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So, you’ve been going through some challenging stuff… depression, anxiety, stressful life events or maybe you haven’t pinpointed the exact problem, but you know you just don’t feel ‘right’. Maybe you’ve been googling, maybe a family member or friend has had treatment before – some-how you’ve ended up on our page reading our blog about how to access treatment.
We want you to be as informed as possible when you are contemplating whether or not to see a Psychologist therefore this week, we have devoted our blog to educating people on the process of visiting a Psychologist for the first time, as well as valuable information on continuing treatment if you find it is beneficial to you. But, first things first, what is a psychologist?
What is a psychologist?
A Psychologist is a mental health professional educated at University level for a minimum of 6 years, that specialises in the assessment and treatment of psychological disorders and mental health issues. A Psychologist focuses on the mind and behaviour to understand how the two influence a persons’ response to events within their daily lives. Therapy with a Psychologist is tailored to the individual client and typically follows structured processes.
The difference between a counsellor and psychologist?
The main difference between a Psychologist and Counsellor is their education. In order to be registered and practice as a psychologist, a person must complete the required tertiary degree with a minimum of 6 years before having General Registration. As counselling is not a regulated industry, the education of a counsellor varies. Some many only have diploma level education whilst others have masters.
Picking one that’s right for you.
1. Ask friends/family or your doctor for recommendations.
2. If you have some idea of what you’re struggling with, research to find a Psychologist that specialises in it by using the Australian Psychological Society’s search engine Find a Psychologist
3. Ask questions to any Psychologist you are contemplating seeing. Questions about their education, specialities, treatment methods as well as other important information like fees can help you decide if they are appropriate for you.
4. Completing your first session with a Psychologist is a great way to see if you connect with them, if they’re understanding and validating of your issues and if they’re approach matches what you’re comfortable with. It’s ok to decide after you meet a Psychologist that you don’t want to continue but don’t let this discourage you from continuing to look. Sometimes we need to try a few pairs of shoes before finding the perfect fit.
Access to Treatment
There are multiple ways in which someone can access treatment and these differ by the choice of clinic. It is important to call the clinic you’d like to attend directly to gather accurate information to help you along that journey. If you are contemplating booking an appointment with Self Reflections Psychology, our most common pathways are briefly covered below.
Option 1: Referral with a Mental Health Treatment Plan
What is it?
A Mental Health Treatment Plan (MHTP) is a plan prepared by your General Practitioner (GP) if you have a mental health disorder or mental health issue. The plan is used to identity health care needs and states what you, as well as your doctor, are hoping to achieve through treatment. This plan allows you to rebate a portion of your session cost from Medicare.
Who is eligible?
If you have a mental health disorder or mental health issue that has been diagnosed by a GP, you are eligible for a MHTP. It is important to note that approval of a MHTP is always at the discretion of the GP. We encourage you to further discuss this with your GP to see if you’re eligible and if not, what other options they suggest.
What does a Mental Health Treatment Plan cover?
A MHTP covers treatment for a mental health disorder or mental health issue. In total, you are eligible for up to 10 sessions in each calendar year. Initially, your GP will refer you for 6 sessions then ask to see you for a review of your progress before providing you the further 4. Your Psychologist will let you know when you are due for your review and will update your GP about your progress.
Option 2: Private Health Insurance
If you are unable to obtain a MHTP, or choose not to for any reason, but have Private Health Insurance, you may be eligible for your session to be rebated by your Insurer. Rebates vary depending on your fund and level of cover therefore for further information, you must contact your insurer directly. All of the Self Reflections Psychologists are registered with the Psychologist’s Registration Board and are therefore, approved by Private Health Funds for services provided.
Option 3: No Referral & No Private Health Insurance
If you are unable to obtain a MHTP, choose not to for any reason, or do not have Private Health Insurance, you can still access treatment. Without a referral or private health, a fee will be payable by you at the end of each session. This amount varies clinic to clinic and we encourage you to discuss this further with the clinic of your choosing.
Because Self Reflections wants to ensure anyone who needs treatment is able to access it, we aim to ensure we offer a variety of options in addition to the options listed above as well as ensure our fees are well under industry standards with concession and bulk bill rates available to those in significant financial hardship. Please visit our website to see our current fees and rebates.
How do I book an appointment?
Once you have decided which option is suitable for you and if applicable, completed all required documentation, it is time to book your appointment. At Self Reflections Psychology we take bookings via phone, email and our online booking portal. If you haven’t contacted us directly, our Administrative staff will be in contact with you to confirm the booking and discuss important details of your appointment.
What will happen at my initial appointment?
At your initial appointment with Self Reflections, you can expect to be greeted by our Administrative staff who will ask you to fill in our Client Forms that cover your details, your rights and the policies of our clinic. Our Administrative staff will be able to answer any questions and explain any part of the process you may need clarification of.
Once your paperwork is completed, your Psychologist will invite you into their therapy room in which they will begin the session. Your first session is an assessment. You can expect to discuss your current mental health state, your current circumstances in life as well as your background, family dynamics and personal history. This is a very important step in your treatment as it enables your Psychologist to understand what may be impacting you and allows them to establish a plan for treatment that is suitable for your needs. This is also your chance to see if you connect well with your Psychologist.
Can I continue sessions for as little or as long as I feel is necessary?
Absolutely! Regardless of which option you choose to book under, you are able to continue sessions for as little or as long as you and your Psychologist deem necessary. Your Psychologist will discuss the length of your treatment with you and we encourage you to bring this up if ever you need further clarification.
We encourage clients to continue attending treatment even if they start to feel better. We believe this is a great opportunity to learn to help you prevent getting into the same issues in the future. We also believe that just as you may exercise your body regularly to keep your body healthy, it is also important to exercise your mind to keep your mind healthy.
If you believe treatment may be beneficial for you, Self Reflections Psychology is here for you and would love to meet you to help you transition to a healthier, happier mindset. To book, please call 02 4288 4157 or use our online booking portal.
If there is anything you think was important to add into this weeks’ blog that was not included, or if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, we’d love to hear from you!
Wishing you all a lovely week, from the team at Self Reflections.
This week’s blog was based on information found in the following sources:


Back in January, OPPO launched the R9s smartphone in the Gold and Rose Gold colours. Now, they have finally launched the OPPO R9s Black Edition. What’s really new about it? How much does it cost? Let’s find out!
What Is The OPPO R9s Black Edition?
Basically, it is the OPPO R9s smartphone we previewed earlier, just in a matte black colour.
The OPPO R9s Black Edition Specifications
|Display||5.5" Full HD IPS display
- 1080 x 1920
|Display Protection||Corning Gorilla Glass 5|
|Operating System||Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with ColorOS 3.0|
|System Platform||Qualcomm Snapdragon 625|
|Processor||8 x ARM Cortex A53 cores (2.0 GHz)|
|Graphics Processor||Qualcomm Adreno 506 GPU|
|System Memory||4 GB LPDDR3 memory|
|Storage||64 GB internal flash storage
microSD slot (up to 128 GB)
|Front Camera||16 MP sensor, with f/2.0 lens
- Screen Flash technology
|Rear Camera||16 MP Sony IMX398 sensor, with f/1.7 lens
- dual PDAF technology
|Dual SIM Support||Dual SIM, Dual Standby, with two nano SIM card slots|
|Fingerprint Sensor||Yes, 0.2 second recognition|
|Battery||3010 mAh lithium-ion polymer (Li-Po) battery (non-removable)
- supports VOOC flash charging
|Dimensions||74.3 mm wide x 153 mm tall x 6.58 mm thick|
|Available Colours||Gold / Rose Gold|
|Launch Price||RM 1,798 / ~US$ 399|
Price & Availability[adrotate banner=”4″]
The OPPO R9s Black Edition (Lazada, Amazon) is available right now with a slightly higher price of RM 1,828, RM 30 more than a regular OPPO R9s. Even so, this is about RM 270 / ~US$ 60 cheaper than other countries.
More On The OPPO R9s
For more information on the OPPO R9s, please check out these articles :


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I often try to mimic my crochet and knit designs just for fun. It can be a challenge, but a fun challenge. I find crochet and knit to be like two different languages. They are similar in that they both use yarn and tools, but different in they way they are shaped, written, and created. A popular stitch called the Split Stitch or Waistcoat Stitch is one that can mimic knit quiet well in not only look but also direction of the stitch. Another fun stitch is working stitches in the third loop or back bar of the stitch. In single crochet this gives a horizontal knit look. I decided to combine these two stitches on a hat and the results are fun.
Faux fur pompoms on hats is really in this season! And sometimes hard to find. Or I have a hard time finding just the right one. And not to mention how expensive they can be and I want a lot of them because I want to stick them on everything! You with me?!
Why not spruce up this week by having a fun giveaway!
I love our community of crafters so of course I want to keep everyone inspired and creating!
5 Patterns to 3 Winners!
It’a easy to enter by clicking on the Rafflecopter below:

domain: artistic


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There are many different design trends and styles that people either love or hate. When it comes to designing and decorating a room, it’s hard to please everyone. One look that is increasingly popular in many homes and apartments is having a gallery wall in your space.
A gallery wall is comprised of an assortment of artwork, pictures, or décor objects that are clustered on one wall. A gallery wall is a simple way to give your home a meaningful and personal touch. When it comes to creating your gallery wall, you can go for either a casual or a formal look.
A casual look will include a mix of different colored and sized frames, and the frames will have an organic shape. A formal look typically has frames of the same color and size, and will be of uniform shape.
The pictures can be symmetrical and far apart, or they can be arranged closer together so they appear to be as one.


If you, like us, were utterly confused by the recent e-mail blast ambiguously touting the arrival of Harvard’s “capital campaign” (or CapCam, as we like to call it), have no fear. We’ve read up on all things capital, from Das Kapital to the U.S. Capitol in search of what you need to know to impress even your economics concentrating blockmates. Here are the six things to know about Harvard’s capital campaign.
1. This is Harvard’s largest-ever fundraiser.
Harvard’s last capital campaign, completed in 1999, raised $2.6 billion. Years and a couple presidents later, Harvard’s back and ready to bring in more than double that: the new goal is a cool $6.5 billion—no cheap thrills to be found in Cambridge. Where will it come from? A certain illustrious individual with the initials W.(“B.”)G. was seen on campus promoting the campaign last weekend; however, the capital campaign will not in fact be funded by computer operating system profits. Harvard will be tapping alumni of all stripes willing to contribute funds that will be funneled into expanding the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, increasing the school’s reach via EdX and other initiatives as close as the Allston campus. Financial aid, the humanities, and faculty resources are other realms prioritized by the campaign, which officially breaks down to 45 percent teaching and research, 25 percent financial aid and the “student experience,” 20 percent capital improvements, and 10 percent flexible funding to foster collaborations and initiatives.
2. President Faust challenges Harvard to challenge Harvard.
A key part of the launch of the capital campaign was President Faust’s speech on the subject, entitled “To Seize an Impatient Future.” In it, she enumerated Harvard’s storied past, listing achievements, alumni, and the responsibilities to continue Harvard’s legacy into the future. Rather than providing details, President Faust raised more questions, challenging her audience and the wider Harvard community to consider what we stand for. “What institutional commitments will we make to define who we are and who we will be decades and centuries from now? … What is it that Harvard could be? What will we do to make it so?” she asked. With CapCam’s end-game slated for 2018, it seems that only time will tell.
3. A student center is in the works.
If you’re wondering just how much the “student experience” is worth at Harvard, your answer is, combined with financial aid costs, exactly $1.625 billion, according to a fundraiser breakdown that was released to the Boston Globe last week. Just how that money will be spent is as of yet unclear; rumors of a new student center in Holyoke have been spreading, with confirmation only that a new student center is indeed in the budget, according to a Crimson article published September 13. Undergraduate Council Vice President Jen Q.Y. Zhu ’14, also a co-author of the UC report “The Case for a Harvard Student Center,” wrote in an e-mail that the student center-to-be “will significantly contribute to bringing together the Harvard community. It'll satisfy a need for not only more social space but more and different kinds of social interactions for students on campus.” Here’s hoping she’s right, and that it’s worth the hype, bringing “programming and other things to bring people to this central space for genuine and spontaneous interactions,” as Zhu says.
4. Research is still the priority.
Lest anyone forget that Harvard is a research institution (did you forget?), 45 percent of the money raised will be allocated for teaching and research. While those affiliated with the campaign contend that undergraduate teaching will be improved, most of the statistics released have been research oriented. According to the Boston Globe, the campaign will include “new construction and [renovation of] existing buildings for research facilities, the expansion of current research in fields ranging from the stems cells to the environment,” and the development of a “fledgling program to produce low-cost energy in developing countries.” Despite these ambitious projects, Harvard Provost Alan Garber insisted to the Associated Press that Harvard is “not trying to create another version of MIT.” With such lofty, research-oriented goals for an allocation of $29.25 billion, it is yet to be determined what portion of these funds will be used towards improving undergraduate education.
5. There is no end in sight for housing renovations.
Between the new-old, the old-new and the old-old, housing at Harvard has become even more confusing than usual. So which of the dozen adjacent, identical red-brick buildings do you live in again? Postmodern Quincy? It seems we’ll have to put up with Stone Hall-type nonsense for the foreseeable future, as money raised in the capital campaign will continue to fund House renovations. Who’s next? We’re waiting on the edge of our seats, or should I say bunk beds, Winthrop?
6. We’re almost halfway there.
While $6.5 billion is the official goal of the capital campaign, $2.8 billion has already been raised and some of that has already been spent. This money, raised quietly over the past two years through various gifts and pledges, has purportedly gone towards beginning the 10-year construction plan (1.4 million square feet!) that includes both the renovation of student housing and the expansion of Harvard’s research facilities. Further details on how the money has already been spent, and where the rest will go, have yet to be released, despite multiple interview requests with Campaign associates.


By Brenda Norrell
Photo: Youths of the Peaks
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Defenders of San Francisco Peaks protested outside Flagstaff City Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011. San Francisco Peaks are sacred to 13 area Indian Nations who gather healing plants and conduct ceremonies there.
The Snowbowl ski resort plans to use recycled waste water to make snow for tourists. Already the mountain is being clearcut for new Snowbowl development and the sewage water pipeline.
During this week of action, there have been 17 arrests. One arrest at Friday's protest, six arrests during a peaceful march on Sunday and ten on Monday during a lockdown on Snowbowl Road, where the pipeline is going in.
During Sunday's arrest, marchers said organizers were targeted by Flagstaff police and dragged into the street and arrested.


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One random evening, Macaroni and Cheese asked the boyfriend and I to try Passion8 Cafe! We have driven by it before and I’ve seen good reviews online, so off we went!
Passion8 is most popular for their Korean milk shaved ice, aka bingsoo. It is essentially a mixture of ice and milk shaved in paper thin sheets.
They also have cakes, cafe drinks, and toast boxes, but it seemed like the bingsoo was the most popular among customers that night. It was also pretty busy but we got there minutes before a line started, yay!
Strawberry blossom bowl, $14.00: The boyfriend and I went with the strawberry, and it did not disappoint. The milk shaved ice was refreshing, light, and slightly sweet. It would probably be too bland by itself though. It came with a generous portion of sliced strawberries, a scoop of chocolate (your choice of choco or vanilla) ice cream, and some cheesecake bites.
We really enjoyed it and did not leave feeling disgustingly full because it is such a light dessert.
Mango bongo single, $11.00: Macaroni and Cheese had a large dinner, so they decided to just share a single. It came with fresh mango cubes, cheesecake, and a scoop of ice cream as well. The mango was fresh and ripe, just like our strawberries. They had no complaints about it as well.
I’m really glad that they suggested this place because we really enjoyed it here. I would love to come back if I’m craving some bingsoo!

domain: food


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There's a number of hemp protein powders hitting the shelves. Some have a hard time dissolving, leaving your mouth feeling gritty.
Now is the time to lose the grit and explore your options.
Our Organic Hemp Protein Powder is 70 percent protein. That's an outstanding 21g of protein per 30g scoop!!! and it's Organic!
We carefully mill our organic hemp seed into a fine powder that completely dissolves leaving your creations grit-free. The difference with hemp protein compared to others is that it is easily digestible ensuring your body is fuelled quickly. Contributing to the maintenance of muscle mass and normal bones.
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domain: health


The sports world has been stunned by the apparent drowning death of former NFL quarterback Ryan Mallet. Officials say the 35 year old was in a group of swimmers who got caught in a riptide yesterday on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Mallet was drafted by the New England Patriots back in 2011. He spent five years in the league, also playing for Baltimore and Houston before becoming a high school football coach.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick released a statement saying in part I am extremely saddened by Ryan’s tragic passing. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and the many people whose lives he touched.


A Christian group prosecuted under an Australian state's new religious hatred law told a court Islam is an illegal religion because it preaches violence against Christians and Jews.
Turning the tables on its accuser, defenders of Catch the Fire Ministries argued in court that Christianity in Australia has special protection under the constitution, reported The Age daily newspaper of Melbourne.
Lawyer David Perkins told a civil tribunal if the state of Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act of 2001 curbs the teaching of Christian doctrine it is invalid. He further claimed Australia's blasphemy law was intended to protect only Christianity.
The law refers to "lawful religion," which disqualifies Islam, because it preaches violence, Perkins emphasized.
"The Quran contradicts Christian doctrine in a number of places and, under the blasphemy law, is therefore illegal," he said.
The case began two months after the tolerance act became law in January 2002 when Islamic-studies scholar Daniel Scot conducted a seminar in Melbourne on Islam, sponsored by Catch the Fire Ministries.
Transcripts show Scot, born in Pakistan, was quoting verses from the Quran to make his points, but three Australian converts to Islam who attended part of the seminar brought their notes to the Islamic Council of Victoria.
The Islamic Council made a formal complaint of vilification against Scot and Catch the Fire Ministries pastor Danny Nalliah.
Perkins asserted the reference in Australia's constitution to the people "humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God" referred to Christianity only. Australia's blasphemy law takes precedence over the state act, he argued.
He pointed to the Choudhury case in England, involving Salman Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses," which held the blasphemy law protected only Christianity, not Islam.
Judge Michael Higgins, however, said a motion claiming the seminar was exempt as a religious activity would fail, prompting Perkins to withdraw it.
The law is not based on the intent of the accused but rather on how their actions or words affected the hearers. Higgins said after hearing a tape of the seminar it was "strongly open" that it breached the act.
Higgins said the seminar described the attitudes of a small group of fundamentalist Muslims who "lack association with those Muslim people who live and work peacefully in this community."


The Metro Vancouver Board meeting on March 15, 2013, covered some important topics around transportation, finance, and development throughout the region. We post this here, for the record, and may add to it at a later date.
From the agenda
3.2 Memorandum of Understanding between Metro Vancouver and TransLink on the Regional Transportation Strategy
That the Board endorse the proposed Memorandum of Understanding enclosed in
the report dated February 9, 2013, titled, “Memorandum of Understanding between
Metro Vancouver and TransLink on the Regional Transportation Strategy.
3.3 TransLink Draft Supplemental Plan to the 2013 Base Plan and Outlook
That the Board advise the TransLink Board and Mayors’ Council on Regional
Transportation that the Draft Supplemental Plan is acceptable in consideration of
the removal of the property tax as a funding source.
MetroVanWatch note: Anyone interested should download the proposed MOU between Metro and TransLink, at the link provided above, at page 51 of 123. It appears that the proposed MOU eliminates property taxes as a revenue source for TransLink, but it includes the capture of land lift under the “Hong Kong model,” which uses increased land values to fund transportation — a system we feel is problematic for many reasons.
The Mayors’ Council put forward recommendations on both short and long terms financing options, in part to offset the time-limited property tax, to the Province in early February 2013 (Attachment 3). Short-term recommendations included a minor sales tax of 0.5%, a vehicle registration fee / levy, regional carbon tax revenues and capturing the uplift on land values adjacent to transit. Long term financing solutions presented focused on planning and implementing a road pricing system for the region. With no solution confirmed by the end of February, TransLink has issued the Supplemental Plan to remove the time-limited property tax.


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Loud exhausts are a frequent complaint I get from residents (aside from speeding in town) asking us to have the OPP conduct enforcement on vehicles that disturb neighbourhoods and cause windows to shake, car alarms to go off, dogs to bark and babies to wake etc.
At our last police board meeting I asked the OPP to consider enforcement in our area like we read about them doing in Orillia and other areas. It’s important to understand that we can’t direct the OPP to do anything. Furthermore, even the detachment commander cannot direct his officers to lay charges. Officers all have their own discretion when dealing with any traffic stops and whether someone gets a warning or a ticket.
That being said, he was receptive to the request and advised that we may see some extra enforcement around “unnecessary noise” (a Highway Traffic Act offence under section 75(4) that is quite subjective) from vehicles and a reminder that even though you can hear them, don’t assume the police will too… call in any details about the vehicle such as licence plate, driver, make/model, originating address etc. Police may find other issues when they stop the car such as a driver with a suspended license, no insurance, unpaid fines, alcohol or drugs or other criminal code offences. Your tip for a loud car may have them stopping a drug smuggler or someone wanted on a warrant. You’re be surprised at how often criminals draw attention to themselves by speeding or other driving offences.
I will post the video of our latest police service board meeting to this article once it is up on our YouTube channel.
All motor vehicles and motor assisted bicycles are required to have a proper muffler in good working order and shall not use a muffler cut-out, straight exhaust, gutted muffler, Hollywood muffler, by-pass or similar device in accordance with the HTA s. 75.https://www.orilliamatters.com/police-beat/orillia-opp-to-target-excessively-loud-mufflers-in-august-7382944
Local news coverage of what we can hope for in Midland, based on what the OPP has done elsewhere:

domain: law


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Grassroots Community Peacebuilding in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Identifying Local Perceptions of the Causes of and Means of Preventing Interpersonal Violence
AuthorRoss, Nancy M.
The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
InstitutionUniversity of Bradford
DepartmentDepartment of Peace Studies

domain: geography


This instructional guitar video plays 11 major scales, note by note, with sound so you know what they look like on the guitar. Each scale section shows fret positions, key signature, tab and musical notation. You can use this with the "How To Build Guitar Chords" video as an aid to constructing chords in different keys. Learn about guitar scales by watching this music tutorial video and improve your guitar playing skills!
Have an iPhone? Check out all 200+ new features coming in iOS 13.


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Our favourite Dutch house imprint Heist Recordings is entering the sunny season with a super fresh and, quite frankly, long-anticipated release from one of the most creative rising stars of the past year. After an infectious mix of disco and detroit on Moodyman's Mahogani Music from last July followed by a sultry fusion of african and italo vibes on Sol Power Sound later that year and a quick remix action on Strictly Rhythm, the Israeli Obas Nenor finally catches Europe's interest with his weird and groovy MPC mashups. Together with Eyal Rob, Ronen landed a couple of heavy disco edits on the venerable Whiskey Disco under the RaBo & SnoB moniker and starting with this spring he even launched his very own and personal Nenorion Music.
And now it's time for Obas to put a well-suited floral shirt and straw hat vibes into our anxious hearts and sun scorched feet. 'The Ceaper Buing EP' features 4 original cuts and a remix by Swedish Mr. Tophat that take us through rich landscapes of sounds and emotions. From the groovy looped deep house shenanigans of 'The Door' to the vocal funked up distortions of 'Glipmse of Light' to the happy peak house hands waving times of 'UV Lights', to the stepped-down narcotic tribal synth affair of 'Wakee' and even to the demented minimalistic tech trip of Mr. Tophat's remix for 'The Door', the 18th Heist release by Obas Nenor is a veritable tour de force, a showcase of a rising talent and purveyor of all sounds sublime.


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Northrop Grumman profit down in 2Q, guidance up
Northrop Grumman Corp., encouraged by an increase in its backlog, raised its earnings guidance for the year despite posting lower net earnings in the second quarter.
Northrop Grumman said Wednesday that it earned $480 million, or $1.88 per share, in the second quarter, down from $520 million, or $1.81 per share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue in the quarter declined to $6.27 billion from $6.56 billion the year before. But CEO Wes Bush was more impressed with Northrop Grumman's development of future business. The company's total backlog of business increased to $41.5 billion.
"We're especially pleased with this quarter's robust level of new business capture, the increase in total backlog, and our strong cash generation. Based on the strength of our year-to-date results, we are again increasing our earnings guidance to a range of $7.05 to $7.25 per share," Bush said.
The company's prior guidance had been for earnings in a range of $6.70 to $6.95 per share.
Falls Church, Va.-based Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) is one of the largest employers in the Baltimore area, where it has 8,000 employees.
Tucker Echols covers general assignment and provides business coverage for WTOP.
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Manager New York Life | Opportunities in the Baltimore, Maryland Area
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domain: news


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This reaction yields a low-soluble double salt of calcium hydronitroaluminate with an increase in pH of the pore fluid. The stability of reaction (4) is insured by an almost simultaneous reaction of sodium sulfate. The consumption of starting components for another reaction (5) result in their shortage and in a one-way character of dissociation:
Therefore, if such an electrolyte is added at a concentration that insures a change in solubility of mineral binders without reacting with them, with a subsequent formation of hardly soluble complex compounds - calcium hydrosulfoaluminate, calcium hydrosulfoferrite, calcium chloroaluminate and tricalcium chloroaluminate - from the resulting solution, the overall volume of the crystalline component of the structure increases all at once in parallel with normal concrete cure. Moreover, a protracted reaction allows the ion force of free water (which later is the pore fluid) so as to form saturated solutions and to form additional double hydrate salts.
Calcium-containing electrolytes accelerate hydration and hardening of silicate phases of cement owing to a higher probability of formation of three-dimensional germs of a new phase. These electrolytes also disperse the products of hydration through dissociation with anion-kation groups:
+ + + --
Ca(OH)2 + Na2CO3→ CaCO3 2Na 2OH (6)
The above-described processes insure a high hardening rate and a fast rise of strength of the protective layer by a better use of the potential of allite 3CaO SiO2 C3 S. Chloride ions that are still in the liquid phase are products of displacement. They form solvation shells at the boundaries of cation fields thereby preventing free calcium from leaving the structure-forming reactions. At the same time, nitrate and ferrite ions accumulate in the free water polarized with chlorine ions to form solutions of increasing ion strength. These solutions will, in turn, accelerate hydration of allite. The manifest relay-like character of these processes allows allite to develop to a greater extent into a symmetrical three-dimensional conglomeration with isotropic properties.
The above-described processes insure the adhesion of the protective layer to the surface of concrete, the protection of reinforcement against corrosion, density and low permeability of structure to a depth of penetration of electrolyte into the body of concrete being protected.
KALMATRON® KF-B IS A REMEDIAL PROTECTIVE COMPOSITION
Dr. Alex Rusinoff, Ph.D,S.P.
KALMATRON® KF-B protective composition is designed in 1982 to 1994 for the restoration of strength, impermeability and corrosion resistance properties of any cementitious structure. The product is patented in the USA under the #5,728,428
Maintenance and restoration of concrete structures is a new field in the concrete science. It is almost a medical type of problem of structure regeneration that is emerging at the interface of physics and chemistry. It is the stage at which first hypotheses, practical solutions and numerous discrepancies in the understanding of the same uncontrollable processes of concrete maturing and aging would come to life. And no sooner the scientists had managed to find the next “philosopher’s stone” than it became clear that it could help in redefining the problems and were only good for a given application [1; 5].
This paper is not an exception. KALMATRON® KF-B developed within the range of capabilities inherent in its formulation. The gist of this formulation is a simple relay sequence of reactions of cement stone phase shift: penetrating the old concrete, dissolving all that can be dissolved to any possible extent, spreading out within concrete voids, and hardening as one solid. And this is the real distinction from other products, even they have claim the same brand and properties.
It is known  that concrete does not have enough time to achieve complete maturing of its structure. This time is available during the relay sequence reactions, beginning with cement hydration. Restoration of concrete is based on dissolution of starting meta-stable binders. The rate and extent of dissolution depend on energy performance of a solvent and degree of breakage of bonds between the binder and aggregate.
Dissolution products form supersaturated solutions from which more thermodynamically stable new hydrate formations are built. These new hydrate formations are characterized by a lower solubility, greater surface area and higher density . It is clear that it is not possible to provide a universal protective composition because concrete would have an unpredictable degree of wear depending on its initial properties, operating conditions and age by the moment the repair has to be performed. Since it does not seem possible to estimate with a statistic confidence even the ratio between crystalline and amorphous phases in cement stone of real structure, one cannot provide a calculation theory to estimate the overhaul interval with a fair degree of probability for non-cyclic processes [1;4].
Requirements Imposed Upon Protective Cover Compositions
1. Compatibility with the material of a structure to be protected. The composition should become property of the
material and cannot depend on its initial characteristics.
2. Functional permeability to assure moisture and temperature equilibrium between concrete or mortar of the
structure and the ambient environment, while providing a structural barrier against corrosive media.
3. Uniform distribution of properties of a protective composition over the area or body of a structure to be protected.
Impermeability and Resistance of KALMATRON KF-B to any Aggressive Media
The concept of impermeability of capillary and porous bodies is normally associated with the maximum possible pore filling both on the surface side (daubing and adhesive proofing) and within the pore system (guniting and filling composition). However, with the complete insulation of the capillary and porous system, the values of osmotic and crystallization pressures (7) that are as high as 2·107 N/m2 (200 Atm) in concrete containing structural moisture may cause catastrophic consequences if concrete voids are not open into atmosphere.
The same applies to the filling methods if the compositions used for filling harden at once as is the case of gypsum compositions or silica. For this reason, the time and depth of concrete structure penetration with KALMATRON® KF-B are so important.
The effect of osmotic pressure during diffusion of dissociating salts in cement stone described in the general form by Vant Hoff equation for osmosis (11).
P = n / w · R T ln | Va / Vb | ln | Ca / Cb | ln | T | = μ ln | Va / Vb | ln | Ca / Cb ln | t |; (7)
n- is the number of moles of insoluble salts;
w- is the solvent volume;
μ - is the chemical potential
R - is the universal gas constant;
Va / Vb - is the rate of initial to final water content
T- is the ambient temperature;
Ca / Cb - is the ratio of initial to final solution concentration.
Elementary unit of concrete volume with self tensions created by osmotic 3 D- forces:
Px = m ln|Vh/Vf| ln|C1/C2|ln|t| = 0, wherein C1=C2; (8)
P y = m l n | Vh / Vf | ln | C1 / C2 | ln | t | < 0; since C1 < C2; (9)
P z = m ln |Vh / Vf | ln | C1 / C2 | ln | t | > 0, because C1> C2. (10)
Therefore, the possibility of separation of the solution according to areas of molecular penetration (for water and weak solutions) and for ion penetration assures a deep penetration of concrete structure with KALMATRON® KF-B. For concrete with a density below of 2200 Kg/m3 the penetration depth is at least 150 mm, and it ranges from 10mm to 50mm for concrete with density of up to 2400 Kg/m3. This effect allows the conventional preparation of structures, involving cleaning up to a structurally perfect depth, to be dispensed with. It only takes to wet the surface with water.
KALMATRON® KF-B solution diffuses with the inter-structural water, which is a diamagnetic fluid, will loose the dipolar orientation of molecules as a consequence of dissociation of charges of opposite polarity. In other words, the diamagnetic elasticity of water disappears. This will result in a weakening of the water thrust effect upon the pore and capillary walls (the electrolytic relaxation of the cement stone structure), and concentration of the solutions will rapidly come to an equilibrium. Strength “decreases” during tests, and permeability of concrete remains unchanged since pores are not yet filled with new formations, and the reaction pressure in the pores is equal to zero:
Pxyz = m ln|Vh/Vf| ln|C1/C2|ln|t| = 0, wherein C1=C2 (11)
“Negative” strength values in 28-day tests are, therefore, no more than a part of the process during which the actual concrete strength is gained. Further observations show a 25% to 30% strength increase. During diffusion the salts are accumulated in gel pores, concentration of structure solutions C2 increases to cause an osmotic
compression of the structure with a negative pressure Pk. In this case, permeability and “strength” are improved since the reactive pressure on the pore walls is negative:
Pxyz = m l n | Vh / Vf | ln | C1 / C2 | ln | t | < 0; since C1 < C2 (12)
Concentration is leveled out to the state (12) in area 3 where an active recrystallizing takes place, but dissolution of unstable phases including poorly soluble salts concurrently occurs as follows:
Am Bn ↔ mA + nB (13)
From this moment, when kation A has been replaced by kation B, the dissolution of the initial binder is completed, to cause an increase in concentration of the initial solution C1, and the osmotic pressure will then develop tensile stress in cement stone structure to result in a material “strength increase” of up to 50% and a decrease in permeability, because the density of pore filling also becomes greater:
Pj = m ln |Vh / Vf | ln | C1 / C2 | ln | t | > 0, because C1> C2 (14)
The most dangerous are apparently the boundaries between the areas that are subjected to the effect of tensile forces from mutually opposed reaction forces. It is for this reason that the use of unbalanced compositions to improve concrete permeability results in destruction in 3 to 5 years. Similar to high-density insulating layers, they are also dangerous from the point of view of reliability because of the uncontrollable effect of ambient temperature. The exponentially expressed temperature ln | t | in (14) will sway the structure season by season to a sudden collapse.
Stability of concrete characteristics is due to an unstable equilibrium of mutually strained phases of cement stone. For this reason, short-term data on an increase in strength of immature structures obtained in testing concrete with any additives cannot be relied upon because the force the osmotic and crystallization pressures have opposite effect during different periods that depends on hygrothermal equilibrium with the ambient environment. A weak correlation between strength and permeability of concrete, as shown above, facilitates operations aimed at reducing permeability.
The problem is to estimate the difference between osmotic pressure values at the phase boundaries and rates of formation of crystal areas in concrete(Fig. 5). This is accomplished by oversizing the volume of the gel component of cement stone with ions of strong electrolytes that decoagulate the gel so as to create the sieve effect for ion and molecular solutions.
Impermeability to liquids with high parting surface such as alkalis, acids and oil products can be assured either by presence of gases in the capillary and porous system of concrete (Jamen’s effect) or by making the liquid surface area comparable with the total surface area of the whole system. Therefore, the type of a new formation crystal in the concrete pores is more important, and the degree of density of pore filling is not so critical, because the wetting surface area has a stronger effect that the extent to which pores are filled.
Formation of calcium hydroxochloroaluminate (acicular crystal hydrates) and sodium hedroxocholoro-aluminates (laminar crystal hydrates). The development of these crystals along the optical axis within concrete pores is not possible because their strength is low at the maturing stage, and they are either broken down at the contact with the pore walls or change the direction of growth which is important for durability and safety of the restored structure.
It has been shown in the crystallization theory that the rate of formation of crystal nuclei within a unit of volume depends on the degree of oversaturation C1/C2. At the same time, it also depends to a no lesser extent on the specific interphase energy m that is defined by the chemical potential (16) of the entire thermodynamic system:
μ = n / w·RT ln | Vh / Vf | < 0; Vh << Vf, (15)
the value of which is fairly controlled by the quantity of moles of dissolved electrolyte salts n and the volume of pore moisture Vh. By putting (15) to (14), the value of stresses built up by the osmotic pressure and crystal nuclei obtained from dissolved products of the clinker in the old cement stone can be easily estimated. The comparison of calculations with the experimental data showed a narrow area of admissible ion force values for concrete and allowed a correlation to be established between the chemical potential of an aqueous solution of the protective composition and permeability of concrete.
KALMATRON® KF-B proved as the most reliable in making concrete less pervious when the concrete has either a poor development of the pore structure or defects of load, corrosion or temperature and shrinkage origin. It should be noted that, since this composition has a high concrete penetration capability, the integrity of the cover layer is not an imperative, which is important especially for structures in which the surface is exposed to destructive mechanical or hydraulic factors.
After integration of (16) for two variables μ1 to μ2 and s1 to s2:
6. G. VERBECK, Cement hydration reactions at early ages, J.Portl.Cem. Assoc.Research and Development
7. A.RUSINOFF, The phenomena of osmotic oscillator by absorption of the atmospheric salt solutions by surface
layers of exterior building walls. Collection of scientific works. Khabarovsk Railway Engineering Institute, Russia, pp. 59-63, (1988).
8. A.RUSINOFF, Exterior Walls In Extreme Climates, Protection of concrete, Conference of Dundee, Scotland, UK, p.p. 541-547 (11-13 September, 1990).
How KALMATRON KF-B works
When KALMATRON® KF-B is mixed with water and applied to a surface of concrete being protected, a number of consecutive and simultaneous reactions take place between the components of the composition and between them and cement components as follows:
1.CaO + H2O → Ca(OH)2
2.Ca(OH)2 + CaCl2→↓ Ca(OH)Cl2 + CaOH
3.Ca(OH)2 + NaNO3→↓ Ca(OH)NO3 + NaOH(1)
4.Ca(OH)2 + Fe2SO4→↓CaSO4 + 2FeOH
5.Ca(OH)2 + K2CO3→↓ CaCO3 + 2KOH
Free calcium oxide of cement forms calcium hydroxide when mixed with water (1.1). Calcium hydroxide then takes part in exchange reactions with sodium nitrate and calcium carbonate and sulfate and with calcium chloride of the protective composition to form low-soluble and hardly-soluble acicular crystals of hydroxonitrates Ca(OH)NO3 (1.3) that will continue to grow well after completion of structure forming of cement stone by using free pore water and Ca ions released from cement stone gel. These crystals have a micro-reinforcing effect on segregation within voids under the effect of temperature, shrinkage and corrosion. Therefore, a primary structure reinforcement framework is formed within the protective layer as early as at the setting stage. This framework is built up in the direction of mass transfer of a diffusion flow, i. e., in the direction deep into the pore system of the body of concrete being protected.
Hardly soluble double salts of calcium sulfoaluminate 3CaAl2O3CaSO4·31H20 are crystallized at the same stage. The crystals are in the form of hexagonal syngonite-like structures or a package of parallel laminae with interstices filled with intercrystalline solutions. The density, volume and strength of the entire package depends on density of such solutions. When moisture gets into the interstices from the ambient medium, the solutions are diluted, and the package volume increases. Given the conditions in the pore space of concrete, this is the explanation of an exponential decrease in permeability with time during tests. If temperature decreases, the intercrystalline solutions break into crystalline hydrates and solutions of residual concentration. The volume of the interstices decreases, and density and strength of structure as a whole increase to ensure a high frost resistance.
During a further maturing stage, low-soluble double salts of calcium nitrochloroaluminate 2CaOAl2O3Ca(OH)Cl2·10H2O and nitrochloroferrite 2CaOFe2O3Ca(OH)Cl210H2O are formed on the primary framework in the form of the same hexagonal syngonite-like structures. However, concentration of intercrystalline solutions is so high that their density does not almost change with an inflow of moisture from outside. High level of molecular bonds is explained by the effect of chlorine ions upon dipolar water molecules. This phenomena is similar to the case where water is magnetically treated before mixing concrete to improve concrete strength.
Adding chlorine ions to the compounds dissolved in water has a polarizing effect on dipolar water molecules to lower the level of molecular bonds of water. Owing to weak bonds in the presence of calcium hydroxide, an alkali group is released into the water to protect calcium against dissolution at the maturing stage:
Tricalciumalumochloride formed as a result of reaction (3) forms hardly soluble solid phases when water is released for simultaneous hydration reactions. The alkali and the internal pore moisture form solutions inhibiting metal corrosion that also have a low eutectic temperature of -126°F (-70°C) at the stage of a stable phase condition of cement stone.
Removed 3 mm of KF-B layer
20 mm of KF-B penetration
Figure 1. The cylindrical core concrete specimen with removed 3 mm of KF-B layer on a top. Seen 20 mm of darker zone of regenerated concrete as a result of KF-B penetration.
Figure 2. The fragment of regenerated concrete structure as a result
of KF-B penetration wherein:
A - Dissolution of unhydrated cement grains at the 7-th day
after KF-B applied.
B - Sewing effect is detected by melted-like crak adges.
When the solutions precipitate to the pore walls, acicular crystals of calcium hydrochloroaluminate and laminar sodium hydroaluminate crystals are formed. The development of these crystals along the optical axis results in micro-cavity edges growing together. This is a so-called “self-healing” of defects in the concrete structure (Figure 2 )
Figure 3. Studying cracks into concrete specimen after thermical chock. The compressive strength is fallacy high, but imperme-ability degrading very fast. X60
Figure 4. Early stage of KF-B healing characterized by rounded, or like melted looking shapes. The compressive strength is not been changed on this stage, but impermeability is higher by 2 times. X60
Figure 5. Later stage of KF-B healing with melted looking crystalline new-growths "A" and opened shells of regenerated cement grains "B". Compressive strength, density, and impermeability are highly performed after 14 to 28 days. X600
Figure 6. Later stage of boundary crack healing by KF-B. The resistance to rupture, density, and impermeability are highly performed after 3 to 7 days.
X60 - X600
Figure 7. Cylindrical mold-holder with mechanical indicator of deformations for evaluation of osmotic-crystal pressure into the concrete structure. The maximum osmotic-crystal pressure was 6 MPa, which might be compared with rupture strength of tested concrete is 3.5 MPa.
Figure 9. Evaluation of concrete crepe as an indication of stability of concrete characteristics under salt condition. Demonstrates the fallacy high compres-sive strength during of concrete deterio-ration, which explains the reason of sudden collapse of massive structures.
Figure 8. Rusinoff's Osmotic Oscillator station is used for evaluation of osmotic pressures during of salt solution penetration through the cement plate.
Studied the principal of concrete collapse under cycling deformations of osmotic diffusion into cementitious matrix.
Figure 10. Cylindrical concrete specimens with mechanical indicators of deformations for evaluation of osmotic-crystal pressure into the concrete structure and distribution of inter-porous solutions. The results of this 2 years experiments approved effectiveness of KF-B application and gave correct vision on a concrete durability problem.
The present review of capabilities of KALMATRON® KF-B protective composition reflects physical concepts of repair and restoration of concrete that require a certain generalization. The experience of structure protection has been unique so far because of the lack of a systemic approach to the development of this field . The same problem exists when making choice among protective compositions for which the field of application is determined based upon the results of standard laboratory tests or by making a comparative analysis of properties of several compositions.
At the same time, this is also inadequate since an acceptable choice has to rely upon actual condition of a structure that can be assessed by examining for wear and reparability. However, the most important point resides in the fact that, in spite of the existent prejudices in the construction industry based on belief in perpetual properties of concrete, the law of energy conservation is also true in this case:
1. An increase in durability of restored concrete structures can only be assessed at the time of a specified overhaul period. Similar to any heterogeneous body, concrete
repels foreign inclusions. This is especially true of polymer reinforced concrete, fiber reinforced concrete and concrete with any insulating coating and non-zeolite additives.
2. An increase in compression, flexural and tensile strength caused by the use of any composites in concrete mix occurs only during cement stone equilibrium phases. This equilibrium can only be disrupted by a change in ambient temperature, humidity or dynamic load.
3. Lower permeability comparable with durability of concrete can be achieved if a maximum possible wetting surface is available within the structure. An excessive pore filling can result in high pressure within the structure and early decay of the structure.
4. Various generalizing concepts and assumptions of the theory of concrete strength are based on a fair and long-term statistics of tests and observations. However, in the development of theoretical support for durability and restoration of properties of concrete, an almost biological model of its behavior is emerging, especially taking into account the environment involving half-permeable membrane shells , independent electroosmotic processes , diffusive catalysis , regeneration and association of elements, and elementary and microscopic new formations that are analogous to processes occurring in an organic cell.
The difference is in a very low rate of change. This is the only reason why the mechanical application of concepts of the theory of strength to the problem of concrete durability leads to a dead end, with random results and fragmentary vision of the processes.
The provision of KALMATRON® KF-B composition and related processes represents a practical trend toward restoration of old concrete that has been practically implemented to the largest extent. It is obvious that the capabilities of this composition are limited by reparability of concrete, and the composition cannot bring solution to all problems of maintenance and restoration of concrete.
At the same time, practical results support the advantages of this development beyond any doubts with an outlook to its further adjustments to the industry requests.
Figure 11. Concrete toroid specimens in the 2-point holders for monitoring of phases transformation, self-healing, sorption and exothermic distribution, and speed of aging under different aggressive liquids.
Figure 12. Closed voids created by gases during the dough phase.
Figure 13. Fresh KF-B paste bordered with concrete structure. X60
Figure 14. Diffusional boundary between KF-B paste and concrete structure at the age of 7 days magnified by X600.
Figure 15. The same diffusional boundary between KF-B paste and concrete structure at the age of 7 days magnified by X60.
Figure 16. Complete recrystallization of diffusional boundary between KF-B paste and concrete structure at the age of 14 days magnified by X600.
Figure 17. Crystallized micro voids of concrete structure by KF-B new growths at the age of 14 days. X60.
Figure 18. The same crystallized micro voids of concrete structure by KF-B new growths at the age of 28 days. X60.
Uniformity of KALMATRON® properties to Concrete
Figure 11.a. Concrete toroid specimens in the 2-point holders for monitoring of phases transformation, self-healing, sorption and exothermic distribution, and speed of aging under different aggressive liquids and different levels of concrete sorption ability.
Isotropy of concrete is not possible because dehydration is accompanied by decomposition of structure from the interior toward the outer surface over the phase spectrum from solid to gases during the whole structure operation time. Therefore, the destruction occurs in a kind of a layer by layer fashion, moving inwardly from the surface.
This phenomenon, which is rather unusual for concrete, allows scientists to develop various facilitated restoration methods. For the rest, the dependence of concrete on ambient conditions and on the level and nature of load does not leave any room for doubt about usefulness of the generally adopted concepts and assumptions.
Any rheologic characteristic can be used as the parametric measure of uniformity, but the most convenient property for the practical use is density of concrete. Equation (16) gives a general idea of the parametric dependence of density on processes of natural maturing or forced post-maturing of structure:
Dt = - μ/ s • Ln|C1/C2| • Ln|T|; (16)
Dt - is the density of structure vs. time (kg/cm3);
μ- is the chemical potential of an aqueous solution of chemical additive (J);
s - is the stresses created by surface tension forces within concrete mix or by crystalline new formations within concrete
C1- is quantity of a binder in concrete mix (kg/kg); C2- is the concentration of chemical additive in concrete (kg/kg);
T- is the ambient temperature (Kelvin).
With a decrease in water residue Vh, films of hydration products begin to appear around binder grains. These film-forming compounds in cement are calcium hydrosulfoaluminate and calcium hydrosilicate.
The formation of shells of very fine hydrated products is the primary reason for the leveling out of hydration rate. According to (18), the volume of hydrated product is greater than the volume of an equivalent amount of the starting product, and stresses are built up within the resulting shell around the grains so as to cause a partial destruction of the grains. This results in shrinkage of cement stone. Water gets into the interior or damaged shells to dissolve non-hydrated binder and to form new crystalline bonds between the particles and new crystalline films around non-hydrated binder. This process can be traced owing to a triggering mechanism of stress relaxation.
Therefore, the shrinkage as variation of cement stone dimensions is the result of a consecutive effect of two processes: crystallization of new formations that leads to a periodic change in volume and a process of destruction of crystalline contacts and films that results in a periodic decrease in volume or shrinkage.
It is not possible to level out the rate of hydration, i. e., to retain monotony of equation (18) since the initial ion force of a liquid solution will always be stronger than the ion force of phase products which, according to (18), is the cause of appearance of interstructural “negative) density such as cracks, cavities and separation:
m1 > m2→ -- D; (19)
It follows from (17) that a linear increase in density can be achieved by a simultaneous increase in the ion force of the solution m and a decrease in surface tension forces s. However, this is a philosophical problem of the cause and consequence, rather than a practical problem of the physics of solid. It follows from (17) and (18):
ln | d | = - 2• D / (m²2 - m²1 )• E • ln | C2 / C1 | • ln | T |, (20)
which dictates the aim of achieving weak shrinkage deformations through an increase in the crystallizing component over the phase spectrum of the concrete structure. This is accomplished through an increase in structural density D of concrete owing to the completeness of the hydration reaction. This equation is true in practice for high aluminate cements with a perfect fineness of grinding of maximum 0.5 to 0.09 Å.
For medium and low aluminate cements and for coarsely ground cements, various laboratory-obtained correction factors have to be used which is often impractical.
To summarize, the problem resides in the rate and completeness of cement grain hydration. Equations (1) through (4) describe dissociation reactions weakening the bonds in primary colloids of potassium and sodium hydro- chloro-aluminate. This allows water influx through hydrate films to non-reacted grains of cement to be prolonged so as to result in the hydration volume being increased by 20% to 30%. Shrinkage is reduced to a similar degree in comparison with conventional concrete.

domain: chemistry


text:
I’m always encouraging gardeners to learn the “why do” behind the “how to,” because I believe gaining that understanding makes us better at what we do, and to help me do that this week, I’m welcoming back to the podcast Robert Pavlis, a garden myth buster who can break down the plant science behind good […]
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domain: agronomy


text:
Dog leash Hot Dog
cm / ref. 24032
Balvi Dog leash Hot Dog With plastic sausages Plastic/metal 108 cmFun design
- Fun design. Take a walk with your dog will be funnier than ever with this fun and original strap.
- VERY COMFORTABLE. The handle strap is coated with transparent rubber, very comfortable.
- HOOK. With a rotating metal carabiner, tough and secure closure.
- Dimensions: 3x10x108 cm Material: plastic/metal

domain: pet


Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa takes over as the Chief of Air Staff, in New Delhi on December 31, 2016.
NEW DELHI, August 3:
The Rafale aircraft will give India a strategic advantage in case of any aerial combat with China in the mountainous Tibet region as the fleet will be able to use the terrain to its advantage, destroy enemy air defence and incapacitate the surface-to-air missiles, former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal (retd) B S Dhanoa said on Sunday.
Dhanoa, known as the architect of the Balakot strikes, said the Rafale jets along with S-400 missile systems will give the Indian Air Force a major combat edge in the entire region and that India’s adversaries will think twice before starting a war with it.


For one fighter, the wait has dragged on for almost a year. For the other, it’s lasted a lifetime.
The world of mixed martial arts will turn its attention to Bangkok on Saturday night when the sport’s youngest-ever world champion, Angela Lee of Hawaii, puts her ONE atomweight world championship belt on the line against Taiwan’s unheralded Jenny Huang.
“I just can’t wait,” Lee said at the face off on Thursday night at the luxury Banyan spa-hotel in the Thai capital. “It’s been a while out of the cage for me so I’m bringing in a different sense of enthusiasm. It’s going to be intense, that’s all I have to say.”
The 20-year-old Lee has not been seen inside the cage since she won the belt in an all-out war against the Japanese veteran Mei Yamaguchi last May. She was 19, and she made history by lifting the title. In the months since, Lee’s star has continued to rise, despite the fact that she’s not had another fight.
With the sport on the rise across the region, Lee has been placed at the forefront of ONE Championship’s promotions, picking up the commercial opportunities that come with a champion’s territory.
Lee said she that while she had welcomed all the attention it was now time to get on with what she does best – fighting inside a cage.
“A lot of fighters lose their edge when they start to think that it’s easy being champion,” said Lee. “Keeping the belt is a lot harder than winning it the first time around,” said Lee. “I won’t take any opponent for granted, especially not someone as talented as Jenny Huang. I still have much to do in the sport of mixed martial arts and I’m going to kick off the next chapter of my career against one of the top contenders.”
Lee has been tucked away for the past few weeks, back home in Hawaii under the watchful gaze of her coach and father Ken, and Christian – brother, sparring partner, fellow pro fighter and “bestie.” The time out has clearly done her good: she arrived in Bangkok to headline the nine-fight ONE: Warrior Kingdom card looking fine-tuned and relaxed.
“It’s this kind of dual life that I am living,” said Lee. “It’s cool that I can just go back home. Everyone in Hawaii is not star-struck by celebrity – they keep it real. So that also helps me to stay grounded as well.”
On paper, at least, the Lee-Huang matchup presents two fighters who won’t mind too much if the fight goes to ground. Both have records – 6-0 for Lee and 5-0 for Huang – that are dominated by victories by way of submission.
And if it goes to the mat, Huang won’t be concerned at all. The 26-year-old might have come as the underdog but she’s been cutting an impressively calm figure.
On Thursday evening at the pre-fight face off with her opponent, Huang said simply: “I am very confident going into this fight. I can’t wait to show the world who Jenny Huang is.”
Mixed martial arts is still taking root in Taiwan — as it is with Chinese athletes in general — and Huang said she wants to inspire those just starting out in the sport, or even people who just want to do the training to get in shape.
“It has always been my dream to be a professional fighter,” said the one-time judoka. “That is a dream that has been with me my whole life. I’ve been trying not to think about the fight that much as I don’t want to put pressure on myself. But I am ready.”


text:
Milgrain Engagement Rings
Discover Our Milgrain Engagement Rings
The word Milgrain comes from French, which translates to “one thousand grains”. Milgrain is a jewelry design technique you have probably seen before, but may have never noticed. Milgrain engagement rings first reached popularity on the wedding bands in the first half of the 20th century during the Art Deco Era, but its origins date way back to ancient China. Jewelry lovers will recognize this decorative accent—it’s the beading detail that brings the romantic vintage feel to today’s modern jewelry.

domain: design


Table of Contents
- API Management in the Cloud
- GigaOm API Workload Test Setup
- Test Results
- About NGINX
- About William McKnight
Application programming interfaces, or APIs, are now a ubiquitous method and de facto standard of communication among modern information technology applications. Large companies and complex organizations have turned to APIs for exchanging data to knit these heterogeneous systems together and turn data into a service.
APIs have begun to replace older, more cumbersome methods of information sharing with reusable, loosely-coupled microservices. This gives organizations the ability to share data across disparate systems and applications without creating the technical debt of proprietary, unwieldy vendor tools. APIs and microservices also give companies an opportunity to create standards for the interoperability of applications—both new and old—creating modularity and governance. Additionally, it broadens the scope of data exchange with the outside world, from mobile technology and smart devices to the Internet of Things (IoT), because organizations can securely share data with non-fixed location consumers and producers of information.
Due to the proliferation of APIs, the need has arisen to manage the multitude of services a company relies on—both internal and external. API endpoints themselves vary greatly in the protocols, allowed methods, authorization/authentication schemes, and usage patterns. Additionally, IT departments need granular control over their hosted APIs to enforce rate limiting, quotas, policies, and user identification, as well as to ensure high availability and prevent abuse and security breaches. Exposing APIs opens the door to many partners who can co-create and expand the core platform without even knowing anything about the underlying technology.
This report focuses on API management platforms deployed in the cloud. The cloud enables enterprises to differentiate and innovate with microservices at a rapid pace. It allows API endpoints to be cloned and scaled in a matter of minutes. The cloud offers elastic scalability compared to on-premises deployments, enabling faster server deployment and application development, and allowing less costly compute.
More importantly, many organizations depend on their APIs and microservices for high performance and availability. For the purposes of this paper, we define “high performance” as companies that experience workloads of more than 1,000 transactions per second and need a maximum latency less than 30 milliseconds across their API landscape. For these organizations, the need for performance is tantamount to their need for management, because they rely on these API transaction rates to keep up with the speed of their business.
An API management solution cannot be a performance bottleneck. On the contrary, many of these companies are looking for a solution to load balance across redundant API endpoints and enable high transaction volumes. If a business experiences 1,000 transactions per second, this translates to 3 billion API calls in a month. Large companies with high-end API traffic levels can see monthly API calls eclipse 10 billion. Thus, performance can be a critical factor when choosing an API management solution.
In this paper, we reveal the results of performance testing we completed with four full-lifecycle API management platforms: NGINX Controller, Kong Enterprise, Kong Cloud, and AWS API Gateway.
Note: We wanted to include Apigee in this report, due to its standing among popular solutions. However, its end user license agreement (EULA) expressly prohibits benchmarking the platform and publishing the results without Google’s written consent.
Performance Testing Highlights
In our benchmark testing, NGINX outperformed Kong EE at all attack rates for a single node setup. NGINX had 30% lower latency than Kong EE at the 99.99th percentile. The latencies for NGINX and Kong EE diverged at higher percentiles. Although the differences are minimal until you get to the 99.9th percentile, the difference in latency is pronounced at the 99.9th, 99.99th percentile, and the maximum latency seen during the test run.
With three-worker node cluster configurations, NGINX produced less than half of the latency of Kong EE at the 99.99th percentile.
For fully managed offerings including AWS API Gateway and Kong Cloud, at the 99.99th percentile, NGINX had over a thousand-fold lower latency than Kong Cloud and AWS API Gateway.
The maximum transaction throughput achieved with 100% success (no 5xx or 429 errors) and with less than 30ms maximum latency was over 30,000 requests per second for NGINX and over 20,000 for Kong EE. That is a 50% throughput advantage for NGINX compared to Kong EE. Neither of the fully-managed offerings we tested (AWS API Gateway or Kong Cloud) could achieve this level of throughput out of the box.
Testing hardware and software in the cloud is very challenging. Configurations may favor one vendor over another in feature availability, virtual machine processor generations, memory amounts, storage configurations for optimal input/output, network latencies, software and operating system versions, and the workload itself. Even more challenging is testing fully managed, as-a-service offerings where the underlying configurations (processing power, memory, networking, etc.) are unknown to us. Our testing demonstrates a narrow slice of potential configurations and workloads.
As the sponsor of the report, NGINX opted for the default API gateway configuration as provisioned by the NGINX Controller solution – the solution was not tuned or altered for performance. GigaOm selected the configuration for Kong Enterprise that was closest in terms of CPU and memory configuration. The fully managed offerings (Kong Cloud and AWS API Gateway) were used “as-is,” since by virtue of being fully managed, we have no access, visibility, or control of their respective infrastructures.
We leave the issue of fairness for the reader to determine. We strongly encourage you, as the reader, to look past marketing messages and discern for yourself what is of value. We hope this report is informative and helpful in uncovering some of the challenges and nuances of platform selection.
We have provided enough information in the report for anyone to reproduce this test. You are encouraged to compile your own representative workloads and test compatible configurations applicable to your requirements.


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I read with increasing concern Ruth Davies' letter ("Angels with dirty hands", 11 August).
Let me register my interest. I trained and practised as a state registered nurse from 1968 to 1974, working in three leading institutions - Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, plus University College and the Central Middlesex hospitals in London. I am now reading for an English degree at the University of Cambridge as a mature student. I also recently supported my elderly mother through several hospital admissions. I am therefore lucky to have experience of excellent, pre-university nursing training and ward experience, a current university education and recent and lengthy observation of nursing practice on hospital wards.
I strongly suspect that when Davies says there is "absolutely no evidence to show that graduate nurses are 'too posh to wash'", what she means is that there has never been any research to produce this evidence, in the UK at least. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Over the past four years while visiting different hospital wards every day, I have witnessed many instances of substandard, even dangerous, nursing practice indicating a paucity of practical training. I fully support those (according to Davies) "lazy" journalists who expose substandard caring, whether they work for "red tops" or broadsheets. Her prejudice against investigative journalism is clearly exposed by her unfortunate comments.
Graduate nurses emerge, blinking, into the sunshine of an NHS ward with apparently little understanding as to the sometimes difficult practicalities of daily nursing. Yes, they may be able to write theses on viral pandemics, but do they want to hold the hand of a frightened patient in the middle of the night? This is what true nursing is about - being patient-centred, not staff-centred.
The many recent instances of substandard care I have witnessed lead me to think that it is not down to one hospital's particular culture: it hints at a central malaise that needs treating. A nurse either cares instinctively or she doesn't: it is nurses who do not find caring to be a natural part of their psychological make-up who hide behind the public approbation of their university qualifications.
Anthea Bain, Ely, Cambridgeshire

domain: medical


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Caitlyn Jenner Might Run for California Governor and Is Reportedly Consulting With Former Trump Staffers
Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympian turned reality television star is now considering a run for California's highest political seat.
Caitlyn Jenner is considering a run for California governor, the highest political seat in the state, according to an exclusive report by Axios. The former reality TV star and Olympic champion is reportedly consulting with Trump staffers who are helping her appoint team members.
Current California Gov. Gavin Newsom could face a challenging reelection process after pushback that began after coronavirus restrictions were put in place in the state, CNN reported.
Brad Parscale, Trump's former campaign manager who is said to have known Jenner for a long time, is one staffer helping her build her team, New York Times Washington correspondent Maggie Haberman confirmed on Twitter Wednesday.
"He is not the campaign manager but providing guidance on who to fill a specific role," Haberman wrote.
Caroline Wren, a former Trump campaign official and longtime GOP fundraiser, is also rumored to be involved in team-building efforts. The two reportedly met through work with the American Unity Fund, a GOP nonprofit focused on LGBT issues, Axios reported.
Jenner spoke publicly for the first time six years ago about being a transgender woman in an interview with Diane Sawyer. She also discussed being a Republican, and in a 2016 interview with E!, Jenner said she voted for Trump.
After the former president banned most transgender people from serving in the military, Jenner rolled back on her support.
"He's not doing a very good job, but it's not over yet," she told Variety. Later that year, Jenner said she made a "mistake" in having faith that Trump could benefit the LGBTQ community.
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domain: celebrity


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Beach sceane,Cane Garden Bay ,Tortola , British Virgin Islands Caribbean. RM
Philip Enticknap/© Philip Enticknap
One of the most popular anchorages in the BVI, Cane Garden Bay is home to a lively boating community. It makes a great day trip, whether you arrive by land or by sea. In this scenic cove, calm blue water laps a gentle arc of blinding white sand. Open-air beach bars offer lounge chairs and rum drinks; a few shops sell souvenirs, along with provisions for the sailors coming in off their boats to stock up.


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Basic Fiddlehead Ferns
This is a delicious and simple way to serve fiddleheads.
The recipe calls for only the most basic ingredients,
but the flavors are fresh and delicious, enhanced by
just a touch of seasoning.
Rinse the fiddleheads under cold running water and rub the brown chaff away from the coils. Trim all but about 1/8 to ¼ of the stem away from the coil itself. Dry the shoots before cooking by spinning them in a salad spinner then patting them with paper towels.
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Add the garlic, parsley, and fiddleheads. Sauté for about five minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
The fiddleheads should be crunchy but tender.


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Popular Lettings in Narbonne Plage
Holiday Rentals & Lettings in Narbonne Plage
Pet-friendly Holiday Rentals & Lettings
Holiday Rentals & Lettings with Pool
Holiday Rentals & Lettings with Internet
Highlights in Narbonne Plage
- Sunny climate
- Mediterranean coast
Most popular in Narbonne Plage
Prices and availability
Holiday rentals and lettings in Narbonne Plage
Rentals in Narbonne Plage are concentrated along the waterfront. They are an opportunity to enjoy sublime views of the Mediterranean but also to find yourself in the water in just a few minutes. Friendly and warm, this type of accommodation makes you feel as comfortable as at home while enjoying a change of scenery. For a week during the summer holidays or for a long last minute weekend, Narbonne Plage's rentals are the perfect opportunity to escape under the southern sun.
Holidays in Narbonne Plage
Location and orientation
The seaside resort is located about fifteen kilometres from Narbonne, in the department of Aude. It takes place on the Gulf of Lions and extends over more than five kilometres of coastline. Despite its great popularity, it has managed to preserve the beauty of its original environment. Its landscapes dotted with steep rocks and pines give the resort all its charm.Organise a stay in Narbonne Plage
By car, it takes about eight hours to get there from Paris, just under four hours from Lyon and two hours from Toulouse. By train, plan to travel from Paris four and a half hours by direct TGV. Once in Narbonne, take a bus to Narbonne Plage. Free shuttles are provided in summer.
Destination for families
With its five kilometres of fine sand and the warm and calm waters of the Gulf of Lion, Narbonne beach offers the ideal characteristics for a family stay. Swimming is supervised from May to October and many activities are available. It is possible to rent pedal boats and windsurfboards but also to play volleyball matches. It has a playground for children but also a sailing and diving school for older children.A very largely pedestrian resort
Wide walks are provided along the beach, along the Boulevard du frontage de mer and Avenue du port. They are also equipped with a bicycle path. This area is entirely pedestrian in summer and hosts several markets.
It is in Narbonne that the popular singer Charles Trenet was born. You can still visit his native house, which has become a museum.
Top 3 things to do
A few minutes by car from the beaches stands Château Ricardelle, whose vineyards and some of the production rooms can be visited. Wine tastings are also regularly organised throughout the year.2. Stop at the House of the Inquants
This old building in the centre of Narbonne was built from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century. Better known as the "Cloth Market", it testifies to the intense textile activity in Narbonne and its surroundings since the Middle Ages3. Explore the region
Narbonne Plage is strategically located to organise many excursions. One of the most pleasant trips is certainly to follow the coast to the south. You will cross magnificent seaside resorts such as Argelés, Saint-Cyprien and Collioure before reaching Banyuls and the Spanish border. Driving north towards Arles, you can stop in Sète or Montpellier and, above all, cross the sumptuous Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue to reach Les Baux-de-Provence.


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It’s time to have some fun, don’t you think so? In today’s post I am going to share with you my favorite night out looks that will show off your unique style. I think every girl and lady dreams to try on something new and sexy. It’s a perfect way how to breakaway from your everyday routine and feel special. In this post I gathered flirty A-line silhouettes, sexy cut-outs, ultra glamour details, peekaboo cuts, minimalist designs, military style, various cool prints, etc. I am pretty sure, all these outfits are guaranteed to make you unique and special.
If you do have time, then you better take a tour through this article and find the one and only outfit that will make you wanna create the same look. The open back red jumpsuit with long sleeves is a perfect choice that will make you stand out from the crowd. All you have to do is to add chunky accessories and exclusive clutch bag. If you wish to keep things more relaxed and casual, then I recommend to try on gold sequined skirt that can be styled with black tops or chambray shirts topped with ladylike charcoal cardigans. If you love gold details, then you might be interested in a jacquard gold semi-sheer skirt that can be worn with simple black tank top and fitted black blazer. Another great choice is the combination of sporty grey sweatshirt styled with high-waisted black pencil skirt, looks creative and original. Be sure to try peekaboo cuts. Go for lace shortened cream-white top and style it with high-waisted green skirt and leopard pumps. If you do like classics, then I recommend to stick to timelessly sweet outfits. Go for black T-shirt and tuck it inside high-waisted A-line mini flared black skirt. Be ready to try something sexy and sophisticated, like this white peplum top paired with black leather glossy skinny pants styled with grey suede wedge pumps. Don’t be afraid of checks. Go for a tartan shirt and tuck it inside pleated A-line skirt. If you’re heading to your friend’s party or planning to visit a very special event, then you better look through these images and find what you are looking for. Would be nice to hear your thoughts regarding these street style images. What you think of these chic and trendy outfits? Tell me in the comments below.
So in love with this white lace top and green skirt combination. The leopard print pumps ideally complete this look. If you are looking for http://stylefavourite.com/2018-summer-wardrobe-must-haves-for-women/Summer tops and bottoms that are must-haves for next year, then you definitely should check my post.
I am so in love with this flared LBD with short sleeves and the way it’s complemented with a silver neckpiece and ankle-cuff heeled pumps. By the way, check out outdoor summer wedding guest must-haves that can make any girl look very special and dressy.


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The outlook for the U.S. energy market has improved dramatically in the last several years, with the country importing 90% less light sweet crude than it did a decade ago and cheap natural gas being produced in abundance. The change is due almost exclusively to advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial practice of using water under high pressure to extract hydrocarbons from the earth.
Almost 90% of the wells being dug in the U.S. today are fracked, and the “shale revolution” has brought jobs and economic vitality to areas rich with shale. While some producers bemoan the low cost of natural gas, low-cost fuel has benefits for many other industries, and could help spur a manufacturing revival in the U.S. Yet fracking remains controversial because of concerns about the environment, particularly the possibility of water supplies being contaminated below ground.
Participants on the energy panel at the recent Wharton’s Economic Summit 2013 in New York City agreed that the industry needs to strike a delicate balance between reaping the benefits of fracking while safeguarding the environment and addressing the needs and concerns of the communities affected by fracking.
The shale revolution’s impact on the energy industry amounts to what William Klesse, CEO and chairman of Valero Energy Corp., calls a “huge opportunity for the U.S. in all the energy manufacturing businesses.” He believes it already has had more impact on the industry than anything else in recent memory, including price controls and embargos.
Janet Clark, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Marathon Oil Corp., framed the issue not as a matter of “to frack or not to frack,” but “how to do it responsibly in terms of impact on the community as well as impact on the environment, both air emissions as well as broad quality.”
There are states that have opted not to frack, either banning it outright or putting a moratorium on it, pointed out Ann Harrison, a Wharton management professor, who moderated the panel. Klesse stated that communities have the right to know about the risks but must weigh them against the benefits. “New York [which has put a moratorium on fracking] is making a huge mistake,” he said. “In Pennsylvania there are 100,000 jobs [that would otherwise not be there]. The oil and refining businesses are hiring people, generating jobs, paying taxes. This is a windfall for the U.S.”
John Deutch, an MIT professor and former head of the CIA, pointed out that for all the concern about drinking water contamination, the real environmental risk is not below ground but on the ground and above it. “There’s no question that unconventional oil and gas production involves very serious environmental impacts on air quality, water quality, community and land use,” he said. “When 16 wells are being drilled simultaneously [there] are legitimate questions that have to be addressed, especially if the country is going to have the benefits of hundreds of thousands of these wells in operation across all of the U.S.”
He said the regulatory structure for private lands was inadequate, with mixed federal and state responsibility. “It’s simply not going all that well,” he said. “I am a great advocate of seeing the industry do more and stepping out ahead of this problem, and trying to convince the public that the right balance is being struck.” He recommended a three-pronged approach: measuring the environmental impact; reporting those measurements publicly; and making the commitment to reduce those impacts over time.
Clark spoke of some of the actions Marathon has been taking. “We, as an industry, have to do what we can to lessen the negative impact on the community,” she said. “We do try to do a lot of things — making donations to the local hospitals so that they can expand, and being a good community partner in terms of lots of not-for-profit opportunities.” Like Klesse, she stressed the economic benefits, talking about how towns have been completely revitalized. “There is no question this boom is driving great economic growth at a time where our country could really use a bit of a jumpstart,” she said.
Evidence of Degradation
Harrison asked about actual evidence on possible health or environmental effects, raising the possibility that there may be none at all.
There are at least one or two documented cases of fracking fluid finding its way into the water, according to Deutch, who chairs a group for the Department of Energy that is looking at environmental impacts. He said a much greater problem is poor well completion. “There are many such instances of those bad completions,” he said. “That’s where the attention needs to move, towards the companies that are doing it.” Clark added that cases of water contamination from oil and gas drilling, regardless of whether there is fracking, are typically related to well design.
The potential benefits of the shale revolution go beyond economics. Harrison quoted a report from McKinsey noting that fracturing technology has the potential to make the U.S. a net exporter of not only natural gas, but also crude, by 2025. “The U.S. can become completely energy independent if this technology is used more extensively,” she said.
Anas Alhajji, chief economist at NGP Energy Capital Management, said people must be careful not to confuse being a net exporter with being energy independent. It’s possible that North America could become energy independent, but that goal will be hard to meet because the quality of the crude doesn’t match the current refining abilities. To become energy independent, new infrastructure is needed that will support the refinement of the crude being produced into a higher quality, and regulations restricting natural gas exports should be amended.
Alhajji said that in the next year or two, there will be such a surplus of natural gas and crude oil that “we won’t know what to do with it. We have to remember that we cannot export crude oil by law.” Manufacturers, who of course can export what they are able to produce with cheap labor, will be the primary beneficiaries of cheap gas prices unless the laws change. “We are going to have serious problems, and we are hoping that the administration will allow crude oil exports, at least to Mexico, because that’s going to relieve some of the pressure on the market,” he said.
The role of the government in the shale revolution has been overstated, he believes. “This did not result from government policy to start thinking about energy independence,” he said. This revolution was caused by independent small- and mid-sized companies, and everyone else came in late to the game.” Government’s role in the shale revolution going forward was discussed, with agreement on the need for free trade and less time-consuming permit procedures.
A Delay for Green Energy?
The notion that the shale gas revolution will delay the shift to a green energy future, which Deutch has written about, was dismissed by several other panelists. Clark pointed out that natural gas, which has a lower carbon footprint, is displacing coal in the electrical power industry. “I see that as a positive,” she said. “Natural gas can be an important transportation fuel, but that’s going to take a little bit longer because of the infrastructure that’s required and the consumer acceptance of it.” She said a number of companies and municipalities that have central facilities for refueling are moving in that direction, displacing the more carbon-intensive oil and diesel.
Renewable energy sources, specifically solar and wind, are already benefiting from gas in several ways, according to Alhajji. Both solar and wind are intermittent fuel sources, and gas can be used as backup power when necessary.
The idea of moving entirely away from all fossil-fuel consumption is not practical, according to Clark. “How much additional cost can our economy absorb today to subsidize carbon-free fuels?” she asked. “We won’t leave the hydrocarbon age because we ran out of oil and gas; we’ll leave it when we have a better fuel that is scalable, that’s secure and that is economically affordable.”
“There is no question that climate change and global warming are issues, but you cannot ruin the economy to address them,” Kleese said. “We’re in these businesses and we are driven by economics. I can tell you that in my opinion all of these alternatives are not economic against natural gas.”
Deutch cautioned people to consider the long-term effect of delaying green energy and said he stood by his previous statement. “As we all get excited and congratulate ourselves about natural gas you have to remember there is a climate issue out there that is going to hit this world,” he said. “Not during our lifetime, but we have to worry about how we’re going to deal with that, or how our children and grandchildren are going to deal with that.”


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Pet owners jetting off on holiday next year face a red tape nightmare and having to visit their vet four months before a holiday from 1 Jan.
Currently dogs, cats and ferrets can travel anywhere in the European Union as long as they hold a "pet passport".
But after the Brexit transition period is over, people wishing to holiday in Europe will be advised to contact a vet at least four months before travelling.
This means pet owners looking to travel in January must begin their preparations in September this year.
Under previous no-deal plans, the government warned that pet owners would need to ensure their animal had a blood sample taken at least 30 days after a rabies vaccination.
This would then be sent to a laboratory in order for them to be approved for EU travel.
Then owners must wait a further three months from the date the clear blood sample was taken before they can take their pet abroad.
The test would remain valid for as long as the rabies vaccination is up to date - but the animal would still need a health certificate for each trip.
This had led to claims that many owners will not take their pet abroad, because the process is a "faff."
On the Today programme, BBC’s assistant political editor, Norman Smith said: “Speaking as a dog owner it looks to me frankly such a faff, you are just not going to bother.”
“You are going to have to take your pet to the vet to get a rabies vaccination. You’ll then have to return a month later to get a blood test, send that blood test to an EU laboratory.
“Their vet will then send back the ‘OK’. You’ll then have to wait another three months before you can go.
“I’m just thinking: pets of Great Britain, you can say farewell to the Dordogne.”


CBI in crisis: Delhi court to hear CBI DSP Devendra Kumar's case
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30 OCTOBER 2018 | ENGLISH | GENERAL AUDIENCE
CBI DSP Devendra Kumar arrested in a corruption case allegedly involving special director Rakesh Asthana has moved a bail plea in a Delhi court. A special CBI judge will hear the plea today and the agency will also present him before the court on the expiry of the CBI custody.


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domain: entertainment


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In ninth week of Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs list, ‘Super Freaky Girl’ by Nicki Minaj will compete in the Grammys pop category. The song has submitted by Minaj to the rap categories at the Grammys, where it debuted at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 list. However, the choice has reportedly reversed by the Recording Academy’s rap committee.
Minaj posted a video to Instagram and a string of tweets criticizing the decision. They keep shifting the goalposts when it comes to me, Minaj said on Instagram about the school. Why is it that the goalpost has always shifted whenever Nicki has involved?
Minaj also stated that Latto’s ‘Big Energy’ is pop-leaning and borrows Tom Tom Club’s 1981 song ‘Genius of Love’. It has notably covered by Mariah Carey for her No. 1 smash ‘Fantasy’ should compete in pop if ‘Super Freaky Girl’ must.
She has no trouble getting moved out the RAP category as long as they are all treated fairly. If Super Freaky Girl (SFG) by Nicki Minaj had 2B transferred out of RAP, then Big Energy must have done the same thing. If you disagree with her, you’re either a hater or a troll who doesn’t like her.