The conference will feature papers from natural fibres to fashion design and non-wovens to technical textiles and is expected to attract more than 250 people from around the globe, said the Organising Secretary and Associate Professor (Non-woven) at TIEHH, Mr Seshadri Ramkumar.

Stating that such conferences would seek to enhance professional interaction, enable future collaboration and improve business opportunities in fibre and textile disciplines, he said “more than 90 abstracts from different parts of the globe have been received till date. We are expecting experts from the US and the UK, Turkey, the Czech Republic, China and other nations to attend the event.”

The conference is being supported by the Plains Cotton Growers, the Association of the Non-wovens Fabrics Industry, the Industrial Fabrics Association International, Non-woven Engineers and Technologists division of TAPPI (all from the US), apart from the Southern India Mills Association, the Tirupur Exporters Association and the Society of Dyers and Colourists from India and the UK-headquartered Textile Institute.

For Dr. Bruce “Bruno” Clarke, professor of literature and science at Texas Tech University, Woodstock performer and survivor, (his band, Sha-na-na was the penultimate act before Jimi Hendrix closed the Festival), it’s all connected, but not in ways we might expect.

I met Clarke on a bench in the stone and wood living room at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We were guests of cultural philosopher William Irwin Thompson and Roshi Joan Halifax at the annual meeting of the Lindisfarne Fellows.

In the serene and heady atmosphere, Clarke told me about his then forthcoming book, Post Human Metamorphosis, Narrative and Systems, which explores “second order cybernetics” through the lens of science and literature.

The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech University will host the 6th annual international conference on Advances in Textiles, Machinery, Nonwovens and Technical Textiles, (ATNT) 2009.

The event, held in collaboration with Bannari Amman Institute of Technology in India (BIT), will run Dec. 7-9 at the institute’s campus in Sathyamangalam, state of Tamilnadu, South India. The conference will feature papers from natural fibers to fashion design and nonwovens to technical textiles.

The conference is expected to attract more than 250 people from around the globe, said Seshadri Ramkumar, the organizing secretary for the conference and an associate professor of nonwoven materials at TIEHH. The international conference seeks to enhance professional interaction, enable future collaboration and improve business opportunities in fiber and textile disciplines.

To date, more than 90 abstracts from different parts of the world have been received. Leading experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, the Czech Republic, China and other nations are expected attend. Invitations have been extended to the Indian Government’s federal minister of textiles to inaugurate the event.

International and national organizations supporting the conference include Plains Cotton Growers, The Association of the Nonwovens Fabrics Industry (INDA), Industrial Fabrics Association International, Nonwoven Engineers and Technologists division of TAPPI, all from the United States; The Southern India Mills Association, Tiruppur Exporters Association and the Society of Dyers and Colorists (EC), all from India; and The Textile Institute from the United Kingdom

Graduate school officials are awaiting a report from Tech’s department of environmental health and safety about the possibility of indoor water seepage and – according to employee complaints – “black material” circulating through air vents in the graduate admissions office in Holden Hall.

Fred Hartmeister, dean of Tech’s graduate school, said he requested the investigation after receiving an anonymous letter from graduate school employees expressing concern that prolonged exposure to the building’s conditions caused eight individuals to suffer respiratory and thyroid-related illnesses.

A preliminary environmental health and safety investigation in September found that the building’s ventilation system contained no harmful levels of molds, bacteria or other agents, according to the department’s report.

The passage of Proposition 4 on Tuesday’s ballot gave the state the green light to reallocate about $500 million in existing money from a dormant higher education fund to a new one geared to cultivate more Tier One universities across the state. Having Tier One status makes universities more competitive for federal and private research funding and brings in billions of dollars in economic impact.

Tech and six other emerging public research universities stand to receive millions of essential Tier One research dollars from the new National Research University Fund if they meet its eligibility requirements.

“This is spectacular,” Tech President Guy Bailey said, “probably the most important day in the history of this institution since its founding.”

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The schools aspiring to join the big leagues are UT-Dallas, UT-Arlington, UT-El Paso, UT-San Antonio, Texas Tech University, the University of Houston and the University of North Texas.

While everyone may not use them, most everyone has heard of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and other sites like these.  That includes universities like Texas Tech. 

On the school’s main web page, you’ll find links to their social networking sites. Ethan Logan, Director of Undergraduate Admissions says these sites are a part of the college student community, and the school needs to provide information to them in a way they want.

“I think that they’re very welcoming and very interested in communicating with people, and to use that forum is something they’re very comfortable with, and they will allow us to enter into that forum as long as we’re not trying to convince them or pursued them to do something,” Logan said.

in the Nasworthy Suite of the Houston Harte University Center at Angelo State University.

Kolosov-Wenthe has published two volumes of poetry: “Vago” (Lewis-Clark Press 2007) and “Modigliani’s Muse” (WordTech Communications 2009). She has a third volume, “Ordinary,” forthcoming this year. She has also published two young adult novels, “The Red Queen’s Daughter” (2007) and the forthcoming “Miranda,” both from Hyperion. The co-editor of two anthologies of women’s writing, her own prose and poetry have appeared in journals in the U.S. and abroad including Shenandoah, Orion, The Southern Review Poetry, and PRISM International. She is an associate professor of creative writing at Texas Tech University.

Frustrated by the banks’ inability or unwillingness to stop an avalanche of foreclosures, the states are considering lawsuits over the creation and marketing of millions of bad loans as well as the dismal pace of mortgage modifications.

Such cases would have been impossible until recently, because federal regulators had exclusive oversight of national banks. But a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision in June allowed the states to exercise their own supervision, giving them significant leverage.

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Already, the states’ victory in Cuomo v. Clearing House is beginning to affect the legal landscape. “The handcuffs are off,” said Ann Graham, a professor of banking law at Texas Tech University. “The states can pursue justice now.”