Army seeks greater Pacific role

Approaching from the Hawaii coast, the mosquito-shaped helicopter buzzed around this guided missile cruiser twice before swooping toward the landing pad. The Navy crew on the deck crouched, the helmeted faces betraying more than routine concern as the aircraft, flown by a pilot who had never before alighted upon a ship, hovered a foot off the tarmac and then set down with a thud. The sailors' trepidation was prompted by three words painted in black block letters on the drab olive fuselage: United States Army. The Army, which fights on terra firma, does not usually land its helicopters on ships — the domain of the Navy and the Marine Corps — but these are not usual times in the U.S. military. As the Obama administration winds down the Army-centric war in Afghanistan, Pentagon leaders are seeking to place the Air Force, Navy and Marines in dominant roles to counter threats in the Asia-Pacific region, which they China High Temperature hoses manufacturers have deemed to be the nation's next big national security challenge. Fearful that the new strategy will cut its share of the defense budget, the Army is launching an ambitious campaign to transform itself and assert its relevance in the Pacific. And that, in turn, is drawing the Army into a fight. Calculating that there are only slim chances of the Army fighting a big land war anywhere in the Far East other than the Korean Peninsula, the new top Army commander in the Pacific, Gen. Vincent Brooks, wants his forces to more quickly and effectively respond to small conflicts, isolated acts of aggression and natural disasters. Doing so, however, has traditionally been a challenge for the Army, which bases most of its soldiers assigned to the Orient in Hawaii, Alaska and Washington state. To overcome what he calls "the tyranny of distance," Brooks is trying to make his forces more maritime and expeditionary. To cut travel time and increase regional familiarity, he is seeking authorization to send key Low Temperature hoses suppliers elements of a U.S.-based infantry brigade to Asia and keep them there for months at a time, moving every few weeks to different nations to conduct training exercises. The rotating deployment, which amounts to the first proposed increase in U.S. forces in Asia in years, could enable the Army to move more speedily to address humanitarian crises and security threats. Brooks said he wants "a capable force that can respond to a variety of contingencies" — rapidly. "Forces that are already in motion have an advantage in responding," he said. The initiative, which Brooks is calling "Pacific Pathways," is also an opportunity to recast the Army's image in Washington, yielding television images of soldiers — not just Marines and sailors — responding to typhoons and cyclones. "We can no longer afford to build [combat] units and put them on a shelf to be used only in the event of war," Brooks's command wrote in an internal planning document.

Aiming to Repeat Hybrid Success

When Toyota Motor Corp. rolled out its hybrid Prius in 1997, few predicted it would become the success it is today. It was too expensive, too small and debuted at a time when gasoline prices weren't so high. In its first year, Toyota only sold 300 Priuses. In the following six years, annual global sales were also modest, at just 15,200 to 43,200 units. But now, thanks to environmentally conscious motorists reeling from high gasoline prices, the Prius has become a major global brand. If the Japanese auto industry can capture lightning in a bottle again with a new generation of fuel-economy cars, the country should safely be able to keep its lead in the automobile industry for at least a decade or two. With an eye on such a goal, Japan plans to spend more on initiatives for fuel-cell cars that run on hydrogen and emit only water. The government said Tuesday it will earmark 7.2 billion ($69 million) to subsidize the building of hydrogen fueling stations in the next fiscal year starting April. It also will invest 6.4 billion in research to help lower fuel-cell production costs. Besides spending, a government-appointed committee is now drawing up a plan to foster the adoption of fuel-cell technologies through 2030. The committee consists of corporate and academic experts from an range of sectors, from Toshiba Corp. to Tokyo Gas Co. Beyond the implications for hybrid cars, Japan eventually wants something bigger. Hydrogen fuel can be produced in various ways, including from coal, oil, natural gas and biomass. But if conventional fuels are used to produce hydrogen, it loses its environmental advantage. The government hopes to eventually produce hydrogen from water using electricity from hydro, wind, solar and geothermal energy. "It's not going to happen any time soon. At first, we'll use the byproduct of hydrogen from oil refineries and chemical plants," said Masami Hihara, deputy director of the industry ministry's Smart Community Policy Office. "But we should be prepared for when demand takes off, or we wouldn't see any innovations," he said. A project to produce hydrogen from low-grade coal in Australia has been proposed with the resulting CO2 captured and stored underground, Mr. Hihara said. A local government in Russia has approached Japan with a project to use their abundant hydro-power to produce hydrogen fuel, he added. Both Toyota and Honda have announced plans to roll out fuel-cell cars for the commercial market in 2015, making these companies some of the first car makers to do so. The Association of Hydrogen Supply/Utilization Technology, an industry body made up of oil refiners, gas utilities, gasoline station operators and plant makers, has been working toward building 100 hydrogen refueling stations by 2015. Currently, there are about a dozen in Japan. Other countries have also been working toward a dominant position in fuel-cell technologies. In California, auto manufacturers, energy providers, government agencies and fuel-cell technology companies have formed an organization and recommended 68 hydrogen refueling stations be built to establish a commercial market, and at least 100 stations to sustain it. In September, California committed up to $20 million a year until 2024 for at least 100 stations.

This Is How South Florida Babies React To Snow

When I got an email from my daughter's preschool, titled "Snow Day!" I was confused. In the Northeast, where I grew up, snow days mean the school is closed. Do South Florida schools use fake snow days as an excuse to close? The message was even more confusing: Eight tons of SNOW will be delivered to our preschool straight from the North Pole! The cost of bringing in the snow is $1,500.00 so for this special activity the cost per child is only $15.00. Every year, Marty Enis, owner of Florida Ice Manufacturing, comes down from Westford, Mass., to deliver snow to South Florida schools, malls, and churches from around Thanksgiving through February. He's kind of like a snowbird, but he comes Flexible hose here to work. On the day of the event at my daughter's Little Havana preschool, a truck arrives filled with 3-foot-tall blocks of ice that several men line up on a ramp, and then slide into what looks like an old train engine. That machine cuts up the ice, shoots it through a hose, and in a less than a minute -- presto! Snow. (Technically, this is not snow, which is frozen water vapor, as opposed to frozen water liquid. But in South Florida, this distinction probably doesn't matter.) The first group to play is the 1-year-olds. The kids are wearing a ridiculous amount of clothing for the 70-degree weather: puffy jackets, snow pants, hats and mittens. All of the clothing looks completely new. But after a few minutes of sitting chemical hose on the snow, the 1-year-olds are crying – a lot. I ask one parent, Jorge Munoz of Coral Gables, about his daughter's reaction: "She's still wondering what this white stuff is. She doesn't want to sit on the snow because it's way too cold, and she's wondering why she is here." My daughter Juno, who's 2, wasn't very interested either. My constant suggestions that she touch or play with the snow are met with pleading cries of "nooo" and demands to pick her up as she tries to maintain her balance on the melting snow. Jorge grew up in Venezuela, where it's warm year-round. He says they did not sing about snow there: "We're not as obsessed as Americans about the weather because it's a non-issue. It's always warm so why would you even care about it, right?" So why do we care in warm sunny South Florida? I just didn't want my daughter to be left out of a class activity. But is the reason for this kind of event driven by people missing some place with cold winters? Or just a feeling that Christmas here should match all the snowy imagery attached to the holiday?

Manure transformed into biodegradable plastic

The idea of drinking out of a plastic cup made from cow manure may not seem overly appetizing to some people.

“It’s not particularly appetizing to me either,” said Erik Coats, a University of Idaho civil engineering professor who is researching the chemistry of converting bio-waste into biodegradable plastic.

“The yuck factor is pretty strong.”

Coats’s 24-foot sanitary-white trailer, which serves as an experimental mobile plastic factory, converts 10 U.S. gallons of dairy slurry into China High Temperature hoses manufacturers five pounds of biodegradable plastic a day.

The trailer is located next to the university’s dairy barns and connected to them by a big hose. It is the only such research project in the United States.

The trailer’s 200 U.S. gallon fermentation tanks are the vital link between the laboratory test tubes of a couple years ago and the first million gallon tank needed for a full-scale commercial production, maybe a couple years into the future.

Coats’s bioplastic carries the scientific title polyhydroxyalkanoate but is more commonly referred to as PHA.

The material is as clear, flexible, scentless and tasteless as a plastic bread bag. There’s not the slightest hint it’s derived from cow manure.

However, to avoid unwanted marketing problems, Coats said his bioplastic won’t be used in food packaging.

“It’s strictly for single use applications like packaging or where a plastic cover must be biodegradable,” he said.

“I met recently with some folks who China Low Temperature hoses manufacturers treat seeds with nutrients and fungicides wrapped in a polymer coating. Our PHA is biodegradable so it’s perfect for something like that.”

In the agricultural sector, a biodegradable plastic might be suitable as bale wrap, baling twine, bags and liquid containers.

Nearly all plastic products are produced from petro-chemicals. Replacing them globally with PHA would go a long way toward relieving pressure on reserves of fossil fuels.

Some PHA products are made from corn, but the downside is that they keep corn out of the human and livestock food supply. Replacing those PHA items with manure-based PHA would be a positive move.

Study Links Fracking Chemicals and Hormone Disruption

High levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals have been found in water samples near fracking sites in Colorado, according to research accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s journal Endocrinology.

The chemicals “could raise the risk of reproductive, metabolic, neurological and other diseases, especially in children who are exposed to EDCs [endocrine-disrupting chemicals],” said one of the study’s authors, Susan Nagel, of the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

Researchers took surface and ground water samples from sites with drilling spills or accidents in Garfield County, Colo. The area has more than 10,000 natural gas wells. Researchers also looked at control samples from sites without spills in Garfield County, as well samples from Boone County, Missouri.

The water samples from drilling sites had higher levels of EDC activity that could interfere with the body’s response to the reproductive hormone estrogen, and androgens, a class of hormones that includes testosterone.

Drilling site water samples had moderate to high levels of the hormone-disrupting chemical. Water samples from the Colorado River, which is the drainage basin for the natural gas drilling sites, had moderate levels.

Researchers found little EDC activity in the water samples from the sites with little drilling.

“Fracking is exempt from federal regulations to protect water quality, but spills associated with natural gas drilling can contaminate surface, ground, and drinking water,” Nagel said.

Researchers looked at 12 suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in fracking. They measured the chemicals’ ability to mimic, or block, the effect of the body’s male and female reproductive hormones.

“More than 700 chemicals are used in the fracking process, and many of them disturb hormone function,” Nagel said.

Research has linked EDC exposure to infertility, cancer and birth defects.

“With fracking on the rise, populations may face greater health risks from increased endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure,” Nagel said.

EDCs can also be found in manufactured products, certain foods, air, water, and soil.

Other authors of the study include: C.D. Kassotis, J.W. Davis and A.M. Hormann of the University of Missouri, and D.E. Tillitt of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Vigilant Hose support Toys for Tots

Vigilant Hose Co. and Shippensburg Area Emergency Medical Services donated more than $2,500 worth of toys to this year's Toys for Tots drive sponsored by the Landis-McCleaf Detachment of the Marine Corps League.Vigilant filled two pickups with items like bikes, games, dolls and stuffed animals and delivered them to Toys for Tots on Nov. 29.Toys were purchased with money raised through fundraisers —Tank Truck Hose Vigilant sets aside funds from its weekly bingo proceeds to assist other nonprofit groups and individuals — and other toys were donated by Vigilant and EMS members."We were approached by the Marine Corps League this year about participating in Toys for Tots, and we thought that would be a great way to support the community," said Carolyn Kerns, recording secretary and fundraising committee member at Vigilant.

"Even though we also are a nonprofit organization, we feel a responsibility to support others in the community through more than just the fire service. We were happy to join in the Toys for Tots project this year and help make the holidays a little better for families in need."Presbyterian College Women's Tennis Announces 2014 Spring ScheduleThe Presbyterian College women's tennis team will play 12 home matches at the Templeton Tennis Courts and challenge itself against several strong teams around the region, head coach Catherine Dunagan announced in releasing the spring schedule."I am excited about our spring schedule," said Dunagan. "We have some tough competition but it will prepare us for our Big South Conference schedule. I am also extremely excited about the opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico for our Spring Break.

It will be a great experience for our team, and we will have the opportunity to train hard and play four matches in preparation for the last stretch of conference matches to conclude the season. We had a great fall season, and I'm already looking forward to the team returning to kick off 2014."The spring season begins on Saturday, January 25 with a road trip to Savannah State. The Blue Hose play the next day at Georgia Southern in the second part of a three-match road swing.Saturday, February 1 sees PC play two matches—Accessories one on the road and one at home. The team battles USC Upstate in Spartanburg before coming home to host North Greenville in the spring home opener.

UNCG suffocated by Blue Hose zone

Ugoka led the way for Tech, racking up 12 points and 12 rebounds to record her fourth double-double of the year and the ninth of her career. Taijah Campbell also earned a double-double, pulling down 12 rebounds to go with her 10 points. Hannah Young also had 10 boards on the day.Keyonna Allen scored nine points to pace the Blue Hose.Presbyterian's Jordan Downing scored a career-high 37 points, including 10-for-10 from the free throw line in leading the Blue Hose to an 87-66 win over UNCG at the Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.Downing's scoring outburst — he was 11 of 15 from the field, and 5 of 6 from beyond the arc — was a Division I record for Presbyterian, which is playing in just its seventh season at that level, and came against a UNCG defense which had been limiting opponents to only 59.5 points per game prior to Tuesday's contest.

One member of the Blue Hose who was familiar with the coliseum and the Spartans was Presbyterian's Reggie Dillard, a Greensboro Day School product who is the team's second-leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game.Dillard chipped in 11 points and eight assists in Tuesday's victory, and his two first-half three-pointers helped spark Presbyterian's 19-6 game-opening run, which ultimately proved too much for the Spartans to overcome."To come back home and win here is an accomplishment," Dillard said. "I love coming back here. I have a big supporting cast and I played some games in the Martin Luther King Day Tournament at the coliseum when I was in high school."

UNCG's only lead of the game came at 3-0 on Nicholas Paulos' 3-pointer just nine seconds into the game.Paulos led the Spartans with 22 points on eight-of-14 shooting, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range, but that wasn't enough to help overcome UNCG's worst offensive output of the season.The Spartans had been averaging 80.4 points per game and 49.7 percent on field goals this season, but finished shooting just 35.3 percent from the floor against Presbyterian's stingy zone."We're not having a lot of success against the zone," UNCG coach Wes Miller said. "We didn't see one possession of man-to-man tonight."UNCG had been limiting opponents to just 48.1 percent field goal shooting, but the Spartans allowed the Blue Hose to shoot 62 percent from the floor on Tuesday.

Parker expands Compact SpiralTM hose line

A minimum bend radius does not necessarily mean that an installer can easily bend the hose into that shape. The proprietary design and construction of Compact Spiral hose makes it the most flexible hose in the most difficult to achieve international standard buy Fuel and Oil Hoses– ISO 18752. By using Compact Spiral, installers can save valuable time and effort when routing hoses in their equipment.Since its introduction, Compact Spiral hose has made significant inroads with OEM manufacturers in the off-highway, truck and trailer and industrial machinery applications. Users cite both the design and assembly advantages of the hose – it requires a smaller footprint, is easier to connect and reduces installer fatigue.

The new large sizes are designed to meet market needs in oil and gas, mining, forestry and heavy off-road equipment applications.Along with the new hose sizes, Parker added more than 60 new fitting end configurations to its 77 Series steel fitting line for Compact Spiral hose. Nearly 300 fitting configurations are now available.A man who appeared from the storage cupboard of a hotel naked with a fire extinguisher hose up his bottom, has walked free from court.Joseph Small, 20, was on the fourth floor of the Premier Inn in London's Leicester Square when he stripped off, took the object, stuck the hose between his buttocks and started touching himself, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

He then urinated on the carpet and a lift door before being wrapped in a towel by a member of staff and taken to reception.There, Small racially abused the man, who is originally from Bangladesh, telling him: "This country has been taken over by al-Qa'ida – go back to Pakistan."Small also urinated again in the lobby in front of other guests while shouting: "I come from Sheffield in England," the court heard. When police arrived,fuel hose Small also hurled abuse at the officers, referring to one as a "paedo".Prosecutor Darren Watts said: "The defendant could also be seen on CCTV placing a fire extinguisher hose inside his rectum and masturbating at the same time - Hassan the hotel employee went back to reception and called the police."

Prison Sentence In Theft Case For Former Hose Company Head

In addition to the prison time, Sweeney was ordered to spend 1,000 hours doing community service for Greenwood Hose Company and pay back full restitution. His attorney said Sweeney's already paid back $100,000 dollars.But, some people think paying back the fire department isn't the same thing as paying your debt to society."I think there should be a black and white sentence, if you steal so much money you get so many years. And if you can't make your restitution you get more years," said Leo Ventura of Scranton.Several Presbyterian College football players earned spots on the Big South All-Conference team, as selected today by the league football coaches.

Jeremiah McKie took home two honors as a First Team Special Teams punt returner, and Second Team Special Teams kick returner. Tobi Antigha was named to the second team as a wide receiver and Tim Fowler as an offensive lineman. Stephen Doar was selected to the All-Academic Team.McKie caught 12 punt returns for a total of 150 yards, 12.5 yards per carry. He returned a punt against Brevard 50 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, just one of two in the conference to do so this year. His 63 total punt yards was a PC Division I record as well against Brevard. McKie Led the league in punt return yards with his 150 and was fifth in punt returns overall.

McKie was also the recipient of 20 kick returns for tops in the league, taking the ball 490 yards for a 24.5 average per return. He took one back a career-long 97 yards for a touchdown against VMI, one of just three in the league this season to accomplish the feat. He was third in the league in kick returns, kick return yards and second in kick return average.An 11-game starter this season, Antigha led the team in receiving and was seventh in rushing. He led the Blue Hose and was ninth in the conference in scoring touchdowns with eight. Antigha was also second on the team and 10th in the league in all-purpose yards. He was third in the conference in receptions per game, yards per catch and receiving yards per game.