text:
A Raster Based Geospatial Model for Natural Gas Transmission Line Routing
By V. Yildirim, T. Yomralioglu and R. Nisanci
Submitted: December 5th 2011Reviewed: March 30th 2012Published: October 31st 2012
Home > Books > Natural Gas - Extraction to End Use
V. Yildirim
T. Yomralioglu
R. Nisanci
*Address all correspondence to:
Natural GasExtraction to End UseEdited by Sreenath Gupta
Natural Gas - Extraction to End Use
Edited by Sreenath Borra Gupta
The most important step in planning activities of Natural Gas Transmission Line(NGTL) is an applicable route selection [1]. Because obtaining the optimum route on a surface is a very complex process. Because many factors must be considered at the same time, and it is an important step for the NGTL projects. Defined route has influence on the project in every stage in economical, environmental, sociological and temporal way [2]. To reduce unfavorable effects as much as possible in terms of flora and fauna, and the environment and to complete the project at least cost base on the efficiency of the route. Determining the best route depends on examination, query and analysis of many complex data together [3]. Route determination requires spatial data from different organizations and state institutions, and it also needs to be carefully chosen, saved, queried and analyzed. Today, this type of analysis and a quick result are possible with Geographical Information System (GIS). GIS is an effective engineering tool for systematically organizing factors affecting route determination. When these factors are identified based on the length of the project, a GIS should be used to evaluate these factors simultaneously. Additionally the GIS based visualization technologies and cartographic abilities are generally adequate to determine the effective routes [4,5,6,7,8].
Route problems, including route selection, route planning, finding the optimal route, corridor analysis and site selection, can be solved using network analysis based on GIS. GIS technologies have significantly improved recently. As one of the most important current information technologies, it is used as an effective tool in network analysis. Network analysis can be carried out on both vector-based data, such as roads, streams or pipelines, and raster-based data from non-defined space. Nevertheless, applications of network analysis for route determination of linear engineering structures must be carried out with raster-based data because they do not have a defined space [9,10,11]. Route determination with raster-based data is advantageous because it is simple to perform cost calculation, design, and modeling and to obtain Remote Sensing (RS) data directly in raster format [12,13,14,15].
Raster data model is the most useful data format to carry out arithmetic operations among pixels of same coverage or different coverage on the same geographical location. Today, lots of GIS software extensively uses specific functions such as surface analysis, determination of the least cost route, forming arithmetic operations among the coverage, thanks to advantages provided by raster data format. In raster operations, surface crossing among pixels is more effective than crossing among lines on the vector based network analysis. Because obtaining the optimum route or the least cost route can be possible with the movement among the pixels on raster based continuous data, not on vector based finite line. Many researchers, realizing the importance of the taster approach in route determination process, have carried out various studies and have provided solutions to eliminate the deficiencies of this method continuing from past to present [16,5].
Many factors in NGTL studies must be examined together. These factors exist in a complex and dispersed structure. Generally, decision makers randomly determine factors which they will use and effect rates of these factors to the route. However, required factors in determining route must be organized in a specific systematic manner in importance order. As a results of statistical examinations, required factors should be determined and the number of factors must be minimized as possible as. Besides these factors, the effect rates to the route need to be determined by using Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. In this sense, raster based routing model which will be generated should include the factor and determination process dynamically [17].
In route determination of NGTL, as not to be able to determine potential landslide areas, protected areas, flora/fauna areas, wetlands, rocky areas, soil types, other infrastructure lands, agricultural activity lands and may factors affecting the route in advance cause environmental and economic problems in these projects. Especially in Turkey, there are many present projects in which the pipelines, passing through the landslides, have been reconstructed; as coming across the breeding place of a specific type of animal, NGTL is waited for breeding time for days; pipelines as also coming across hard rocks or steep slope were reconstructed by taking back to avoid sharp turning and there is extra cost for crossing unnecessary streams and wetlands [18]. In other countries, besides these problems, there are projects which NGTL has been passing through fault lines [19], ore beds [20] and residential areas [21] causing the deaths of many people. Additionally, there are also projects that have been cancelled without completing the estimated operating time of the pipelines or have been repaired again with excessive maintenance costs because of not having determined the factors (groundwater causing corruption and abrasion) that affect the occupancy of NGTL [22].
2. NGTL routing model
Being carried out the process of NGTL route determination with GIS based models provides many advantages economically, environmentally and sociologically [23,24]. Like in all GIS applications, efficiency of results is proportional to the data quality. In determining route studies of NGTL projects, many data should be collected, stored and analyzed depending on the size of the field. Requiring location determination, the route determination problem might be basically perceived as a location problem. Because in these problems, every factor, affecting the route, corresponds to a location data set.
The deficiency of location data, used in studies including large areas that different corporations in Turkey require, has negatively influence on GIS studies which will be held on a regional scale. Maps used by many public corporations are 1:25.000 scaled topographic maps produced by General Command of Mapping (GCM). Corporations provide needed data (road, river, residential areas, natural sources, etc.) with these maps. However updating of these maps throughout the country requires a long time process. These map produced for defense purposes are not enough for the usage of different disciplines. The first stage of GIS based route determination method is to obtain the necessary location data/information by taking into account the factors affecting to the route [25]. In this process, the majority of the data that will be used as base is the location data (Figure 1).
Land Cover Other Linear Engineering Structures
Rock Areas Highway
Forest Area Railway
Agriculture Area Settlement
Flora / Fauna Residential Areas
Recreation Area Ownership
National Park Industrial Areas
Protected Area Oil pipeline
Wetlands Natural Gas Pipeline
Geology Power Transmission line
Fault Lines Spatial
Lithology Data
Elevation Irrigation/Drying Canals
Ore Beds Boundaries
Soil Hydrology
Landslide Streams
Irrigation Canal
Underground Water sources
Source of drinking water
Spatial Dataset for NGTL routing
Spatial and non-spatial data required in determining NGTL routes are in large volume and vary very much. Requirement of studying effectively these data has revived raster based GIS methods in the recent years [26,27]. GIS is one of the most effective tools to analyzethe data in a whole. The data which will be used as input in NGTL route determination is needed at many stages (cost, operation, maintenance, time, efficiency of the line etc.) of pipeline project [28].
The first stage in raster based route planning model is defining the factors that affect NGTL route determination. Factors affecting the route determination of NGTL project vary in themselves. The factors affecting the determination is quiet different in crossing between the land and the sea. The effect ratios of these factors must be also identified. These rates called as factor weights are able to be determined in different ways. In this study, raster based route planning model has been generated by taking account of land crossing of NGTL in a dynamic structure in which necessary factors, weights of factors and related data layers can be studied as a whole (Figure 2).
Accuracy Analysis
Factors and Data
NTGL ROUTING CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Determining of Weight Coefficients Based on Shareholders
Ensuring of Weight Coefficients Based on Professionals
Series of Spatial Analysis
MCDM Analysis
Raster Network Analysis
Determining of Alternatives Routes
Optimum Route
Data Gathering & Data Processing
NGTL routing conceptual model [17]
3. Factors
In raster based routing model, spatial and non-spatial data corresponding to factors affecting the route must be primarily obtained by paying attention to sufficient accuracy and precision. In Turkey context, many problems are experienced during the period from producing spatial data to sharing them [29]. Difficulties in reproduction of spatial data that are not probable, non- spatial data in a scattered structure and probable data without required quality are some of the most important reasons. Completing the process of data collection which is the most important part of the entire system in terms of time and cost, and data layers belonging to factor that will be used must be generated (Table 1).
In NGTL routing, factors, and weight of these factors vary depending on the precision of project's construction, execution and maintenance. For example,; in an area in which intense landslides occur, landslide factor is amplified. Or identification of accurate obstacle is generated for flora-fauna factor while determining the route through the areas which are sensitive environmentally, such as tropical areas. In this context, factors affecting the route are generally classified in three main titles: environmental, economical and sociological factors (Table 2).
Limitations which affect NGTL route and relevant data layers
Economical Environmental Sociological
Land Cover X X X
Elevation X
Geology X
Soil X X
River X X
Road X X
Railway X
Flora / Fauna X
Earthquake/Fault X
Protected Area X X
Boundaries X
Recreation X X
Ownership X X
General classification of factors affecting NGTL Route
4. Determination of factor weights
In the process of route planning of pipelines, multiple qualitative and quantitative parameter should be evaluated in a whole and need to be decided basing on the results. When some of these parameters contradict with each other, the process of decision-making also called as the MCDM method is used to get more reliable results. In MCDM method, due to contradictory criteria, choosing the most appropriate alternative is very difficult for decision makers. After consideration of criteria, methods to remove these contradictions must be used to obtain the most accurate results [30].
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a method that is widely applied in decision theory; it is a paradoxical measurement method that includes measurable or abstract criteria. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), besides being a method which finds common practicing field in decision theory, is a measuring method which takes the controversial measurable and/or abstract criteria in to consideration. In AHP, if a decision is to made, the information and the experiences that are nearly in equal importance with the data are also taken into consideration. AHP is a tool which can be used in a wide scale from personal decisions to complicated management ones. The power of the theory is in both its simplicity and its applicability to varied conditions.
In AHP, specifying the scale is significant. In order to specify this scale;, first, particular sets of number are taken and by using these numbers, it is decided how the modified priorities will be associated with each other. A scale consists of three elements: the mass of objects, the mass off numbers and determination of the mutual connections between the object and numbers.
In a standard scale a unit must be used to generate the values of the scale. Standard scale is used in measurement of objects or facts by using a unit developed to measure a specific feature. The numbers obtained from the scale function only in terms of human mind and do not have a value alone. The scale shown at the Table 3 is the basic scale of AHP.
Intensity of importance Definition Explanation
1 Equal importance Two factors contribute equally to the objective
3 Somewhat more important Experience and judgment slightly favor one over the other.
5 Much more important Experience and judgment strongly favor one over the other.
7 Very much more important Experience and judgment very strongly favor one over the other. Its importance is demonstrated in practice.
9 Absolutely more important The evidence favoring one over the other is of the highest possible validity.
2,4,6,8 Intermediate values When compromise is needed.
Pair wise scale in AHP
Similar items in every stage of hierarchy are compared for the next level criteria. The results taken from these comparisons are stated as numbers above. This scale shows the meaning of values from 1 to 9. The values in the scale specify the density of connections of items. The matrix of pair wise comparison is generated as a result of pair wise comparison of all items. As the comparison of an item with itself is defined as a number,1; the values of 1 are drawn out at diagonals of matrix. A number of n(n- 1)/2 comparison is made in an item matrix. The reason of it, the values of the 1 take place on the diagonal on account of comparing the items with themselves. In matrix, evaluation as the number of items of diagonals on the upper side is needed. This situation is derived from that evaluations under diagonal is opposite of the values upper side of the diagonal. Therefore the needed number of evaluation will be {(n*n)-n}/2.
4.1. Pair wise matrix and factor weights
Pair wise comparisons are one of the AHY components. The weight of the parameters used to determine the NGTL route are calculated by taking into consideration the pair wise comparisons of the parameters and the impact relative to each other affecting the route determination they make. Normally, the relative value of two parameters is based on the preference of the decision maker. In this study, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) were prepared and examined for pipeline routing, existing applications, and scientific researchers to compare factors and sub-factors. Moreover, information was obtained from interviews with masters in BOTAS (Petroleum Pipeline Corporation), which is responsible for the pipelines in Turkey, and conversations with masters or experienced people in different corporations. Furthermore, current NGTL construction works were examined, and the relative degree of importance of the factors was determined at the end of the study [31,32].
The accuracy imparted by these weight values is studied by carrying out spatial analysis, questioning and cost evaluation [31,32]. Natural gas pipelines of which routes determined by using classical methods were optimized with this raster based route determination model and the values of weight were tested by comparing the results with original data on the land [31]. The results and statistical findings have shown that the weight values determined by this method are compatible with the original land data.
The number of factors defined for NGTL route planning is 10 in this study. In addition to these factors, absolute barriers were included in the process of routing.
First, determining relationships between basic factors affecting the route of NGTL is important. The matrix of pair wise comparisons between layers were generated to determine which layers are affected and to what extent they are affected (Table 4). Weights for each layer in the NGTL route were calculated. Moreover, consistency Ratios (CRs) related to the layers were calculated to determine the importance of these works.
A B C D E F G H I K Weights
A 1 1 2 3 4 7 8 5 6 9 0.256
B 1 1 1 2 3 6 7 4 5 8 0.205
C 1/2 1 1 1 2 5 6 3 4 7 0.156
D 1/3 1/2 1 1 1 4 5 2 3 6 0.116
E 1/4 1/3 1/2 1 1 3 4 1 2 5 0.084
F 1/7 1/6 1/5 1/4 1/3 1 1 1/2 1 2 0.033
G 1/8 1/7 1/6 1/5 1/4 1 1 1/3 1/2 1 0.025
H 1/5 1/4 1/3 1/2 1 2 3 1 1 4 0.061
I 1/6 1/5 1/4 1/3 1/2 1 2 1 1 3 0.044
K 1/9 1/8 1/7 1/6 1/5 1/2 1 1/4 1/3 1 0.020
CR: 0,0136 < 0,10
The matrix of pair-wise comparisons to determine the weights of factors that affect NGTL routing
The quality of the work is determined with the help of evaluation of obtained results in the AHP. Whether decisions support each other or whether they are meaningful can be determined. This work is carried out with CR in the AHP. Acceptable high point's value for CR is 0.10. If CR is higher than 0.10 decision maker has to control his comparisons again. When weights related to data layers in NGTL route plan are examined (Table 1), factors such as land cover, slope, geology, soil and landslides affect the route more than the other factors. Sub-factor weights were calculated for each factor with the matrix of pair wise comparisons (Table 5).
After factors were identified and relevant data layers were created, the weights of these factors and sub-criteria needed to be identified in the second stage. In this study, after criteria, taken into consideration in routing studies by using classical methods, the views of experienced and professional people, legal procedures and practices carried out in developed countries were examined as a whole, the process of determining the weight of factors was started. In this process, the most important processing step is interviews conducted in various institutions and organizations engaged in NGTL. As a result of determining the weights of factors supported with the interview results and literature studies, the weights of factors and sub-criteria affecting NTGL route determination were identified by AHP.
In raster based route determination model, after needed factors were identified and formed properly, also some limitations need to be introduced. These limitations do not take any weight value and define a barrier. In route planning, the lands where the passing is strictly forbidden is defined as absolute barrier, and the lands in which passing is likely despite of its difficulty are also defined as relative barrier. Absolute barriers are determined in sense of the benefits expected from the entire project by users. In generated route planning model, residential zones, landslide areas, wetlands and fault lines were defined as absolute barrier and their weights were exemplified by defining as "∞".
Factors / Sub-Factors Weights CR Factors / Sub-Factors Weights CR
Land Cover 0.263 0.0247 Slope 0.211 0.0108
Forest 0.096 <100 0.031
Cultivated Areas (Seasonal Agriculture) 0.043 10 - 200 0.060
Agricultural Areas 0.063 20 - 300 0.081
Wetland* 0.134 ∞ 30 - 400 0.124
Rocky Areas 0.226 40 - 500 0.152
Pasture Areas 0.028 50 - 600 0.185
Settlement Areas* 0.411 ∞ "/>600 0.367
Geology 0.162 0.0443 Stream 0.040 0.0063
Acid-Intermediate Intrusives 0.473 River 0.444
Basic-Ultrabasic Rocks 0.288 Stream 0.053
Metamorphic Rocks 0.149 Canal 0.262
Volcanic Rocks 0.054 Brook 0.153
Sedimentary Rocks 0.036 Creek 0.089
Protected Area 0.049 0.0290 Recreation 0.023 0.0167
Level I 0.407 Upland 0.039
Level II 0.129 Tourism Center 0.262
Level III 0.079 Historical Monument 0.492
Urban Protected Areas 0.052 Picnic Areas 0.069
Historical Protected Areas 0.333 Promenade Areas 0.138
Soil 0.130 0.0278 Road 0.030 0.0238
I. Class soils – Excellent Agriculture 0.269 Highway 0.486
II. Class soils 0.251 Three Lane Road 0.222
III. Class soils 0.193 Two Lane Road 0.121
IV. Class soils 0.104 Stabilized Road (two lane) 0.090
V. Class soils 0.081 Stabilized Road (one lane) 0.044
VI. Class soils 0.045 Seasonal Road 0.037
VII. Class soils 0.037 Landslide 0.092 0.0334
VIII. Class soils – Non Agriculture 0.020 Active Landslide Areas* 0.633 ∞
Fault Line * ∞ Potential Landslide Areas 0.260
Old Landslide Areas 0.106
Factor and Sub-factor weights affecting the NGTL route
5. Nabucco and Egypt-Turkey NGTL routing using the model
A study has been carried out to show the applicability of raster based GIS model formed for studies of NGTL route determination. For this purpose, route determining studies have been carried out for Nabucco NGTL and Egypt-Turkey NGTL projects which have made concrete progress towards implementation and for which feasibility studies have been carried out. At first, the possibility of data was examined depending on factors affecting NGTL route. Problems especially in obtaining spatial data existed based on the size of the study area. Using spatial data, source and scale of the data are shown on Table 6. In evaluations that were executed, it was seen that when the most of the factors affecting route were taken into consideration, data that was missing (depending on weight values) did not change the route direction that was identified [31].
Data Data Type Data Source Date Scale
Elevation Line General Command of Mapping 2008 1/100.000
Geology Polygon General Directorate of Mineral Research 2008 1/500.000
Fault Line General Directorate of Mineral Research 2008 1/500.000
River Line General Directorate of Mineral Research 2008 1/100.000
Road Line General Directorate of Highway 2008 1/100.000
Railway Line Turkish State Railways 2008 1/100.000
Boundaries Point General Directorate of Rural Services 2008 1/100.000
Lake Polygon General Command of Mapping 2008 1/100.000
Forest Polygon General Command of Forestry 2008 1/100.000
The data used in route determination of the Nabucco NGTL Project.
In this study, the size of pixel was chosen to be 250 m based on the scale of data. Especially in these kinds of large-scale projects, routes determined by using raster based web analysis are often defined as a corridor and not a line depending on the size of the pixel. The route determined by using 20-30 meters- wideth large pixel size symbolized a corridor. Pipeline construction route of which width is 20-30 meters was able to be determined.
5.1. Generating cost surface map
After data layers were generated, NGTL cost surface map was formed by using the ArcGIS 9.3 software developed by ESRI Company and spatial analysis extension in this software. NGTL route determination query can be made by using generated cost surface map. It is easy to reach construction routes called as absolute route by using sensitive data in a corridor 250m wide.
The weighted cost surface is generated by using pixel-based arithmetic processes on raster data layers formed for each surface separately. Weights needed for each layer are shown in Table 2. The value of pixels on this cost surface describes the total transition cost that belongs to the area on the surface (Figure 3).
Pw: Pi*Wi
Pw: weighted layer
Pi : ith data layer
Wi: ith data layer weight
In this implementation, the pixel size was chosen to be 250 m. based on the scale of the data.
Cost surface map for the NGTL routing
5.2. Nabucco NGTL routing
The length of the pipeline recommended for Nabucco project has been defined as approximately 1584 km. It crosses a total of 11 cities starting from Kars to Canakkale. In terms of the provincial administrative boundary, the longest crossing 332,8 km belongs to Kars city; the shortest crossing 71,9 km belongs to Kirikkale City (Figure 4). Although the route seems like a straight line, it makes deviations in significant distances in some crossing depending on the weight of the factor. For example, in Ankara provincial boundary, it has been seen that NGTL has deviated from line direction to not passing through the dense residential area. Route has made road crossing a total of 432 times including two highways.
The Nabucco Natural Gas Transmission Line Project is a new natural gas pipeline that will begin at the eastern border of Turkey and will connect the Caspian Region and the Middle East via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary with Austria and further with Central and Western Europe gas markets. The pipeline will be approximately 3300 km long, stretching from the Georgian/Turkish and Iranian/Turkish borders to Baumgarten in Austria. Additional feeder pipelines are possible for Iraqi gas. Based on technical market studies, the pipeline has been designed to transport a maximum amount of 31 bcm per year. The first aim of the project is to supply gas to the countries on the route, and then gas is to be transported to Western Europe according to the wishes of other countries in the following years.
NGTL route on elevation data
5.3. Determining Egypt-Turkey NGTL route
The recommended length of the pipeline for the NGTL project of Egypt-Turkey is approximately stated 387 km. It passes through a total of 4 cities starting from Kilis, a county of Gaziantep to Yusufeli, a county of Sivas. In terms of the provincial administrative boundary, the longest crossing 124,1 belongs to Sivas; the shortest crossing 49 km belongs to Gaziantep. The route crosses 28 streams including a river. Turkey-Egypt NGTL, plans to deliver gas to Europe market besides Turkey, passes over Israel and Syria,. The route crossing is shown on figure 5 overlaid over cost surface crossing.
Egypt-Turkey NGTL route on cost surface
6. Results and findings
Some analysis and questioning have been carried out for Nabucco NGTL and Egypt NGTL route to show the efficiency of the route determining model developed within this study. Nabucco NGTL route crosses 226 streams of which: 195 are brooks, 3 are rivers, and 9 are streams. It has been seen that Nabucco NGTL has crossed North Anatolia Fault Line in the province border of Erzincan (Figure 6).
Crossing of rivers and fault lines of Nabucco NGTL
For Nabucco NGTL, the slope is at least 2%, a maximum of 32% and an average of 5%. While the minimum height of the pipeline is 52 meters, the height value can reach 3402 meters in some circumstances. The average height value of the pipeline is 1324 meters. Crossing of the pipeline through the areas of which slope value is more than 25%, defined to be of high slope, is a total of 108 pixels, in other words, approximately 27 km. Additionally, the length of the crossing on the high lands, 2500 m elevation is 580 pixel, i.e., approximately 145 km.
The crossing of Nabucco NGTL on the lithology units is statistically evaluated. In this stage, rocks are placed in four categories. According to this evaluation, the route crosses soft areas over 3636 pixels, which is approximately 909 km, and crosses 970 pixels of hard rock, which is approximately 242,5 km. These results show that Nabucco NGTL route on the pattern does not pass through the areas that increase the cost due to geological reasons.
It is seen that the proposed route for Nabucco NGTL has not passed through the center of dense residential areas like metropolitan, city, county, town. This result shows that accurate obstacle limitation for residential areas gives proper results. Egypt NGTL route crosses 28 streams of which 23 are brooks, 1 is a river and 4 are streams. Additionally, it crosses The South Anatolia Fault Line.
For Egypt-Turkey NGTL, the slope is at least 1%, a maximum of 30% and an average of 4%. While the minimum height of the pipeline is 350 meters, the height value can reach 2400 meters in some circumstances. The average height value of the pipeline is 1280 meters.
Also proposed route for Egypt Nabucco NGTL has not passed through the center of dense residential areas like metropolitan, city, county, town (Figure 7).
Residental Area Crossing of Nabucco and Egypt-Turkey NGTL
The NGTL route identification is complex and requires the analysis of large quantity of data and many parameters depending on the length of the project. GIS is one of the tools to perform this analysis effectively. GIS provides a large number of analytical functions that are capable of replacing manual and traditional methods of natural gas pipeline route planning. It is a powerful tool to integrate thematic layers in an automated environment to compute the shortest possible route with associated costs, which eventually reduce the cost and time of project execution and thus the operating expenses. The integration of GIS and the AHP provides a baseline for complex decision making in which the variant nature of criteria and stakeholders can be accounted for successfully.
Raster-based data models and raster-based network analysis are necessary to determine the surface resistance and to model the NGTL route determination appropriately. One of the basic steps of route determination is to determine the factors that affect the route and their weights. In this stage, AHP presents effective solutions.
The accuracy of the results for this model is directly proportion of the quality of the information used. Especially in Turkey, spatial data it should be generalized with the use of a satellite image with the appropriate resolution. In this study, cost surfaces map that is 250x250 m pixels in size were generated based on available data and the data quality for Turkey. For any NGTL projects, the most appropriate corridor, which is 250 meters wide, can be determined easily with this map.
This model can easily be adapted to determine the necessary factors and calculate the weights for linear engineering structures, such as pipelines, waterlines, roads, channels, railways, and energy transfer lines.
This model is designed for Nabucco and Egypt-Turkey Pipelines Turkey crossing, but the model can be applied universally. In this model surface passage criteria factor weights can be changed and alternative routes can be created. Additionally, same factor weights can be used on same surface characteristics in developed and developing countries.
2.NGTL routing model
3.Factors
4.Determination of factor weights
5.Nabucco and Egypt-Turkey NGTL routing using the model
6.Results and findings
7.Conclusions
V. Yildirim, T. Yomralioglu and R. Nisanci (October 31st 2012). A Raster Based Geospatial Model for Natural Gas Transmission Line Routing, Natural Gas - Extraction to End Use, Sreenath Borra Gupta, IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/45814. Available from:
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text:
Mesophleps sublutiana is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is found in Korea, China (Anhui, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hong Kong, Hubei, Shaanxi, Shandong, Yunnan), Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia (Brunei), Indonesia, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka.

The wingspan is 10–16 mm. The forewings are yellowish to ochreous brown, the distal three-fifths of the costa is black, interrupted by a faint oblique line running from four-fifths towards the termen.

The larvae feed on Cajanus cajan, Indigofera, Robinia pseudoacacia and Parkinsonia aculeata. They feed in the pods.

References

Moths described in 1990
Mesophleps

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By JOSH GERSTEIN
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was deeply involved in helping President Bill Clinton navigate a series of politically explosive culture war issues such as abortion, affirmative action and gun control during her tenure as White House deputy domestic policy adviser in the 1990s, newly released documents show.
The 46,500 pages of memos, clippings and assorted paperwork from Kagan's White House files that were posted online Friday by the Clinton Presidential Library show Kagan to have cautiously steered Clinton toward the middle ground and away from extremes on policy issues such as crime control and anti-smoking legislation.
Her recommendations regularly cite fears that a negative reaction from Republicans could end up doing damage to the administration's policy goals.
However, divining Kagan's personal views from the documents is difficult because her own position is not always clear. Even when it is, current White House aides pushing for her confirmation say the stances she took may simple demonstrate her advocacy for Clinton's positions rather than any views of her own.
"The documents reflect Kagan's efforts to advance President Clinton's well-established policy agenda, and they should not be interpreted as an outline of her personal positions on specific policy issues," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said.
LaBolt pointed to comments by a Bush administration policy official, Tevi Troy, who said such internal memos tend to "synthesize the views of the various administration players" rather than offering "full-throated defenses of [an aide's] personal beliefs."
But generally the files reinforce the impression from previously released memos from the Clinton Library that as a domestic policy adviser from 1997 to 1999, Kagan sometimes took positions that made her a relative centrist within the Clinton administration, though some of her allies say those stands are more an indication of pragmatism on Kagan's part than of political moderation.
Conservatives were not impressed. Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network said that the documents were gradually reveaing Kagan in "the decidedly clearer tones of a committed liberal," and also raised the question of "whether she would be able to set aside her deeply ingrained political instincts to evenhandedly apply the law."
The newly released documents, also produced to Congress at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, show:
—Kagan called proposals for a federal law to ban physician-assisted-suicide "a fairly terrible idea." The Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services wanted Clinton to publicly oppose a federal ban proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) Kagan's boss, domestic policy adviser Bruce Reed, backed a "kick the can" approach, claiming that the issue needed more study and consultation with states and doctors' groups.
On a memo about a possible federal assisted-suicide ban, Kagan wrote: "This is a fairly terrible idea, but I know [Clinton adviser Paul] Begala likes it."
Clinton ended up backing the "kick-the-can" option. "Cannot oppose [legislation] outright given my position," he wrote.
—Kagan unequivocally endorsed an effort to try to defuse a controversial affirmative action lawsuit involving a white teacher who was laid off from a public high school in New Jersey while an African-American teacher with the same seniority was kept on.
The Clinton administration initially backed the legality of the board's decision to layoff the white teacher, but at the urging of Solicitor General Walter Dellinger reversed course and urged the Supreme Court to uphold lower court judgments in favor of the white teacher.
"I think this is exactly the right position — as a legal matter, as a policy matter, and as a political matter," Kagan wrote on a 1997 memo from Dellinger in her White House files. The memo describes backing the white teacher as a wise defensive move to stave off a Supreme Court ruling that could have struck down a wide category of affirmative action programs.
"Such a holding would be a disaster for civil rights in employment," Dellinger wrote in the memo Kagan endorsed. "Our best opportunity to avoid a broad and harmful ruling….is to persuade the Court that there is a clear basis for affirming the money judgment on narrow grounds."
Civil rights groups eventually paid the white teacher to drop the case.
"There was some division in the government because it was the first time the Clinton Administration took the side of saying a particular instance of affirmative action was not defensible," Dellinger recalled in an interview Friday. "To attempt to defend it could have been fatal to any consideration of race whatsoever….I think it shows Elena to be quite solid in her judgment on this. It turned out to be the right answer."
--Kagan backed a Clinton administration initiative to reduce — but not eliminate — the disparity in mandatory minimum sentences for trafficking in crack cocaine versus powder. Kagan and Reed explicitly touted the approach they favored, effectively reducing the disparity from 100 to 1 down to 10 to 1, as a middle-of-the-road idea.
"The one downside of this recommendation is that the proposed approach risks putting the Administration in the center of a debate that has no center — with members of Congress attacking from both directions," Kagan and Reed wrote in another 1997 memo to Clinton that sought to chart a course between the Congressional Black Caucus, which favored doing away with any disparity, and Republicans, who favored reducing the disparity in large part by increasing punishment for selling small quantities of powder.
"The [Congressional Black Caucus] approach to this issue will go nowhere in Congress, even with our support. The Republican approach stands a scarily high chance of success, unless we counter it with a credible alternative," Kagan and Reed wrote in their proposal, which Clinton adopted.
--Kagan expressed qualms about a form of testing for racial discrimination that involves sending a minority and a Caucasian with similar records to apply for housing or jobs, but, again, she couched her reluctance in terms of the likely GOP backlash.
"I'm not keen on the paired testing proposal — it will only encourage [then-House Speaker Newt] Gingrich in his opposition to this enforcement technique," she wrote in a 1998 note to a colleague.
--Kagan seemed eager to support the Clinton administration's drive to appear tough on crime — a major national issue in the 1990s. In 1999, she and Reed promised Clinton to push forward with an "aggressive strategy…to press for quick passage of our gun control proposals."
Kagan also seemed intrigued by a 1997 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece urging broader use of "shaming punishments" such as bumper stickers marking DUI offenders and signs marking the homes of convicted sex offenders. "Do you think there's a way of sensibly hooking into this trend?" she asked Reed in an accompanying note.
--As the Clinton administration's point person on tobacco control legislation, Kagan pressed for legislation to settle lawsuits the industry was facing and impose greater regulation. However, she fretted that some proposals to rein in marketing of tobacco might infringe on companies' First Amendment rights.
When other officials said those concerns were baseless, she wrote, "I'm not sure I buy the argument."
In another tobacco memo, she and Reed wrote, "We should not ask for more than we need to achieve our public health goals and in the process destroy any chance of industry acquiescence."
--In the area of campaign finance, Kagan appears to have supported a proposal to bar U.S. citizens from contributing to federal campaigns if they were registered to lobby for a foreign government or company – an aggressive move certain to prompt legal challenges on First Amendment grounds were it to be enacted.
"Looks good," Kagan wrote by hand at the top an April 1997 memo from Domestic Policy Council official Paul Weinstein containing the proposal aimed at "reducing the influence of foreign governments."
Weinstein suggested that Clinton propose the ban be included in the bill on which Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) were working, a subsequent version of which passed in 2002.
"In addition, the President could challenge all Democrats to stop accepting such contributions immediately," Weinstein wrote, asserting the challenge would provide "a huge opportunity" for Vice President Al Gore, then under fire for attending a fundraiser at a California Buddhist Temple that led to $100,000 in illegal foreign contributions to the Democratic National Committee.
The new releases also add to already-public documents from the Clinton library detailing the degree of Kagan's involvement in two controversial areas– abortion, in which she clearly played a key role for the administration, and race.
In a March 1999 note to White House chief of staff John Podesta, Kagan and Reed complained that one of Clinton's top race advisers, Chris Edley, was trying to use a proposed presidential "book" on race to advocate for an executive order banning racial profiling—an order most of Clinton's senior aides had rejected.
"This simply cannot be allowed to happen. We have policy processes for a reason," Kagan and Reed griped about Edley's tactic. "We would like to talk to you about this."
The records posted online Friday are the first batch released by the Clinton Library since Kagan was nominated last month. National Archives officials say they are endeavoring to release about 110,000 more pages of documents before confirmation hearings set to begin June 28.
Kenneth P. Vogel, Gloria Park, Emily Schultheis and Daniel Strauss contributed to this report.


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The United States will donate 750,000 doses of vaccines to help Taiwan withstand the siege of Chinese rule
Tony Joseph 2 years ago 3 min read
US delegation to Taiwan (Reuters)
America Donate 750,000 Doses to Taiwan At a time when the region records a record number of daily deaths from the disease, with 36 deaths in the last hours.
The announcement was made by Senator Tammy Duckworth during a visit to Taiwan to assess the status of her Asian ally, an occasional point of disagreement with China, which asserts its sovereignty over the region against the independence ambitions of local officials.
"It was important to the United States that Taiwan be included in the first group to receive donations, as we recognize their urgent need and value our partnership.Duckworth explained in statements collected by the official Taiwanese news agency, the Central News Agency (CNA).
Taiwan's foreign ministry commended the commitment, which "sends a strong and clear message of US support, and the government of Taiwan is grateful for that."
Duckworth and his fellow US senators Dan Sullivan and Chris Koons arrived at Taipei airport on Sunday and were received by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu to assess the situation in the region, which under pressure failed to join the international vaccination initiative Huh. Chinese government. Like this, The vaccination rate for the island's 23.6 million residents is still less than 3 percent..
Testing at Taipei Airport (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden announced last week that his country would donate nearly 25 million doses of the vaccine to countries that need them, mostly through the international Covax program, along with the rest of the allies and strategic partners, critically to the affected countries. Epidemic. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan explained that the United States wants to "retain some flexibility" when dosing outside of Kovax's formula.
See also US Parcel Services Ready To Hurry | News
Washington is Taipei's main ally Although it does not maintain full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, as it officially recognizes China, which considers the island an integral part of its territory.
Meanwhile, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Taiwan has recorded 343 cases of all national transmission of COVID-19 and 36 deaths from the disease in the past few hours. A total of 260 people have died due to the pandemic.
According to the organization, the national cases in the past week include 335 new confirmed infections and eight confirmed test results.
The new cases bring the total number of infections in Taiwan to 11,298, of which more than 9,900 are domestic infections that have been reported since May 15, the first day Taiwan has reported more than 100 domestic infections since the outbreak began. started reporting cases. Due to the presence of a large outbreak in religious congregations spread across the capital, Taipei and New Taipei City.
(With information from AFP and Europa Press)
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For many years now at First Round, we've hosted CEO Salons, which are opportunities for founders at companies we've backed to come together in small group settings. There's dinner, discussion, advice from those walking a similar path — and hopefully, a stronger sense of community that can cut through the isolating fog of company building.
In February 2020, Sitka CEO Kelsey Mellard walked through the doors of our San Francisco office for what turned out to be one of our last in-person salons before shelter-in-place set in. As the founder of a rapidly-growing, seed-stage healthcare communications startup, Mellard's plate was packed. "In addition to launching new clients and growing the team, I was in the thick of planning our annual April retreat," she says. "We've always been distributed, so every year we vote on what city to meet in, and fly everyone out for four days of work, bonding and strategy setting. In previous years, I'd just fly in early, hit up Costco for snacks, and generally manage all of the logistics myself, but given the size of our team now, we needed to grow beyond that — and I was frankly biting off more than I could chew."
Enter Mike Wang. With a background in education and design, Wang currently leads strategy at ASU, transitioning from Minerva Schools where he built a new, hybrid online and place-based university from the ground up as the Global Director of Student Experience. But when Mellard met him, Wang was in between gigs and moonlighting as an experience designer for that February First Round CEO dinner. "It was almost Valentine's Day, so Mike had curated this amazing agenda with an eight-course interactive feast, with drink pairings and vulnerable conversations to boot," says Mellard. "He did such an incredible job of both facilitating and structuring the event — and bringing an unexpected, creative format — that I knew I had to bring him on to help me design Sitka's retreat."
The pair set to work. After three weeks of planning, all the elements were coming together — an incredible Airbnb in Austin, clear learning outcomes and objectives, meticulously designed experiences. But as March started and COVID-19 fears grew, it became all too clear that the retreat couldn't continue as planned. "As the founder of a healthcare company, there was no way I'd ask anyone to fly. We thought about canceling or postponing," says Mellard. "But it was such an important moment for our team to convene. And even though we're already distributed, it's such a weird time in the world — coming together even just virtually felt important."
If you're debating whether or not to have your team offsite this year, get it on the calendar. Even though we can't convene as we normally would, that just means we need to rethink what it looks like — not skip it altogether.
What followed was a flurry of activity. Wang and Mellard retooled the entire retreat, transitioning it into a collection of virtual experiences and getting creative on how they could make it just as engaging, all with only a few weeks to go. "The scope quickly started to expand when we went virtual," says Mellard. "I leaned on Mike to help me rethink the entire experience. Eight hours on Zoom sounds like agony, so I wanted to make it fun and collaborative. Above all, I wanted to not make it feel like work, which is really hard when there's only one mode of working right now. So we plotted and planned, putting on a four-day online retreat — and somehow earned rave reviews from our team."
We love this story for a few reasons. It's a tale of adapting to the unexpected. But it's also a case study on how to execute effective offsites — virtual or otherwise — a topic we have yet to sink our teeth into here on the Review. Offsites and team retreats often sit at one of two extremes: focused on strategy at the expense of relationships, or filled with forced-bordering-on-cheesy bonding activities. The same holds true for virtual offsites, plus the added downsides of marathon-all day Zoom sessions where everyone's glued to the monitor and stuck in their chairs — all while they're trying to juggle their personal life, whether it's interruptions from kids, pets or roommates at home.
In this exclusive interview, Mellard and Wang come together to share the tactics, purpose-driven agenda and behind-the-scenes process that enabled them to pull off a successful virtual offsite. Don't expect a laundry list of icebreaker questions or tips for more engaging slide decks, but rather an in-depth look at how to avoid a go-through-the-motions, one-off team meeting. This duo serves up their guide to leading a thoughtful, carefully-designed session that sparks important discussions and sustained change in all the months that follow.
From high-level planning and shaping the schedule, to practical execution tips and advice for what comes afterwards, it's an essential document for any startup founder or people leader tasked with bringing the team together virtually.
PLANNING: A FRAMEWORK TO SET INTENTIONS
As we settle into the new normal of working from home (or living from work as some have taken to calling it), all of a startup's regular milestones now need to be conducted remotely: product launches, performance reviews, strategic planning sessions, board meetings, and so on. Offsites may have been paused or put off initially, but as many startups embrace remote-first policies and plan to stay out of the office for at least the rest of the year (or even well into 2021), there's no reason to hold off any longer.
Team retreats offer up a venue for discussing important topics, brainstorming new strategies and deepening relationships — activities that are more important than ever in a constantly changing world.
For Mellard and Wang, the first step is thinking deeply about what the team should experience. "I had these ideas and I knew what I wanted out of the offsite, but I didn't know how to get people through that experience necessarily. That's where Mike came in," says Mellard. "Because of his background in curriculum development and experiential learning design, he thought about this as a four-day Sitka course, something I wouldn't have done."
Kelsey Mellard, CEO at Sitka
Write chapters, not books
Wang's approach to translating Mellard's vision as CEO goes more than a few years back — and the inspiration comes from an unlikely source. "I went to Georgetown for undergrad, and the Jesuits' focus on cura personalis — the idea of taking care of the whole person — was deeply formative," he says. "It informed my thinking during my time at Minerva, where we were building a new university from scratch and rethinking the entire student experience."
That required a return to first principles. "At Minerva, we ended up banning lectures. They're a great way to teach — but a pretty lousy way to learn. Good for the product builder, but bad for the end-user. Same goes for events," he says. "Big retreats are an easy way to convene a large group, but a bad way to facilitate connection."
If you take a first principles approach to designing your team offsite, what would you do differently? If you thought about your retreat like a 3-credit university course, what would your employee outcomes be? What might the pre-requisites and upper-level courses be?
That's the mental model Wang brought to bear when planning Sitka's offsite, translating it over into a startup context. "When thinking about talent development, it's critical to design holistically for the 'whole employee,' because each component — from skills to physical well-being to social-emotional health — is all connected in an integrated system. Rather than focus on the narrow, discrete offsite looming on the calendar, take a step back to think about the broader employee experience," says Wang.
"To borrow from the Jesuits here, what does your team need to grow as a whole person? How do you think holistically about their professional development, mental well-being, and sense of belonging, and also the strategy, goals and culture of the organization?"
His first pointer for other startups looking to get started on bringing this mentality to their next offsite? "Start with the big picture. Look at the word 'event' itself. It often carries a very tactical or operational connotation. But if you return to the actual definition, it's about something momentous, noteworthy, of importance. It shouldn't feel rote or perfunctory," he says. "Retreats often seem like events you have to do, a box to tick on your annual checklist. Here's how I like to reframe it for founders:
If you hold team offsites twice a year, picture the next 3 years. Rather than writing 6 separate books, how can you create one book with 6 chapters?
Use this experience design framework:
With that broader philosophy in mind, Wang cautions against getting right down to the brass tacks of which session will go where. "Run through a framework of laying out your objectives and outcomes, design principles and program theme before you even start delving into the details of pulling together the actual schedule," he says.
While this may seem like a big upfront, process-heavy investment, it's one worth making. "It's the difference between, 'We want this to come across and this is how we're going to achieve it,' versus 'Let's do a panel here.' Offsites and retreats often end up letting content take the reins and drive the agenda," says Wang. "Leaders want to share this slide deck or hear these updates, and then suddenly realize, 'Oh shit, that's three hours of us talking, let's throw in a break here.' It ends up turning into something the leadership team plows through, but all the attendees are thinking, 'Get me out of here,' and secretly scrolling on their phones."
If your offsite consists of several days of teams just presenting slide decks with a few breaks peppered in between, something's failed along the way.
The framework steps outlined below build a broad scaffold of objectives that you can then map to specific sessions. "This is by no means new — it's the OKR-ification of experience design. But too many skip over this process. They want to focus on getting the most people possible in the room, or covering the most ground with a jam-packed agenda. The metrics are off, so to speak," says Wang.
Mike Wang, Senior Director of Strategy at ASU
Step 1: Map objectives & outcomes
"Companies implement goal-setting and OKR processes for their business operations — why not apply this approach to the design of their employee experience and precious retreat time? By taking an outcomes-based approach, founders can avoid defaulting to a traditional set of archetype retreat experiences and center what their teams need and want. Ask yourself: What do we want people to feel? What do we want them to know? And how do we map that to what we're trying to do at this offsite? What do we want them to leave with?" he says.
For Sitka's virtual offsite, Wang split this work into task- and team-focused outcomes allocated at the individual, team, and company-wide level.
Task-focused:
Align with and buy into the mission
Co-define a company identity and values
Align on 2020 company objectives and strategy
Foster mutual understanding around departmental priorities, challenges, and problem statement areas
Acknowledge organizational wins and reflect on lessons learned
"The task-focused portions are what we wanted employees to leave the retreat knowing, defining, or gaining clarity on. These types of sessions tend to rely on asynchronous prep beforehand, and as a result, offer an opportunity to leverage 'flipped classroom' style learning that creates space for live discussion and constructive debate," says Wang.
Team-focused:
Help make employees to feel seen and understood on an individual level
Create a space for employees to feel empowered and able to contribute by bringing in their whole selves
Feel comfortable within the company and space created (foster mutual understanding and interpretations of norms and behaviors)
Facilitate play and wonder
"The team-focused portions of the retreat were more anchored on what we wanted employees leaving the retreat to feel. These often were outcomes linked to emotions or sentiments be it about one's self or about each other," says Wang.
Step 2: Anchor on design principles
To further flesh out these objectives for the team, Mellard and Wang collaborated to distill a set of design principles to inform the approach of the retreat design.
Here, Wang explains why: "Two fancy, intimidating words in academia are 'curriculum' and 'pedagogy.' Curriculum is what you teach (the content) and pedagogy is how you teach it (your approach). These two elements obviously inform each other in a kind of iterative 'chicken or the egg' framework," says Wang. "While most of us tend to focus on the content of a retreat, it's critical to concurrently define your approach — the design principles, or your 'pedagogy.' These will inform the decision-making process of how you structure the experience, setting up guardrails for what you might say no to, tradeoffs you might make, and priorities to stick to."
Check out the full list of Sitka's offsite design principles below:
Step 3: Define a theme
"We selected 'Regeneration' as the theme for the offsite, and threaded it through everything we did," says Mellard. This was one of our most impactful decisions." Wang digs into why it works: "Themes are similar to a science of learning concept called 'chunking.' For example, if you're trying to remember the number 231776202013, it might be hard to grasp all at once, but if you see the numbers and think Michael Jordan (#23), American Revolution (1776), Current Year (2020), Apollo spaceship (13), you can more easily grasp the number," he says.
"The same applies in experience design. When building a disparate group of experiences, it might be hard to grasp the meaning, but if you weave them together with themes — both for the broader retreat and each day — it helps employees internalize and build affinity towards the meaning and intentions."
Team offsites can often devolve in a random grab bag of sessions and speakers. Sketch out the throughline that connects each entry on the schedule so the message isn't muddled.
CRAFTING THE SCHEDULE:
The next step is to translate these outcomes, principles and the overarching theme into the details of the event itself, taking on the session design. "Create checkpoints along the way," says Wang. "As you're putting together the schedule, ask yourselves, 'Hey, we meant to show recognition here. Does that work? Does that not work? Does it make people feel included? Are we doing it in a one-off way?"
Here's an example where asking these questions helped Mellard and Wang realize they were drifting off-course: "We were designing the evening experiences and naturally wanted to go over the top every night with amazing, unique moments. We got to a point where every night was some version of a collective dinner or event. We checked ourselves and asked if we were being inclusive of the actual contexts the team was in — parents who need to care for their children, partners with loved ones who didn't know other employees, and so on. As a result, we pared down the 'big experiences' by 50%, only doing two nights instead of four. The 'more is more' impulse is tempting, but our principle of adapting to and including the needs of the team kept us on track."
Sometimes you need to decide to invest in more wood and fewer arrows. Paring down the schedule can be incredibly powerful.
Here's how the Sitka team stitched together the actual schedule: "We started on a Monday and wrapped on a Thursday. Wednesday afternoon and evening were a more open slate. We did group meals and a cooking competition. We had self-reflection exercises, group presentations, CEO remarks, an unconference — all kinds of different formats," says Wang. "You really can't stick to the same formula day-in and day-out if you want to keep people's attention on Zoom."
If you're a founder with only a day to spare for your offsite, Wang recommends opting for several, smaller-group breakout sessions, along with a mini-hackathon or unconference format where the team can work together, whether it's on company goals or team communication strategies.
If you've got several days, take a look at this draft of the offsite agenda Sitka used.
We'll dive into some of the key segments (and what makes them impactful) below, looking closely at how Mellard and Wang married objectives and design principles across multiple sessions:
Play and wonder
"Surprise and joy seem absolutely critical to me right now," says Mellard. "Our days are a monotonous meld and everything's both stressful and blending together. Inserting moments to disrupt that pattern, make it feel special and insert some levity seemed essential."
Here's a sampling of how they infused play and wonder into Sitka's offsite agenda:
Send an interactive surprise. "We sent everyone 'Regeneration kits' as curated packages in advance of the event, with instructions not to open beforehand. We included everything from gummy bears and a kombucha starter kit, to a bag of coffee and a chalkboard to write on," says Mellard. "Don't feel like you have to break the bank here — we spent about $50 per person. As a capstone for the event, we also sent a package to arrive at the end of the week. That included a Sitka-branded bandana — which now doubles as a face covering — and a set of branded envelopes and cards." Wang adds on: "The kombucha was a big hit — and it's something that has outlasted the retreat itself. People have continued to share their kombucha drinks and creations, so it's been the gift that kept on giving. For the chalkboard, we had everyone on the team write out their intentions and individual goals for the week as a visible reminder — we stole this one from Woody Paige on ESPN's Around the Horn."
Get in costume. "One of our employees is battling a terrible condition and has been quite sick, so I asked her if she were to plan a party, what would the theme be? And she said 'Under the Sea.' So that's what we did," says Mellard. "I sent everyone these crazy 'Under the Sea' themed hats and we all showed up on Zoom wearing them to surprise her. Even beyond that specific situation, incorporating a theme can help break people out of their shells and loosen up after a long day of planning. We can't change our work-from-home environments, but small moves can help it feel less stale."
Create something together. "We held a cooking challenge on one of the evenings. We split into groups of three, creating breakout rooms on Zoom so each group could cook together live," says Mellard. "Creativity loves constraint. Everyone had to cook with the same ingredients, but there was no recipe to follow — the only mandate was that the three-course meal had to 'remind them of home.' Mike and one of his friends, who is also a chef dropped in on each group to share tips. Then, everyone presented their creations and we held a team-wide vote before we ate together, judinging on creativity and presentation."
Schedule free space and play time. "We held two 'blank space' happy hours across the four-day event without any formal agenda. This allowed for everyone to contribute and take initiative. People gave how-to lessons on Go and led games of Werewolf over Zoom, which was a blast," says Mellard. "It's a game we've played in-person as a team before, but there are plenty of other options and ideas out there now, from trivia to virtual escape rooms."
Inclusion of families:
"Inclusion of families was a top priority for me," says Mellard. "Right now, kids are seeing their parents work up close, in a different way. I want the kids of Sitka employees to have a good association with their parents working, that work is cool for their parents and not just a necessity. So I wanted to look for ways to consciously include family members, given that we're all at home together."
Here's what that looked like: "The cooking challenge night was open to family members. We also held a communal dinner one night, where everyone ordered takeout from a local restaurant and then hopped on Zoom, with families joining in. We had a magician join as a surprise, and the kids loved it. And so did the adults, frankly," Mellard laughs. "Then we blocked off the last evening for private mealtime with whoever you were sheltering in place with, and the company picked up the tab. I wanted to create a balance of getting to know each other's families and carving out the space for private time as well."
Improving communication and empathy for other teams:
Another goal, of course, is to make sure the team continues to gel in this ever-shifting environment. "Building empathy across departments and working on our communication skills was a pillar of what I wanted to achieve. At the time of the offsite, we were at an influx point where we were growing 600% in terms of the number of providers on our platform," says Mellard.
"And that comes with excitement, but also a lot of friction, tension and uncertainty. This is exacerbated when you can't go to an office and actually see what other people are working on. It's easy to create a terrible narrative about someone else or a different team, just because you don't understand where they're coming from or know what's on their plate."
Offsites are a key opportunity to course-correct and build the healthy team habits — the ones that will prevent corrosive behaviors from taking root.
Here's how that showed up practically in the schedule:
Welcome warmups. "We started with dyads, which are rapid 1:1 conversations to build trust and develop a norm of playfulness. Questions ranged from 'If you were an animal what would you be? And how do you know you're not a squirrel?' to 'If the world would end tomorrow, what is something you would regret not sharing?'" says Wang.
Getting to know you: "Building empathy and communicating effectively is rooted in self-awareness and emotional intelligence," says Mellard. "We used the "True Colors" or color communication assessment, but there are so many options out there, from SDI and StrengthsFinder to Enneagram. These aren't meant to be crystal ball projections of character, but helpful frameworks to develop a common language and spark discussion around styles and preferences. They create a shared language and a different level of perspective of how we all work, process and relate to each other — something that's harder to pick up on when you're working virtually."
Read-me: "We had another session where team members shared their user guides. We had silent reading time where you read everyone's from your team and then could discuss or ask clarifying questions. After the offsite, we created sessions and spaces — including in our new onboarding process — for people to follow-up and read these documents across the company and continue to update them," says Wang.
"A day in the life": "One afternoon, we held an 'Unconference,' with problem definition and design sprint sessions to help departments share out focus areas they are tackling in 2020. The goal was to both solicit ideas and facilitate empathy around team priorities and challenges. Each lead worked with their team to tell their department's story — what a day in the life of a Sitka engineer is like, for example, covering the cadence of their meetings, what problems fall into their lap, what they see as their biggest challenges and opportunities, and how other teams can help."
Presence and gratitude
"Another goal was to examine our existing routines and create new rituals together. I wanted to hold space where we could stay present, reflective and grateful for each other. This is an area where Mike's skills as a facilitator and experience designer really shine," says Mellard.
"As humans, we all hunger for connection — to feel seen, heard, and understood — but often don't have intentional spaces that encourage these behaviors," says Wang. "In the workplace, we rely on retreats to create new settings that might develop habits and behaviors, outside of our regular operating cadence."
To achieve that goal, there was a single line in the closing session section of Sitka's offsite agenda: Create a space for acknowledgements and appreciations for each other. While this seems simple, it ended up being profoundly powerful for the team.
"On Friday morning, we all hopped on Zoom, put some music on in the background, and then spent 90 minutes heads down on one exercise: Writing one line about every other person in the company and what we enjoyed about working with them. Then, Mike collected all of these notes and rounded it up in one email for each person. So then every person got to open an email with an amazing lineup of points of gratitude from their colleagues. It left people in tears," says Mellard. "I was really unsure how that was going to go over, to be honest."
Wang agrees. "I was worried, but hopeful for this bit. It hinges on trying to get people to show up in a way they might not even in a normal professional setting, let alone on Zoom. But because we did it in rapid fire — you only had about a minute to spend writing for each person — it felt like a task that you could bite off and be successful at. In the feedback we got afterwards, many said this was their lasting takeaway from the offsite, that they wanted to get better at expressing gratitude for others. It was an incredible high note to end on."
Editor's note: The First Round operating team tried a lightweight version of this exercise at a recent team meeting and we *highly* recommend it. Here's how we ran it. With 15 minutes left to go in the meeting, we sent a Typeform link to our 15-person team, with the following prompt: For each teammate, please spend one minute answering by writing a line or two in response to the following questions: What's something you admire about this individual? What's something this person did recently that you appreciate? Why are you grateful to count this person as a teammate? When you come across your own name, please use the minute to reflect on what you're personally grateful for. Answers are anonymous. After they're all in, the meeting owner will round up the lines for each individual and share them in a private email.
This is a practice the Sitka team plans to carry forward. "As part of the surprise packages we sent to each team member for the event, we included journals in every box, in case individuals want to weave gratitude and reflection into their everyday routine," says Mellard. "We also included three blank cards and envelopes with stamps, so team members can send snail mail to each other in the months to come, whether it's just a note to say hi, or a thank you note for a project they worked on or a company value they lived up to."
Arm your team with different sets of tools to express gratitude for each other — it makes an enormous difference.
Co-creation and spontaneity
"We wanted to steer away from the concept of 'voluntold' and generate true excitement to participate and lead activities," says Mellard. "For example, during one of our end-of-day sessions, we carved out optional time for anyone at Sitka to organize a 'skill share,' or lead an activity. The intent was for classes to pop-up based on inspiration and anyone can join if they feel inspired. Examples could include playing a board game, 1:1 coffee or tea meetings, hosting a cooking class, co-watching a show together, going on a walk 'together,' performing an instrument, Zoom karaoke."
At one of the team happy hours, an artist taught the Sitka team how to create one-line drawings as self portraits.
Wang points to another agenda item. "We also started each morning with an optional morning ritual. 8:30AM, no formal agenda. Team members volunteered to become a lead and facilitate an activity to center the group — be it meditation, a reflection exercise, a stretching routine, a fun bonding activity — before the start of the day," he says.
There are benefits for leaders as well. "There's a common adage to 'build with, not for.' The final product will always be better when it's co-created and co-owned by your users — in this case your team. Some of this can be attributed to the IKEA effect, but in the end, your employees have the best sense of what their colleagues and the company culture might need. And if they're inspired to invest, and given the opportunity and resources to step up, they'll do a better job than you in addressing those needs."
Create opportunities for others to pick up the reins and take things on. It doesn't need to be a one-person show — let your team step up to the plate.
EXECUTION: PRACTICAL TIPS
What follows are the tidbits Mellard and Wang found most impactful as they ran sessions during Sitka's virtual offsite:
Facilitation matters. Think cruise director, not train conductor.
Founders and people leaders tasked with running the team offsite should consider bringing on an external facilitator. "In addition to helping with all the logistics and planning, Mike and I traded off facilitation duties, which was critical. It's so much work and energy to facilitate all day for several days. And the team doesn't want to hear from the same person all the time either. Bringing him on as my partner in crime made my life a lot easier," says Mellard. "It's some of the best money I've ever spent."
Here's Wang's perspective on what it takes: "As an outsider coming in, you're trying to pull out authentic and vulnerable moments of people who don't yet trust you fully. Initially there are those nerves — are they going to look at me and just think I'm the cruise director for the week? But I think people actually want a cruise director. They value a coach — someone who appreciates the nuance of interpersonal dynamics and can nurture an experience. It seems like a very tactical role that we downplay or overlook," he says.
Even with the best-laid objectives and strategies, you still need the spirit and facilitation to keep it engaging. Wang returns to the touchstone of education: "Think of the best professors you've had. They don't drone on the entire time, pointing at a set of slides. They regulate the energy of the room, calling on the right mix of people, giving everyone a chance to be heard and artfully cutting off those gunners who try to dominate the airwaves," he says. "When you just say, 'Anyone have any questions?' the loudest people in the room will speak up. Instead, ask individuals directly: 'You said this last time and it was really impactful, but I haven't heard from you in a while. What do you feel?'"
When it comes to offsites, you can't just run the train. You have to be ready to both leave room for serendipity and be willing to jump in and pull things out of people.
Welcome white space and get comfortable with silence
"If you look at Sitka's offsite agenda, you'll see there's tons of white space. We did that quite intentionally, and tried to carry that through in the sessions themselves. Especially over Zoom, there were a ton of awkward pauses, which seem to hang heavier in the virtual world for some reason," says Mellard. "While it's uncomfortable in the moment, our company is better now as a result. We're more okay with letting them play out, as opposed to jumping in."
Wang explains further: "Typically you hear, 'Alright, we're doing this now, then this next. Anyone have any questions? No questions? Great, let's move on.' We've all been at those events. They're well-run and polished. But there's another path to lean into," he says. "'Alright, anyone have any questions? [Incredibly long pause.] People are fidgeting, throat clearing. Suddenly participants are thinking to themselves, 'Is this not a well-run event?' But then, seemingly out of nowhere, there's a question. Someone who's been chewing on something or is normally a bit unsure of themselves pipes up."
Dead air is sometimes just people processing and getting the courage to say something — the best facilitators fight the urge to fill it.
Mix up mealtime.
At a typical offsite, breaking bread together is a critical focal point, with lunches, dinners and happy hours injecting both much-needed breaks and opportunities for mingling into the schedule. Virtual offsites necessarily require a bit of reimagining.
"The biggest thing here is variety," says Mellard. "Some days we did lunches on our own, giving everyone extended time to make it for themselves. Another day we had 'open lunch tables,' where you could choose who to virtually have lunch with, while a different day we had pre-assigned lunch Zoom breakout rooms to facilitate a focused conversation. We did communal dinners as a team where families were invited, and we also sponsored everyone to have a private dinner with their families, organizing a system for DoorDash delivery or reimbursement."
Make sure the (virtual) show runs smoothly.
"There's a lot more coordination that has to happen virtually, it's not as simple as posting the agenda on the whiteboard for everyone to see in the conference room," says Mellard. For starters, she advises planning a virtual offsite as if it's an important in-person event. "Have a run-of-show document, down to each minute. More tactically, we made calendar invites for every single one of the sessions, and even the coffee or email check breaks throughout. Everything had its own time and it's own Zoom meeting ID," she says. "If we were doing breakout groups, we had it all organized beforehand so we could all join the main session and then seamlessly get split off into our separate rooms."
THE FOLLOW-THROUGH: SUSTAINING THE DRUMBEAT
"As the event took shape, we kept repeating one of our design principles: Drum beats, not lightning bolts. A drum beat is something you consistently return to, versus a shock-and-awe campaign where you bring everyone together and it's over in a flash. Continuity matters more than stellar set pieces," says Wang.
When it comes to mapping your employees' experience, opt for drum beats over lightning bolts. Drumbeats are about continuity, consistently hitting the same beat. Lightning bolts are flash-in-the-pan one-offs that usually don't have a lasting impact.
The Sitka team is heavily investing in keeping the beat going. "This is where most team events fall flat. Even if you have the most momentous, energizing week-long retreat, everything can slip away if you don't intentionally try to sustain it," says Wang. "It's not like running a marathon where you cross the finish line and you're done — there's all this space left to travel on the other side."
Tactically, here's how the Sitka team is carrying the baton forward: "We have four different leads taking charge of the major takeaways from our offsite in April. And they're leaders sprinkled throughout the departments, which is important. The load of 'extracurricular activities' needs to be carried evenly. Don't put it all on the People team," says Mellard. "Also be sure to pare down your list. You don't want to have so many priorities and new initiatives that you execute on all of them poorly."
If you don't review the work product or revitalize the energy you had going until the next retreat, you've squandered the capital you invested.
Here's a quick rundown of how that's been working so far:
The Monday morning ritual: "The morning ritual flex space from the offsite really resonated, so we've made an effort to work that into our regular cadence. Now every Monday, we have an hour of morning ritual on the calendar. It's optional, and now it's more programmed. There's quiet journaling time for 15 minutes, with question prompts and gratitude exercises," says Mellard. "This is an example of an unanticipated boon from the offsite. If you would have told me five years ago that we'd have 'journaling time' at the company that I run, I would have definitely busted out laughing, and made a joke about how 'That's so California.' But I can't tell you how grateful I am for this time, and how much the team seems to appreciate it." Wang takes a step back. "In this shift to remote work, every company needs to reexamine the spaces they've established. For example, All Hands is one way for everyone to convene. But this new cornerstone of Monday morning rituals is a different touch point for kicking off the week. It takes about half an hour of pre-planning for whoever's leading this initiative, and you can rotate responsibilities."
Sustained inclusion of families: "We so appreciated getting to see and include everyone's families that we created a Sitka Littles program, which organizes activities for the kids of employees. Even the team members without kids find it fun," says Mellard. "We look for small ways to keep it going. For example, we sent each kiddo a Sitka summer series package, with toys and gifts such as Legos that aligned with discovery and building."
Onboarding: Another big hurdle is that new teammates won't have this same, shared foundation. "If someone joins two weeks later, how do you get them up to speed on the language, goals, and empathy that your team just forged? After the offsite, we got to work on overhauling our entire onboarding process to include entirely different materials and activities." One habit they're hanging onto? "We've always set every new hire up with a 30-minute 1:1 with everyone in the company. It's a big investment, but it's something I'd like to sustain for as long as possible, it's so important for forging those relationships," says Mellard.
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:
Wang leaves us with a cooking metaphor: "If you've done all of your mise en place, cooking is the easy part. That's why chefs on cooking shows are seemingly able to make the recipe in 10 minutes. They don't show the three hours of chopping and prep that happened beforehand. Offsites are the same way. You need to do so much prep to set expectations, establish context and provide some constraints. You can't just drop your team into the kitchen and expect it to come together."
To continue the cooking analogy, Wang emphasizes that the best chefs feel comfortable deviating from the recipe. "Every company is different. Look at the makeup and DNA of your startup. Is your team more on the shy side? Is everyone really proactive and eager to jump in? Dig into what has formed the culture thus far and try to meet people where they are," he says.
"If you've never had a conversation that's even approached vulnerable territory, maybe starting out with gratitude journaling would be too aggressive. Our template and process from Sitka's virtual offsite is hopefully helpful — but it would be a mistake to just replicate it. Adapt it to make it relevant to the time and the place your startup is occupying right now. If you're early-stage, there are more foundational cultural and values discussions to be had. If you're later-stage, maybe it's important to center discussions about cross-functional collaboration or how silos are starting to emerge."
Above all, leave space for your team to surprise you. "One of the things that I was most unsure of going into this virtually was how people were going to transition from their home life into this team atmosphere we were trying to create," says Mellard. "But everyone was so ready and willing to engage. When we did our morning rituals, people moved their laptops to the floor and joined in group planks. When we threw a crazy under-the-sea party with goofy hats, people brought their most spirited selves," she says.
"In the end, people are craving connection right now, but so much of our identity and day-to-day life is absorbed in work. As leaders, are we doing all that we can to create that space for belonging and connection in our workplaces, even if it's virtual? If you've held off on planning your team offsite this year, rethink that — it's an invaluable company ritual that I think we need now more than ever."
Image by Getty Images / Westend61. Photos courtesy of Sitka.


text:
«Пироги и пиво, или Скелет в шкафу» () — роман Сомерсета Моэма, впервые появившийся в 1930 году на страницах журнала Harper's Bazaar. Название романа позаимствовано из пьесы Уильяма Шекспира «Двенадцатая ночь».

Сюжет
Повествование ведётся от первого лица. Уильям Эшенден — немолодой писатель, к которому обратились с просьбой помочь в написании биографии. Объект работы — недавно почивший знаменитый писатель Эдвард Дриффилд, которого величают самым великим романистом викторианской эпохи. Эшенден был хорошо знаком с Дриффилдом, его взросление вплетается в историю творческого успеха классика. Однако воспоминания эти противоречивы: на восходе карьеры Дриффилд слыл безвкусным реалистом, описывающим жизнь рабочего класса на «простом языке». Его презирал весь город, в том числе сначала и сам Эшенден…

Восприятие
Современники восприняли «Пироги и пиво» как роман с ключом, где в качестве Дриффилда и Элроя Кира были выведены Томас Харди и Хью Уолпол. Биографы последнего считают, что роман Моэма отравил остаток жизни Уолпола и подорвал его литературную репутацию. Сам Моэм отвергал прототипическую расшифровку сюжета и называл эту книгу своей любимой. В 1974 году телеканал Би-би-си выпустил по книге одноимённый мини-сериал.

Ссылки

Романы на английском языке
Романы 1930 года
Романы Сомерсета Моэма
Томас Харди
Романы о писателях


text:
Het jaar 244 is het 44e jaar in de 3e eeuw volgens de christelijke jaartelling.

Gebeurtenissen

Italië
 Plotinus, een Grieks filosoof, weet na de moord op keizer Gordianus III te ontsnappen naar Antiochië. In Rome onderwijst hij filosofie en sticht een neoplatonische school.
 Philippus I wordt door de Senaat als keizer erkend. Zijn 6-jarige zoon Philippus wordt benoemd tot caesar en zijn vrouw Otacilia Severa ontvangt de titel augusta (keizerin).

Perzië
 Slag bij Misiche: Koning Shapur I verslaat het Romeinse leger bij Fallujah aan de rivier de Eufraat. Hij laat de Perzische overwinning monumentaal uithouwen in de rotsen van Naqsh-e Rustam.
 11 februari - Keizer Gordianus III wordt in Mesopotamië door lijfwachten van de pretoriaanse garde vermoord. Philippus I ("de Arabier") laat zichzelf tot keizer uitroepen en sluit een vrede met Perzië.
 Philippus I wordt gedwongen een schatting (500.000 dinaren) te betalen aan Shapur I. Hij geeft zijn broer Gaius Julius Priscus het gezag (rector Orientis) over het oostelijke deel van het Romeinse Rijk.
 In Dura Europos wordt begonnen met de bouw van een joodse synagoge. In het hart van het heiligdom worden de thorarollen bewaard. De muren worden beschilderd met taferelen (fresco's) uit het Oude Testament.

Geboren
 Alexander van Constantinopel, bisschop van Byzantium (waarschijnlijke datum)
 Diocletianus, keizer van het Romeinse Keizerrijk (overleden 311)

Overleden
 Gordianus III (19), keizer van het Romeinse Keizerrijk

000


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