By Brian E. Clark
RISING
Modine
Japan’s Mitsubishi FUSO Truck and Bus Corp. has awarded Modine
Manufacturing Co. a five-year deal worth $15 million for the heating,
ventilating and air conditioning system its Canter light-duty trucks
program. The contract will begin in 2009 and run through 2014.
The passenger HVAC systems will be assembled at Modine’s Shanghai,
China, facility using heat exchangers from the company’s South Korea,
design center. Modine is a manufacturer of thermal management systems
and components for automotive, HVAC, industrial, refrigeration, fuel
cell and electronics markets. Modine shares closed Monday at $27.10,
near a 52-week high of $29.95.
MIXED
UW-Madison
The school’s scientists continue to rake in big bucks from the federal
government for research, but they also attract a little negative
attention as well over the handling of material that could be used to
manufacture the Ebola virus.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave UW-Madison more than $48
million last week in two major grants. One of the NIH grants was for
$7.2 million, to be awarded over five years. It will be used to explore
the potential of stem cells and natural growth factors to treat
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s
disease. ALS is a nearly always fatal condition caused by the withering
of motor neurons – the brain cells that control the body’s muscles. The
university also received a separate NIH grant worth $41 million for the
university’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research to come
up with methods to improve the way biomedical and health sciences
discoveries make their way into clinical trials, hospitals and doctors’
offices.
But there were also reports that the school allowed a researcher to
study material that could be used to make the Ebola virus in a lab that
wasn’t as secure as what’s required under federal rules. Campus
officials downplay the incident, saying it was more of a technical
violation than a safety one and say no one was at risk.
FALLING
NCR
The state is penalizing NCR Corp., Wisconsin’s main inspector of store
scales, with a $50,260 fine for not properly checking the instruments.
Ohio-based NCR Corp. agreed to pay the fine after state investigators
discovered some of the company’s employees work was sloppy.
NCR inspects roughly 90 percent of scales in the Wisconsin, under
contract with the state. Many stores, such as Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s and
numerous grocery stores hire NCR to check their scales.
