Monthly Archives: May 2021

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. The future looks grim for Newfoundland and Labrador's third-largest offshore oilfield, and the head of its workers' union says the ripple effects will be devastating if it shuts down.

Unifor Local 2121 president Dave Mercer said Friday that thousands of people will take a hit if the operators of the Terra Nova offshore oilfield walk away now. Some workers laid off from the idled project months ago have already started to move away, he said.

"They come to me every day," Mercer said in an interview, pausing to swallow back tears. "Every single day. I choke up when I hear it. Because I can't fix it."The people who can fix it, he said, are running the seven oil companies that own and operate the project.

The Terra Nova oilfield sits about 350 kilometres southeast of St. John's. Oil was first discovered there in 1984, and it began flowing in January 2002. The field uses what's called a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, which is essentially a massive ship that can store 960,000 barrels and house 120 workers at a time. The craft is connected to wells in the sea floor by a sprawling network of cables and pipes.

So far, 425 million barrels of oil have been recovered from the field, according to estimates from the Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industries Association. About 80 million barrels remain.

The field provides around 1,000 direct jobs and affects thousands more through service and supply sectors like catering, helicopters and environmental monitoring, a news release Thursday from the association said.

But the field hasn't produced oil since November 2019, Mercer said. The vessel needs maintenancein order to keep pumping for another decade, and that work has been held up, most recently because of the crash in oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I've had 11 families in the last six months tell me that they're done and they're moving out of the province, and they have," Mercer said. "We have people that work offshore because they have to pay for medical needs for the family members .... Their insurance is cut off. Their benefits are done."

Suncor Energy is the majority partner in the Terra Nova project. Company president Mark Little told The Canadian Press on Wednesday that part of the work needs to be done in Spain, where there's a dry dock facility large enough to accommodate the 300-metre-long vessel.

"Then it has to come back and hit a weather window next year to actually get back on station," Little said. "The problem is we're running out of time to actually do that. We're losing our window."

Suncor wants to proceed, but not all of the partners are on board, he said even with the Newfoundland and Labrador government offering $175 million in life support earlier this year.

"We continue to be supportive of the asset life extension, and we've advocated for it," Little said during a webcast with investors Wednesday. "But honestly, we've been doing this for many, many months and working it very diligently, and it doesn't look like we're going to get there."

A decision on whether they'll abandon the project and permanently shut down the field will be made on June 15, he said.

Wade Locke, an economist at Memorial University in St. John's, says the Terra Nova troubles are a sign of what's to come. "Both the federal and provincial governments are committed to (fighting) climate change and pretty aggressive targets as well," he said in an interview Friday. "So, you'll see some significant changes by 2030 if they follow through with their aspirations. And by 2050, you'll see a lot of changes."

If the Terra Nova operators are reticent to invest in work to unearth another 80 million barrels of oil, even with a $175 million boost from the government, Locke wonders what that says about some of the less advanced projects on the horizon.

The situation also doesn't bode well for the West White Rose project, which was launched to extend the life of the White Rose offshore oilfield, he said. Suncor owns 26 per cent of that project, and majority owner Cenovus, formerly Husky Energy, announced it was reviewing its operations in the province last September. Cenovus has said abandonment is under consideration.

Mercer is also concerned what a shutdown of Terra Nova could mean for the province's other offshore projects. "If we shut the door and Terra Nova doesn't continue, it's only sending the message to these other oil companies that Newfoundland is not open for business," he said.

In a statement emailed Friday, Energy Minister Andrew Parsons said the province is doing everything it can to keep Terra Nova going. "However, the final investment decision rests with the project partners," Parsons said. "Discussions continue among project owners, and I remain hopeful that partners can reach an agreement to secure the project."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2021.

With files from Dan Healing in Calgary

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Threat of N.L.'s Terra Nova oilfield shutdown a sign of things to come: economist - Kamloops This Week

We cant resist tinkering with our houses. In the 1980s we knocked through rooms and reached into the rafters to add loft extensions. In the 1990s side passages were glassed over and dusty coal cellars became utility rooms. Next came behemoth basement excavations. Now its all about the rear. Terraced houses that appear traditional at the front burst into cavernous open-plan extensions at the back. The glass box, gleaming with marble surfaces and bi-folding doors is every architects attempt to bring sunlit Californian modernity to cloudy British climes.

Alan Martin Day and Russell Vandyk, retirees with avant-garde tastes, wanted something different for the back of their north London semi. Weve never aspired to the house beautiful look, says Day, but it was starting to look tatty. Built in the 1890s for a Mr Pooter-ish clerk, the house sits in an end-of-terrace plot embraced by a river that once fed fresh water to London. The Victorian layout had hardly changed. The loftier front rooms spoke of genteel entertaining. Behind, steps descended to the piecemeal former servants quarters, still marked with the ghostly traces of the maids bell.

For 40 years, the pair says they made do with a DIY kitchen and bathroom. The rest of the house functioned as a bohemian guest house for friends and family. There wasnt a Damascene moment when we decided to change things. But as you get older you appreciate havinga more aesthetic dimension to your life, says Day. Luxury isnt about cruises or expensive sofas; its about beauty not impressing other people.

The couple, who used to run a props-making business, handed their architects a generous brief. It was an opportunity to be experimental, says Ben Allen, whoseeponymous practice is gaining a reputation for spirited, allusive architecture.

Were moving away from huge open-plan spaces. The acoustics are awful. And eating, living and watching TV together can feel overwhelming. Covid has made us realise we all need spaces to retreat to, says Allen, who attributes his colourful, post-minimalist approach to working on projects such as the Serpentine Pavilion for Berlin-based Olafur Eliasson. Keep it simple was not his office mantra, says Allen. If you walk in a forest, the light and atmosphere is constantly changing. Our natural environment is infinitely complex; so having a bit of complexity in our interiors should be a given.

To bring intrigue to the new, two-storey extension, Allen and colleague Omar Ghazal turned to Sir John Soane. Not his grandly neoclassical Bank of England, but the Georgian architects eccentric, imaginative home in Lincolns Inn Fields. Soane extended his house with an amazing sequence of pavilions, lit in different ways. They forged a link between old and new, says Allen. Glass boxes work well in warm southern climates, but English skies can be oppressive. You need a sense of warmth and enclosure. Instead of gazing up at rain-streaked glazing, a ribbed vault sits below the skylight diffusing the light like that arboreal canopy into the double-height kitchen. Arched openings draw your gaze from the kitchen to the dining room where Allen designed the D-ended table and chairs. An Alice in Wonderland-scaled door above the sink opens, like a vintage serving hatch, on to the sitting room. These connections have made the house feel so much more sociable, says Vandyk, pointing up to the mezzanine floor, hugged by the blue balustrade. A room was sacrificed to add the new space.

Concrete, not a timber frame, was used to build the extension. We were inspired by the colour and honesty of Victorian architecture, says Allen. The brickwork is decorated, but its also load-bearing. What you see is what you get. At the back, a structural column inscribed with a scallop pattern contrasts with the flat panels of the bathroom. The rich greens, reds and salmon pinks were achieved using earth pigments. Everything stairs, kitchen counters, benches was built off-site. We spent a lot of time exploring options, but the main frame only took three days to build, says Allen who has named the project the House Recast.

The bathroom was another experiment. The shell-shaped shadows of a decorative screen flit across smooth green walls under the domed skylight. The exotic hammam-like feel is a nod to Ghazals Jordanian roots mixed with a reference to the Orientalist London home of Victorian painter Sir Frederic Leighton. Designed as a wet room, it has a specially made brass shower head and the sculpted basin looks like a classical pedestal.

Vandyk and Day recently learned that their home has been plucked from 200 other submissions to win the annual Dont Move, Improve! award. Not that they have ever doubted the uniqueness of their recalibrated interior. It has given them a fresh perspective on the home they have known since their 20s. From every angle, you always have something different to look at theres an ongoing sense of novelty, says Vandyk.

studiobenallen.com

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Concrete thinking: an astonishing terrace extension - The Guardian

In Game of Thrones terms, this summer feels like one after a long winter, or in our case, the long quarantine that COVID-19 brought to our doorstep. Summertime is here and it promises to bring our barbeque vibe on! How about turning your backyard into an outdoor movie theatre for your family and friends, or hosting a barbecue party with the best grill in the market? Weve curated a collection of product designs to help you transform these exciting ideas into a reality! These products will turn your yard into the ultimate fun space. We bet you wont want to step out of your yard, once you introduce these products to it!

The Rocco multifunctional outdoor furniture byMorrois a barbecue, a sofa, a champagne bar, and more! 2020 has been about creating intimate moments at home, and nothing says intimate like a cozy evening in your backyard! To take things up a notch, we have Rocco which is an all-rounder piece of outdoor furniture. Its clever design transforms it from a fun barbecue into a sofa or champagne bar and even a smores pit I think its safe to say Rocco is an essential this year! You can add a fire bowl to the base or choose from various other accessories like a grill, tabletop, ice bucket, and parasol base. Customize Rocco to fit what you define as a chill evening.

The Bailey Discovery D4-2 Camper Trailer is one such creation, tailored for adventure enthusiasts who cant help but satiate their wanderlust exploring the untrodden trails. The USP of this camper trailer is its inflatable awning which creates almost double the private space you need for your escapades under the star-studded nights. On the inside, D4-2 is equipped with all the amenities and a fully furnished interior. Enough to suffice the needs of a couple on their long road trip with the odd guest coming along the way for a couple of days. The big windows on all sides and the skylight fills the interiors with enough sunlight for a calming feel. The lounge area includes two couches and a fold-down table. In the kitchen, youll get an oven/grill combo appliance, a drop-down worktop extension, and a sink. On the opposite side, there is a mini-fridge with space underneath to store food and beverages.

Cineorama byErika Hockis an outdoor viewing space, so you can sit and watch a couple of your favorite movies with your family and friends, within the comforts of your own backyard! Its the perfect movie-watching solution during this pandemic when you wish to avoid the crowded movie theatres but also yearn for the conventional theatre experience. You can simply convert your backyard into one!

Developed in the design language of DHL, PDF Haus aimed to give Shelf a simple box silhouette with a freewheeling attitude, taking inspiration from the color scheme, materials and finishes often chosen by DHL for their vehicles and brand aesthetic. The grill even comes with DHL decals and tags that can be adhered to the metallic grills front case that turns into its table extension.

The BURCH BARREL gives you unprecedented control over your barbecue process. You can operate the barbecue lid without having to touch it, or rest the grill on any uneven surface without worrying about it falling over, you can even lift the grill plate off the coal-pan to add more fuel. Moreover, when youre not grilling food, the BURCH BARREL doubles up as a portable fireplace for those perfect sunset social gatherings. The barrels design is immediately striking, with a large tripod system that has the barrel suspended from the very center. This unique format keeps the barrel balanced and vertical at all times, allowing you to mount it on rocky terrain or even on slanted surfaces without any fear of the barrel tipping over. Inspired by a cameras tripod, the BURCH BARREL comes with telescopic legs that let you orient the unit to be stable, no matter how unstable your ground is, giving it a competitive advantage over regular barbecue grills that traditionally require a flat surface like pavement, to begin with.

If your dog, by chance, eats the snail or lick its trail, he can get infected with Lungworm! And with the fact that the snail population has increased by 50% since 2012, its a real tangible threat. Taking this issue into consideration, designer Karl Martin designed Bark, an outdoor feeder with a foolproof update! The feeder looks like a standing yellow box, to be honest, however, equipped with a Makrolon 2407 PC injection-molded body, its pretty sturdy. The outer yellow body protects a stainless steel bowl within, which holds your pets food. An injection-molded ABS flap functions as a protective layer between your dogs meal and those pesky snails, slugs and not to mention other insects and creatures (I mean lets not count out all the other species too).

Roxons MBT3 Multi BBQ Tool promises to meet all your outdoor barbecuing needs! Crafted from food-grade 430 stainless steel, the 6-in-1 multi-tool combines a variety of functionalities, so you dont have to carry a case full of tools with you. The compact tool functions as a fork, knife, spatula, tongs, bottle opener, and a wine corkscrew! The design basically comprises of three base elements, the fork, spatula, and knife, which are combined together via a 1.2mm liner lock. The various parts can be attached, detached and arranged according to the tool you need at the moment. For example, the fork and the spatula can be joined to create a pair of tongs! Whereas the knife comes with a foldable handle, once the handle is folded in, it functions as a bottle opener and a wine corkscrew as well!

Meet the Fufu. What it lacks in name catchiness, it makes up for with function. Designed to work as a tabletop air conditioner as well as a mini-fridge, Fufu is your ultimate weapon against a hot and sweaty summer day. With the proportions of a backpack, Fufu sits anywhere in your room, cooling your space as well as preserving your food and drinks. It uses two semiconductor cooling systems that run simultaneously, balancing energy efficiency and cooling efficiency together.

Ditching bulkiness for compactness and swapping chemicals for electric current, Sang Kun Park designed FOLD, a foldable electric mosquito net inspired by the traditional Korean fan. A lot of us are going camping or spending more time outdoors these days, and when the bugs come out hunting, we need to be prepared. Sang Kun Park designed FOLD with Designer Dot so that when nature calls out our names, no amount of mosquitoes can get in the way of enjoying it. FOLDs compact size is its primary appeal, fitting into even the most tightly packed knapsacks. Resembling the traditional Korean fans shape and folding apparatus, FOLD is a handheld, portable alternative to the heavy mosquito lamp that measures only two times the size of an average-sized smartphone when folded.

A tool used for firing clay in a kiln transforms into a minimalist bird feeder! Thisceramic bird feederdoesnt present a new solution for bird feeders but does present an approach for sustainable product manufacturing that solves a problem faced by many designers: the scrap material used during construction, like rings in clay kilns, that is discarded once the product is finished. Ceramika Design and Studio Kononenko wanted to make use of ceramic rings used when firing clay in kilns. The main element of the bird feeder is formed from ceramic the frame and body of the bird feeder. Covering just about a quarter of the round frame is a plastic plate that functions to store plenty of food for the wild birds. Extending from the middle of the plastic plate is a wooden peg that works as a perch for birds to enjoy their seeds. Its a beautiful sustainable design for your backyard!

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Bring your yard to life with these inspirational product designs: part 4 - Yanko Design

Jennifer Acuff is making a three-tiered effort to ensure food gets from the farm to the kitchen without contamination.

Acuff joined the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. She is an assistant professor of food microbiology and safety in the department of food science.

She has appointments as an assistant professor in the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agricultures research and extension arms, and a teaching appointment in Bumpers College.

My appointments in research, extension and teaching are very close in terms of percentage, Acuff said. It is meant to create a very integrated program

Food science is an ideal place for such similar appointments, said Jeyam Subbiah, food science department head. We want results from Dr. Acuffs research to be immediately applied to the food industry through her extension efforts, and also she teaches students about this very important area.

She is an excellent teacher, Subbiah said, and has been very flexible, coming on board in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and having to change everything we do in order to adapt. She pulled it off exceptionally well, to manage her classes and build a research program.

Acuff earned her bachelors degree in biology from Abilene Christian University and a masters degree in food microbiology from Kansas State University. She earned a doctorate in food safety and microbiology from Virginia Tech University in 2020.

She has research experience in food safety, working in areas related to beef, ready-to-eat foods and low-water activity foods.

Acuffs research primarily focuses on intervention technologies designed to reduce pathogen contamination in post-harvest foods. She investigates strategies to improve fresh and processed food safety and protect products from microbial contamination.

She is currently focusing on microbial contamination in low-moisture food products, including such things as spices, nuts, dry fruits and powders.

Low-moisture foods are often overlooked, Acuff said. Low-moisture environments dont promote bacterial growth. Its rare, but it does happen. She cited two cases one in peanut butter and another in dry infant formula that led to recalls and production changes.

Its a huge deal to make sure dry foods are safe, she said.

The Food and Drug Administration says all foods are susceptible to contamination, Acuff said. So, we are investigating what we can do to reduce the risks and how to prove it works.

Acuff is currently working on an industry grant-funded project to investigate Salmonella contamination in dairy powders. Im looking for routes of contamination and how long the bacterial pathogen survives. Also, what solutions are available to destroy the bacteria.

She is also searching for effective surrogate bacteria. These would be harmless bacteria that otherwise behave like Salmonella. They could be introduced into a companys production line to verify that detection and inactivation systems are working properly.

Acuff wants to take her research results directly to the food industry, she said. Also, she will be able to help companies find potential problems in their food processing systems and take successful action to make their products safe.

My extension work will focus on consultation and in-plant research to help companies identify, mitigate and document risks of contamination, she said.

Were doing applied research that can help the food industries, Acuff said, and also to engage our local communities on food safety issues.

Acuffs classroom will help prepare students for food safety jobs in the food industry and prepare the next generation of food safety scientists. She is already teaching food microbiology lectures and related labs.

There are many students from other academic programs besides food science, Acuff said. They come from pre-health programs and other disciplines for which food safety education is important.

Acuff is also developing an online masters degree program in food safety.

The aim is to help people be better educated about food safety, at home as well as in the industry, she said.

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Tackling food safety in the lab, field and classroom - Batesville Daily Guard

Estimated reading time 16 minutes, 39 seconds.

It might have started as a relatively straightforward helicopter life extension project, but the plan to see the CH-146 Griffon continue flying into the 2030s has become far more complex than many first imagined. And what comes next to replace the venerable multi-role airframe may be even more so.

On Feb. 15, 2021, Griffon number 467, the first of three CH-146 aircraft, landed at Bell Helicopter Textron Canadas facility in Mirabel, Quebec, to begin a prototype process that will include the design, development, and installation of new cockpit displays and engines, integrate sensor systems, communications and cryptographic equipment, cockpit voice and flight recorders, navigation systems, automatic flight control systems, and control display units.

Known as the Griffon Limited Life Extension (GLLE), the program will eventually return to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) the CH-146 Charlie Griffon Mark II, what LCol Andrew Hewitt calls a unique airframe.

The flight path, however, could require a deft touch to navigate. Hewitt, who heads a small team under Director Air Requirements (DAR) Tactical Aviation, must satisfy the requirements of a diverse set of missions. The CH-146, a militarized variant of the Bell 412, provides not only tactical transport for the Army, in particular its light infantry battalions, it is also a critical platform for Special Forces (SOF) flown by 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron in Petawawa, Ontario; a domestic search-and-rescue asset operated by 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario; and a frequently deployed utility platform for domestic response operated by combat support squadrons at 3 Wing Bagotville, Quebec, 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta, and 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland. Since the airframe first entered service in 1995, the RCAF has integrated almost 45 mission kits to meet different user needs.

As we got into the definition phase and we were looking at the complexity of what we are trying to do, I think the mindset shifted, acknowledged Hewitt, a CH-146 pilot and instructor with 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Edmonton, Alberta.

Even though it is a straightforward project in terms of its goals sustaining the current capability until the mid 2030s what we are trying to achieve is a generational upgrade to the aircraft. Consequently, the developmental process, as we have come to learn, is going to be unique and there will be a lot to do.

Rather than earmark each of the prototypes for different systems such as avionics, mission kits, or engines, Bell and the RCAF have adopted an iterative approach that will allow each prototype to build on the lessons from the previous one. If the idiomatic expression third times a charm holds true, the result will be an airframe ready for flight testing by late summer or early fall 2022.

The first aircraft will provide a platform for the basic avionics design and fitting for bespoke flight management and mission management systems, as well as a check on mission kit compatibility and, where necessary, interoperability. The second will incorporate the lessons learned and provide the basis for installation instructions of all systems for subcontractors. With the third prototype, Bell and the RCAF will have a final opportunity to make sure weve got everything right, he said.

While the RCAF has employed a block approach to upgrade avionics and mission systems on the CP-140 Aurora and complete a structural life extension, the process was conducted over two decades, and the maritime patrol aircraft returned to service after each block. This is notably different.

From what I have seen, [the prototype approach] is unique, said Hewitt.

The government, which awarded Bell a design work contract in January 2019 valued at $90 million, is still finalizing the GLLE agreement with the manufacturer, so the timelines are not fixed. But the objective between now and end of next summer . . . is to go through those three iterations of development so that we can have the aircraft ready for modification in 2023, he said. Initial operating capability would begin by the end of 2024.

Until a new deal is reached, the design work is being completed under an in-service support contract that has been in place since 2011. The Griffon was first acquired from Bell in 1992, and 85 of the original 100 that remain in service will undergo the full modification.

RESTORATION JOB

I tell people it is like pimp my car, joked Donald Falardeau, referring to the MTV series,Pimp My Ride, in which the host, rapper Xzibit, oversaw the restoration and hot-rodding of old cars. You take everything out of it, including all the wire harnesses and boxes, and you start from scratch. Some of the boxes will be re-used but there are a lot of new boxes coming in.

A former aerospace engineering officer on the CF-188 fighter program, Falardeau is Bells program manager for GLLE, overseeing all aspects of the upgrade. As much as possible, we are trying to use off-the-shelf products that come from the 412 line, including the latest evolution, the Bell 412EPX, he told a virtual forum hosted by the Vertical Flight Society on May 11.

The overhaul of each CH-146 includes rewiring and installing some 40 wiring harnesses and power cables; a new console and a mix of avionics from the commercial 412; a mission management system integrated with the WESCAM MX-15 EO/IR imaging system, which was introduced on the Griffon about seven years ago; and new radios and cryptographic equipment in the nose of the aircraft. Several of the Griffons many antennas will be removed, replaced, or repositioned.

In addition to addressing ongoing obsolescence issues with certain components, the avionics improvements will also meet civil air traffic management regulations that now require ADS-B Out.

For pilots who have expressed frustration with the rotorcrafts power, the most significant change might be the introduction of an electronically controlled Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-9 Twin-Pac engine.

Once you got to the limits of the performance envelope, you had a little bit a twitchiness in the gauge, and it would just take a little muscle impulse at the wrong time to enter an overtorque condition, said Hewitt of CH-146 performance. With digital engine control, we are much more confident pilots will have a greater degree of fidelity in handling the aircraft at those performance limits.

Falardeau attributed the manner and speed at which GLLE has progressed to a tight working relationship with the Air Force and government departments. Frequent and productive program review meetings, as well as design working groups with significant input from the user communities, have steered the project to this point, while a robust risk management system and good processes for change requests have helped eliminate surprises and manage what he called legitimate scope creep as raw estimates have become firm costs and requirements have been solidified.

In line with that approach, Bell, the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, and the RCAF Operational Test and Evaluation unit intend to form one test team, he added. There will be one document that will guide everything for the execution of tests, for qualification and certification.

Refining the requirements has involved a constant back and forth between the Air Force and the Army and SOF to ensure the modifications meet specific missions, said Hewitt. The project team has pulled lessons from recent operations such as the forward aeromedical evacuation support role in Mali in 2018-19.

The Bell 412 has been a stellar platform, but it is power-limited to do such a diverse set of roles. As a multi-purpose utility helicopter, it can never do one thing perfectly, but it can do a lot of things really well, Hewitt observed.

More precise Army and SOF requirements will have to wait for the eventual Griffon replacement, he added.

TACTICAL AVIATION SYSTEM?

Planning for what comes next is now underway. In the summer of 2020, Hewitt officially stood up a unit of one himself to begin the process with others in DAR of identifying the future capabilities needed by user communities. Still in the pre-definition phase, the project is being called the next Tactical Aviation Capability Set (nTACS), a nod to the fact that the eventual solution might not be a platform-for-platform replacement.

The DAR team has engaged with both the U.S. Army Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program and NATOs Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capabilities project, a five-country collaboration announced in November 2020 to modernize multi-role rotorcraft fleets that are anticipated to retire between 2035-2040.

In recent presentations, U.S. Army senior officers have suggested the FVL ecosystem they are constructing will fundamentally change tactical aviation. The traditional limitations of speed, range, endurance, and payload could all be smashed over the next 15 years, Hewitt noted. And increased options for remotely piloted systems something the U.S. Army is trialing under Project Convergence, with a scalable control interface that will allow soldiers to control a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter could significantly change the calculus of what is possible after GLLE, especially as operations increase in the Arctic.

What we are coming to realize is we are not necessarily looking at a replacement aircraft for this capability, we are looking at a replacement set, he said. We want to leave the door open for different types of airframes.

The project was originally called the tactical reconnaissance and utility helicopter concept, but conversations with the Canadian Army and SOF about their future needs suggest a fair amount of diversity in what they will be seeking, he noted.

The Griffons were selected to fill the roles of three helicopters Bell CH-118 Huey, CH-136 Kiowa, and Bell CH-135 Twin Huey so combining diverse missions in a single airframe would not be novel.

But are we confident right now that we are going to be able to pick an airframe to come on service in 15 to 20 years like we did with the Griffon in 1995? Maybe, but maybe not. That is why it is called a set.

Hewitt cautioned against equating Canadian with American requirements as the FVL program advances demonstrators under its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) projects. Both the Bell V-280 Valor and the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant offer advanced capabilities of interest to nTACS, but not necessarily the exact solution.

When I look at them, I see developments that check what the U.S. Army is looking for. I dont necessarily see things that check what we are looking for. We have a smaller force with a more diverse set of things to do, so we have to think of more multi-capable platforms, whereas I think the U.S. Army has the luxury of looking for more bespoke and tailored capabilities. I also understand from the European point of view how they are looking at it, he said. Its too early to tell if it is between the two of them or if there is a third way. I think there is going to be quite a few options we will be able to leverage to provide the best capability we can.

As much as speed, range, endurance, and payload remain central to any future platform, Hewitt is focused on data management and integration with a joint force in an all-domain digital battlespace. The Army operating concept of dispersed operations will require a capability not unlike you would see with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or some of the other advanced platforms coming out today.

Data links, sensor and information management, and interoperability will be among the mandatory requirements.

It is still early days for the project. Preliminary discussions have been held with the Air Force, Army, and SOF to make sure we are in agreement with what we are proposing. And Hewitt will soon seek Defence Capability Board approval to begin identifying and developing the options for a capability to enter service in the mid 2030s.

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The life extension of the CH-146 Griffon and a plan for what comes next - Skies Magazine

Since becoming the first medical center in the Inland Empire to offer liver transplants to patients in 1993, Loma Linda University Health has gone on to complete hundreds of procedures recently cumulating to 1,000 liver transplants as of March.

Surpassing 1,000 liver transplants is a huge milestone for the Transplant Institute, carrying out the mission of Loma Linda University to make man whole, says Michael E. de Vera, MD, FACS, director of the Loma Linda University Transplant Institute. The achievement is more than just a number it represents the lives of patients touched by the generosity of organ donors and is also a reminder of the countless others on the waitlist who struggle with liver disease and are waiting patiently and desperately for precious, life-saving organs.

Each year the Transplant Institute coordinates over 100 liver transplants, which are performed by transplant surgeons at the LLU Medical Center and enabled by liver donations from deceased individuals who had selflessly agreed to donate.

We are proud to be the transplant center for all patients in the Inland Empire and southern Nevada, for whom its easier to get to us than anywhere else.Dr. Michael Volk

One of the many liver transplant recipients to benefit from the life-saving procedure offered at LLU is the 1,001st patient, who expresses his thankfulness and hopes that sharing his story will inspire some in similar situations to maintain hope, and others to enroll as donors.

I could be here all day talking about the goodness of what I went through, says 56-year-old Albert Richards Jr., now enjoying his life extension to the fullest and spending time with loved ones who supported him throughout his health journey.

The Las Vegas resident began taking several medications after having suffered from a sudden stroke in December 2016, two of which he discovered years later were not liver-friendly. Richards began feeling unwell an unusual circumstance for the 25-year vegetarian, non-smoker, non-drinker, and erstwhile fit business owner of a security company.

Blood test results indicated Richards liver enzymes were eight times higher than the norm. The series of medical appointments that followed confirmed that Richards had a type of end-stage liver disease called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) cirrhosis, and nothing was the same thereafter.

That was the day that my life changed, he says. All of a sudden, the contracts, the invoices, the other duties I had for my business and lifenone of that mattered. It was all about health.

NASH cirrhosis of the liver is the fastest growing indication for liver transplant in the U.S., says Minh-Tri Nguyen, MD, PhD, FACS, FRCSC, the transplant surgeon who performed Richards procedure. NASH cirrhosis typically occurs in patients with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, but may also occur without any of these risk factors such as with Richards. In a subset of patients with fat accumulation in the liver, the liver gets inflamed and subsequently damaged, leading to end stage liver failure in 20% of cases and the need for a new liver via transplant.

Every opportunity I get to share what Ive gone through with others, I want to be able to do that.Albert Richards

Richards joined the liver transplant waitlist in April 2020 and completed video visits with LLU physicians from both the LLU Las Vegas Hepatology & Liver Transplant Clinic and LLU Transplant Institute to evaluate his health pre-transplant.

Liver transplant can be a harrowing journey for patients and their families, so we do everything possible to ease their way, says Michael Volk, MD, medical director of the liver transplant program at the Transplant Institute. We are proud to be the transplant center for all patients in the Inland Empire and southern Nevada, for whom its easier to get to us than anywhere else.

Patients on the wait list for a new liver are prioritized by their Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, Nguyen says. A MELD score above 30 predicts a 90-day mortality greater than 50%. MELD scores range from 6 to 40, and are based on a calculation of four factors:

Richardss MELD score fluctuated around the mid-20s to low 30s, and he experienced complications such as ascites fluid buildup inside his abdomen that causes bloating and hepatic encephalopathy that occurs when the liver is unable to effectively clear out toxins from the bloodstream, thus affecting the brain and leading to fatigue, confusion, and even coma in severe cases.

The long-awaited call to announce a liver was available for Richards came mid-March 2021. Upon his arrival at LLU, however, physicians determined that particular liver was too large for his abdomen. He waited a week for another liver to become available, during which his MELD score spiked to 36. Despite the ups and downs, Richards says his family and LLU care team worked tirelessly to ensure well-being as he awaited transplant.

Words are not adequate to describe how God blessed me and how the doctors and nurses were so supportive, Richards says. They really got me through it. They gave me all the information that was needed, visited me throughout the day, and kept me in the loop with everything from medications to different tests.

Soon enough, another liver became available for Richards. On Friday March 19, 2021, he awoke post-procedure and instantly felt the improvement in his physical and mental health. He says he looks forward to spending precious time with his mother, three siblings, daughter, and two grandsons. He plans to write a memoir of his life and recent experience for his grandsons, typing on his laptop that has a sticky note stuck to it: No bad days, he says, because every day being alive is a good one.

We are looking forward to treating the next 1,000 patients, starting with Mr. Richards.Dr. Minh-Tri Nguyen

I thank God for the wonderful donor and their loved ones who have granted me another opportunity to do something even greater in life and continue striving to be an outstanding person, Richards said. Every opportunity I get to share what Ive gone through with others, I want to be able to do that.

Not long ago, Richards was one of the over 11,000 people in the country waiting for a liver as a lifeline. Nguyen said the milestone of 1,000 liver transplants at LLU is one worth commemorating, yet the work is never done as the only liver transplant program in the Inland Empire and second-largest deceased donor liver transplant center in Southern California there are always more lives to save.

Over the decades, our transplant program has grown significantly and allowed us to serve many patients from the Inland Empire and beyond, Nguyen says. We are looking forward to treating the next 1,000 patients, starting with Mr. Richards.

Loma Linda University Health Transplant Institute treats a wide range of liver diseases with liver transplants, managing illness with personalized support, and therapies. Our specialists are here to help you find out the accurate health of your liver, helping with testing and guiding you through all of your questions. To learn more, visit the Transplant Institutes website, or call 1-800-548-3790.

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1000 liver transplants have improved LLU patients' and families' lives - Loma Linda University Health

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or onbangordailynews.com.

Luke Muggy is an operations researcher, Catherine Cohen is a nurse and a health services policy researcher, and Kristie Gore is a senior behavioral scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Rand Corp.

When President Joe Biden recently presented Congress, and Americans, with his vision for an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the acronym may have sounded familiar. It should have.

The new health agency would be modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA, a Department of Defense research and development agency. DARPA is responsible for such life-altering technological advancements as the computer mouse and packet-switching the foundation for todays internet (and conceived in partnership with the Rand Corp., where we work).

The purpose of ARPA-H would be to pursue groundbreaking research to develop cures for diseases such as Alzheimers, cancer and diabetes. The potential benefits are enormouslife extension, economic prosperity, national security but so are the potential challenges to its success.

The federal governments role in scientific advancement is not new or unusual. The National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health have been funding research for decades. But the emphasis on transformative innovations is new.

Biden is now asking for $6.5 billion to launch his health agency, a relatively modest figure when compared with NIHs annual budget of about $41.7 billion.

If successfully funded, ARPA-H and ARPA-E, a new $300-million-per-year research agency focusing on energy, will be the first federal advanced research agencies created since 1958.

It is unclear how long it will take to establish ARPA-H, how it will be structured and to which government authority it will answer. DARPA was formed within a year of the Soviet Union launching Sputnik in 1957, and it was placed within the Defense Department. The parallel move would be to situate ARPA-H within the Department of Health and Human Services. While it might be tempting to place ARPA-H within the NIH, there is some concern that it would be hard to distinguish the purpose of ARPA-H from other high-risk, high-reward initiatives that encourage innovation.

With so many potential research avenues to pursue, ARPA-H could benefit from a clear strategic vision and method for identifying projects that hold the most promise for achieving that vision. Its portfolio of research activities could be developed through a process similar to that used by DARPA, which depends on approximately 100 program managers to develop proposals and to select highly innovative projects for funding.

That would be far more expeditious than the process at NIH, which relies on the broader scientific community to rigorously peer-review proposals over the course of several months. Moreover, NIH proposals require substantial background research, clearly specified hypotheses and preliminary data all things that could stifle innovation at ARPA-H.

Some of the policies that encourage innovation at DARPA may be difficult for ARPA-H to emulate. For instance, DARPA limits tenure for researchers to a maximum of four to five years, to impress a sense of urgency upon them. ARPA-H may need to follow a timeline akin to whats typical in biomedical research, where taking a decade to reach a major breakthrough is common. Any tenure limitations should take this into account.

DARPA also maintains an extremely high tolerance for failure. The modest budgets of the NIH, combined with an enormous pool of applicants, force these institutions to bet on low-risk research that guarantees incremental progress. ARPA-H could take a different approach than NIH by accepting a much higher tolerance for failure, so that researchers are not discouraged from dreaming big.

The scientific methods behind the products of ARPA-H might gain public trust if the agency made a point of being transparent and accessible. Consider how the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine was met with incredulity and suspicion, slowing progress toward herd immunity. An investment in ARPA-H could accelerate the time it takes to get innovative ideas from bench to bedside, but it could benefit from informing the public about incremental advancements in a way that is easy to understand.

The presidents vision for ARPA-H could help get more medical treatments to market sooner. Building on lessons from DARPA and NIH, the proposed health agency has the potential to pursue the kind of high-risk research that can lead to high-reward results.

More articles from the BDN

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Joe Biden's proposed health agency would emphasize innovation - Bangor Daily News

If writing for CelebrityNetWorth has taught me anything, it's that there are endless ways to make a billion dollars. You could become a billionaire through a more traditional route like the worlds of finance, tech startups and real estate. You could earn billions as a circus clown. You could earn billions through cryptocurrency. There's probably even at least one person in the world who made a billion dollars from dogecoin.

Crazier still, you could earn your billionaire status thanks to a fateful hallucinogenic trip on magic mushrooms

Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Christian Angermayer isn't a familiar name on Wall Street. He is a 42-year-old German investor who spent most of his life totally abstaining from all drugs and alcohol. His lifelong abstinence streak ended in 2015 after a very fateful dinner party.

In 2015, Christian was a guest at a dinner party seated next to a neuroscientist. The two struck up a conversation about the relative harms and benefits produced by various drugs.

The neuroscientist followed up with a research paper that ranked 20 drugs in order of harmfulness to users.

FYI, alcohol ranked #1 as in it causes the MOST harm to individuals and society at large.

Angermayer was stunned to see that psilocybin aka magic mushrooms ranked at the bottom of the list as in the least harmful. The report claimed that magic mushrooms were a highly effective treatment for severe depression.

The report inspired Christian to break his lifelong abstinence and experiment with mushrooms while on a vacation in the Caribbean, where the substance is legal.

Christian has since described that first experience with magic mushrooms as "life-changing." In fact, he has said it was the most meaningful thing he'd ever done in his whole life.

The trip inspired a moment of profound insight. When he came out of the fog, he claimed to finally understand Bitcoin.

The experience and epiphany inspired him to radically reorganize his investment portfolio. He soon went on to make major investments in psychedelics, weed, space travel, cryptocurrency, life extension and the film industry. It's an odd portfolio for the odd times we live in.

In 2016, Angermayer tried mushrooms again and had another profound, life-changing experience. He got the idea to commercialize psychedelics. To find companies he called up billionaire former Goldman Sachs executive Mike Novogratz. Novogratz told him he knew of a couple, George Goldsmith and Ekaterina Malievskaia, who were trying to start a mushroom business and needed backers.

That startup is Compass Pathways Plc., a pharmaceutical company developing a magic mushroom-based treatment for depression. Angermeyer and Novogratz both made angel investments into Compass.

Today Angermayer's stake in Compass Pathways is worth $2 billion.

Angermayer's strategy is simple. He invests in the things he's passionate about.

To date he has invested in AbCellera Biologics, which had a part in developing an antibody-drug for Covid-19. He founded Atai Life Sciences, a psychedelics-biotech startup that has backing from Peter Thiel.

Angermayer has made a fortune on his investments over the past 14 months. His Apeiron Investment Group has been the main investor in seven companies that have made their IPO in the last year. Those IPOs raised more than $1 billion combined. Ten more companies he's invested in plan to go public in 2021.

As of this writing, Christian's investment fund Apeiron manages more than $2.5 billion in assets. Roughly 50% of the fund's assets are Angermayer's personal funds.

In other words, Christian's net worth is around $1.25 billion. A billion dollar fortune inspired by a magic mushroom hallucination. What a trip!

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How Taking Magic Mushrooms Led To A Billion Dollar Fortune - Celebrity Net Worth

Nigeria signed an accord with some of the worlds largest oil companies that could unlock billions of dollars of investment in an offshore oil field.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. concluded agreements on Tuesday with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., Total SA and Eni SpA to create a new production sharing contract for Oil Mining Lease 118, the company said on Twitter. The permit includes Bonga, a deep-water oil field that pumped about 90,000 barrels a day in February.

The partners have so far deferred taking a final investment decision on the Bonga South West project, which could add 150,000 barrels per day to Nigerias output and bring OML 118s total daily capacity to around 350,000 barrels. One of Shells Nigerian subsidiaries operates the block.

Bonga South West could become Nigeria's biggest deepwater field, with others in decline

Source: Tanker tracking data monitored by Bloomberg

The agreement is a watershed for deep-water oil exploration in Nigeria and settles long-running disputes between the Nigerian state and the international oil companies, NNPC said. It could clear the way for more than $10 billion of investment, according to the company.

Through these agreements, stakeholders will have clear and stable set of terms incentivizing further development of the OML 118 block and opening further opportunities in the prolific Nigerian deep water oil and gas industry, a Shell spokesman said by email.

In a separate investor presentation on Tuesday, Shell said it has three projects related to Bonga that are in development but havent yet been given the green light -- Bonga South West, North Tranche 1 and Main Life Extension and Upgrade.

With assistance by Laura Hurst, and Julian Lee

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Nigeria in Accord With Oil Majors That May Unlock New Investment - Bloomberg

A nation with a past deeply rooted in the religious worldview, Russians happened to get to space first in 1961 and Yuri Gagarin, famously, didnt see God. But, religion and astronautics have always been close.

The idea of space travel was first created by a Russian Orthodox philosopher that was born with the last name Gagarin.

Portrait of Nikolay Fyodorov by Leonid Pasternak

A school teacher and librarian, Nikolay Fyodorov (1829-1903) opposed the idea of property of books and ideas and never published anything during his lifetime. He refused to be photographed and to sit for portraits and two of his depictions had to be made secretly. Most of his teachings he conveyed orally to his disciples and friends. The founder of the Russian cosmism philosophy, Nikolay was a bastard son of Prince Pavel Gagarin (1789-1872). It is considered a coincidence that the first man in space also bore this surname. During his life, Nikolay was known under the surname of his godfather, Fyodorov.

READ MORE: Was Gagarin REALLY the first man in space?

For the latter part of his life, Fyodorov worked in Moscow as a librarian in the Rumyantsev Museum library, which is now the Russian State Library. There, he befriended a lot of intellectuals of his time, including Leo Tolstoy and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the pioneer of Russian astronautics and rocket science.

Tsiolkovsky's description and drawing of a spaceship greenhouse

Fyodorov was a strict observant of Russian Orthodox Christianity, but, at the same time, a natural philosopher. His main idea was radical life extension by means of science. He believed that spiritual and scientific development of humanity would lead to the fulfilment of the ultimate Christian idea: the banishment of death and revival of the dead, using the idea of cloning. Fyodorov also believed that space exploration was necessary, because the resources of the Earth are depletable. Later, his followers, who called themselves biocosmists, propagated the idea of immediate development of space communications. The teachings of Fyodorov were taken into account also by Sergey Korolev, the creator of the first Russian space flight.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. From the "Space exploration" series. Palekh Russian traditional miniature painting.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky has the full right to be named the Russian Da Vinci, because, apart from his scientific studies, he was deeply involved in mysticism. Tsiolkovsky stated that he developed the theory of rocketry only as a supplement to philosophical research on the subject.

From the age of 35, he lived and worked in Kaluga, the town that became the center of the Russian theosophical movement. Deaf from an early age due to scarlet fever he suffered as a child, he was very introspective and, for most of his life, continued self-studying. He was at the same time an affectionate and lively soul and claimed to have experienced revealing visions twice in his life.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky with models of his zeppelin

READ MORE: 5 of the most important discoveries by the 'Russian Leonardo da Vinci'

His own philosophy consisted of theism, pantheism and esoterics. He believed in the existence of God, but didnt associate him with Christ. Developing a theory of space exploration, parallel with Fyodorovs ideas, Tsiolkovsky famously said: The earth is the cradle of humanity, but you cant live in a cradle forever!

Sergey Korolev sends Yuri Gagrin to space. From the "Space exploration" series. Palekh Russian traditional miniature painting.

Sergey Korolev (1907-1966), the leading rocket engineer and creator of Yuri Gagarins space flight, studied the works of both Nikolay Fyodorov and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Their findings and ideas inspired Korolevs idea to create a rocket-powered aircraft. It is still debated whether Korolev was religious himself, but he was certainly superstitious. It is known that Korolev didnt put any launches on Mondays and didnt tolerate women on the launch pad but Russian cosmonauts have had a lot of other superstitions, as well.

The 12th century Ladder of Divine Ascent icon (Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt) showing monks, led by John Climacus, ascending the ladder to Jesus, at the top right.

What is really remarkable about the first space flight Korolev managed is the amount of coincidences in its numerology. First of all, April 12, the day that Gagarin went into space, in the Russian Orthodox church calendar falls on the feast of St. John Climacus (John of the Ladder), the author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent, a monastic text that describes how to raise ones body and soul to God through monastic obedience. The main metaphor used by St. John is Jacobs Ladder to Heaven (Genesis, chapter 28). This observation is debated to the present day, with certain Orthodox clerics defending it.

Another coincidence is the total flight time. No doubt it was thoroughly calculated for example, the next space flight, August 6-7 1961, performed by German Titov on Vostok-2, lasted for exactly 1 day, 1 hour, 11 minutes. Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, famously orbited the Earth in 108 minutes, the number 108 being considered sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. In these Eastern religions, 108 is a lucky number associated with divine harmony, completion and success.

Consecration of the 'Soyuz-FG' launch vehicle with the Soyuz TMA-20M transport manned spacecraft at the launch complex of the Baikonur cosmodrome.

It is widely known that in 1964, three years after the flight, Yuri Gagarin went to Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius only for sightseeing. But in the Soviet atheist times, even this led to certain problems and inquiries by Party officials. Later, in post-Soviet times, religious beliefs became a private matter again. And, it turns out, many contemporary Russian cosmonauts are religious.

However, the same can be said about American astronauts. For example, in 1963, Gordon Cooper spoke and recorded a Thanksgiving prayer during his flight. On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 read from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the Moon and there are other examples.

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