.gov.pk