“Better Buildings for Tomorrow” is the theme of the 9th Durability of Building Materials and Components Conference to be held in Brisbane, Australia, in March 2002. This international event will highlight ways in which research into the durability of building materials and components can be undertaken and used to improve the performance of the buildings of the 21st century. The conference will examine the major changes that have taken place in what we mean when we discuss “durability” in building materials. Contact: Stewart Burn, Chairman 9DMBC (phone: 61 3 9252 6000 (Australia)).

New Oversight Group in Composites
The South Carolina Research Authority has announced the formation of a Joint Planning Commission, which will serve as an oversight group of The Composites Consortium. The Joint Planning Commission, which represents each of the four major segments of the composites industry, will advise the Office of Naval Research with regard to specific composites projects and will advocate composites manufacturing technology development and technology insertion into acquisition programs. The South Carolina Research Authority is manager of the Navy’s Composites Manufacturing Technology Program and The Composites Consortium. Contact: Gary S. Gajewski, SCRA, N. Charleston, S.C. (phone: 843/760-3222).

One More Month of Free Powder Diffraction
Powder Diffraction, a quarterly journal devoted to the use of the powder method for materials characterization, is available for free on the Internet until June 1. The journal features articles covering a wide range of applications, from materials analysis to epitactic growth of thin films to advances in applications software. All issues, current and past, are now online via the American Institute of Physics’ SPIN service. Beginning June 1, a subscription will be required to access abstracts with hyperlinked reference sections, and full-text articles in PDF, PostScript, and HTML format. The table of contents and abstracts without hyperlinked references will remain available free without a subscription.

Single Source for Polymers
Specialchem.com is a Web source for information on polymer additives and masterbatches. Registration is free and users can access such services as advice from industry experts, articles from Plastics Additives & Compounding Magazine, product information, technical articles, online technical service, commercial information, and 7,000 technical data sheets.

Marine Safety Newsletter
The Marine Safety Newsletter, which was established in response to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, is a free monthly publication. The March issue contained information on a federal court’s decision ordering the Coast Guard to issue regulations on oil leak detectors; conference, seminar, and meeting news; and news items on standards and regulation. To receive the hard copy, contact Chantese Curtis (phone: 202/493-1053).

Fewer Fire Losses
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory has formed a new Fire Research Division. The division pledges renewed research efforts to significantly reduce national fire losses—now estimated at 3,600 lives, 22,000 serious injuries and $10 billion in direct property destruction. The new division’s action plan calls for work to 1) accelerate the development and use of advanced fire prevention and fighting technologies, 2) reduce the risk of fire “flashover” (the condition in which deadly fire and gases consume all objects in a room), and 3) develop and apply new fire measurement and prediction methods in real-life situations.

New UL President and CEO
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. has elected Loring W. Knoblauch as its ninth president and CEO. Knoblauch served most recently as president and CEO of Talon Automated Equipment Company. In conjunction with this election, G. Thomas Castino, UL’s eighth president and CEO, and a former member of the ASTM Board of Directors, has been elected vice president of the corporation.

Energy Resource Online
With energy distribution being a daily headline issue, the Building Owners and Managers Association International has launched an online Energy Resource Center. The Web page provides a resource for the latest energy information, including emergency conservation tips, guidelines on what to do in a blackout, and long term conservation and efficiency strategies. //

Copyright 2001, ASTM