Millennium Dome, London, England

Let's start with a question on sport! What is the common denominator between squash, fishing, golf, skiing, tennis, motor racing and pole vaulting?

All of these robust activities rely on the best equipment to achieve maximum performance. That equipment relies on FRP's to deliver those results.

You might know them better as 'Carbon Fibre', 'Graphite', 'Fibreglass', 'GRP' (Glass Reinforced Plastic) or just 'Composite material'. However, it all means effectively the same. Fibre reinforced polymers (FRP's) combine two very strong materials to form an astonishingly tough and durable compound that combines light weight with outstanding strength and performance.

It has been rough flying for the Airbus A380, the big double-decker "superjumbo" aircraft that was once hailed as the future of commercial aviation and was destined to take over the skies. Only a few years ago experts were praising it:

"Airbus had the prescience to correctly anticipate an environment of high fuel prices, public clamor for quieter airports, fewer emissions, and less crowded skies. This is the kind of superior product vision that has served our industry so well," former Engine Alliance President Bruce Hughes said.

One Airbus customer said: "The A380 is the future of flying."

The problems began long before the inaugural flight in October 2007, but they have persisted since the maiden journey. With just 10 deliveries in 2009 and 23 in total since 2007, enthusiasm for this big aircraft has waned.

Photovoltaic cells are the energy sources behind solar panels. Photovoltaic cells work by converting light energy, or photons, into electricity that humans can use. Single photovoltaic cells do not produce much power, but strung together in arrays they can produce significant amounts of electricity.

These cells work by the act of photons (light energy) knocking electrons into a higher energetic state and producing electricity. Solar cells can be used to produce direct current (DC), which can power a direct current lights or charge batteries. However, they can also be connected to inverters that convert the DC to AC energy. AC energy is used by power grids to power cities and towns.

Does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water? That is one of the questions that you need to consider if you are thinking of purchasing an RO system for your home. It has been recently discovered that there are trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in water supply systems across both the U.S. and Canada, and these drugs provide a potential threat to our health and well being.

We have to first consider what an RO water filtration system is designed to accomplish, before we can answer the question does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water. It is a system that completes the task of cleaning our water reasonably well, but that also has many shortcomings.

RO works by pushing highly pressurized water through a membrane filter, effectively removing all minerals and seeable particles. Anything with a molecular weight less than or equal to the weight of the water, is also allowed to slip through. Many of the pharmaceuticals in water supply reservoirs are diluted to the point where they would easily pass through.

Aircraft rivets

The two major types of rivets used in aircraft are the common solid shank rivets, which must be driven using an air-driven gun and bucking bar; and special (blind) rivets, which are installed with special installation tools. Solid shank rivets are used widely during assembly and repair work. They are identified by the material of which they are made, the head type, size of shank, and temper condition.

The material used for the majority of solid shank rivets is aluminum alloy. The strength and temper conditions of aluminum alloy rivets are identified by digits and letters similar to those used to identify sheet stock. The 1100, 2017-T, 2024-T, 2117-T, and 5056 rivets are the six grades usually available. AN-type aircraft solid rivets can be identified by code markings on the rivet heads. A rivet made of 1100 material is designated as an "A" rivet, and has no head marking. The 2017-T alloy rivet is designated as a "D" rivet and has a raised teat on the head. Two dashes on a head indicate a 2024-T alloy designated as a "DD" rivet. The 2117-T rivet is designated as an "AD" rivet, and has a dimple on the head.

Shaft seals are made for just about every piece of machinery imaginable that has a spinning part of any kind. This seal is necessary to seal fluids, grease, oil mist or some other type of lubrication.

There are many applications for the seal. Agitators for moving water around in recycling plants all the way to the household washing machines use this type of seal in several of the machine parts. It can be made to fit any size shaft. This makes fuel handling safer, and fuel pumps possible.

Plain and simple, if it spins, there is a sure bet that somewhere in the mechanics of the design there this type of seal. The shaft seal is part of what makes a spinning shaft run smoothly and be held on the true as it spins.

As straightforward as seal installation procedures might appear to be, the smallest errors can lead to premature failures. This is particularly true in the field. The good news is that these failures can be dramatically reduced or even eliminated by following a few key steps.

The entire installation process should always begin with a careful inspection of a new seal’s lip to identify the signs of damage or irregularities that will lead to leaks. The lip needs to be free of any nicks or tears and should not be folded back on itself. If a garter spring exists, it will need to be located in the related groove to ensure consistent contact with the shaft.

The next step is to inspect the housing bore and shaft that will interface with the seal. The bore and shaft should be free from burrs and the grooves or scoring that may have been caused during operation when the old seal was in place. And the installation process will be further supported by the use of lead-in chamfers, the specific dimensions of which can be obtained from the supplier of the seal.

Executives in industries such as electronics, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, food processing and other fields should recognize that general industrial carbon steel tools introduce unacceptable risk of contamination from iron oxide (rust) and chrome particles.

An ordinary screwdriver or wrench is likely to undermine elaborate steps ensuring sterility and environmental integrity for sensitive production operations. Using appropriate hand tools to install and maintain sterile processing line machinery is an essential element of current good manufacturing practice in critical areas. Mechanics using standard shop floor pliers to repair stainless steel production apparatus subvert standard operating procedures to assure quality control and regulatory compliance.

This report summarizes risks from introducing general-purpose tools into aseptic or clean room settings, and shows why professional-grade stainless steel maintenance tools are the accepted standard for industries that also include health care, semiconductors, chemicals, a

It's not our fault; it's the vendor's fault! Sound familiar? After over 25 years in the Financial Services industry as a vendor and a contractor of vendor services, I have seen the best and worst of vendor relations. From this experience, I offer you a brief outline of practical strategies to create a win/win scenario with your vendors.

The best place to start on building a solid vendor relationship foundation is to know what you want to accomplish with your vendors and your vendor relationships. Define your approach to vendor relations clearly within your business organization through your strategic plan development. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a thorough iterative strategic plan for your business organization that includes initiatives necessary to promote good vendor relations. Don't stop there! Cascade your strategic initiatives into ethical policies, procedures and practices throughout the organization so that you build a culture around good vendor relations. Make sure everyone knows, understands, and is committed to adopting and practicing the strategic concepts supporting good vendor relations. Consider using a documented positioning statement requiring attestation such as a Vendor Code, Vendor Affirmation, or Vendor Ethics publication.

Perhaps the most famous, most catastrophic instance of o-ring failure in all of history was the failure at the launch of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, which resulted in the destruction of the shuttle and the loss of the lives of the seven astronauts aboard. The cause of the disaster was determined to be the failure of an o-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster which caused a breach in the sealed joint, allowing pressurized hot gas from within the rocket motor to escape and impinge upon the external fuel tank. This led to the structural failure of the external fuel tank and caused the space craft to succumb to uncontrollable aerodynamic forces and disintegrate. Unusually cold pre-launch temperatures were to blame for the o-ring's loss of flexibility and contributed to the disaster.