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Paris -- October 3, 2006 -- The Lafarge group, a global leader in building materials, has selected the MySQL database to operate the real-time management of the different sales and dispatch phases of its Aggregates & Concrete business. The system is already installed at over 100 quarries, with plans to service up to 250 production sites in Europe by the end of autumn 2006. The Lafarge group (Euronext: LG, NYSE: LR) operates in 76 countries and employs over 80,000 people. Its business is split into four divisions (Cement, Aggregates & Concrete, Roofing, Plaster), with Lafarge holding the position of world leader in each of these areas. The operations of the Aggregates & Concrete division amounted to over 5 billion euro in 2005, with a workforce of 20,000. This division recently developed a database application called Quartz, which uses the open source database MySQL and enables real-time control of the various phases in the sales and dispatch process of its materials.
Union Minister of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences, Shri Kapil Sibal has said twenty telemetry stations will be set up in the North East to monitor seismic activities. Disclosing this at a news conference in Guwahati yesterday after a three day tour to Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, he said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will install two such stations in Nagaland, at Mokokchung and Kohima by June 2007
Shri Sibal also revealed that IMD will establish 50 Automatic Weather Stations in the North-East by March next year. Among these, 13 stations will be located in Arunachal Pradesh and eight in Nagaland and will be installed by end of December this year.
Shri Sibal disclosed that the possibility of setting up of three Doppler weather radars for weather forecast in the North-East will be investigated.
For the healthcare industry, Australia's Queensland-based mill, Beaulieu has designed two products–Confetti ESD and Tapis ESD-new commercial flooring products made from Antron Lumena fibre.
The Medicover range provides a total solution for healthcare organizations combining durability and a choice of stylish designs and colors developed specifically for hospitals, nursing homes and palliative care facilities.
The Medicover flooring range has been specifically engineered to provide optimum floor performance.
Recently, it was recognized at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Sustainability Awards held in Brisbane.
Their ESD textile floor coverings do not contain PVC, Chlorine, 4PCH or SBR.
Antron Lumena fibre was the obvious fibre choice when developing these products as it sets the benchmark in performance and durability in this category.
Given the Pittsburgh region's slow pace of employment growth and declining population, it's not all surprising that the housing market is due for a slowdown. "The area's weak rate of household formation limits growth of housing demand, and higher mortgage rates have helped further soften demand growth," noted the August economic forecast for the seven-county region by the Economics Division of PNC Financial Services Group. PNC is projecting a 5.4 percent decline in housing construction for 2006 -- to 5,300 units versus 5,601 units last year -- based on its analysis of housing permit application data from the U.S. Census Bureau, according to Richard Moody, a PNC regional economist. That includes a drop of about 8 percent -- 4,300 units versus 4,672 units -- in the larger, single-family segment of the market covering Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
October is Manufactured Housing Month in Mississippi, according to a recent press release from the Manufactured Housing Association in Flowood. The release went on to say that one out of every three Mississippi housing starts in the first six months of the year was a manufactured home. With so many manufactured homes sold in the state, there is no doubt the industry fills a need. But the volume of manufactured homes sold may help explain why so many people confuse them with modular construction. Emily Austill said she got a permit and financing for her modular home in Perkinston. But after the home was delivered and while finishing work was taking place, a neighbor protested her right to have the home, believing it to be manufactured. Austill said work has stopped on the home until the misunderstanding can be rectified.
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