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The Americans Are Back: F-16 for the IAF and F/A-18 for the Indian Navy-ASHLEY J. TELLIS
Posted by admin On August - 6 - 2017 Comments Off on The Americans Are Back: F-16 for the IAF and F/A-18 for the Indian Navy-ASHLEY J. TELLIS
Because combat aviation is steadily moving towards the dominance of stealthy platforms, India should be seeking to leverage these purchases towards the development or the acquisition of fifth-generation fighters.
During the last year, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Navy (IN) confirmed what must have been the worst kept secret in New Delhi: that the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, for all its achievements, was unsuitable as a strike-fighter for their near-term modernisation requirements.
With Trump, Best to Focus on Bilateral Ties, Not Global Issues
Where the IAF was concerned, the request for information (RFI) for a new single-engine fighter issued in the United States, Russia, and Sweden in October 2016 marked a further twist in its long-running saga to complete the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) acquisition that first began in 2001. After the aborted competition led to an off-the-shelf purchase of just 36 Rafales in 2015 — instead of the 126 aircraft originally intended — the question of how the IAF would overcome the deficit of the 90 remaining fighters was still unanswered. There were some in India who argued that the IAF should jettison the MMRCA requirement altogether and fill out the remainder of the force with more Su-30s at the high-end and additional Tejas fighters at the low-end.
Given the shortcomings of the Tejas — some, but not all, of which can be rectified — it is not surprising that the IAF finally threw in the towel and decided to seek an advanced foreign fighter to satisfy its MMRCA requirements, even if only partially. That the 90 aircraft now considered for acquisition will be single-engined suggests that this segment of the IAF may eventually end up bifurcated. The single-engine platform, which hopefully will be announced in the next year or so, will complement the 83 Tejas fighters already approved for procurement: together serving as replacements for the retiring MiG-21s in the IAF inventory. Because the 90 future selectees and the 123 Tejas aircraft that will eventually be acquired will still not suffice as one-to-one replacements for the MiG-21s, it is possible that the IAF may consider acquiring additional medium-weight twin-engined Western fighters down the line, if and when finances permit, in order to further strengthen the IAF for counter-air operations involving China and preserve the three-tier force that the service has sought to maintain more recently.
Obviously, there is nothing particularly sacrosanct about a three-tier force structure in the abstract. If the foreign single-engine fighter met the multirole requirement effectively, the IAF could simply expand its numbers to maintain a larger component that straddles the light- and medium- weight categories, as this new acquisition would in any case bring more to the air superiority campaign than a defensive counter-air fighter like the Tejas ever could.
The Indian Navy, in contrast, has moved in a different direction from what appeared to be initially contemplated. Although the navy has been the strongest supporter of India's indigenous defence development efforts, the sea service too finally rejected the naval version of the Tejas that was originally intended for deployment aboard the INS Vikrant — Indian Aircraft Carrier-1 (IAC-1) — currently under construction. This decision is eminently sensible given the navy's special requirements: because an aircraft carrier hosts a relatively small number of combat aircraft aboard a single-engine fighter is a risky proposition at even the best of times. The technological and operational limitations of the Tejas only implied that these risks would be magnified, even if it were to be deployed merely as a second-string complement to a more advanced strike-fighter, such as the MiG-29K, which has been bedevilled by serious serviceability problems of its own. Consequently, the IN has prudently chosen to seek a new advanced twin-engine fighter that hopefully will populate the entire combat air wing on the INS Vikrant and possibly the follow- on vessel (IAC-2) as well.
Both the IAF and the IN have thus ended up similarly: although the former, seeking a twin-engined airplane originally, has now settled for a single-engine combatant, and the latter, investing in a single-engine fighter initially, is now exploring a twin-engined aircraft, both have decided to look abroad rather than at home for good reason. A direct purchase of the aircraft finally selected, however, is not on the cards. Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis on 'Make in India,' the final winners in both the IAF's and the IN's competitions will be decided not simply on operational excellence and costs — the traditional criteria that dominated fighter selections hitherto — but equally on how best they leaven India's domestic manufacturing capabilities. And the traditional Indian interest in using its defence acquisitions to strengthen its strategic partnerships abroad still remains unchanged; if anything, these geopolitical imperatives have only intensified since Modi took office.
The renewal of a global search to supply India with advanced fighters has unexpectedly pushed the United States back into the game after both its entrants, the F-16IN Fighting Falcon and the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, were ejected from the previous round of the MMRCA competition. Because the IAF's new RFI specifies a single-engine platform, however, the only two aircraft capable of satisfying this requirement are Lockheed Martin's venerable F-16, offered to India in its latest and most sophisticated Block 70 variant, and Saab's Gripen, which has been offered in a new, larger, and more impressive E variant that flew for the first time on 15 June 2017. The IN's requirement for a twin-engined naval fighter has similarly left only two contestants in the race — Dassault's Rafale, the previous selectee in the IAF's MMRCA competition, and Boeing's Super Hornet, the principal strike-fighter on the US Navy's aircraft carriers today.
The return of Lockheed Martin's F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcon and Boeing's F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet into the IAF's and IN's competitions respectively has irked some Indian commentators, such as Bharat Karnad, who view them as examples of 'technologically obsolete weaponry.' This criticism is misplaced and fails to appreciate what makes combat fighters effective.
TRICOLOUR ROUNDELS ON A FALCON?
Starting with the IAF race first, the F-16 is a storied fighter that has been in continual production since 1976 with over 4,500 aircraft built since. Although designed initially as a light fighter for within- visual-range combat, it has evolved into a formidable multirole platform over time, all the while remaining one of the most agile air combatants ever produced by the United States (US). Today, the F-16 in the US Air Force (USAF), for example, is employed for all-weather counter-air operations: these include both beyond- and within-visual-range air-to-air engagements as well as anti- surface strike (including specialised missions such as the suppression of enemy air defences).
That the F-16's basic airframe has evolved only modestly over the years has proven to be completely irrelevant where manoeuvring superiority is concerned. This is evinced in the fact that, although the aircraft first flew in 1974, its sustained and instantaneous turn performance (when flying without its conformal fuel tanks) at both low and high altitudes is virtually identical to that of the Gripen and its thrust-to-weight ratio is unambiguously superior — not bad for an aircraft that was designed almost 15 years earlier! It would be surprising if the Gripen E, with its heavier airframe in comparison to its predecessor and its lower-thrust engine in comparison to the F-16, could improve upon this feat dramatically.
Success in modern air combat today, however, is not simply a matter of manoeuvring performance, even though the F-16 is fully the Gripen's peer in this regard. Rather, the aircraft's sensors, electronic warfare and information management systems, and weapons make an enormous difference — as do pilot training, doctrine, and the concepts of employment. If pilot training is excluded from the comparison, it is in the other realms that the F-16 has undergone a truly transformative metamorphosis over time, making it a worthy competitor to the Gripen in both the air-to-air and the anti-surface warfare regimes.
The F-16's primary sensor, the AN/ APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Active (AESA) radar, for example, employs fifth-generation AESA radar technology that is derived from the advanced radars developed for the F-22 and the F-35. The F-16's electronic warfare systems will be sophisticated Israeli systems, selected in accord with IAF preferences, and its weapons are more or less comparable to those of the Gripen E (and are, in fact, interchangeable should India require it). The Gripen's information management capabilities are undoubtedly exquisite, but whether they are superior in an operational context to those of the F-16 is not obvious. At any rate, the F-16's larger weapons load and, when used, its conformal fuel tanks give it a larger radius of action in comparison to the Gripen E, which makes it more attractive for theatre strike operations involving China.
None of this derogates from the Gripen E's technological excellence, which is conspicuous, but it does indicate that the F-16 is at no particular disadvantage to its Swedish competitor where its combat capabilities are concerned. Its age in particular has posed no special impediment as its avionics and weapons — the capabilities that really matter, given that its aerodynamic characteristics are already superlative — have been continuously modernised, as required by the complex operating environment facing its principal and most demanding customer, the US Air Force (USAF). Parenthetically, it may be noted here that the F-16 Block 70 offered to India is so dramatically superior to the version in Pakistan's employ as to defy serious comparison.
Given the difficult financial constraints facing the IAF today, the unit flyaway and life cycle costs of the two aircraft will be critical factors affecting the Indian decision. Unfortunately, good comparative data on these issues is hard to come by. The original Gripen had a well-deserved reputation for having low operating costs (the F-16's being somewhat higher), but whether this will be equally true for the Gripen E is as yet unclear. In any case, the price at which the F-16 and the Gripen E are being offered to India today is publicly unknown; suffice it to say that, the closer they are in price, the more attractive the F-16 would be to the Modi government, given its other advantages for defence industrial cooperation and deepening the US-India strategic partnership.
It is in these latter arenas that the F-16's advantages over the Gripen E are most pronounced. Because Lockheed Martin is transitioning toward the manufacture of the F-35 in the United States, the company has committed to transferring the entire F-16 production line to India, should this aircraft be selected in the IAF's single engine fighter competition. The transfer of the line would enable Lockheed Martin and its Indian partner, Tata Advanced Systems, to complete the final assembly of the aircraft in India along with manufacturing of its various structural components, while eventually shifting towards the fabrication of some of its combat system components as well.
While Saab is certain to table a similar offer, sweetening the pot with financing in addition to technology transfer, the Lockheed Martin-Tata joint venture promises to advance Modi's employment generation objectives far more ambitiously because it would integrate India into the global aviation supply chain at a level that Saab cannot match. Beyond supporting the IAF's own F-16s, all future F-16 sales globally — including to the four-six countries that are currently exploring new acquisitions — could occur from production in Indian plants. Furthermore, India would become a critical node in supporting the 3,200 F-16s still in service in 25 countries (including the 950-odd F-16s that will remain in US Air Force (USAF) service for another two decades), in contrast to becoming a supplier for a much smaller market — at best 200-300 Gripens in some six or seven countries — were it to select the Gripen E eventually. The advantages of the F-16's global popularity, and its still expanding market, are thus obvious for India.
The gains to a deepened US-India relationship are no less consequential. At a time when President Donald J. Trump seeks transactional benefits to the US from all its foreign partnerships, an Indian purchase of American F-16s would go far in protecting its bilateral ties with the US — still the most important power in the international system — without compromising the IAF's capabilities. New Delhi's selection of the Gripen E would obviously strengthen the IAF in similar ways, but a strategic partnership with Sweden is meaningless in the face of the problems posed by China's rising assertiveness in Asia.
The significant proportion of US technologies in the Gripen further complicates matters: it has been estimated that between 40 to 50 per cent of the original version's components are of American origin, meaning that the US license regime would apply even if India purchased the Swedish aircraft. This fact diminishes the attractiveness of the Gripen where political considerations are concerned, because New Delhi would end up substantially buying American but without getting the requisite credit. In any event, Saab appears to be attempting to replace the Gripen's American components with other substitutes, but the success of this effort and its impact of the aircraft's effectiveness are thus far unclear.
On balance, therefore, whether India finally chooses the F-16 Block 70 or the Gripen E, the IAF comes out ahead because both aircraft are indisputably superior to the Tejas in manoeuvring performance, sensors, electronic warfare and information management systems, weapons load, and in radius of action. There are marginal differences in operational capability between the F-16 and the Gripen, some favouring the former and some the latter, with the F-16 having an indisputable advantage in range and in the weight of the payload carried. Both aircraft will continue to evolve in the areas that really matter for air superiority over the long term — sensors for passive and active detection, advanced fire and forget weaponry, cooperative targeting using off-board data, and fire control systems for air and ground operations — and therefore, Indian interests would be well served by choosing either airplane for its air force. Both the F-16 Block 70 and the Gripen E are highly capable multirole fighters, and, as a result, the Indian government will be confronted by the difficult dilemma of juggling operational effectiveness and cost on one hand with the benefits for defence industrial cooperation and deepening the US-India partnership on the other hand. Pulling off such a balancing act cannot be easy, but New Delhi is better off being spoilt for choice than having to cope with skimpiness.
SUPER HORNETS AT SEA?
If the F-16 is the worthwhile revenant in the IAF's single engine competition, Boeing's F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet actually has an upper hand in the IN's search for a twin-engined fighter for its future aircraft carriers. The fleet's requirements here are complicated by the fact that the aircraft selected as its primary strike-fighter must be capable of operating from both the INS Vikrant, the ski jump equipped short take-off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) carrier currently being built in Cochin, as well as from its future large deck catapult take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) carriers, such as the IAC-2, which will begin construction at some point in the future.
The IN has concluded that the Tejas is unsuitable for either vessel because, despite the structural improvements made to the test airframe in support of carrier operations, the final product did not meet the standard of acceptability at a time when Indian naval aviation is preparing to meet formidable adversaries, such as China, in the Indian Ocean.
Being able to successfully defend against — and overcome — Chinese aircraft carriers with their deployed air wings consisting of Su-33/J-15s, and possibly indigenous J-20s and J-31s in the future, should constitute the real metric for judging the acceptability of a given strike-fighter for the IN's prospective carriers. This implies that rather than obsessing over some arcane detail pertaining to the increased tensile strength of the Tejas' undercarriage or the extent of the nose droop improvements intended to expand its pilot's vision, its worth as the mainstay of Indian carrier aviation must be judged by its effectiveness as a combat system rather than merely by its aerodynamic viability.
Obviously, achieving success on the latter count is a precondition for satisfying the former. But the challenge facing the IN here is that the indigenous Tejas is hopelessly behind the times relative to the threat that it faces from more mature opponents in the here and now — adversaries whose war-fighting performance is now steadily being expanded even as the Indian test-bed struggles to become merely a worthwhile flying platform for carrier operations.
Given this asymmetry, it is not surprising that the IN has chosen to look for an advanced strike-fighter from abroad right away, partly because it cannot wait in hope that the Tejas Mark 2 will eventually make the cut as an effective strike-fighter for the Vikrant. If it is to have a combat aircraft manufactured in India and ready for operations by the time this carrier enters the fleet in 2021, the selection and procurement processes will have to be completed by early 2018 at the latest. Given the development timelines associated with the Tejas Mark 2 thus far, it would be simply miraculous if the aircraft could be certified as combat ready, let alone superior to its likely adversaries, by that date.
Because an aircraft carrier has only a small number of aircraft, the qualitative superiority of both aircraft and pilot are critical, while maintainability — meaning the reliability of the airframe and its combat subsystems as well as the ease of diagnostics and repair — contributes towards the ability to turn an aircraft around quickly for repeated sorties, thus making it a vital combat multiplier, particularly for small- or medium-sized air wings. Of the foreign contestants in the IN's search list, neither the Swedish Sea Gripen — as yet only a notional alternative — nor the Russian MiG-29K have demonstrated the capacity for both ski jump and catapult launches, and the Sea Gripen additionally fails to meet the RFI's requirement that it must already be in service in its country of origin. Consequently, only the French Rafale and the American F/A-18 Super Hornet remain as plausible contenders and each offers India the opportunity to dominate the adversaries it is likely to face in the Indian Ocean.
But the two rivals are not evenly matched. The Rafale, unlike the Super Hornet, does not have fully foldable wings and, hence, cannot use the Vikrant's elevators without major modifications that would add to its already high unit costs. The IAF's Rafale came out at close to USD160 million per copy and the naval variant, of which less than 50 have been produced, is likely to be even more expensive. But cost aside, the Rafale's lack of fully folding wings implies that fewer aircraft can be spotted on the carrier's flight deck, a disadvantage when more aircraft there mean faster cyclic operations and by extension greater combat capability. And its maintenance requirements and operating costs are much more substantial than that of the Super Hornet.
Beyond these issues, even when both aircraft are compared one-on-one, the F/A-18 E/F compares favourably with the Rafale. The Super Hornet's organic sensors and its capacity for integration with the E-2D airborne early warning aircraft, which is likely to be eventually deployed by the IN ashore and most likely on board the IAC-2, are unparalleled. The F/A-18 E/F's primary sensor, the APG-79 AESA radar, has no peer among fourth-generation combat aircraft, and its huge detection and electronic attack advantages ensure first look-first shot opportunities that even sophisticated rivals often cannot match. Its advanced electronic warfare suites, one area where the Rafale's capabilities are indeed comparable, make it exceptionally survivable in a variety of war-fighting environments, while its ability to swing effortlessly between air-to-air and air-to-surface missions make it just as versatile as its French competitor — but in a much cheaper platform.
To make a long story short, the F/A- 18 E/F Super Hornet has been designed for standoff air superiority as well as for flexible multirole operations and for that reason will remain the US Navy's workhorse strike-fighter well into 2040, if not beyond. Both the Super Hornet and the Rafale are superb strike-fighters, but the IN is likely to find the F/A- 18 E/F better suited as the primary aviation battery for both its STOBAR and CATOBAR carriers. The cost advantages of the Super Hornet are considerable and, when considerations relating to defence industrial cooperation and deepening strategic partnerships are taken into account, it also does just as well as, if not better, than the Rafale on both counts. Because Boeing already has major production activities underway in India, including a joint venture with Tata that fabricates the fuselage for the Apache attack helicopter, as well as Indian suppliers that already manufacture components for US and international F/A-18s, such as Sasmoss, Rossell Techsys, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the selection of the Super Hornet by the IN would yield expanded partnerships with Indian industry for the manufacture of its airframe sections, wings and control surfaces, parts of its engines, and various other subsystems.
These activities, which would result in the transfer of proprietary knowhow, advanced manufacturing technologies, and industrial fabrication processes, would help to nurture a production complex that can oversee the delivery of an advanced weapon system that the US has never before sold to India. Developing such an infrastructure would not only create high technology jobs dispersed throughout India, but it would build indigenous proficiency that could aid in the development and manufacture of other civilian and military technologies. Even as these benefits come to fruition, India would position itself to support the nearly 600 F/A-18s that are in operation globally. It would also open the door to possible co-development and co-manufacturing of components for the Advanced F/A-18 Block III, with its conformal fuel tanks, enclosed weapons pod, and an enhanced General Electric 414 engine that could serve as a common power plant for the Super Hornet, Tejas, and eventually the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft concurrently. These kinds of benefits would obviously not be comparably available with the Rafale because of its smaller global market.
The deepening of the US-Indian strategic partnership would also be an obvious consequence of an Indian decision to purchase the Super Hornet for its prospective aircraft carriers. The same would be true for India's partnership with France were the IN to settle for the Rafale. But important though this latter political affiliation is for New Delhi, the twists and turns in the earlier MMRCA endgame demonstrated how the extraordinarily high costs of French equipment made it difficult for India to fuel its strategic partnership with France through large defence transactions. In this instance, therefore, the case for the IN selecting the Super Hornet is persuasive because it would bring combat capabilities on par with the Rafale but at much lower cost while simultaneously enhancing India's industrial base and strengthening its partnership with Washington.
TAKING THE LONG VIEW
There is little doubt that India has good options as it moves forward to fulfil its air force and naval requirements for an advanced strike-fighter. In both cases though, there will be challenging tradeoffs to be made as the government of India juggles the operational excellence of the various contenders, their unit and lifecycle costs, their contributions to leavening India's defence industry, and their capacity to deepen the country's strategic partnerships.
When these variables are assessed synoptically, the American offerings prove to be remarkably competitive — not entirely a surprise, even if the circumstances that permitted their re-entry were not initially anticipated. In any event, India should treat the winners chosen in both the IAF and IN competitions merely as 'interim' acquisitions despite the fact that these aircraft will be in service for several decades. Because combat aviation is steadily moving towards the dominance of stealthy platforms, India should be seeking to leverage these purchases towards the development or the acquisition of fifth-generation fighters — a technology area where, at least to date, American suppliers dominate in the international marketplace. Perhaps that is one more reason for giving Lockheed Martin and Boeing serious consideration in the current competition.
This article was originally published in FORCE.
Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs
http://carnegieendowment.org/2017/08/02/americans-are-back-f-16-for-iaf-and-f-18-for-indian-navy-pub-72706
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Life and Chemistry office
If you never buy packaged food, you can safely skip this article
by lcoffice
in SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Food contact and packaging articles are made up of a very large number of different food contact materials (FCM), each of them consisting of numerous food contact chemicals (FCC). Inevitably, FCC migrate from any type of material into the food and consequently, they are absorbed along with the food. Muncke et al. [2020] emphasise their concern based on scientific evidence that FCM and articles are a relevant exposure pathway for known hazardous substances as well as for a plethora of toxicologically uncharacterised chemicals.
There are flaws in our packaged food safety control
It has been quite a long time since Grob et al. [2006] called for a more realistic perception and more coherent legal measures because of sufficient evidence to suggest that FCC can be transferred from food contact materials and articles into food. It is now very clear that a substantial majority of the human population is exposed to a number of these chemicals. Indeed, for many FCC there is evidence of human exposure from biomonitoring.
When FCM regulations were first developed, it was generally assumed that low-level chemical exposures for example, the exposures below the toxicologically established no-effect level pose negligible risks to consumers, except for carcinogens [Crump 2011]. Recent scientific information however demonstrates that this assumption is not generally valid: for example, exposure to low levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals can generate adverse health effects [Kortenkamp 2007; Vandenberg et al. 2012; Gore et al. 2015]. Additionally, chemical mixtures play a predominant role in the development of adverse effects. Very often, cumulative effects exceed the sum of individual effects [Kortenkamp & Faust 2018; Goeyens 2019; Trasande 2019]. This is of the utmost importance: human exposure to chemical mixtures is the norm, but this is currently not considered when assessing health impacts of FCC. And another critical aspect for understanding the development of chronic diseases is the timing of exposures during foetal and child development [Heindel & Vandenberg 2015].
These highly important insights are insufficiently considered in the risk assessment of chemicals in general and of FCC in particular [Muncke et al. 2020 and references herein]. What we must do is look beyond the presence of one particular molecule or other and focus on the biological activity carcinogenicity, hormonal disruption, immunotoxic properties, neurobehavioural disturbances, etc. of the food and drinks we consume. Control agencies generally highlight the only molecule whose concentration exceeds the threshold value, but it is the mixture of highly different molecules that constitutes the threat.
In the European Union (EU), regulation EU 10/2011 on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food includes a list of authorised substances for the manufacture of plastic materials and articles. It also sets acceptable maximum concentrations for some of the chemicals in the plastic FCM or in the packaged food (i.e. after migration). Many substances present in plastics, however, are non-intentionally added substances (NIAS). Even though regulations EU 10/2011 and EU 1935/2004 require a risk assessment of NIAS, this is a an almost impossible task. Identifying the NIAS is extremely demanding, if not impossible [Nerin et al. 2013; Pieke et al. 2018] as is studying the human health effects of NIAS. Most chemicals are currently unavailable as pure substances, and testing would prove too expensive.
So, what can we do?
People face an essentially un-quantified risk: food processing and packaging procedures have introduced high numbers of chemical contaminants into our diets, even though it is common knowledge that consumers will be serving as human sponges, soaking up and storing the contaminants in their bloodstreams. Is there anything we can do to defuse the ticking time bomb that has been inserted into our bodies without our consent? Muncke et al. [2020] highlight a number of points that will require the commitment of all the stakeholders concerned.
Our current risk assessment system is lagging behind and simply does not meet today's living standards. Regulatory agencies should update whatever hazard and exposure data are necessary to produce safety standards based on current scientific know-how and understanding [Muncke et al. 2017 & 2020]. The current approach to pre-market, prospective risk assessment of chemicals in FCM is insufficient to ensure public health protection since it relies on assumptions that do not reflect contemporary scientific knowledge and is sometimes based on inadequate industrial self-monitoring. Even the GLP (good laboratory practice) labs do not always deliver reliable data [Pesticide Action Network 2020]. Since food packaging is an essential link in the food supply chain, regulatory mechanisms and risk assessment approaches should be updated and strengthened.
Endocrine disruption, as a specific hazard, is not routinely assessed for FCC. Several chemical migrants are known to be endocrine disruptors, however [Nerin et al. 2018]. Screening assays for endocrine disruption should be developed and/or optimised. Deriving a safe threshold may not be easy, however, since endocrine disrupting chemicals with non-monotonic dose responses do not only have increasing effects with increasing doses, but may also have effects in the low-dose range [Gore et al. 2015]. Also, the mixture toxicity of the overall migrate, i.e. all chemicals migrating from FCM, should be determined for a relevant set of hazards such as genotoxicity, mutagenicity, reprotoxicity, and endocrine disruption. This means that finished food contact articles should also be tested for their biological activity. Hence, regulators and other stakeholders should invest in research and development for fast or high-throughput approaches in order to screen the overall migrate (the complex contaminant mixture).
Finally, enforceable new regulations and sufficient resources for compliance control must be made available to authorities.
The current situation contradicts our dominant economic model based on unlimited growth and non-restrictive use of resources
Food packaging has become an important issue in discussions on circular economy [Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017]. Priority projects include reuse, recycling or replacing plastic food packaging with alternative materials. Circular economy is a trilogy: (1) waste should become a starting material, (2) consumables should be non-toxic and possibly even beneficial, whereas durables should be reused, recycled or re-manufactered, and (3) energy sources should be sustainable, renewable by nature. Known hazardous chemicals should preferably not be used in the manufacture of food contact articles; moreover, if the use of known hazardous chemicals is essential and currently no suitable substitutes are available, research into developing safer alternatives should be a first priority. The development of safer alternatives could be based on current scientific principles, such as the Tiered Protocol for Endocrine Disruption [Shug et al. 2013].
For all of this, a multi-stakeholder dialogue should be established to identify solutions that are sustainable and focus on protecting humans and the environment while providing effective, efficient and affordable food packaging in a circular economy. Stakeholder needs are likely to vary between countries and cultural regions; diversity will not enable a "global" solution, but it must be respected.
Sustainable food packaging in the circular economy
It may only be achieved by combining efforts. All conflicting goals must be considered, and all stakeholders, including food and packaging manufacturers, recyclers, decision makers, civil society, and consumers must be involved [Geueke et al. 2018]. Why? Because food packaging is an issue that concerns us all.
It would be utterly wrong to claim that food packaging serves no useful purpose. Imagine taking home a litre of wine and a kilo of peanuts without being able to rely on any form of packaging.
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Nerin et al. [2018]. A common surfactant used in food packaging found to be toxic for reproduction in mammals, Food and Chemical Toxicology 113, 115 –124
Pesticide Action Network [2020]. Fraud in German laboratory casts additional doubts on the 2017 re-approval of glyphosate and on the entire EU pesticide safety evaluation procedure, https://www.pan-europe.info/press-releases/2020/02/fraud-german-laboratory-casts-additional-doubts-2017-re-approval-glyphosate
Pieke et al. [2018]. Exploring the chemistry of complex samples by tentative identification and semiquantification: A food contact material case, Journal of Mass Spectrometry 53, 4, 323 – 335
Schug et al. [2013]. A new approach to synergize academic and guideline-compliant research: the CLARITY-BPA research program, Reproductive toxicology 40, 35 – 40
Trasande [2019]. Sicker, fatter, poorer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, pp. 221
Vandenberg et al. [2012]. Hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals: low-dose effects and nonmonotonic dose responses, Endocrine reviews 33, 3, 378 – 455
What lies ahead after the coronavirus?
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Getting healthy this year, I've decided that the blah blah blah of "this isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle" has got to make sense to me. I am not going to go to the gym every day and zone out on a treadmill. I'm just not! My exercise is coming from gardening and that means full body work out and building muscle.
When I adopted this 30 foot by 30 foot area to build a pocket park I was very cautious to not offend anyone who had had it before me. All of those seniors that built the Horticulture Club into what it is today are to be honored and appreciated! However, I could tell that just helter skelter planting from donations didn't have a place in this one section, so I gave all the iris to the Iris SIG (Special Interest Group) and set about marking places for tall and short plants.
The five gallon pots mark where a flower variety will grow to be quite tall and wide. The one gallon pots are going to be shorter varieties, but still work for a cutting garden.
This side of the garden will be planted in the same way. Four more varieties.
This side of the bed already has some existing plants, but there's room to add three more varieties. I like to plant in odd numbers, but with the existing gomphrena there between and 8 and 10 pots, I don't have the space for a third.
The garden beds that you don't see in this post are a mirror of the curve you see here and already has quite a few things in it. These two curves are built around a huge oak tree. I don't know how old the tree is, but it's gorgeous and wonderful to sit under. And just the perfect place to add to my fairy garden!
If you have a truck and love spending my money, volunteer! We'll have a blast! Oh, and I have already hired the labor to plant the pots. I don't have the back for that any more, especially in this awful soil!
Can't wait to see this planted and growing! Your ideas sound wonderful. Gardening is wonderful exercise! Enjoy!


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text:
Q: Как оптимизировать мой запрос к mongodb с помощью dataloader У меня стоит задача: Оптимизировать выполнение основного скрипта сокращателя ссылок, а именно переход по короткой ссылке и перенаправление на исходную.
Я решил попробовать сделать это при помощи dataloader, прочитал статьи на эту тему, посмотрел видео, но в них были слишком сложные запросы к бд, в моём же случае всё элементарно и я не особо понимаю, как тут можно лаконично воспользоваться dataloader, если вообще есть смысл это делать, буду благодарен любой помощи с реализацией dataloader или подсказкам относительно общего решения моей задачи...
Думаю попробовать memcached

router.get('/:shortUrl', async (req, res) => {
  await Url.findOne({shortUrl: req.params.shortUrl}, async (err, obj) => {
    obj.counter = parseInt(++obj.counter);
    await obj.save();
    res.redirect(obj.url);
  });
});

router.get('/:shortUrl', async (req, res) => {
  const dbItem = await Url.findOne({shortUrl: req.params.shortUrl});
  dbItem.counter = parseInt(++dbItem.counter);
  res.redirect(dbItem.url);
  dbItem.save();
});

A: Про текущий код
В исходном коде "бутылочным горлышком" являлась конструкция
await obj.save();
res.redirect(obj.url);

Сначала ждем увеличение счетчика, потом отдаем response. Нужно поменять порядок:
res.redirect(obj.url);
obj.save();

Теперь ответ отправляется сразу, и мы асинхронно увеличиваем счетчик. Может быть, достаточно было бы убрать await и не менять порядок строк, но я предполагаю, что так в очередь библиотеки libuv отправка HTTP-ответа станет первой и выполнится раньше.
Теперь мне не нравится эта конструкция:
dbItem.counter = parseInt(++dbItem.counter);

Допустим, значение счетчика 100. Одновременно пришли два запроса. В одном посчиталось 101 и в другом 101. Оба сохранили 101, что неверно. В Mongo именно для этой цели есть $inc, получится так:
Url.update(
   { shortUrl: req.params.shortUrl },
   { $inc: { counter: 1 } }
);

Теперь счетчик будет считать верно.
Про нагрузку
Не знаю, на какую нагрузку вы рассчитываете. Для 100 запросов в сек будет одна стратегия, а для 10 000 тыс - другая. И тут дело не в коде, а уже в архитектуре. А для проверки нужно нагрузочное тестирование, для этого есть много инструментов, в простом случае можно использовать Apache ab.
У вас, похоже, небольшой проект.
В таком случае я бы поставил Nginx как реверс-прокси и настроил на нем кеширование. Вот мой конфиг, который нужно доработать под себя: включить опцию proxy_cache_background_update on и другие.
Тут есть такой интересный момент: допустим, кеша нет (протух, либо еще не создался) и приходит 1000 запросов. Можно отправить всю тысячу на бек, и даже если на беке есть мемкеш, в нем так же может не быть данных. И бек будет 1000 раз получать данные из Монги и 1000 раз сохранять их в мемкеше. Nginx же умеет обрабатывать такую ситуацию: он пошлет один запрос на бек, а 999 клиентов поставит на "паузу". Когда данные придут, он разошлет их всей 1000. Для этого нужно включить proxy_cache_lock.
Вообще, посмотрите все опции Nginx, содержащие слово "cache".
Плюсы и минусы этого способа:

*

*может держать очень высокую нагрузку, по сути будет чтение из файлов, которые также кешируются в памяти

*счетчик не будет увеличиваться

Если счетчик важен, то:

*

*NodeJS использует только одно ядро CPU => посмотрите как организовать кластер, задействуя все доступные ядра

*получение данных с Mongodb => монго также можно развернуть как кластер (см "Шардинг"), имеет смысл если очень много данных

Кеширование на беке:

*

*мемкеш => несколько инстансов NodeJS, обслуживающие запросы, могут считать общие данные

*сделать просто переменную lastUri = { "uri_1" => "https://ya.ru", ... }, она будет в памяти, но доступна только для одного инстанса, и ее нужно чистить

Обновление счетчика:
Можно "копить" новые значения в том же мемкеше, и один раз в минуту обновлять. Да, что-то можно потерять.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Helping you make the most informed, educated decision.
Welcome to SunSmart's solar power pool pump buying guide.
This section of our website is here to provide as much information as possible to help you make as informed a decision as possible when choosing a pool pump. If there is something you'd like to know that isn't covered here, please let us know so we can answer your question and also add the information to this page for others.
While many people simply try to get the most power for the lowest price (the bang-for-buck approach), this is actually not what we would advise.
This is because pool pumps are often the largest consumer of electricity in people's homes. The factors you should be looking at are Efficiency and Durability, not simply power and price. Pump overkill is costly – having a powerful but inefficient pump is wasting thousands of dollars in electricity.
Where is the pump going and what will it be used for?
Before even comparing different types of pumps for their efficiency and durability, you need to calculate how big your pool is. This will tell you how much water the pump will need to move per hour.
When thinking pump size, you will also need to factor in any cleaning devices or water features you wish to run with the pump, as well as its distance and relative elevation from the pool.
Until recently, AC motors have been the norm for pool pumps. They are generally powerful and rugged, but with the arrival of DC brushless technology, they are no longer the logical choice for pool pumps.
A conventional 1.5 horsepower AC pump (about average for suburban pools) will cost anywhere from $1,200 to $2,000 a year to run, and will generate about 6 tonnes of greenhouse emissions in this time.
This enormous leap in performance is due to a couple of things. Firstly, the fact that brushless DC motors are 'brushless'. In a typical commutator motor, the spinning part needs to make contact with a number of conductive brushes within the housing, which creates friction, sparks, wear and noise. Brushless motors, on the other hand, do not suffer from any of these problems.
SunSmart's solar power pool pump motors have 12 poles that are acted upon, so basically the electromagnetic push / pull of the rotor is occurring every one twelfth of a turn. In a typical 2 pole AC motor the electromagnetic forces occur only once every half a turn of the rotor. So the AC motor has 2 electromagnetic waves per revolution, the SunSmart solar power pool pump motor has twelve. A big difference which is why a smaller motor can do the same work as the larger AC motors.
With fewer moving parts and less friction within the motor means brushless motors outlive their brushed counterparts by a huge margin – often two or three times. This saves you money on maintenance and replacement costs, not to mention the savings on your energy bills.
Imagine if your car only worked in third gear – starting it up would be difficult, and going at 100 km/h on the highway would quickly damage it.
This is what a fixed-speed motor is. A variable-speed motor, on the other hand, can comfortably (and efficiently) operate at different speeds. While it is possible to buy both AC and DC variable-speed motors, DC is the better choice.
The best efficiency for brushless DC motors comes when running at low speeds – certain tests have shown them to perform up to five times more efficiently in this mode than standard AC motors at normal speed. This means you're only paying one fifth of the energy costs to keep your pool clean.
This low power consumption also means that variable-speed DC pumps are ideal for use with solar panels – it is possible to completely eliminate your electricity bill if you run the pump at efficient settings.
Running your pump on the grid (i.e. connected to the mains) poses a major benefit and a major downside. The plus is that it's always connected and can work at night or on cloudy days. However, being connected means it's costing you money – and pool pumps are often the single most expensive item on a household's power bills.
Running off the grid (i.e. with solar panels) eliminates the power bills entirely, unless the pump is connected to the mains for backup power and/or night-time functions like water features. The downside to solar-only pumps is that their performance suffers on heavily overcast days, but the convenient thing is that many people don't use their pools when it's overcast or raining! As an added bonus, algae and bacteria do not grow well without sunlight, so filtration and chlorination are not required to the same extent as on sunny days, which means even more savings!
There is a cost associated with switching from on-grid AC to off-grid DC, but in most cases, the savings on users' power bills usually recoup the money within the first 3 years or less, while eliminating their carbon footprint from the moment they are installed.
Connecting an AC motor to the mains is as easy as plugging it in, but to attach solar panels, you'll first need to install an inverter to change the power from DC (what the panels produce) to AC (what the motor needs). Inverters can be inefficient and costly.
Similarly, running a DC motor on the mains will require a power transformer to convert the energy from AC (what wall sockets produce) into DC. However, running off-grid with a solar panel eliminates this step, as the power coming out of the panels is already DC, so it just goes straight into the pump. This is the most efficient method. Studies have shown that only one third of the solar panels are required when a DC solar power pool pump is powered directly from solar panels. To get the same result using an inverter to drive the 240V AC pool pump, 12 solar panels would be required. Four solar panels will do the job beautifully with the all DC system.


This is a brontotherium (or megacerops, or whatever else the thing has been named as it has been "discovered" numerous times). Anyways, this is the Paintmonkey's latest submission to the fine publication of Prehistoric Times magazine. The new issue will be out in July. Look for it in fine shops everywhere!
I will also have a neat little side project I did last week pending approval of the client's spouse!


Department of Clinical Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America. Hold Beneficial, Healing Properties, herbs are used for the treatment of chronic and acute conditions and various ailments, including major health concerns like cardiovascular disease, prostate problems, depression, inflammation and weakened immune system. More Essay Examples. As a general rule, children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems must not take herbal medicines without why i want to become an accountant essay a doctors supervision. There are many different systems of traditional medicine, and the philosophy and practices of each are influenced by social conditions, environment and geographic location, but these systems all agree on a holistic approach to life. Saw palmetto appeared to have efficacy similar to that of medications like finasteride, but it was better tolerated and less expensive. A systematic review published in, evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine evaluated whether or not natural health products provide a cost-effective choice in the treatment of disease. Since then, scientists have been studying plants to create the pharmaceutical products we know today. However, prudence and common sense must still be exercised when taking herbal medicines. The content areas of the journal reflect the interests.
Herbal Medicine : A Comparative Study on Alternative Healing Practices and Beliefs By: Samantha Goelz Senior Thesis. Herbalists use a range of techniques aside from herbal medicine to heal and treat illness. I chose to take the biological approach and only focus on herbal medicine in my research.
( 5 top 10 Herbs Used in Herbal Medicine. Ginseng Ginseng is one of the most popular herbal medicines in the world, and its been used in Asia and North American for centuries. Boli Z, Shuren L, Junping Z, Hongwu. However, protocol reviewers (i.e. ( 1 millions of dollars have recently been invested in looking for promising medicinal herbs. At one extreme, some researchers trained in biomedical methods of clinical investigation argue that the only valid source of knowledge regarding clinical efficacy must come from one type of research design, the randomized double blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Herbal and Modern Medicine. The usage of herbs is one of the most well-known Eastern traditions. Eastern societies have long used herbs for medicinal purposes. The Chinese emperor Shen Nong, for instance, wrote a solid piece on herbs in 2735 BC a study that is in use at present.
Tip, a good example of a thesis statement of a movie review is: "Despite the strong performances and high-quality direction, the film's scripted characters lack depth and do not allow its talented..
Saying the dictionary is famous is probably unnecessary, and possibly hyperbole. The paragraph is very choppy and the sentences do not flow well. The first "as" is an error, since Jones did not..


text:
« Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music – 4/16/12
April 26, 2012 »
(4/3/12) CTI Presents "Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music"
CHARLOTTE — April 3, 2012 — Charlotte Teachers Institute will present "Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music" from 5:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, April 16, at UNC Charlotte Center City. Local academic experts and music educators will reflect on 18 revealing violins and their extraordinary histories related to the Holocaust, considering their structure, their pasts and their power. The audience also will have the opportunity to view the instruments and meet the visionaries who brought the "Violins of Hope" exhibition to life.
Israeli master violinmaker Amnon Weinstein collected and carefully restored the violins and gathered their stories to give voice to the people they represent. Weinstein's Violins of Hope were first played publicly in 2008 and are making their first journey to the Americas in this debut exhibition at UNC Charlotte Center City April 15-22.
This Exploding Canons series event offers something special for the Charlotte community, says CTI Executive Director Scott Gartlan. "This is an opportunity for us to share the work and passion of Amnon and Assi Weinstein," Gartlan says. "We are incredibly fortunate to have four professors, two teachers and the Weinsteins in one place on one night to illuminate the beauty, mystery, and music of these violins."
"Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music" begins with a reception in the Center City Atrium at 5:15 pm., followed by the panel discussion from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Center City Auditorium. The Center City Gallery's Violins of Hope exhibition will remain open until 9:00 pm.
Writer Assaela (Assi) Bielski Weinstein, wife of Amnon and daughter of one the Bielski partisans, will provide the welcome address. Featured topics and presenters for the Exploding Canons panel discussion include:
"Strings + Wood = Violin?" – Dan Boye, professor of physics, Davidson College
"Music: A Human Response" – Rebecca Engen, associate professor and director of music therapy, Queens University of Charlotte
"The Violins of Hope in the Holocaust " – Jay Grymes, associate professor of musicology, UNC Charlotte
Ken Lambla, dean of UNC Charlotte's College of Arts + Architecture and a key organizer for "Violins of Hope" in Charlotte, will moderate the panel discussion. Musical performances on violin and cello by Jennifer Frisina, orchestra director at Randolph IB and Alexander Graham Middle Schools, and Leigh Marsh, orchestra director at South Mecklenburg High School and Quail Hollow Middle School, will complete the program.
CTI's "Exploding Canons: Violins of Hope, Courage and Music" is sponsored by the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation and CTI's educational partners: UNC Charlotte, Davidson College and CMS. Community partners include the Charlotte Symphony, Musical Minds and WFAE 90.7. The "Exploding Canons" speakers series leverages the partnerships among CTI to offer educators and the public collaborative educational opportunities that highlight university and college faculty, explore diverse topics in an interdisciplinary manner, and encourage community conversation.
This "Exploding Canons" event is free and open to the public. For more information and registration visit CTI's website at www.charlotteteachers.org. CMS teachers and administrators from all grade levels and subject areas are especially encouraged to attend. Seats are limited and will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
UNC Charlotte Center City is located at 320 E. 9th Street, at the corner of Ninth and Brevard streets. Parking is available for $5 at the 707 N. Brevard Street parking lot at the intersection with 11th Street.
About the Charlotte Teachers Institute
The Charlotte Teachers Institute, a collaboration among Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Davidson College and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, cultivates content-knowledge, creativity, leadership skills and collaboration within and among Charlotte's public school teachers through intensive, long-term seminars and a variety of educational events. CTI's "Exploding Canons" events engage and educate CMS teachers and the community-at-large, as CTI and a variety of partnering organizations produce forums for college and university faculty and other educators to examine topics through multi-disciplinary lenses. CTI is made possible by generous support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Belk Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
About "Violins of Hope"
"Violins of Hope" is presented in Charlotte by UNC Charlotte's College of Arts + Architecture in partnership with about 20 cultural and academic partners in the region and through financial support from Wells Fargo Private Bank, the Leon Levine Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Blumenthal Foundation, the Arts & Science Council, Foundation for the Carolinas, the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, US Airways, Lufthansa German Airlinesand other individual and community supporters. More information is on the Web at www.violinsofhopecharlotte.com. Watch "Violins of Hope" on YouTube.
For more information, contact CTI Executive Director Scott Gartlan, 704-687-2026, info@charlotteteachers.org
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Public Relations media contact: LaTarzja Henry, 980-344-0009, l.henry@cms.k12.nc.us
Davidson College Public Relations media contact: Stacey Schmeidel, 704-894-2798, stschmeidel@davidson.edu
UNC Charlotte Public Relations media contact: Buffie Stephens, 704-687-5830, BuffieStephens@uncc.edu
Posted on April 3, 2012 by Robin Mara.	This entry was posted in Press Releases. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
Minnesota Mortgage Broker Faces 20 Years for Fraud Scheme
Derrick Ivan Lance, an Edina, Minn. mortgage broker, has pleaded guilty for his role in a $20 million mortgage fraud scheme that involved 57 properties. Lance specifically pleaded guilty to count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In his plea agreement, Lance admitted that between 2004 and 2007, he conspired with others to obtain mortgage loan proceeds based on fraudulent documentation. Lance's unnamed co-conspirators identified residential properties available for purchase and recruited buyers for those properties. Two of the co-conspirators told buyers they would receive payments (i.e., kickbacks) after the property transactions closed, and that they could put those payments toward the mortgages or use them to improve the properties. Lance admitted using his licensed mortgage brokerage and his position within that brokerage to help prepare and submit false mortgage loan applications, which misrepresented the buyers' true financial situation. Based on those fraudulent documents, however, loans were approved, and loan proceeds were disbursed by wire transfer into the accounts of various title companies. Due to paperwork that misrepresented the true nature of the real estate transaction, Lance and his co-conspirators then caused those title companies to disburse a portion of the proceeds from each transaction into bank accounts not associated with the property buyers, the purpose being to conceal the undisclosed kickbacks. Lance received approximately $200,000 for assisting buyers to secure mortgage loan funding for 26 properties. For his crime, Lance faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Judge Ericksen will determine his sentence at a future hearing, yet to be scheduled.
'A Long Road To Normal'
Nominated again to lead The Fed, Powell tells Senate committee to expect three rate hikes, but 'if we have to raise interest rates more over time, we will.'
CFPB: Complaint Response Worsens At Big 3 Credit Bureaus
Report claims Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion routinely failed to fully respond to consumers with errors.
The Fed Names Chairs, Deputy Chairs For 12 Reserve Banks
In recent years, the Federal Reserve System has worked to increase the overall diversity of the Reserve Bank and branch boards of directors and continues to build on those efforts.
The Fed: Rate Hike Likely Coming in June
Federal Open Market Committee's December minutes reveal discussion of first hike in federal funds rate in 2Q of 2022, as well as of ending asset purchases by March.
AARMR No Protection For Savanah Scares
Conference provides opportunity for regulators to interact, discuss common topics
McCargo Sworn In As Ginnie Mae President
Former HUD official becomes the first female to lead the Government National Mortgage Association.