This came in today with a Air Force Mechanic who got it in Iraq. Any idea on what type of pouch it is, it seems to be a mix of the US M45 pack and the British M58 pack. Thanks for looking!
Nice P44 (made in pakistan) small pack ! The air force version is not common !
Thabks for the info. Is this post Desert Storm or pre Desert Storm?
If there is a pack then there is a set consisting of suspenders, 3-part belt, canteen cover, and AK mag pouch. The hunt continues!


text:
The Puritalia Berlinetta is a hybrid grand tourer manufactured by Italian automobile manufacturer Puritalia Automobili. Introduced at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, it is the first car produced by the company. The car is intended to be a representation of the classic grand touring cars produced in the 1960s.

Overview
The Berlinetta is an evolution of the 427 Roadster, a modern interpretation of the AC Cobra, introduced in concept form in 2012.

Powertrain
Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)The ICE is an American supplied unit, namely a 5.0-litre double overhead camshaft V8 engine from Ford Motor Company. The engine is accompanied by a 2.9-litre twin-screw type supercharger. The block of the engine is cast from aluminium by an American supplier and is shipped to Italy for completion and installation. The engine has a power output of  and  of torque. The buyers have the option to engrave their name on the block of the engine. The engine has a longitudinal front mid-mounted position in order to achieve a 50/50 weight distribution.

Electric motorThe axial-flow electric motor is supplied by Britain based YASA Limited and weighs . It is mounted on the rear axle of the car and has a power output of  and  of torque.

The combined power output of the powertrain amounts to  and  of torque.

Transmission
The engine is mated to a 7-speed automated manual transmission in order to handle the combined power output of the powertrain. The gearshifting is managed by two paddles mounted on the steering column.

Battery
The car comes equipped with two 5.2 kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries housed under the trunk and behind the seats. The batteries allow the car to have an electric range of  and have a charging time of 3 hours via a 700-volt charger supplied with the car.

Chassis and exterior

The chassis of the Berlinetta consists of a carbon fibre monocoque mated to an aluminium subframe at the front and rear. The body is entirely made of carbon fibre and takes 800 man hours to complete.

Suspension, brakes and tyres
The Berlinetta is equipped with 19-inch forged alloy wheels wrapped in tyres measuring 285/30 at the front and 335/20 at the rear. The brakes are from AP Racing and have steel discs measuring  front and aft having six-piston calipers at the front and four piston calipers at the rear. Carbon ceramic brakes are available as an option. The suspension system is milled from aluminium using a CNC machine.

Interior

The interior of the car has leather upholstery and a centrally mounted 12.3-inch touchscreen instead of conventional buttons and levers. The touch screen controls most of the car's functions and a dedicated display behind the steering wheel displays vital data to the driver. The hybrid system of the car called Purhydrive is controlled by artificial intelligence via a specialised software. The car displays real time data about weather, road conditions and the traffic to the driver. The effective use of energy by the powertrain is determined by the server connected to the car via cloud networking.

The car has three driving modes namely Corsa, Sport and e Power with the latter running the car on the electric motor only. A special switch called the eMozione controls the torque produced by the electric motor and raises the torque of the motor to the maximum for 45 seconds.

Performance
Manufacturer estimatesThe Berlinetta can accelerate from  in 2.7 seconds and has a top speed of .

Production
Production of the Berlinetta will be limited to 150 units and each car will be hand-built according to the customer's desire. The cars will be sold to selected "brand ambassadors" who appreciate the car as stated by the company.

References

External links

Cars of Italy
Coupés
Hybrid electric cars
Plug-in hybrid vehicles
Grand tourers
All-wheel-drive vehicles
Cars introduced in 2019

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Multiple jQuery document.read event handlers running in wrong order I recently added a feature to our ASP.NET MVC web application.  There's a page that is displayed when the user clicks on an item in a table.  The page uses AJAX to display a partial view in a single div in the page's HTML.  The partial view uses the Telerik Kendo UI to define and display dialogs and DropDownList controls.  This is complicated in that the JavaScript imports are all on the View for the page, while the PartialView just builds the HTML to be displayed in the div.
The JavaScript I wrote on the page includes a jQuery document.ready event handler:
$(document).ready(
    function () {
        if ( $('#details-map').val() != '' )
            $('#details-map').remove();

        var urlTail = '?t=' + (new Date().getTime());

        // Make the AJAX call and load the result into the details box.
        $('#detailsbox').load('<%= Url.Action("Details") %>' + '/' + '<%: Model.Id %>' + urlTail, displayDetails);
    }
)

This works fine when I run the application on my localhost.  The problem appears when I deploy the page to our development server.  In this case, there's an additional document.ready event handler that's emitted to very end of the page by the Telerik Kendo / ASP.net MVC extensions:
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
if(!jQuery.telerik) jQuery.telerik = {};
jQuery.telerik.cultureInfo=...;
});
//]]>
</script>

On this page, the $(document).ready event handler I wrote runs before the Telerik handler, and my code clearly depends on the Telerik handler running first.  When mine runs first, I get a JavaScript error that says "jQuery.telerik.load is not a function'.
Since this does not happen on my localhost, how do I make sure that the second document ready event handler is run first?
Edit:
After more research, I've found that the problem is that the two scripts mentioned in my answer, which are supposed to be written to the page via the following line in the Master Page used by my page:
<%= Html.Telerik().ScriptRegistrar().Globalization(true).jQuery(false).DefaultGroup(group => group.Combined(false).Compress(false)) %>

Are not being loaded.  In other words, the above line does nothing.  It works on another page that uses the same Master Page, though.  I've placed a breakpoint on the line and it is executing.  Does anyone have any ideas?

A: You're either going to have to make it show up after the second one on the page OR do something I hate to suggest:
$(document).ready(function() {
    function init {
        /* all your code that needs to be run after telerik is loaded */
    }
    if ( $.telerik ) {
        init();
    } else {
        setTimeout(function check4telerik() {
            if ( $.telerik ) {
                return init();
            }
            setTimeout(check4telerik, 0);
        }, 0);
    }
});

So, if $.telerik is loaded, it runs, otherwise it polls until it's set, and when it is set, it runs the code. It's not pretty, but if you don't have more control, it's probably your only option, unless $.telerik emits some kind of event that you can hook into.

A: After spending a few hours working on this, I finally got it to work.  The problem turned out to be that two JavaScript files that are used by the Telerik DropdownList control and Window control were not being loaded.
In spelunking through the JavaScript on the page, I came across this script that was generated by Telerik:
if(!jQuery.telerik){
jQuery.ajax({
url:"/Scripts/2011.3.1306/telerik.common.min.js",
dataType:"script",
cache:false,
success:function(){
jQuery.telerik.load(["/Scripts/2011.3.1306/jquery-1.6.4.min.js","/Scripts/2011.3.1306/telerik.common.min.js","/Scripts/2011.3.1306/telerik.list.min.js"],function(){ ... });
}});}else{
jQuery.telerik.load(["/Scripts/2011.3.1306/jquery-1.6.4.min.js","/Scripts/2011.3.1306/telerik.common.min.js","/Scripts/2011.3.1306/telerik.list.min.js"],function(){ ... });
}

This script was emitted by a call to Html.Telerik.DropdownListFor() in my partial view.  I'm guessing that the code to include for the two JavaScript files mentioned in the code, telerik.common.min.js and telerik.list.min.js, was not emitted since the call was on a partial view.  Or I was supposed to include them all along & didn't know it (I'm very new to these controls).  Oddly, everything worked when I ran it locally, so I don't get it.
In any case, I added two <script> tags to my View to include these files and everything started working.  That is, I added the following tags to my page:
<script type="text/javascript" src="../../Scripts/2011.3.1306/telerik.common.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../../Scripts/2011.3.1306/telerik.list.min.js"></script>

Live and learn.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Ethiopian Press: How do you justify shipping out fancy roses when people are hungry?
How do you justify shipping out fancy roses when people are hungry?
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—A generation ago, this African nation was a magnet for Western charity. Today, some of America's richest deal makers are delivering something new: investment.
A number of high-profile investors have recently shown up here. KKR & Co., the New York-based private-equity firm, last summer bought control of a rose farm, Afriflora, for about $200 million, its first investment in Africa. Blackstone Group plans to build a $1.35 billion pipeline to bring gasoline to the capital, Addis Ababa. Hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones is backing a $2 billion geothermal power project.
The investors are following in the footsteps of Irish punk rock singer turned activist Bob Geldof, whose Live Aid concerts 30 years ago this summer raised about $145 million for the victims of a devastating Ethiopian famine. Mr. Geldof now chairs 8 Miles LLP, a London-based private-equity firm that invests in Ethiopia. 8 Miles raised a $200 million fund in 2012; Mr. Geldof put in a few hundred thousand dollars.
8 Miles, named after the shortest distance between Europe and Africa, made its first investments in Ethiopia in 2013, including state-owned Awash Winery. 8 Miles plans to double production at the company, add nonalcoholic drinks such as grape juice and increase exports, said partner Doug Agble. The firm also backed Ethiopian entrepreneur Eleni Gabre-Madhin in 2013 to build commodity exchanges across Africa.
Rock star Bob Geldof and U.S. investors KKR, Blackstone Group and Paul Tudor Jones are helping to drive private-equity investment into Ethiopia as Africa makes a historic shift from aid to trade.
The private-equity firms are part of a historic shift: Global foreign direct investment has overtaken Western aid on the world's poorest continent. Private-equity fundraising for sub-Saharan Africa hit $4 billion last year—more than triple what it was in 2013. 8 Miles plans to start raising a larger second fund next year, Mr. Agble said.
In Ethiopia, Western aid in 2013 was $3.83 billion, still far higher than the value of inbound investment at $953 million. But investors say more investment is sure to follow.
Colin Coleman,Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s top Africa banker, visited Ethiopia for the first time in January. At an investment conference, he was clutching a booklet of profiles of people to meet. Consumer-goods companies, sovereign-wealth funds and private-equity groups are showing growing interest in Ethiopia, Mr. Coleman said in an interview. Ethiopia is "relatively undeveloped and therefore with significant upside," he said.
Bob Geldof performing on stage with The Boomtown Rats in 1977. Mr. Geldof is now the chairman of 8 Miles, a private-equity firm that invests in Ethiopia.
Investors in Ethiopia must strike a delicate balance between profits and pitfalls. Many of the country's 94 million people still live in extreme poverty. Human-rights groups say the government of Hailemariam Desalegn has focused on expanding the economy at the expense of civil liberties and political freedom. Ethiopia has just one opposition member of parliament, and he doesn't intend to stand at the general election in May.
"There is no space for free speech, for opposition," said Yemi Hailemariam, whose partner, opposition leader Andargachew Tsege, a British citizen of Ethiopian origin, was detained in Yemen last year and is now held in an Ethiopian jail.
The Ethiopian government said in a statement that Mr. Tsege was found guilty of conspiring to overthrow the government through terrorist acts. A government spokesman declined to comment. Earlier this year, a spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that actions have been taken against certain politicians or journalists because they have tried to instigate violence.
Investors say the potential risks are offset by rapid economic growth. Brian Herlihy, chief executive of Blackstone's African infrastructure unit, BlackRhino, said that the 550-kilometer (340 miles) pipeline he is planning in Ethiopia will make money by helping to supply the country's energy needs, rather than sucking resources out of the continent.
David Petraeus, the former general who resigned as Central Intelligence Agency chief in 2012 and who now advises on geopolitical risks at KKR, said that Ethiopia has good land and water, improving roads and very good air links, as well as stable politics.
KKR director Kayode Akinola said "a key dimension of the investment" in the rose farm is a social program that includes permanent contracts for 9,000 workers, pensions, paid maternity leave, a hospital and a school for about 5,000 children.
Afriflora was founded by Dutch farmers 10 years ago and grew 730 million flowers in 2013 for export to Europe, where there is strong demand for low-cost roses in large supermarkets. KKR plans to add almost 5,000 workers and 60% more land by 2019.
Flower packer Basha Kadir, 20 years old, said she works late into the night, often for six days a week, and hopes to earn $600 a year at the farm. The average annual income in Ethiopia is just $470, according to the World Bank.
Basha Kadir wraps flowers on a rose farm in southern Ethiopia that is owned by New York-based private equity firm KKR.
Ms. Kadir's mother looks after the rose worker's daughter. Her husband is a fisherman on the lake that provides water to irrigate the flowers. Other local women work carrying heavy loads of wood on their backs or laboring on other farms. Another option is leaving to work as a maid in the Persian Gulf.
"This is a better opportunity than any other job I could do locally," Ms. Kadir said.
Still, some human-rights activists are critical.
A recent report by the International Finance Corp., a World Bank unit that is considering a €90 million loan to the farm, listed criticisms including too much overtime, a lack of formal process for handling workers' complaints and inadequate places to eat or areas for working mothers to breast-feed. The IFC noted that pregnancy testing before employment will be discontinued and verification that new hires are aged 18 or older has begun.
KKR said the flower industry plays a "major part" in poverty reduction by providing jobs and that there is potential to grow both more flowers and food in the region. The private-equity firm said Afriflora is addressing the points raised by the IFC.


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text:
Supreme Court Expands Scope of SOX Whistleblower Rule
Employees of contractors and subcontractors to public companies are now protected against retaliation.
David McCannMarch 4, 2014
Attorneys that represent companies reacted with surprise and criticism to a Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that vastly expanded the scope of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's whistleblower protections.
At issue in the case, Lawson v. FMR, was whether employees of public companies' privately held contractors are protected by the whistleblower provisions, in addition to employees of the public companies themselves. In a 6-3 decision, the court supported the more expansive interpretation.
Two former employees of FMR, an investment adviser hired by Fidelity Investments to manage mutual funds, claimed they were fired in retaliation for filing claims alleging the company had violated federal laws and Securities and Exchange Commission regulations relating to fraud against shareholders.
The decision revolved around an interpretation of language in the SOX provision stating that no "officer, employee, contractor, subcontractor or agent of [a public] company may discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, or in any other manner discriminate against an employee" who blows a whistle. The court interpreted "an employee" as including an employee of a contractor.
Given the wording in question, that interpretation may indeed seem more reasonable than excluding such a person from protection. But Lloyd Chinn, a labor attorney with law firm Proskauer and co-head of its whistleblowing and retaliation group, argues that the intention of SOX was to regulate public companies only.
"It seems odd that Congress would have included 6 million companies within the scope of the law" without explicitly spelling it out, Chinn says. "What's happening here is that the statute is becoming unmoored from its purpose and from the scope intended at the time it was passed." He notes that section headings in the law and legislative history both support the narrower interpretation, which is what the First Circuit Court of Appeals had settled on — a decision that's now been overturned by the Supreme Court ruling.
Writing for the minority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor offered some extreme examples to illustrate a key reason for her dissent: that the ruling gives the whistleblower provision "a stunning reach."
"As interpreted today, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act authorizes a babysitter to bring a federal case against his employer — a parent who happens to work at the local Walmart — if the parent stops employing the babysitter after he expresses concern that the parent's teenage son may have participated in an Internet purchase fraud," Sotomayor wrote. "And it opens the door to a cause of action against a small business that contracts to clean the local Starbucks (a public company) if an employee is demoted after reporting that another nonpublic company client has mailed the cleaning company a fraudulent invoice."
She added that "nothing in the text, context or purpose" of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act suggests that Congress wanted to "create this kind of sweeping regime."
The majority opinion held, though, that the allegations of the plaintiffs in the Lawson case "fall squarely within Congress' aim." Wrote Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "Lawson alleges that she was constructively discharged for reporting accounting practices that overstated expenses associated with managing certain Fidelity mutual funds…. By inflating its expenses, and thus understating its profits, [FMR] could potentially increase the fees it would earn from the mutual funds — fees ultimately paid by the shareholders of those funds."
For his part, Chinn says he's disappointed in the decision because the case presented an opportunity for the Supreme Court to rein in "the very aggressive interpretations of the whistleblower provision coming out of the Labor Department" under the Obama Administration.
"Advocates for employers, like myself, had hoped the Supreme Court would step in and draw some boundaries for the interpretation of Sarbanes-Oxley in light of where Obama's [Department of Labor] has gone with it," he says.
Most notably, in a case called Spinner v. David Landau & Associates that came before the Labor Department's Administrative Review Board, in 2012 the board broadly interpreted the SOX whistleblower protections to encompass private companies that contract services to public ones. That position contradicted the one that the First Circuit Court of Appeals had already taken in the Lawson v. FMR case.
Fidelity Investments, FMR, Lawson v. FMR, Lloyd Chinn, Proskauer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protections, Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower provision, Sonia Sotomayor, Spinner v. David Landau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Energy in India is among the top business enterprises of its economy and accounts for around 6 to 7% of GDP. The Indian energy market is one of the top five in the world and also amongst the fastest growing across the globe.
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Along with news, ETEnergyWorld also gives you views on latest issues by industry experts, interesting slideshows, polls and various reports from the sector.
With many significant industry leaders following us, ETEnergyWorld.com sends out a free daily newsletter to subscribers every morning summarising previous day's essential news, reports and analysis.
We keep you updated with all major developments on twitter along with live tweets from various energy conferences and events.
So, sit back at your desk and relax while we bring the world of energy to you!
Times Internet Limited, FC 6, Film City, Sector 16 A, Noida.


text:
Give Them Credit
Before GE could reach out to Chinese consumers, it had to learn to work with Chinese banks.
Don DurfeeJuly 1, 2007
Last January, Michael Barrett stood before a group of more than 20 Chinese bank employees in a Guangzhou conference room. Barrett, the CEO of GE Money China, was there to direct what GE calls a "workout session" — the lively brainstorming meetings the company holds to wring inefficiencies out of processes. In October 2006, GE Money had just launched a credit card with Wal-Mart and Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB), a Chinese bank in which GE has agreed to invest $100 million — a 7 percent stake. Chinese financial institutions aren't known for speedy customer service — it generally takes them more than a month to put a new credit card into a customer's hands — and GE was eager to get these cards out faster.
The session got off to a slow start. Bank employees weren't accustomed to GE's interactive style, which calls for employees to step up, share stories, and scrawl their thoughts on flip charts. But Barrett, a New York native with the build of a linebacker and the confidence of someone who has risen quickly through GE's ranks, threw himself into the task, jotting down ideas and posting them on the wall.
The Chinese participants, it turned out, had plenty to say. The bank's system for credit-card approvals frustrated them. Application forms were cumbersome. When one shift finished its work and the next began, delays were the rule. "After an hour, people got very excited," says Barrett. "That's what we want." By day's end, the group had a list of steps for tightening the process, from streamlining application forms to assigning every pending application to a particular agent.
GE Money's eagerness to press ahead in the face of uncertainty should come as no surprise. This year, China swings open the doors to its financial-services market and in anticipation, global banks such as Citibank, Standard Chartered, HSBC, and Bank of America, along with nonbank players such as GE Money, have been buying stakes in China's banks.
None of them will have an easy time. China's banking sector is weighed down with bad loans, bloated payrolls, and unhappy customers. But the companies that can make their Chinese partnerships work win a tantalizing prize: a chance to tap into potentially the world's biggest consumer-finance market.
The consumer-finance arm of GE, GE Money is one of its fastest-growing divisions, with businesses in 57 countries and markets. Over the course of hundreds of acquisitions and partnerships (many of them in Asia), GE Money has earned a reputation as a savvy and adroit dealmaker. In particular, the company is admired for its ability to cross cultural barriers and integrate its operations with those of its partners, even in tricky markets such as Japan and Latin America.
If GE's integrate-and-grow model works in China, one of the most daunting markets for multinationals, its approach is bound to be imitated. If it doesn't work, the prospects for other financial institutions to work with China's rickety banks may be called into question.
Early on, GE took a cautious approach to investing in China. GE Capital (GE Money's predecessor) began offering consumer financing for electronic appliances in southern China with a Chinese partner in 1998 only to shut it down two years later, citing tepid interest from Chinese consumers.
Conditions have certainly improved since then. The consumer-finance market has liberalized — this year, foreign-owned banks can begin lending directly to Chinese customers. According to analysts, consumer finance in China is finally ready to take off. The Chinese consumer-credit market (cards, mortgages, and personal loans) will account for 14 percent of banking-sector profits by 2013, up from around 4 percent now. Credit-card revenues will rise by more than 50 percent a year, reaching $5 billion by 2013. The country's growing car market is creating demand for auto loans, while mortgage volume grew an estimated 18 percent in 2006, according to May Yan, a vice president with Moody's who expects much higher growth in the coming years.
Barrett is optimistic. "This country is in its infancy in terms of consumer financing," he says. "It's a tremendous opportunity for us."
A Stairway to Profitability?
Shenzhen Development Bank is based in the heart of its hometown, a city of 10 million that has sprung up from virtually nothing in the past 25 years. Like Shenzhen itself, the bank is young — it was one of several privately owned banks established in the late 1980s. As if to make the point that it is a part of a newer breed of Chinese financial institutions, the bank has built for itself one of the city's most unusual office buildings: a postmodern structure that resembles a giant set of stairs.
Despite appearances, the bank suffers from some old-fashioned woes. For many years, it operated in a decentralized manner, with branch managers making ill-considered loans with little, if any, oversight from headquarters. As a result, 7.9 percent of its loans are probably uncollectible. (Overall, 9.2 percent of loans held by commercial banks in China are considered "nonperforming.") Furthermore, it has little cash. Chinese banking law requires banks to maintain at least an 8 percent capital adequacy ratio, but SDB has only 3.7 percent, meaning that it is not permitted to expand into new cities. Moody's gives it a financial-strength rating of just E+. "That's one of the lowest ratings for a Chinese bank," comments Yan.
But the bank is a suitable partner for GE Money in one important way: it has $32 billion in assets and 242 branches across China.
Furthermore, the bank's health is improving. In 2002, private-equity firm Newbridge Capital bought a controlling 18 percent of the bank. Newbridge installed a new management team and moved aggressively to clean up the bank's balance sheet. The investment firm shares GE's interest in growing the consumer side of the business and was willing to grant GE a remarkably free hand in fixing up bank operations. GE Money has 30 employees working in SDB and is now involved in areas such as strategic planning, new-product introduction, customer service, and risk management.
"Part of the idea behind this partnership was that GE would invest both financial and intellectual capital," says Frank Newman, SDB's chairman and CEO. "There were plenty of people who wanted to invest financially in the bank. But GE wanted to bring in experienced people to help."
Certainly, GE's $100 million investment would also help, given the bank's financial condition. But a year and a half after GE agreed to buy 7 percent of the bank, it has been unable to close the deal. In order for the shares to be released for sale, the bank has to complete a reform of its shareholder structure, which would convert nontradable shares into tradable stock. Shareholders voted down a reform plan last July, apparently because they wanted more compensation for allowing their nontradable shares to float freely. Bill Stacey, a China banking analyst with CS First Boston, expects this to be resolved soon. "I assume that at this point it's just a question of price," he says.
Until then, GE and SDB have devised a way around the problem: GE Money will be a consultant to the bank but treat the partnership like any other, which is to say that it is moving ahead with its postdeal integration process.
The GE Way
Barrett has acted quickly. Besides introducing the Wal-Mart project, GE has helped SDB launch another card with French hypermarket retailer Auchan in February and a mortgage product last year.
For the Wal-Mart project, GE's experts worked closely with the bank on the customer-support function. That's significant, because Chinese banks don't pamper their customers. "There's a great opportunity for the first Western investor who can improve customer service at the Chinese banks," comments Stacey.
GE has placed its managers in SDB's offices to work alongside their local counterparts. They have run Lean/Six Sigma workout sessions with SDB employees to get new credit cards out faster. GE has set up a high-tech customer-service support center that is run by GE managers but has SDB employees working alongside them. It has sent SDB customer-service managers to its operations in India so that they can learn how card operations are run elsewhere. And the company has measured the results of such efforts carefully.
In miniature, that effort mirrors the tactics GE takes to all of its partnerships. Although many of these practices have become standard among frequent dealmakers, several features distinguish the GE approach. These include the intensity of the effort it devotes to getting the companies to work together, the speed of integration, a pragmatic way of addressing cultural gaps, and adaptability.
1. Emphasis on integration. Entering the Chinese market via an alliance or acquisition is notoriously hard. Jeffrey Blount, a partner with Fulbright & Jaworski in Beijing, estimates that 60 percent of tie-ups involving Chinese and Western companies fail to meet even the lowest expectations of the partners. (And that's an improvement — Blount suggests that a few years ago the number was closer to 90 percent.)
The problem often lies with postdeal integration. A new management team must be assembled. Two very different accounting systems may have to be meshed. Employees who speak different languages have to work together. "I tell companies not to underestimate the postdeal problems they may run into in China," comments Michael Thorneman, who runs Bain & Co.'s China M&A practice. "But a lot of companies don't invest in laying out a clear plan for after closure."
That's one mistake GE Money has learned to avoid. Postdeal planning starts well before any agreement is signed. The company identifies which managers will be responsible for the deal and gets them involved in due diligence and negotiation. There's an integration leader and a cross-functional team of 25 to 30 people. Senior management keeps close tabs on progress, lending support where needed.
For its SDB alliance, GE has assembled a team of cross-functional specialists, representing areas such as finance, HR, and IT, that draws heavily on its operations in other Chinese-speaking markets. Barrett, as CEO for China, has been closely involved, as has GE Money Asia chief operating officer Ed Pinto, who oversees deal integration for the region.
2. Speed and focus. Advance planning means that GE can move fast once an agreement is in hand. That helps morale, but it's also a competitive necessity. "In China, if you fail to move quickly right at the start, it takes a lot of time to recover," says Pinto. "Our competitors move quicker because they know that we're now in the market."
Before closing, GE works with its partner to pick the projects that deserve immediate attention and maps out 100-day plans to get them done. Some of the projects are what GE terms "nonnegotiables." Those typically include efforts to fix up IT, risk management, financial systems, and HR. Others are contributions the partner requests from GE — such as help in improving customer-relationship-management (CRM) processes.
GE Money also moves quickly to get new products into the local market. "The company we've acquired will typically have some products already," says Pinto. "After we come in, we very quickly expand that number. We can usually launch a new credit card within three to nine months." With SDB, the company began work immediately on the Wal-Mart card and on a new mortgage product.
Just as important as a quick start is knowing when to stop. "If you continue integration too long, it starts to interfere with people's jobs," says Pinto. When it starts planning the postacquisition projects, GE Money defines three sets of measures that will indicate when integration is done. Those include growth, productivity, and culture.
3. Cultural integration. For GE's postdeal projects to yield results, employees need to work well together despite their different backgrounds. In China, such differences can be subtle but disruptive. For instance, the two management teams may have strikingly different ways of thinking about growth. "Many Chinese companies are enthusiastic about expanding outside of their core businesses given China's rapid economic growth," says Bain's Thorneman. "But most Western companies want to stay focused. That can set up a clash of management styles."
Shortly after signing its agreement with SDB, GE's integration team sat down with its counterparts at the bank to discuss how the two organizations approach planning. The differences were clear. Compared with GE's heavily metrics-based planning, the bank made many decisions on gut feel. Plans looked out only one year. "Their 2007 plan would start in January and then end in December," remembers Barrett. "But when you look at China's market, you have to anticipate the growth of the marketplace and plan for things like new technology or new products, which themselves might take 12 months to launch."
GE worked with the management team to encourage them to push planning out to three to five years, and to think differently about decision-making. In some cases, those efforts have met resistance. "We talked about how we analyze what products we want to create or what markets we want to enter," says Barrett. "But we heard, 'That's not how we do it here. We don't have the data.'" In response, Barrett sat down with the bank managers to figure out how to get the necessary data. For example, while China now has a credit bureau, its information is spotty. So GE and SDB identified other measures they can look at as a proxy for credit-bureau information, such as disposable income, profession, and how long an applicant has lived in one place.
GE also sent an anonymous employee questionnaire to SDB employees prior to starting work. What had employees heard about GE? What did they expect from this partnership? What would they like to see happen? (Some responded that they expected to be working harder for the same pay, given GE's process focus.) "This gives us a good benchmark for how we should plan the integration," says Pinto. "We have to force ourselves to listen. We've done this so many times that it's easy to just end up telling the business what to do." Other surveys get administered periodically during the integration to identify any cultural problems that may be brewing.
The company also sends some of its partner's managers to GE's leadership-training center in the United States. And it relies on the integration manager (who is often recruited from an operation that was itself bought by GE) to serve as a cultural bridge between the two companies. "If the president of the acquired company isn't a GE person, then that person needs a coach who he can talk to in the GE universe," comments Ron Ashkenas, head of consulting firm Robert H. Schaffer & Associates who has worked extensively with the company on its M&A processes. "That person can also act as an umbrella to shield the company from all the well-intentioned GE people who want to visit."
4. Flexibility. GE Money is willing to adapt its approach to suit local conditions — a virtue in China, where markets evolve rapidly and rules can change overnight. In fact, part of Pinto's job description as regional COO is to make sure the company does just that. "My job is to take our global approach to deals and make sure we're modifying it for each particular deal," he says.
That's good, says Jay Bourgeois, a professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, because hubris is a common pitfall for dealmakers. "There are companies that, after their 20th deal, will say, 'We've got it down,'" he says. "Then the next one they buy blows up." (He cites Bank One, which spoiled its reputation as a strong acquirer when it fumbled its purchase of First Chicago in 1998.)
The SDB deal has called on GE's willingness to make course corrections, most notably with the deal-structure changes GE had to make when its $100 million investment stalled. Smaller adjustments have been needed, too. For example, when the integration team worked with bank employees on risk management, they heard objections about the case studies GE wanted to use: those cases were all from developed markets, said SDB managers — they weren't applicable to China. "We agreed with them," says Barrett. "So now we're talking to colleagues in markets like Mexico, Thailand, and Indonesia to find out how things are being done there."
Technology helps GE be more nimble. To help capture and disseminate what it learns about dealmaking worldwide, the company uses an "E-integration" tool. This is an internal Website that serves as a project-management program as well as a knowledge-sharing portal. Integration managers are required to put their plans online and show what stages they have completed. The tool also has an online bulletin board to allow teams to share what they have learned with one another. An integration manager in Shenzhen can go online to ask his counterpart in Bangkok how that team dealt with a certain problem.
It's too soon to say whether GE Money's skills as a partner will bring it success in China's finance market, but the early signs are hopeful. For example, efforts to improve bank processes are bearing fruit. The time required to issue new credit cards fell from 30 days down to 8 to 10 days, and ultimately to a mere 5 days. Customers have reacted positively, says Barrett, and GE Money sees its competitors in the market redoubling their own efforts in response.
GE's efforts to get SDB employees thinking in terms of metrics are taking hold, too. Two important measures are "total time to yes" (TTY), which is the time it takes to approve a loan or card application, and "total time to cash" (TTC), the period before a customer has the money in hand. "Now, if you go into any area where we're handling mortgages, for example, people are talking about TTY all the time," comments CEO Newman. "It's infiltrated the culture, and TTY has really come down in mortgages. That's a GE contribution, no question about it."
It may take longer for change to reach the bank's branches. When tellers at SDB's mostly empty Shanghai branch were asked about the credit card the bank offers with Wal-Mart, none of them had heard about the partnership with the retailer, let alone the co-branded card. (To be fair, the card is distributed only at Wal-Mart's retail outlets in southern China.)
The bank's financial situation is looking up. SDB reported a jump in earnings of 300 percent last quarter, due to a combination of factors, including Newbridge's work in cleaning up the bad-loan portfolio and the new products GE has launched. Based on such improvements, May Yan of Moody's says that she has a positive outlook for SDB's financial-strength rating.
For GE at least, the experience with SDB will likely be only the first step in an effort to find out what does and doesn't work in China. "We're all trying to figure out the magic formula," says Pinto. "But I don't think there is one. It's all trial and error."
Don Durfee is managing editor of CFO Asia.
Click here to see a list of GE Money's recent partnerships and acquisitions in Asia.
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Investigating agency will push for conditions that she not tamper with evidence.
After being in jail for nearly six months,DMK MP Kanimozhi may finally get some relief on October 17 when her bail plea would come up for hearing as CBI has decided not to oppose it.
Cineyug Films' founder Karim Morani and Reliance executive Surendra Pipara may also get relief on health grounds in 2G case,highly-placed sources in the agency said.
The sources said the CBI would not oppose the bail plea of the three who have been languishing in jail for over five months.
They said freedom to 43-year-old Kanimozhi,who has been in jail since May 20,may not be opposed on gender grounds. She also has to look after her child,agency sources said. However,it would press for conditions that she should not tamper with evidence.
The sources said bail plea of Morani,who is lodged in the jail since May 30,and Pipara,who was arrested on April 21,would also not be opposed on health grounds.
The bail plea of Kanimozhi and Morani would come up for hearing on October 17 before the special CBI judge O P Saini.
The bail plea of the DMK leader and Morani was earlier rejected by the trial court and subsequently by the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court. This will be the second attempt by the two. Pipara had applied for bail immediately after his arrest but was rejected.
CBI has charged the DMK leader under Prevention of Corruption Act with allegedly receiving illegal gratification through Kalaignar TV in which the money related to the 2G scam was routed.
Morani is accused of facilitating the transfer of Rs 200 crore from Shahid Balwa-promoted DB Realty to Kalaignar TV in which Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar,Managing Director of the channel,has 20 per cent stakes each.
Pipara was arrested along with two other Reliance officers for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with Group MD of RADAG Gautam Doshi and senior vice president Hari Nair to cheat the government by getting licenses in an illegal manner.


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Water - Microbiological Analysis Test Method Guide
Find Products:
Chromogenic Media E.coli + Coliforms Defined Substrate Technology Filtration Systems Molecular Methods
Updated: 1st Nov 2019
Microbiological water testing looks for indicator organisms as a sign of faecal contamination rather than testing for specific pathogens
Correct sampling procedures as instructed by international standard protocols must be adhered to
Routine microbiological testing of drinking water supplies, recreational waters, and environmental waters is essential for the protection of public health
Programme of testing
The most effective way to check water supplies for faecal contamination is microbiological analysis, and a range of test methods designed for that purpose has been developed for the water industry. Instead of carrying out separate tests for each of the potential pathogens, viruses, or parasites that might be in the water, microbiologists test for indicator organisms that are always present when enteric pathogens and viruses are.
Coliforms and other Indicator organisms
Coliform is a term used to denote a group of gram-negative bacteria that can ferment lactose with a production of gas within 48 hours at either 35ºC or 44/44.5ºC. These characteristics allow for easy isolation, detection, and enumeration in the lab and are the gold standard for microbial water testing. They are always present when enteric pathogens or viruses are detected in water testing. However, a high 'total coliform' count doesn't necessarily mean faecal contamination and requires a second step to identify the faecal coliforms from coliforms found in the environment. Escherichia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella are the faecal coliforms, and Citrobacter and Serratia are found in plants and soil.
The faecal coliforms, also known as thermotolerant coliforms, can survive at temperatures of 44ºC and 44.5ºC, which allows simple differentiation between the two types. The microbiologist will be looking for counts of faecal coliforms such as E. coli, whose only habitat is the intestine, and whose life outside it is short-lived; is seen as the ideal indicator organism. Its presence in a sample of drinking water means that the water is unsafe for human consumption.
The presence of faecal streptococci/Enterococci is evidence of faecal contamination. Faecal streptococci tend to persist longer in the environment than thermotolerant or total coliforms and are highly resistant to drying. It is, therefore, possible to isolate faecal streptococci from water that contains few or no thermotolerant coliforms as, for example, when the source of contamination is distant in either time or space from the sampling point. Faecal streptococci grow in or on a medium containing sodium azide, at a temperature of 37-44 °C. They are usually detected by the reduction of a dye (generally a tetrazolium-containing compound) or the hydrolysis of aesculin. Conventional methods may give "false positives," and additional confirmatory tests may be required.
Rapid Methods: Defined substrate technology® (DST) developed by IDEXX can produce results in 24 hours. The IDEXX Colilert uses a colourimetric ONPG assay to detect coliforms and a fluorescence MUG assay for E. coli. Colilert can simultaneously detect these bacteria within 18-24 hours, depending on the product. It can also suppress 2 million heterotrophic bacteria per 100 mL present. It has been U.S E.P.A approved and is included in the U.S Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater. As of 2014, this technology from IDEXX has been published as a European Standard Method, and many countries now use this technology as their gold standard for water testing e.g. Finland and Ireland.
The Enterolert Test from IDEXX uses a proprietary Defined Substrate Technology (DST) nutrient indicator to detect enterococci. This nutrient indicator fluoresces when metabolized by enterococci. DST improves accuracy and avoids the need for hazardous sodium azide suppressants used in traditional media.
Membrane filtration: A typical MF method for water analysis is performed by passing a known volume of water through a sterile membrane filter with a pore size small enough to retain bacterial cells (typically 0.45µm). The filter is then transferred aseptically to the surface of an agar plate, or an absorbent pad saturated with a suitable selective medium and incubated. Colonies are allowed to develop on the surface of the filter and can be counted and examined directly. MF methods are quick and easy to perform, require little incubator space, and can handle large volumes of water if needed. Over the last 30 years, they have become the preferred methods for the microbiological examination of water for indicator organisms. There are several official published methods based on MF, notably a series of ISO methods, such as ISO 9308-1 for coliforms and E. coli and ISO 7899-2 for enterococci.
Culture media: Much selective media have been developed for the detection of indicator organisms in water by MF methods. Recommended media for coliforms and E. coli include membrane lauryl sulphate broth or agar, MI agar and broth, and membrane lactose glucuronide agar. Membrane enterococcus agar (mEA) and membrane-Enterococcus Indoxyl-ß-D-Glucoside Agar (mEI) can be used for detection and enumeration of enterococci, while Tryptose sulphite cycloserine agar without egg yolk can be used to culture Clostridium perfringens on membrane filters. Pseudomonas aeruginosa can also be detected by an MF method using Pseudomonas agar.
Further culturing, or biochemical testing can then be used to confirm the identity of suspect colonies growing on filters placed on selective media. Increasingly, chromogenic and fluorogenic media are being used in water microbiology. Based on the detection of specific enzymes in the target bacterial species by substrates containing chromogenic or fluorogenic groups, producing highly diagnostic coloured colonies, these media can be less harsh than other selective media, resulting in fewer false-negative results, and reduce the time needed to confirm results. Examples include the ChromoCult® media range produced by Merck and the BBL™ range of prepared chromogenic media for water testing.
Traditional culture: Techniques using pour and spread plate count methods are not sufficiently sensitive for the detection of indicator organisms and pathogens in water, although they are still used routinely for enumerating heterotrophic bacteria. Methods capable of testing a larger volume of water (typically 100 ml) are needed. For many years the method of choice was the multiple tube 'most probable number' (MPN) technique, in which measured volumes of the water sample are added to a series of tubes containing differential media and incubated.
Growth is indicated by a colour change in the medium, and the result is calculated from the distribution of positive tubes. Although the method is simple and inexpensive in terms of equipment and materials, it is labour intensive and requires large amounts of incubator space. It is also an indirect method and does not allow further examination of individual colonies. MPN tests for routine water microbiology have now been largely replaced by membrane filtration (MF) methods, although they may still be useful for occasional tests conducted in small laboratories or the field, and commercial test kits based on MPN methods are available for coliforms and enterococci.
Legionella in cooling towers
Testing for Legionella sp. in cooling towers should be carried out regularly and must be part of a plant's programme of testing. Legionella pneumophila, for instance, is a heat-loving organism that has a higher tolerance for chlorine than most bacteria and can live within the cells of parasites, protecting itself from these methods of cleaning. Cooling towers provide suitable conditions for L. pnuemophila and unfortunately provide a perfect transport for its dissemination via droplets into the atmosphere whereupon it is potentially inhaled by people in the vicinity and cause pneumoniae. For information on products for testing water for Legionella go to: Legionella Detection and Identification Methods
Water quality parameters
In addition to tests for indicator organisms and certain specific pathogens, non-selective colony counts are also routinely carried out to determine the population of heterotrophic bacteria present. Counts at two temperatures (22oC and 37oC) are typically performed to provide information on the general microbiological population of the water and detect sudden changes in water quality. Counts at 37oC have been used to indicate faecal contamination in the past, but this is not generally considered to be reliable.
Rapid methods: Although most official methods for microbiological water analysis still rely on traditional culture methods and MF methods, the time is taken to obtain results, typically 24-48 hours, has focused attention on alternative rapid methods. Combining MF with QPCR detection and enumeration is a particularly rapid and effective means of analysing water samples. The main disadvantage of this method is that it may detect non-viable cells and overestimate the population, but it seems likely that QPCR-based methods will become increasingly important in water microbiology, leading to the development of commercial products similar to those already used for food analysis.
During the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, traces of the viral RNA was found in sewage at treatment plants in one study carried out in The Netherlands. The virus was detected by the use of RT-PCR against three fragments of the nucleocapsid protein gene (N1-3) and one fragment of the envelope protein gene (E), with the N1 primer/probe set being the most sensitive, followed by N3 and E sets for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage.
In recent years, water microbiologists have become increasingly aware of the importance of biofilms for microbiological populations in water systems. Biofilms are now recognised as complex microbial communities, which form on surfaces. Biofilms typically consist of a variety of microbial cells, potentially including pathogens, within a matrix composed of exopolysaccharides (EPS) secreted by certain bacterial species. Biofilms develop over time, becoming more complex and extensive, and can protect individual bacterial cells from chlorine and other antimicrobial compounds in water.
Biofilms are also notoriously difficult to remove from surfaces and can act as a sporadic source of microbial contamination as bacterial cells are sloughed off from the matrix into the surrounding water. It is now recognised that most of the bacteria in drinking water distribution systems are present within biofilms rather than free-living in the water itself. Pathogens isolated from within biofilms include Salmonella Typhimurium, Campylobacter sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aeromonas hydrophila. Legionella pneumophila is now known to be a major pathogen in residential water systems, due to its proclivity to form biofilms on water distribution pipes and also within cells of microbial parasites. Biofilms may affect general microbiological water quality, cause objectionable tastes and odours and accelerate corrosion within distribution systems.
The presence of significant biofilm growth may make it difficult to obtain representative water samples and may influence the results of microbiological analysis. High heterotrophic plate counts may be indicative of biofilm formation in distribution systems. In some cases, it may be necessary to sample biofilms directly using swabs or by allowing a film to develop on the surface of removable metal coupons or within specially designed sections of pipework.
A typical MF method for water analysis is performed by passing a known volume of water through a sterile membrane filter with a pore size small enough to retain bacterial cells (typically 0.45µm). The filter is then transferred aseptically to the surface of an agar plate, or an absorbent pad saturated with a suitable selective medium and incubated. Colonies are allowed to develop on the surface of the filter and can be counted and examined directly. MF methods are quick and easy to perform, require little incubator space and can handle very large volumes of water if required.
Over the last 30 years, they have become the preferred methods for the microbiological examination of water for indicator organisms. There are several official published methods based on MF, notably a series of ISO methods, such as ISO 9308-1 for coliforms and E. coli and ISO 7899-2 for enterococci.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published official microbiological methods for water testing. Laboratories routinely testing drinking waters, recreational waters and environmental samples should use the appropriate official method recommended by their local enforcement agency. Laboratories testing water supplies for industrial use, such as food processing, are advised to use the same methods when the water supply is required to be of potable quality.
In terms of equipment, MF methods require suitable filtration apparatus consisting of a base supporting a porous disc, on which the filter is placed, and a sterile filter funnel, which can be secured to the base, clamping the filter in position. A variety of filtration systems are commercially available, including multiple units in the form of manifolds, so that more than one sample can be filtered at once.
Disposable single-use sterile filter funnels are also available for convenience. Suppliers include Millipore, Sartorius and Membrane Solutions. The filter unit is connected to a suitable vacuum source to draw the samples through the filter. This may be a vacuum line or a stand-alone pump unit. Compact pump units specifically designed for use with MF methods are now available. An example is the Millipore EZ-Stream unit, which can run the filtered sample straight to drain, thus saving time spent emptying and cleaning the waste sample containers used with traditional laboratory vacuum pumps. A variety of membrane filters are available for different applications, but microbiological water analysis is typically carried out with 47mm diameter mixed cellulose ester-based filters of 0.45µm pore size. The filters are usually marked with a grid to aid colony counting.
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text:
Scientists Advise: Low-Salt Diet Not for Everyone
Some experts question the extent to which cutting salt in the diet would mean fewer heart attacks and strokes.
Editor's Note: Esther Kinyua wrote this story after taking the VOA Learning English online course, " Writing Science in Plain English" at the American Resource Center in the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Her story is the runner-up winner of the contest sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and VOA Learning English.
Low-salt diets are actually harmful to our bodies, a recent study found. These diets may actually increase the risk of developing heart disease, or even cause death.
These findings, says WebMD, a public health website, are contrary to the popular wisdom that has long said low-salt diets are healthy.
Scientists at McMaster University's Population Health Research Institute, working with researchers from Hamilton Health Services, conducted the study. They examined medical information about 130,000 people from 49 countries.
The scientists, led by Andrew Mente of McMaster University, wanted to find out if the relationship between salt, strokes and heart disease is different for those who have high blood pressure.
They found that no matter whether one has high blood pressure or not, low sodium intake increased the risk of stroke, heart attack and death.
The study goes on to suggest that only certain people should be concerned about reducing sodium in their diets. "The findings … emphasize the importance of reducing salt intake among people with hypertension and who eat food with high levels of sodium," Mente said.
McMaster University's Martin O'Donnell, the study's co-author, said in a press release in May 2016, "This study adds to our understanding of the relationship between salt intake and health. The study also questions the correctness of present guidelines that recommend low salt intake for everyone."
He noted, "An approach that recommends salt in moderation, particularly focused on those with hypertension, appears more in-line with current evidence."
Mente added that the current general recommendations relating to the maximum healthy salt intake seems too low, especially since they do not consider an individual's blood pressure.
"Low sodium intake reduces blood pressure modestly, compared to average intake, but low sodium intake also has other effects."
"One of those effects includes harmful elevation of particular hormones - and this offsets any benefits. The main issue is not whether very low sodium intake lowers blood pressure, but whether it results in improved health," Mente said.
In the McMaster University study, the researchers found that only around 10% of people had high levels of both hypertension and sodium consumption. In general, health experts consider a high level of sodium consumption to be over 6 grams daily.
Mente pointed out that this indicates that many people around the world are taking in healthy amounts of salt.
He also said that efforts should be targeted at reducing salt intake among the people who are most likely to get hypertension and who take in high amounts of salt.
Mente does not agree with the current strategy of reducing sodium intake in almost all countries. However, he would accept efforts to reduce salt intake in some areas, such as China or Central Asia, where the average salt consumption is abnormally high.
At present, Canadians normally consume about 4 grams of sodium daily. But there are recommendations that they should lower this amount to less than 2.3 grams each day. U.S. guidelines for sodium intake are for people under 50 to have less than 2.3 grams a day. For those over 51 and persons of any age who are African American or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease, the U.S. guidelines suggest having less than 1.5 grams a day.
In Kenya, the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation recommends general reduction of salt intake to levels below 5 grams as recommended by the World Health Organization. This is as a measure to reduce the risk of hypertension and other non-communicable diseases. Less than 5% of people in the world consume such low levels of sodium. Kenyans are the lowest consumers of salt, averaging 4 grams a day.
The WebMD report says Elliott Antman, past president of the American Heart Association (AHA) criticized Mente's study.
Antman says the study does not correctly measure sodium intake, and it should not make Americans stop worrying about salt. The American Heart Association continues to recommend less than 1.5 grams of sodium per day from all sources," he said.
Most Americans get more than 3.4 grams of sodium a day.
I'm Alice Bryant.
I'm Jill Robbins.
Esther Kinyua wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
Esther Kinyua
This article was written by Esther Kinyua. She earned a Masters Degree in Chemistry from Kenyatta University. She has been teaching for nine years. She says, "The thing I love most about teaching is that it always opens my mind to think and work creatively with learners of different personalities and interests."
Outside of class, you will find her participating in church-based community service. She also enjoys playing games with her kids and baking pastries.
diet - n.
contrary -
wisdom -
conduct -
sodium - n. a soft silver-white element that is found in salt, baking soda, and other compounds
emphasize - v. to give special attention to (something) : to place emphasis on (something)
intake - n. the amount of something (such as food or drink) that is taken into your body
offset - v. to cancel or reduce the effect of (something) : to create an equal balance between two things
hypertension – n. high blood pressure
Do you think you eat the right amount of salt? Why or why not? Write to us in the Comments Section.
A Loyalty Program to Save Mother and Child


text:
Норден (, ) — город в Германии, в земле Нижняя Саксония.

Входит в состав района Аурих. Население составляет 25116 человек (на 31 декабря 2010 года). Занимает площадь 106,33 км². Официальный код — 03 4 52 019.

Город подразделяется на 10 городских районов.

История

Это — старейший город Восточной Фрисландии.
В первое время своего существования поселение находилось на расстоянии от морского берега в несколько километров.
Возник на месте обширной песчаной кучи, на насколько сантиметров превышающей высоту окружающей местности. Но этого оказалось достаточным, чтобы стать, оставаясь на суше после наводнения, региональным центром.

Известно, что вскоре после 1100 года здесь существовала община потомственных земледельцев, скреплённая присягой и общими обычаями.

Городские права поселение получило уже в XIII веке.

В XIV в. сильнейшие штормы привели воду к городу, которая не ушла обратно. В 1400 город оказался на берегу образовавшейся бухты (нем. Leybucht). Тогда предприимчивые горожане организовали здесь гавань и начали не без выгоды для себя морскую торговлю.

С 1542 г. существует здесь традиция собираться в специально отведённой комнате ратхауза. При этом члены общины обязаны пить тёплое пиво.

XV и XVI века были временем экономического расцвета города. Свидетелем того времени является «Красивый дом» (das Schönig'sche Haus), построенный в 1576 году на Пасхальной улице(Osterstrasse).

Важная достопримечательность города — церковь Св. Людгера (заложена в 1235, современный вид приняла в XVI веке), со знаменитым органом Арпа Шнитгера. Кроме того, на Рыночной площади находится молельня меноннитов (1652).

В 1930 году вода отступила от города, что стало результатом также и усилий населения в области активного гидростроительства.

В 1969 году деревня Lintelmarsch на берегу моря превратилась в пригород Норддайх (Norddeich)

Демография

Виды города

См. также
 Восточная Фрисландия

Примечания

Ссылки
 Официальная страница

Города Нижней Саксонии
Аурих (район)


When we think about Independence Day, we naturally think of the American Revolution. In this Crash Course lesson, students will learn about the brambled beginnings of the war; they'll learn that the Revolution was not about taxes – or tea. It was about parliamentary representation.
John Green teaches students about the events that led up to the Revolution, including the Seven Years War, the Boston Massacre, which occurred on March 5, 1770, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which started on April 19, 1775, more than a year before the "official" start of the Revolutionary War. They will also learn about the complicated mix of taxes, royal decrees, acts of parliament, colonial responses, and various congresses that culminated with the Declaration of Independence.


text:
Mahd Ad Dahab Mine
167 km SE from Medina, Saudi Arabia
Mines & projects in Saudi Arabia
Cut & Fill
Sub-level stoping
Carbon adsorption
Latest News Filo Mining's Latest Drill Results Include 1,009 Metres of 0.95% CuEq (0.57% Copper and 0.39 g/t Gold) and 1,034 Metres of 0.68% CuEq (0.42% Copper and 0.32 g/t Gold) April 20, 2020
Source: p. 12, 104
Maaden Saudi Arabian Mining Co. 100 % Indirect
Maaden Gold and Base Metals Company (operator)	 100 % Direct
Ma'aden Gold and Base Metals company (MGBM), Maaden Saudi Arabian Mining Co. wholly owned subsidiary, operates six gold mines in Saudi Arabia: AdDuwayhi, Mahd Ad Dhahab, Al Amar, Bulghah, Sukhaybarat and As Suq.
Epithermal
Mine area rocks are composed of a mafic to felsic volcanic-sedimentary sequence. The volcanic sequence consists of a Lower Andesite overlain by the Lower Agglomerate unit, a Lower Tuff, the Upper Agglomerate, and Upper Tuff units. A rhyolite porphyry stock occurs to the north of the mine and is exposed in the SAMS area. This stock may be part of a much larger intrusive body at depth.
The rock sequence forms an east trending homoclinal structure trending east with a northerly dip from 30° to 75°. At depth the sequence is sub-vertical to overturned. These rocks have been complexly faulted by steeply dipping north to north-northwest and northwest trending faults. Vein complexes trend north-northwest to north with some veins trending northwest.
Mineralisation is associated with multiphase quartz veining and silicification developed along predominant north to north-northwest trending faults. Some veins are developed along northeast and northwest trends. Quartz veining is associated with intense silicification, massive, laminated and brecciated veins. Veins are vertical to sub-vertical. Major vein systems can be traced across the mine area and are preferentially developed in the Lower and Upper Agglomerate Units. Veins are more poorly developed in the andesite and tuff units. Economic gold mineralisation is associated with quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena and silver.
Moderate to intense sericite and chlorite alteration is associated with the vein systems. Carbonate alteration and quartz veinlets form at the peripheries of the vein systems. Near surface mineralisation is oxidized to a depth of 10m grading into a transitional zone that extends to depths of 20m to 60m.
Mineralisation occurs in epithermal to mesothermal vein systems. Typically mineralisation is zoned according to the temperature and boiling point of hydrothermal fluids. Often lower temperature zones or epithermal environments are associated with high levels of gold mineralisation. Mesothermal environments are associated with massive metal sulphides and possibly a lower tenor of gold mineralisation. In a general overview of the upper regions of Mahd Ad'Dahab, vein systems show epithermal characteristics and are associated with high grade gold mineralisation. The deeper regions of the vein systems may represent a higher temperature regime and thus are associated with massive sulphide mineralisation with lower gold grades. Fluid inclusion studies indicate that veining occurred in epithermal to low mesothermal temperatures.
Mafic dykes intrude quartz veins. Dykes are believed to be post or contemporaneous with mineralisation.
Quartz and massive sulphide vein system at Mahd Ad'Dahab are subdivided into four zones comprising:
- SAMS: comprising 70% of ore currently mined, economic veins include veins 1, 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17 and D complex (veins D1 to D4);
- Western Zone: comprising 4 complex, 3 west, 2 west, F, F1, F2 and a number of narrow high grade veins from 0.4m to 0.5m wide including veins S, 10 West, 8 West, 6 West, 7 West, diluted grade of narrow veins about 10g/t Au;
- Eastern Zone: comprising 10 East, 11 East veins and the M vein complex;
- Northern Zone: comprising the Northern, 678, 345, T veins and the two vein complex, the near surface mineralisation of vein 678 was mined out as high grade mineralisation extracted through a small open-pit operation.
The mineralization occurs within an area about 900 metres by 900 metres in size. Mineralization is associated with multiple phases of quartz veining and silicification related to north to northwest trending faults. The high grade gold mineralization occurs as steeply dipping, narrow (0.5 metres to 2.0 metres) quartz and massive sulphide vein systems in four zones; SAMS, Western Zone, Eastern Zone and Northern Zone; and in larger stockwork veined zones up to 20 metres in width in the Eastern Zone.
The underground mine has over 60km of tunnels, and is mined over a vertical depth of 300 metres from the surface.
The main access to the underground operations is provided by a 1:9 decline, 4m by 4m in cross section which runs from the portal at 1,065m amsl to the 852m level. Access from this decline to the orebodies is via ramps and cross-cut haulages.
Mining methods include fully mechanised sub-level stoping and cut-and-fill with application depending on orebody dimensions. Currently some 75% of underground ore production is sourced from cut-and- fill mining methods with the fill being waste rock. Each cut is either 2m or 4m depending on orebody geometry and fill is placed in the stopes after each cut and stopped with sand (>50cm), which also acts as a marker between ore and waste.
All primary waste development, ore development and the cut-and-fill stopes are drilled using electro- hydraulic drill rigs.
Monthly production is currently 15.3kt of ore and 4kt of waste which is hauled up the decline to surface by Wagner dumptrucks loaded by Wagner load-haul-dumps ("LHDs"). Current haul distances result in round trips of some 30 minutes to surface and back to the loading point.
Mining operations extend to a depth of 190m from the general desert surface. Ground conditions are generally good although (ground conditions) in localised areas is poor which necessitates the use of roof-bolts, sometimes in combination with mesh. No formal support system is left in the stopes, however low grade areas are left in-situ which also limit mining spans.
Mining activities are serviced with compressed air from a central facility with an installed capacity of 231m3/min provided by five compressors, three of which are operational at any one time. Ventilation is provided via the main decline and all air is exhausted via a separate incline. Mine water is settled underground at the lower levels and pumped to the main header tank situated near the main decline portal on surface.
0.19 M oz
Proven & Probable 1.01 Mt Zinc 0.73 %
Total Resource 2.58 Mt Gold 8.21 g/t 0.68 M oz
Total Resource 2.58 Mt Zinc 1.49 %
Commodity Production Costs:
Cash costs Gold USD 682 / oz 567 / oz
Capital expenditures M SAR 5.21 13.3
Revenue M SAR ...... ...... 144.26 156.18 198.82
Gross profit M SAR 62.1 108.54
Heavy Mobile Equipment:
Mine Management:
Ref. Date
....................... ....................... Sep 13, 2020
- Subscription is required.
Total Workforce
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
................................... 2018
Filo Mining's Latest Drill Results Include 1,009 Metres of 0.95% CuEq (0.57% Copper and 0.39 g/t Gold) and 1,034 Metres of 0.68% CuEq (0.42% Copper and 0.32 g/t Gold) April 20, 2020
Filo Mining Drills 600 Metres of 1.12% CuEq (0.67% Copper and 0.44 g/t Gold) in Step-Out Hole at Filo del Sol February 19, 2020


Kobo360 is a tech-enabled logistics platform that aggregates end-to-end haulage operations to help cargo owners, truck owners, drivers, and cargo recipients to achieve an efficient supply chain framework.
Kobo enables unprecedented efficiency and cost reduction in the supply chain, providing 360-visibility while delivering products of all sizes safely, on time and in full. The Kobo mission is to build the Global Logistics Operating System that will power trade and commerce across Africa and Emerging Markets.
This state of the art equipment offer customers a unique service because of its versatility in loading. With Flatbed trucks cargo can be loaded from the top and sides. Also, with a continuously flat surface, this method of transporting goods is more versatile than others. The use of a flatbed truck extends across industries, whether you are in transportation, construction, or general manufacturing, these trucks are vital to any fleet operation.
Our covered body trucks are tautliners that are fitted with tear resistant singlewide tires that impart stability. They also offer more cargo capacity and access than a cargo van which makes it a more economical option. The trucks are built to be strong and meet the safety requirements of the Environment Protection Regulations.


The actual cannabis plant is generally associated with people who are termed irresponsible as a result of huge abuse the medicine has authorized in most of the countries on the planet. A good number of folks are still unaware of the many health advantages of the same plant that is revered for its practically immediate influence on whatever condition it is implemented for. Due to extensive experiments and the brains behind this web site, the CBD Oil can now get to anybody who wants the item regardless of their location.
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Brick and mortar stores have long had an advantage over ecommerce stores. That advantage is a customer's ability to try on and use items before buying. In the last few years, though, online merchants have begun offering more advanced try before you buy options. This trend is growing, especially for companies specializing in apparel and accessories.
A recent survey confirms strong consumer interest in the try before you buy model. A whopping 37% of online shoppers surveyed preferred it over any "traditional payment method".
It's simple. A customer (or personal stylist) chooses items online, gets them, tries them on, and returns what they didn't like. The retailer then only charges the customer for what they keep. Many companies further incentivize customers by offering free shipping and returns.
Trunk Club was one of the first online companies to adopt the try before you buy model. The company initially started as Trunk Club Men's Outfitters in Chicago in 2009. A couple of guys wanted to make shopping simpler for men who don't like shopping. Nordstroms then acquired the company in 2014. Today it has expanded to offer both men's and women's trunks.
A customer creates a style profile and chat with a stylist. Then a stylist sends a digital preview to the customer. The customer then has 48 hours to approve or change the contents of the trunk. Once it's approved, the customer receives their trunk from UPS in 4-6 business days.
Shipping is free, and trunks ship anywhere in the contiguous United States. Once the trunk arrives, the customer has five days to decide what they want to keep and what they'll return. A $25 styling fee (waived for Nordstrom cardholders) is credited towards the purchase. Returns are free, simply ship it back with the included return label. Customers can order occasionally or can set up monthly or seasonal trunk deliveries.
Trunk Club also provides additional information to common questions, such as costs, styles, and more.
Warby Parker is another great example of an online company using the try before you buy model. As Mashable points out, The company offers affordable designer glasses. Two Wharton School students founded the company in 2010. They found out that most of the "designer" glasses are simply licensed to a few giant eyewear companies and sold in bulk to optical shops. They cut out the middleman by designing their own glasses. By also selling them online, they were able to offer designer eyeglasses at or a much lower price. Warby Parker also follows the TOMS shoes one-for-one giving model—with every pair of glasses they sell, Warby Parker donate a pair to someone in need.
Warby Parker offers online tools, quizzes, and phone calls with stylists to help customers choose glasses. Then customers are sent 5 sample frames that they choose between. This is perhaps why they're one of the most well known try before they buy company.
Payment options are key to implementing try before you buy on ecommerce websites. Several companies offer this technology to online companies of all sizes. They include Klarna and Try. Klarna is integrated with top e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify and WooCommerce. Try works with individual retailer websites to add the buy, now pay later option.
If you sell online apparel or accessories, consider implementing the try before you buy option. Consumers love it, and there is a growing trend of companies who successfully use this payment option. It might make the difference between good and great sales and profits!
We will discuss the pros and and cons of implementing a try before you buy option in your online store.
Let's look at the factors leading to this interest.
More and more customers are purchasing more items than they plan on keeping. Depending on your returns policy, you could end up losing money on a purchase. Below is a recent report from Brightpearl that shows the trends of different age groups and what percentage that submit partial returns.
Ecommerce returns are growing rapidly. They have increased 94.8% over the most recently measured five-year period, according to a recent Shopify report.
The try before you buy option allows online shoppers to duplicate the brick and mortar experience of trying on items before buying. There are strong cases for implementing try before you buy. For one, shopping online is incredibly convenient. There has been an increase in consumers buying multiple items with the intent to return some. There is an increase in online returns, as well as dissatisfaction in many return policies.
With so many reasons to implement a try before you buy option, why wouldn't you?
According to a recent report released by Brightpearl, the main reason is the potential cost to your business.
Another potential issue? Getting paid. In a brick and mortar store, shoppers try on items and pay before they leave the store. For online retailers, it's risky to send things to shoppers without paying.
Technology again helps make this process easier. Payment options such as Klarna allow retailers to get paid when items are ordered. Shoppers are also protected. Klarna's Buyer Protection Policy promises customers they will only pay for items they purchased. They will always receive their money back if their purchase doesn't arrive, they receive items they didn't order, or if items are defective, damaged, or do not meet the merchant's description.
The try before you buy option is a growing trend among e-commerce companies. Shoppers love it, but online sellers need to carefully consider the ramifications of implementing it. The increase in sales is great, but you must have systems in place to handle the additional returns, without breaking the bank.


When asked about The Junior League, Martha Rivers Ingram said, "I never expected to find myself serving as Chairman and CEO of a major American corporation. You may never expect to run a business, to be head of a household, or to lead a nonprofit board. Yet, effective Junior League training can prepare you for these experiences and many others."
She became a corporate chairman upon the unexpected death of her husband, who ran his family's business, Ingram Industries, but her life as a civic leader preceded her business career.
A member of the Junior League of Nashville in the 1970s, Martha was an early and energetic supporter of the idea that Nashville should become a regional cultural center. By 2000, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center had an endowment of over $20 million, which allowed more than a million Tennessee children to experience symphony music, drama, and dance.
Her love of the performing arts began at Vassar College when she became a classical music DJ, assuming the pseudonym of Elizabeth Crawford and lowering her voice to conceal her youth. As a Provisional in the Junior Leagues of Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, and Nashville, and as a Nashville Active member, she learned how to share her love of music with an even greater audience.
That love of the arts can be seen in many of her other activities. Martha serves as a board member of the Spoleto Festival USA, the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville Opera, and Nashville Ballet. She is also the Chairman for the Nashville Symphony Association, and the Vice-chairman for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, which she was instrumental in founding.
Martha is a former Chairman of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University and an active supporter of the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music.
She has received the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee's Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic efforts and was honored by the Americans for the Arts for her exemplary national leadership, which demonstrated extraordinary artistic achievement. She also received the Eli & Edythe Broad Award for Philanthropy in the Arts.


What about us? Sure there were hardly any players towards the end but still do we no longer have access to the product we paid for? Are we gonna get any sort of compensation? No refunds?
I guess it is what it is. I think I'll feel pretty miffed if we'll be the ones holding the bags as the product we paid for with our money goes up in smoke which is what it's looking like.
Get into game, learn to fight and discuss tactics!
Updated with Entropist, will add more example gifs soon!
Tell us what you think about Mirage!
To be honest, i play on official Uk FFA servers, thats 90% of what im playing and what I've always been playing. I almost never see an admin ingame, there is too much toxicity in the chat, racism, fatshaming and other stuff, personally i dont get offended. But what offends me is that the chivalry ffa community has some problems, Most of the players are the same old veterans, we know eachother very well and there is always someone on the server. I play FFA everyday atleast 3 hours a day.
A place for stories or other Mirage-related talk.
I am new in the community and don't know where to start and just found this topic well, I also wish soo.
Just for the curiosity what other game are you playing?
I also like to play games.
Share your artwork, stories, videos, and other content!
Servers are now down, thank you for playing.
@Vipeaxx our alpha phase ended a few weeks ago. Any alpha keys that were sent have been revoked, whether activated or not.
Mirage Arcane Warfare, Two Steam hubs?
@Wilt we added some pinned threads and created a bug reports forum there.
I'll copy my guides over to the Beta hub as well eventually.
I'll see if it's possible to merge hubs.
@hadhoud99 you activate the key using Steam.
Will I need a new key and download for future tests?
@Reithur Thank you very much (: I enjoyed my time with it, and I'll be sure to buy a copy when it's released (or when I have some extra cash after the fact).
Can I Alt Tab an wait while matchmaking?
@Fixus Alt+Tab should not interrupt a matchmaking attempt.
@Fixus The test will run for today only. It has just begun.
THANK YOU I have found it I recieved it on 2 February!Im sorry that I missed it!
WOW Thanks for the Key!
@ArcherADs our major alpha tests have been completed, but we're currently working on some small matchmaking tests. Watch for announcements here and in your email about these.
We have no Archers in Mirage, but we have fireball-throwing Alchemancers. All classes can parry all projectiles, and all classes have access to abilities that allow them to make their own ranged attacks.
I really have no clue but they usually post news of upcoming tests on this site tbh.
@Jaba881 Mirage does not support Windows 32bit, only 64b.
@sjds02 I sent your key again via direct message. We sent you this key in January.


text:
Europa – How Switzerland spends 90 billion francs on transport each year
Switzerland is world-famous for its efficient tram and railway networks, but it is the nation's roads that cost most – around 80 percent of the country's total transport expenses.
Annually, 72 billion francs are spent on road-related expenses including accidents, healthcare, and environmental damage, according to the Federal Statistical Office which released its 2015 survey of transport costs on Monday.
By comparison, other modes of transportation are modest. The cost of rail transport in 2015 amounted to nearly 11 billion francs, air traffic costs 6.4 billion francs water transport costs 344 million francs.
72 billion francs are spent on road-related expenses in Switzerland Photo: Ambrozinio/Depositphotos.com
How much does the government pay compared with users?
In 2015, the Confederation, cantons, and municipalities spent 4.7 billion francs on rail networks, almost as much as users who paid 5 billion francs.
In five years, however, the State has reduced its share of rail funding by 2 percent points, to 43%.
Read also: Seven Fun facts about Switzerland's famous train station clocks
In air transport, passengers paid 81% of the total costs of this mode of transport, with the purchase of airline tickets. The remaining 1.1 billion francs, was the responsibility of taxpayers to pay for things like environmental maintenance of transportation (e.g. cleaning and maintenance services).
Rising costs
Since the Swiss Federal Statistical Office started collecting data on transport costs in 2010, there has been a substantial increase in overall costs.
Between 2010 and 2015, aviation became 14 percent more expensive, railway expenses rose by 12 percent and motorised traffic expenses were up by 2 percent.
Fonte: https://www.thelocal.ch/20190408/switzerland-spends-around-90-billion-francs-on-transport-a-year
spends
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Próxima notíciaAméricas – Yeshivas that let in unvaccinated students amid measles outbreak could face closure, NYC says
Oceania – Pope delivers anti-nuclear message in historic visit to Japan
Ásia – For heroic citizens
Oriente Médio – Half of Democratic Congressmen Demand Trump Reverse U.S. Policy and Declare Jews in Judea-Samaria Illegal –


Ed Metz Trio with Nicki Parrott and Rossano Sportiello.
Treasure Coast Jazz Society presents 5 concerts between Jan 19 and April 6th at the Heritage Center on 14th Ave in Historic Downtown Vero Beach.
Tickets can be purchased thru www.tcjazzsociety.com or by calling 772-234-4600 or emailing tcjazzsociety@gmail.com. Like us on facebook atfacebook.com/tcjsVeroBeach .