CARY, N.C. — April 15, 2019 — Leaders from the global nonwoven associations held a joint strategy meeting at the IDEA® 2019 Conference, in Miami Beach, Fla., on March 26, to advance coordination on two key issues common to all: Free and fair trade in nonwovens; and the growing concern about Plastics in the Environment and the need for coordinating messaging on the issue.

“The shared vision of our association leaders is to effectively represent, protect, and actively promote common interests of nonwovens and their related industries throughout the world,” said Dave Rousse, INDA president, organizer of the meeting. “I believe our initial steps on these two current issues are a good start toward global coordination.”

The first step in advancing free and fair trade in nonwovens has been achieved with an updated and uniform nonwoven definition recently approved and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9092:2019. The new definition establishes nonwovens without reference to “Textiles” as did the previous definition and introduces the concept of an engineered material. The new definition describes a nonwoven as an “engineered fibrous assembly, primarily planar, which has been given a designed level of structural integrity by physical and/or chemical means, excluding weaving, knitting or papermaking.”

The group agreed to encourage the adoption and use of this definition in the Harmonized Commodity description and Coding System (HS) to achieve a more relevant classification of all nonwovens and nonwoven articles in tariff classifications.

The group was presented with INDA’s overview of how growing public concern about Plastics in the Environment can impact nonwovens with some guidelines on how to manage the issue. Additionally, EDANA presented the current state of play on the European Union Single Plastics Directive and its development of Extended Producers Responsibility.

All agreed that the meeting was constructive and such coordination should be continued at future global nonwoven events. Attending this meeting were:

• Carlos Benatto, president, Brazil Association of the Nonwovens Industries, (ABINT);
• Dr. Hiroaki Kanai, chairman, and Hideo Tsuchiya, secretary general (deputy), Asia Nonwoven Fabrics Association (ANFA);
• Masato Miki, vice president, All Nippon Nonwovens Association (ANNA);
• Li Lingshen, president, and Eric Zhang, general manager, China Nonwovens and Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA);
• Yang Xiang, general manager, China Nonwovens Technical Association (CNTA);
• Pierre Wiertz, general manager, and Gil Stevens, External Relations & Sustainability director, European Disposables and Nonwovens Association (EDANA);
• Socrates Ng, president and Michael Wong, secretary, Hong Kong Nonwovens Association;
• Dave Rousse, president, and C.K. Wong, executive committee appointee, Association of Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA);
• Samir Gupta, managing director, INDIA Nonwovens Association;
• Billy Hidjaja, chairman, Indonesia Nonwovens Association; and
• Steven Chen, chairman, Taiwan Nonwovens Association.

Posted April 15, 2019

Source: INDA, The Association Of The Nonwoven Fabrics Industry

CINCINNATI, Ohio — April 12, 2019 — UC Health, University of Cincinnati’s academic health system, opened the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute, a major advance in healthcare architecture for patients with neurological disorders. Research suggests that dementia, epilepsy, headache disorders, multiple sclerosis, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological conditions are a growing cause of death and disability worldwide. For those patients, innovation in architecture and design — as is the case at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute, designed by Perkins+Will — offers the promise of improved well-being.

“The entire facility is designed with the neurologic patient in mind,” said Dr. Joseph Broderick, director of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute. “I don’t know of any facility like this. We would like this to be a place where people will feel it’s a home for their disease or problem, where you learn about it, get treated for it, get diagnosed, and you also interact with others.”

The new 114,000-square-foot facility brings together 125 faculty from 15 specialty areas into a new regional home for neurological care, education, and research.

For more than two years, Perkins+Will led an advisory committee with patients and families, caregivers, and doctors. The user input gained from these meetings informed the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute’s design. It was imperative, for example, that the design accommodate the needs of patients with susceptibility to nausea, dizziness, fatigue, or movement disorders. The result is an innovative facility that responds to those needs along every step of the patient’s journey.

“You can trace every element in the planning and design to what we’ve heard (from patients, doctors, and staff),” said Jerry Johnson, Perkins+Will design principal. “The objective was to provide a place that provides state-of-the-art care and inspires joy for people in need.”

The team also drew on input from Dr. Eve Edelstein, a ‘neuro-architect’ who studied both architecture and clinical neuroscience. Edelstein is the director of a Perkins+Will research lab dedicated to design for the human experience, known as the Hx Lab.

Janis Yelton, who lives with Parkinson’s disease and served on the advisory committee, says the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute is critical to her well-being. She is thrilled with the design. “Coming here is my future,” she said. “This is going to be a big part of my life for the rest of my life.”

Key Design Features:

• A unique façade that prevents glare and visual disorientation: The facility’s exterior is made of a specialized polyester fiber mesh that controls light and heat, and prevents glare while allowing natural light to enter the interior. This is critical for many neurological patients, as glare can be visually disorienting. Wrapping the east, west, and south sides of the building, the angular, pleated, polyester planes, which are 10-feet wide and 3 stories tall, suggest origami, and make the building stand out on a campus known for classical and modern architecture.
• Light-filled corridors for comfort and visibility: On the exam and clinical care floors, patients move along exterior corridors lined with windows, rather than down disorienting dark internal pathways.
• Exam rooms that accommodate families for extra patient support: Exam rooms with wide sliding doors are grouped in flexible pods and can support specialty procedures nearby, easing patient and family access. The larger exam rooms accommodate medical teams, family, and caregivers. These floors also include MRI, infusion, and special procedure rooms.
• Spaces that account for patients’ auditory sensitivities: Walls between exam rooms are acoustically sealed, with the gypsum board and acoustical insulation going to the structure above. Doors into exam rooms went through specialized testing to confirm they also met the same stringent sound transmissions goals to ensure minimal disruption to patients with auditory sensitivities. For patients with mood and memory disorders who seek quiet spaces with fewer stimuli, enclosed spaces are available within the main waiting areas.
• A lobby that prevents vertigo: A large atrium can trigger vertigo, so a daylit lobby designed on a more human scale welcomes patients upon arrival.
• A variety of spaces allows for diverse activities: The ground level includes an outdoor garden, flexible space for community, teaching, and patient activities, with an auditorium and rooms for dance therapy classes.
• A kinder, gentler parking garage to ease the anxiety of arrivals and departures: Patients with ambulatory challenges described typical parking garages as a highly stressful, anxiety-inducing experience due to lack of light, confusing signage, echoing noise, and sloping garage floors. Every garage floor is on a flat surface, with an easy-access entrance and exit from the elevator to each of the patient floors. Windows along the north side of the garage provide daylight and help orient patients returning to their cars.
• Accessible research space: Located between the staff and patient areas, these spaces encourage collaboration among specialists as they evaluate studies, clinical trials, and data.

Philanthropic support for the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute came from the James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Foundation, inspired by the late James Gardner’s wife, Joan, who lives with Parkinson’s disease.

Posted April 15, 2019

Source: Perkins+Will

MONTREAL — April 12, 2019 — NanoXplore Inc. is pleased to announce that the corporation has been recognized as the 2019 winner of the IDTechEx Graphene & 2D Materials Award for the Most Significant Advancement in Graphene, CNT, or 2D Material for Commercialization.

The award was presented at the IDTechEx Show in Berlin, Germany, by Dr. Richard Collins (Senior Technology Analyst – IDTechEx) and adjudicated by Dr. Nikolaus Nestle (BASF SE – Materials Physics and Analytics) and Ivan Buckley (Director of Business Development -Graphene@Manchester at The University of Manchester). One of the judges commented: “NanoXplore’s bold scale-up of graphene production should finally tear down the idea that graphene is just too expensive to be used as an additive in polymer composites for real-world applications”.

Soroush Nazarpour, CEO and President of NanoXplore, commented after receiving the award: “We are thrilled to be recognized by IDTechEx as a global leader in the commercialization of graphene. This award further validates our graphene technology and why we are in the process of building a 10,000 tonnes/year production facility. The construction of the facility is on time and budget, and we expect phase one of commissioning to occur during calendar Q1 of next year (2020). We are proud of everyone in our team and thank them for their diligent effort as we thrive to enable graphene to become a viable solution for high-volume commercial applications. We would also like to thank all our shareholders for supporting NanoXplore and IDTechEx for this milestone event”.

IDTechEx Show, a two-day exhibition in Berlin, Germany, presents the latest emerging technologies across multiple emerging technology sectors that include 3D Printing, Electric Vehicles, Energy Harvesting, Energy Storage, Graphene, Internet of Things, Off Grid Energy Independence, Printed Electronics, Sensors & Wearable Technology. The exhibition showcases over 200 exhibiting companies from 60 countries, many demonstrating their technologies in action.

Posted April 15, 2019

Source: NanoXplore