Taakstraf voor dief met wroeging

De man werkte al twaalf jaar als accountmanager voor de universiteit, zodat hij de benodigde wachtwoorden en codes om bij het geld te komen eenvoudig kon achterhalen. In Peru aangekomen kreeg hij echter zoveel wroeging dat hij zijn bankrekening liet opheffen en terugvloog om de zaak op te biechten. De man zou financiële problemen hebben gehad.

De officier van justitie had een gevangenisstraf van een jaar geëist. De rechter nam genoegen met een taakstraf en een voorwaardelijke gevangenisstraf van drie maanden, omdat de man nooit over het geld heeft beschikt en de universiteit nagenoeg het hele bedrag weer terug heeft.

Bovendien was de accountmanager niet eerder met justitie in aanraking gekomen en had hij na zijn ontslag geen andere baan kunnen vinden. Dat de man momenteel in Peru verblijft, vond de rechter geen reden om af te zien van een werkstraf.

TU Delft’s newest ‘Dream Team’ was recently making some big noise on the racetrack and in the world of sustainable technology. At the Open Dutch Championship, held at the Assen motorspeedway, this TU Delft student team unveiled their sustainable racing motorcycle, called Novabike, which is the Netherland’s first racing motorcycle to be powered by bio-ethanol.
This was the first time that Novabike had competed against gasoline-powered motorcycles. This latest TU Delft Dream Team is striving to establish a winning place within the world of professional motorcycling for sustainable fuels.
The Novabike student team took up this initiative themselves, setting themselves the daunting challenge of developing an environmentally friendly, competitive racing motorcycle that powered by a sustainable fuel source. Although Novabike’s engine block was made by KTM, a motorcycle manufacturer, the student teams designed the rest of engine themselves. This bio-ethanol motorcycle not only runs cleaner but is also expected to ultimately reach a top speed of 230 km/h.

Nick Appelman, one of the students behind this bio-ethanol project, is also serving as Novabike’s driver: “By actually racing the motorcycle myself, I get much clearer feedback from the engine than I would on the test bench. And because I know the system through and through, it’s possible to immediately make adjustments. In this way, the engine can be perfectly tuned to the race.”

Full power
Novabike premiered at the Assen motorspeedway during the international Ducati Club Races, one of the largest motorcycling races in Europe. Novabike raced in the Supermono class (a standard gasoline class) against teams and bikes from all over the world.

“The Ducati race weekend was awesome and went as it should, with ups and downs”, says Paul Kieft, Novabike’s team manager, who added that after the first test lap the bike experienced some technical malfunctions. “The second injector, which is responsible for the feed over 6000 revolutions, stopped working, and because of this we didn’t achieve the desired 230 km/h.”
Although the race organizers insisted that Novabike should complete the full race, Appelman was too proud to continue at less than the bike’s full power. Instead, the entire race paddock was mobilized into action to fix the problem, which ultimately turned out to be a bug in the software. “People kept telling us to get used to it, that everything breaks on the bikes in this
racing class”, Kieft says, cheerfully. “Although we had some setbacks, we generated lots of publicity for the project. The motoring and innovation media were very interested in this first-ever bio-racer.”

The team is now hard at work and looking forward to showing off Novabike’s full power at the next race in Oschersleben, Germany, on July 4th.
Biomass, such as vegetable waste, offers huge potential as an environmentally sound alternative to fossil fuels. Moreover,
biomass is an excellent raw material for the chemical and materials industries. TU Delft conducts comprehensive research aimed at converting biomass in the best and most profitable ways.  

novabike.nl

The Novabike team is looking for new, enthusiastic ‘motorcycle-crazed’ team members. The team is especially looking for website masters, crisis managers and top mechanics. recruitment@novabike.nl