Jan 20, 2018  -  The concrete contains a fungus that produces calcium carbonate when exposed to water and oxygen.  If cracks in concrete can be fixed when they're still tiny, then they can't become large cracks that ultimately cause structures such as bridges to collapse. It is with this in mind that various experimental types of self-healing concrete have been developed in recent years. One of the latest utilizes a type of fungus to do the healing.

Inspired by the human body's ability to heal itself, the concrete was created by Congrui Jin, Guangwen Zhou and David Davies from New York's Binghamton University, along with Ning Zhang from Rutgers University. It incorporates spores of the fungus Trichoderma reesei, along with nutrients, that are placed within the concrete matrix as it's being mixed.

Once the concrete has hardened, the spores remain dormant until the first micro-cracks appear. When they do, water and oxygen find their way in. This causes the spores to germinate, grow, and precipitate calcium carbonate, which in turn seals the cracks.

"When the cracks are completely filled and ultimately no more water or oxygen can enter inside, the fungi will again form spores," says assistant professor Jin. "As the environmental conditions become favorable in later stages, the spores could be wakened again."

The research is still in the early stages, however, so don't go looking for the fungi concrete in a structure near you anytime soon. In the meantime, however, scientists from both Newcastle University and the University of Bath have been developing self-healing concrete that incorporates calcium carbonate-producing bacteria.

A paper on the Binghamton research was recently published in the journal Construction and Building Materials.

Source: Binghamton University  and New Atlas    ||  January 20, 2019   |||

Jan 20, 2018  -  “This represents a real revolution in the blueberry industry to us. In a couple of years, those without this technology will be left on the sidelines.”  That was the comment from Cristobal Duke, Managing Director of Collipulli (Chile), on UNITEC Blueberry Vision technology back at the end of 2016.

Jan 19, 2018  -  International road safety charity, Brake, is calling on fleet operators to crack down on driver distraction, due to the results of its annual Fleet Safety Survey.  According to Brake, more than a third of its survey respondents say they do not monitor distraction, and three in ten organisations admit they do not have any policies in place aimed at preventing distraction.

Jan 17, 2018  -  Fonterra has launched a new fresh milk product in China in partnership with Hema Fresh, Alibaba’s innovative new retail concept which combines traditional bricks-and-mortar shopping with a digital experience.  The new Daily Fresh milk range is now available in Hema’s 14 stores in Shanghai and Suzhou in 750mL bottles, sourced directly from Fonterra’s farm hub in Hebei province. The product boasts unique product labels to match each day of the week in order to emphasise freshness, with stock being replenished overnight ready for each new day.

Jan 17,  2018 -  Calven Bonney, the prominent Auckland road transport operator has been recognised in the New Year’s Honours list with the award of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. (MNZM).  The larger than life Bonney’s award recognises his more than 40 years of voluntary service to the trucking industry and his involvement in motorsport.

Bonney has been a National Road Carriers Board Member since 1974 for 44 uninterrupted years and was its President between 1997 and 2000.  Calven also played a key role in the formation of the Road Transport Forum in 1997. The RTF brought together the seven individual trucking organisations which represented 5000 trucking companies to represent the road transport industry in Wellington.He has served on the RTF’s board since its inception and was its chairman from 2000 to 2002.

Calven’s work with the NRC has focussed on the development of the organisation to provide all members, whether they have one truck or a fleet of hundreds, with the support, expertise and scale to run their businesses effectively and successfully.He is well known for providing counsel, advice and a sounding board for all road transport operators and has helped the NRC negotiate the many supplier agreements and discounts for services provided to the organisation’s members.

Through his work with the RTF Calven has worked with both national and local government to ensure the road transport industry has a voice to usher through regulatory changes and to make roads safer and easier to use for trucking.Calven has championed improvements in the overall professionalism of the industry and fostered strong working relationships for the industry with the New Zealand Transport Agency, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Team (CVST), the Ministry of Transport and other local and regional authorities.

Passionate about motorsport, he started out crewing for other drivers, including Denny Hulme and then raced at the speedway in most classes before getting involved in Super GTs, endurance events and Formula 5000.But Calven is perhaps best known for his involvement in the establishment of truck racing in New Zealand, helping to negotiate rights from international promoters to start the sport here and then building his own truck for the first season to make sure the sport got off the ground with as many trucks racing as possible.

As a long time sponsor of the annual Festival of Motorsport, Calven has made sure that millions of dollars of historic cars make it off the ships, through customs and are ready to race.Bonney has also been a keen supporter of the Variety Club and was a regular participant in its events for more than 15 years, raising significant funds for the charity.

On a personal level, after selling his first 3 trucks in 1981, he went on to buy his father and uncle’s business in 1984 at a time when it had three trucks. Today Bonney’s has over 100 trucks on the road, servicing a variety of customers in different industries.National Road Carriers is the largest nationwide organisation representing companies involved in the road transport industry. It has 1700 members, who collectively operate 15,000 trucks throughout New Zealand.

|  A Wright Communications release  ||  January 17, 2018   |||

Jan 16, 2018  - One of Australasia's biggest blueberry partnerships says it is excited by the potential of new varieties that are set to hit the market in the near future.  BerryCo NZ has secured the New Zealand rights to the genetics from Mountain Blue Orchards (MBO) in Australia, which General Manager Vaughan Judkins says is a world leading Southern Highbush breeding programme, and several new developments are on the horizon for the industry. The MBO supplied Eureka brand, with its jumbo size, which is currently a big a hit with both the health conscious across Australia and the international markets in Asia.

Biomedical Services NZ Ltd shared approach offers model also to wider public administrative IT projects

Jan 16, 2018  -  Biomedical Services New Zealand is an enduring example of a public sector enterprise offshoot that shares premium resources and brings scale to the application of skills that are always in short supply.  It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Wairarapa District Health Board which is responsible for the Masterton Hospital.

Jan 16, 2018 - The latest NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion shows a sharp drop in business confidence following the General Election, with a net 11 percent of businesses expecting economic conditions to deteriorate over the first half of 2018. Business confidence had fallen in the previous quarter ahead of the General Election, and it appears uncertainty over new Government policies have made businesses even more downbeat.

Jan 16, 2018  -  January blues? Not a problem in Mojave today as VSS Unity successfully completed her seventh glide flight! 

Jan 15, 2018  -  Kiwi workers who have enjoyed the traditional New Zealand summer break at the start of the year should be heading back to their jobs this month feeling rested, refreshed and ready to face the next 12 months. But their challenge, research shows, will be hanging on to that feeling.  Work-life balance was identified as an issue by 66 per cent of respondents in the New Zealand Diversity Survey, conducted in October last year. Stress was a challenge in 62 per cent of organisations surveyed, and 50 per cent of respondents noted concerns about the mental health of staff or colleagues.