Category Archives: Life Extension

Key Point:When every point is weighed, the Su-35 comes out on top.

I have been asked to compare the venerable American F-15 Eagle fighter to Russias new competitor for the crown of best Fourth Generation fighter, theSu-35SFlanker E.

The former is the airplane that in many waysdefinedwhat a Fourth Generation fighter can do. Introduced in the1970s, it has been extensively updated to keep with the timesand hundreds will remain in service for decades to come.

The latter is an upgraded Su-27 Flankerthe Soviet-era counterpart to the F-15now sporting modernized avionics and munitions, fancy vector-thrust engines and a fresh coat of radar-absorbent paint.

Ivewritten in detailabout theSu-35Sbefore, and theNational InterestsDaveMajumdarhas written anexcellent analysisof how the two aircraft would fare in aerial clash. He concluded that regardless of their differences, the two aircraft were more or less closely matched. As a result, supporting assets and pilot skill are more likely to determine the outcomes of an engagement between the two rather than any technological gap.

Here, Id like to break down the strengths and weaknesses of the two aircraft, and how those will inform their ability to perform various mission.

Sensors and Stealth

TheSu-35Shas a powerfulIrbis-Epassive electronically scanned array radar with a range of up to 400 kilometers; it is also effective against ground targets. However, the F-15sAPG-63V3Active Electronically Scanned Array radar is superiorharder to jam, higher resolution and harder to track.

The Su-35 boasts an infrared search and track system (IRST), which allows it to determine the general position of aircraft within a fifty kilometer radiuspotentially quite useful for detecting stealth aircraft at shorter ranges. The F-15 doesnt have an IRST.

However, a new add-on pod that is entering service, Talon HATE, will not only add an IRST to the F-15 but provide data fusion with other air and surface sensors, even allowing it tonetwork with F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, which use a nonstandarddatalink. Using this system, Raptors could fly ahead and identify hostile targets and send the targeting data to missile-firingF-15sa safer distance to the rear.

The F-15 wasnt designed to be stealthyand itisnt, with an average radar cross section of five meters squared. The Su-35 has been designed for stealth, and reportedly can achieve a radar cross section ranging between one to three meters squared. So the Su-35willshow up on radars less quicklybut a radar cross-section of one meter squared can still be detected at fairly long ranges by good modern radars, and will not protect it from being targeted by long-range missiles.

Beyond Visual Range Combat:

The latest air to air missiles can be launched at targets well over 100 kilometers away. While the United States Air Force is convinced that beyond visual range (BVR) combat will dominate air warfare in the twenty-first century, with missiles fired over vast distances, the Russian aviation establishment is more skeptical. It holds that electronic counter measures and evasive maneuvers will lower the hit probability against maneuverable fighter aircraft considerably below the projected fifty to seventy percent hit rate. Russian aircraft are still designed to engage inBVRwarfare, but with the belief that short-range combat is likely to ensue afterBVRvolleys are exchanged.

In terms of weapons load, the Su-35 has twelve or morehardpointsfor carrying missiles compared to just eight on theF-15C. This is a clear advantage for the Su-35, which will likely fire multiple missiles at a time to increase hit probability; however, this edge may prove temporary. Boeing is offering to upgradeF-15swith quad-rail racks that will double the F-15sloadoutto sixteen. This would enable rear-deployedF-15sto serve as missile boats firing at targets painted by a vanguard of F-22 stealth fighters. For the time being, however, the F-15 isout-missiled.

Both the F-15 and Su-35 carry long-range, radar-guided air-to-air missiles: the AIM-120D (160 kilometer range) and the K-77M (200 kilometers range). These missiles are basically in the same classthough the comparative effectiveness of their seekers has yet to be establishedand would likely be firedundertheir maximum range when used against fighter-type aircraft to increase the likelihood of a kill.

The Su-35 can also fire the super-long range (300-400 kilometer)R-37Mmissile, designed to take out ungainly tanker andAWACSsupport aircraft.

Another advantage of the Su-35 is its L175M Khibiny radar jamming system. While American AESA radars are believed to be resistant to jamming, the same is not believed to be true of the radars in AIM-120 missiles; the air-to-air missiles may have a high failure rate against aircraft protected by the Khibiny. In contrast, the Eagles Tactical Electronic Warfare Set countermeasure system dates back to the 1970sanew systemis being proposed as part of the Eagle 2040 upgrade package.

Within Visual Range Combat:

The Eagle is no slouch when it comes to maneuverabilityin fact, it is one of the first designs to prove a heavy fighter could still pull off tight, energy-efficient turns and accelerate while climbing, thanks to low wing loading and high thrust-to-weight ratio.

However, the Su-35 is simply in a class of its own. It uses vector-thrust turbofanswhich means its engine nozzles can move independently to allow it to perform tight turns and yaws and maintain high angles of attack (in which the planes nose is pointed in a different direction than the plane is moving) that ordinary aircraft cant match. The Su-35 will reliably dance around an F-15 in a low-speed dogfight.

In terms of weapons, the F-15 and Su-35 are more evenly matched with their heat-seeking AIM-9X and R-73 missiles: both missile types can be fired off-boresight at targets outside the frontal cone of the aircraft via helmet-mounted sights. Such missiles are believed to have kill probabilities of seventy to eighty percent.

The deadly effectiveness of these short-range air-to-air missilesand the fact that aircraft no longer need to be pointed at their adversaries to launch missiles at themmay actually diminish the benefits of superior maneuverability in future close-range encounters.

Ground Attack:

The Su-35S can carry over 17,000 pounds of munitions on its hardpoints, with up to 14 usable for air-to-ground attacks.

The F-15C can carrynone. Because it is purely an air superiority fighter. (To be fair, refitting for ground combat would not be an insurmountable taskIsrael already refitted its Eagles in the 70s in this manner and used them destroy the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osiriak.)

The F-15E Strike Eagle can carry 23,000 pounds of ordnance. The Strike Eagle can fly just as fast as the F-15C and carry the same air-to-air weapons, but it is somewhat less maneuverable and agile in Within Visual Range combat due to its heavier weight.

In other practical respects, the Russian military makes less use of precision-guided munitions than the United States, and uses a smaller range of types. However, the Su-35 is well equipped to employ them using the ground-attack mode of its Irbis-E radar.

Maintainability:

In general, the United States has tended to make expensive aircraft with long service lives. The Soviet Union and later Russia has tended to makeaffordableaircraft with short service lives and higher maintenance requirements. Some Russian fighters, such as the earlier Su-30 Flanker, have also suffered from significant reliability issues.

The Su-35 appears to narrow the gap in this regard somewhatit is supposed to last six thousand flight hours. The F-15C and E are rated to last eight thousandand sixteen thousandhours, and the former is likely to undergo a life-extension program. On the other hand, the Su-35s rolling off of factory production lines will be at the beginning of their service lives, while most F-15 airframes date back to the 1970s and 1980s.

The Next Generation F-15?:

Boeing has marketed an advanced, stealthy version of the F-15, the Silent Eagle, for yearsand it mayfinallyhave a found a customerin Israel. Recently, Boeing also began promoting an upgrade package for the F-15C, the Eagle 2040C, designed to keep the air-superiority version viable up to 2040.

Would Silent Eagles and Eagle 2040s redress the downsides of contemporary F-15s?

First of all, the Su-35s advantage in maneuverability would remain unchallenged. The Silent Eagle may boast a radar cross sectionas low asone-tenth of one meter squared from the front, ten times smaller than the Su-35. However, the rear and sides would remain unstealthy, though they would still have a decent stealth advantage on a head-on pass.

The Eagle 2040C package would also include IRST and F-22 datalink capacity via the Talon HATE pod, a new electronic countermeasure system, and a potential doubling of missile capacity.

Parting Thoughts:

Ultimately, future air-combat capabilities may be increasingly defined by the effectiveness of missiles and electronic counter measures rather than the aircraft carrying them, particularly in regards to non-stealth airframes.

Nonetheless, the Su-35 takes the crown of best dogfighter, and also remains a very capable and versatile missile platform against both air and ground targets, though it is held back by its lack of state-of-the-art AESA radar.

Current models of the F-15, however, remain capable air superiority fighters with advanced radar, while the F-15E can still carry greater weapons loads for ground attack. Upgraded F-15s would boast extraordinary air-to-air loads, and unparalleled data fusion with supporting ships, satellites and aircraft. The Silent Eagle might also bring an intriguing, though limited, frontal stealth capability to the table. Less than a hundred Su-35Ss are planned to serve in Russia, China, Malaysia and Algeria, though additional orders may ensue. A force of over 200 F-15Es and a smaller number of F-15Cs and Ds is expect for decades into the future of the United States, and well over 400 F-15s of various types currently serve in the Air Forces of Saudi Arabia, Israel, South Korea, Singapore and Japan.

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Death Match: What if America's F-15 Battled Russia's Su-35? - The National Interest Online

The IRFU and Connacht Rugby have confirmed that Bundee Aki has signed a three-year contract extension that will keep him at the Sportsground up to the end of the 2022/23 season.

It's the first full IRFU central contract for a Connacht player.

Aki joined Connacht in 2014 and has played for the province 92 times, scoring 18 tries.

He was selected as the Pro12 Player of the season in 2016 when the side won the championship.

In 2017, he made his international debut for Ireland and has gone on to win 23 caps and score four tries.

The following year he played all five games in Irelands Grand Slam Six Nations success and also started in the win at home to the All Blacks.

During Ireland's disappointing World Cup in Japan Aki played against Scotland, Russia and Samoa in the Pool stages of the competition.

Commenting on the signing, Connacht Head Coach Andy Friend said:

Bundee has been an incredible player for Connacht since his arrival in the Sportsground.

"He has completely embraced every aspect of life in the West of Ireland and has driven standards among the playing group.

"He shares the ambition that we have for the seasons ahead and what he can achieve as a Connacht player.

"His commitment for a further three seasons is a sign of the energy and passion he has for the province.

Bundee Aki also expressed his delight with the signing:

Iam grateful for the opportunity I have been given to represent both Connacht and Ireland and am delighted to extend my IRFU contract.

"The whole of Connacht have been incredibly supportive of both me and my family and the Ireland supporters have been fantastic from the very first day I was selected for the national squad.

"Connacht has become home to me and my family and I want to play my part in helping Connacht achieve their ambitious plans in the years to come.

Meanwhile, Willie Ruane, Connacht Rugby CEO, commented:

Connacht Rugby is delighted that Bundee has extended his contract to 2023.

"This is the third time that Bundee has committed to Connacht Rugby which reflects not only his belief in what we are doing but also our commitment in supporting him to achieve for both Connacht and Ireland.

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Connacht's Bundee Aki signs three year contract extension - Off The Ball

FREMONT, Calif., Nov. 19, 2019 Penguin Computing, a leader in high- performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and enterprise data center solutions and services, today announced that it, along with partners Intel and CoolIT, will deliver the Magma Supercomputer to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The Magma system was procured through the Commodity Technology Systems (CTS-1) contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and is one of the first deployments of Intel Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors with support from CoolIT Systems complete direct liquid cooling and Omni-Path interconnect.

Magma is based on Relion XE2142eAP compute servers. Magmas 752 compute nodes are each configured with dual Xeon Platinum 9242 processors, with a theoretical peak of over 7 TFLOPs and 293TB of system memory calculating an RPeak of 5.313 PFLOPS. CoolIT Systems provides the complete direct liquid cooling solution for Magma through a blind-mate coldplate loop design which captures +85% of the server heat through CPU, DIMM and VR coldplates, allowing the servers to operate at maximum efficiency. The CoolIT subfloor piping, in-rack manifolds and row-based CHx750 CDUs deliver the required heat exchanging capability and coolant flow to support all racks.

Funded through NNSAs Advanced Simulation & Computing (ASC) program, Magma will support NNSAs Life Extension Program and efforts critical to ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the nations nuclear weapons in the absence of underground testing.

The convergence of HPC and AI is here today. We are excited to deliver Magma, an HPC system that is enhanced by artificial intelligence technology, said William Wu, Vice President of Hardware Products at Penguin Computing. We are seeing artificial intelligence permeate every industry and, specifically in HPC, we can now deliver a converged platform that allows AI to accelerate HPC modeling for our data scientist customers.

We continue designing new, leading edge solutions with our partners for the DOE NNSAs CTS-1 contract. Magma is another example of a great shared effort resulting in an HPC cluster designed and built to meet new demanding workloads. We anticipate this system to qualify for the November 2019 Top500 HPC list said Ken Gudenrath, DOE Director at Penguin Computing.

Penguin Computing is committed to Expanding the worlds vision of what is possible! The Magma cluster brings a new level of synergy amongst our clients, partners and Penguin Computing. One of our primary goals with Magma is to bring new mission technologies and capabilities to Livermore National Labs and its user communities. said Sid Mair, President of Penguin Computing.

Magma is a major leap forward in HPC and AI convergence that could only be achieved with trusted engineering collaboration between Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Penguin Computing, and Intel, said Phil Harris, VP and GM of Intels Datacenter Solutions Group. With up to 96 cores per node, massive memory bandwidth, and integrated AI acceleration with Intel DL Boost technology, the Intel Xeon Platinum 9200 processor will provide a powerful foundation for Lawrence Livermore National Lab to enhance its ability to achieve its mission goals.

The Commodity Technology System efforts at NNSA represent a very cost-effective way to manage our workload at each of our three laboratories, said Mark Anderson, Director for NNSAs Office of Advanced Simulation and Computing and Institutional Research and Development Programs. In this model, commodity-based systems take on the bulk of day-to-day computing, leaving the larger advanced technology capability systems available for only the most demanding problems across the Tri-Lab community. This is just an example of the sophisticated approach NNSA is taking to manage demanding workloads in the most efficient manner for the country.

Magma represents a timely addition to our CTS machines in order to address the significant surge in demand coming from NNSAs major Life Extension Program, said Michel McCoy, LLNLs Advanced Simulation & Computing program director. It is essential to have available a supply chain that can respond essentially instantly, delivering state-of-the-art technology in just a few months to meet pressing national security needs. We look forward to moving this system into production as fast as possible.

Under the CTS-1 contract, Penguin has delivered more than 22 petaflops of computing capability to support the ASC program at the NNSA Tri-Labs of Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.

For more information about the Relion XE2142eAP server and Intel Xeon Platinum 9200 processors, or to speak with a Penguin Computing representative, please visit us atwww.penguincomputing.com.

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Penguin Computing to Deliver Magma Supercomputer to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - HPCwire

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pfenex Inc. (NYSE American: PFNX) is a development and licensing biotechnology company focused on leveraging its Pfnex Expression Technology to develop and improve protein therapies for unmet patient needs. Using the patented Pfnex Expression Technology platform, the Company has developed the FDA-approved PF708 product indicated for the treatment of osteoporosis in certain patients at high risk of fracture and created an advanced pipeline of therapeutic equivalents, biologics and vaccines. The Company announced today that Eef Schimmelpennink, President and Chief Executive Officer, will be presenting at the Evercore ISI HealthCONx Conference 2019 on Tuesday, December 3rd, taking place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.

Interested parties can access the live audio webcast and archive from the Investors Section of Pfenex's website at http://www.pfenex.com.

About Pfenex Inc.Pfenex is a development and licensing biotechnology company focused on leveraging its Pfnex Expression Technology to develop and improve protein therapies for unmet patient needs. Using the patented Pfnex Expression Technology platform, Pfenex has created an advanced pipeline of potential therapeutic equivalents, and vaccines. Pfenexs lead product candidate is PF708, a therapeutic equivalent candidate to Forteo (teriparatide injection). PF708 has been approved in the U.S. for the treatment of osteoporosis in certain patients at high risk of fracture, and marketing authorization applications are pending in other jurisdictions. In addition, Pfenex is developing hematology/oncology products in collaboration with Jazz Pharmaceuticals, including PF743, a recombinant crisantaspase, and PF745, a recombinant crisantaspase with half-life extension technology. Pfenex also uses its Pfnex Expression Technology platform to produce CRM197, a diphtheria toxoid carrier protein used in prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.

Pfenex investors and others should note that Pfenex announces material information to the public about Pfenex through a variety of means, including its website (http://www.pfenex.com/), its investor relations website (http://pfenex.investorroom.com/), press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, corporate Twitter account (https://twitter.com/pfenex), Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Pfenex-Inc-105908276167776/timeline/), and LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/pfenex-inc) in order to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public and to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Pfenex encourages its investors and others to monitor and review the information Pfenex makes public in these locations as such information could be deemed to be material information. Please note that this list may be updated from time to time.

Investor Contact: Hans VitzthumManaging DirectorLifeSci Advisors, LLC.Office: 617-430-7578hans@lifesciadvisors.com

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Pfenex to Present at the Evercore ISI HealthCONx Conference 2019 - Yahoo Finance

FREMONT, Calif., Nov. 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Penguin Computing, Inc., a leader in high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and enterprise data center solutions and services, today announced that it, along with partners Intel and CoolIT, will deliver the Magma Supercomputer to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The Magma system was procured through the Commodity Technology Systems (CTS-1) contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and is one of the first deployments of Intel Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors with support from CoolIT Systems complete direct liquid cooling and Omni-Path interconnect.

Magma is based on Relion XE2142eAP compute servers. Magmas 752 compute nodes are each configured with dual Xeon Platinum 9242 processors, with a theoretical peak of over 7 TFLOPs and 293TB of system memory calculating an RPeak of 5.313 PFLOPS. CoolIT Systems provides the complete direct liquid cooling solution for Magma through a blind-mate coldplate loop design which captures +85% of the server heat through CPU, DIMM and VR coldplates, allowing the servers to operate at maximum efficiency. The CoolIT subfloor piping, in-rack manifolds and row-based CHx750 CDUs deliver the required heat exchanging capability and coolant flow to support all racks.

Funded through NNSAs Advanced Simulation & Computing (ASC) program, Magma will support NNSAs Life Extension Program and efforts critical to ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the nations nuclear weapons in the absence of underground testing.

The convergence of HPC and AI is here today. We are excited to deliver Magma, an HPC system that is enhanced by artificial intelligence technology, said William Wu, Vice President of Hardware Products at Penguin Computing. We are seeing artificial intelligence permeate every industry and, specifically in HPC, we can now deliver a converged platform that allows AI to accelerate HPC modeling for our data scientist customers.

We continue designing new, leading edge solutions with our partners for the DOE NNSAs CTS-1 contract. Magma is another example of a great shared effort resulting in an HPC cluster designed and built to meet new demanding workloads. We anticipate this system to qualify for the November 2019 Top500 HPC list, said Ken Gudenrath, DOE Director at Penguin Computing.

Penguin Computing is committed to Expanding the world's vision of what is possible! The Magma cluster brings a new level of synergy amongst our clients, partners and Penguin Computing. One of our primary goals with Magma is to bring new mission technologies and capabilities to Livermore National Labs and its user communities, said Sid Mair, President of Penguin Computing.

Magma is a major leap forward in HPC and AI convergence that could only be achieved with trusted engineering collaboration between Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Penguin Computing, and Intel, said Phil Harris, VP and GM of Intels Datacenter Solutions Group. With up to 96 cores per node, massive memory bandwidth, and integrated AI acceleration with Intel DL Boost technology, the Intel Xeon Platinum 9200 processor will provide a powerful foundation for Lawrence Livermore National Lab to enhance its ability to achieve its mission goals.

The Commodity Technology System efforts at NNSA represent a very cost-effective way to manage our workload at each of our three laboratories, said Mark Anderson, Director for NNSAs Office of Advanced Simulation and Computing and Institutional Research and Development Programs. In this model, commodity-based systems take on the bulk of day-to-day computing, leaving the larger advanced technology capability systems available for only the most demanding problems across the Tri-Lab community. This is just an example of the sophisticated approach NNSA is taking to manage demanding workloads in the most efficient manner for the country.

Magma represents a timely addition to our CTS machines in order to address the significant surge in demand coming from NNSAs major Life Extension Program, said Michel McCoy, LLNLs Advanced Simulation & Computing program director. It is essential to have available a supply chain that can respond essentially instantly, delivering state-of-the-art technology in just a few months to meet pressing national security needs. We look forward to moving this system into production as fast as possible.

Under the CTS-1 contract, Penguin Computing has delivered more than 22 petaflops of computing capability to support the ASC program at the NNSA Tri-Labs of Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.

For more information about the Relion XE2142eAP server and Intel Xeon Platinum 9200 processors, or to speak with a Penguin Computing representative, please visit us at http://www.penguincomputing.com.

About Penguin ComputingFor 20 years, the Penguin Computing team of artificial intelligence (AI), engineering, and computer science experts has reimagined how startups, Fortune 500, government, and academic organizations solve complex technology challenges and achieve their organizational goals. Penguin Computing is focused on open platforms, including Open Compute Project (OCP) systems. We specialize in innovative on-premise high-performance computing (HPC), bare metal HPC in the cloud, AI, and storage technologies coupled with leading-edge design, implementation, hosting, and managed services including sys-admin and storage-as-a-service, and highly rated customer support. More information at http://www.penguincomputing.com.

About CoolITCoolIT Systems, Inc. is the world leader in energy efficient liquid cooling technology for the Data Center, Server and Desktop markets. CoolIT's Rack DLC platform is a modular, rack-based, advanced cooling solution that allows for dramatic increases in rack densities, component performance, and power efficiencies. The technology can be deployed with any server and in any rack making it a truly flexible solution. For more information about CoolIT Systems and its technology, visitwww.coolitsystems.com.

About Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryFounded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory provides solutions to our nations most important national security challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Penguin Computing and Relion are registered trademarks of Penguin Computing, Inc. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Penguin Computing is a subsidiary of SMART Global Holdings Inc., (NASDAQ: SGH).

Penguin Computing Media ContactKarbo CommunicationsSian Blevinspenguin@karbocom.com

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Penguin Computing to deliver Magma Supercomputer, one of the First Intel Xeon Platinum 9200 Series Processor-based Servers for AI and HPC -...

Exploration and development firm Savannah Resources has conditionally secured third mining concession (9228C) for the Mutamba project in Mozambique.

The mining concession 9228C was awarded by Mozambiques Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy for the Mutamba Heavy Mineral Sands project.

The award represents a significant achievement for Savannah which operates a joint venture with Rio Tinto.

It has a term of 25 years, which is valid until 3 September 2044, with a possibility of 25 additional years towards mine-life extension.

The mining concession covers an area of 11,807ha and is contiguous with 9735C and 9229C concessions, which were secured by Savannah in September.

These permits cover ground in Inharrime and Jangamo districts in southern Mozambique.

The Mutamba project is in close proximity to the North/South EN1 highway and the port of Inhambane.

It also benefits from a high-quality established transport infrastructure, a daily air service to Inhambane, and grid power.

Mutamba has an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 4.4Bt at 3.9% total heavy minerals and constitutes one of the largest remaining mineral sands deposits in the world that is yet to be developed.

Savannah CEO David Archer said: The conditional award of the third Mining Concession to Mutamba Minerals Sands SA completes the tenement set of the Mutamba Project in Jangamo/Inharrime and represents a significant achievement for Savannah in its joint venture with Rio Tinto.

To finalise the process, the normal administrative payments and processes need to be completed; these are currently underway for all three licences.

We are completing the administrative conditions in a chronological manner following which all three licences will be fully formalised in due course, which, when completed, will continue to consolidate our position in the Mozambican mining industry.

Once these three Concessions are formalised, they will enable the joint venture with Rio Tinto to progress the Pre-feasibility study (PFS) towards completion.

The companys interest in the heavy mineral sands project will rise from 20% to 35%, upon completion of the PFS.

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Savannah wins third Mutamba mining concession in Mozambique - Mining Technology

Mike Posner, photographed on September 14, 2018 in New York City. The pop artist spent much of 2019 walking across the Unites States, from New Jersey to California. Rob Kim/Getty Images hide caption

Mike Posner, photographed on September 14, 2018 in New York City. The pop artist spent much of 2019 walking across the Unites States, from New Jersey to California.

When Mike Posner asked the 911 dispatcher on the other end of the line if he was going to die, she did not sugarcoat her uncertainty: "All she said," Posner remembers, "was 'I don't know.' "

Posner posed the question in early August 2019 on a hot, bright day on the eastern side of Colorado, where the gentle plains of the Midwest give way to distant glimpses of the Rockies' front range. A pop singer and rapper with a few Top 40 hits and a Grammy nomination to his name, Posner was on sabbatical, seven months removed from the release of a tormented third album he had barely bothered to promote. He was about 1,800 miles into a roughly 2,800-mile, 13-state walk across the United States. Posner had started in Asbury Park, New Jersey which he knew via one of his earliest influences, Bruce Springsteen with the goal of reaching Venice Beach, California, where he'd first considered the ambition five years earlier after happening to hear a stranger mention the endeavor. The task simply struck him as a worthy adventure, a whimsical idea that lingered on his wishlist.

The trek had been, at times, hell. Posner had walked until he felt his feet were forever broken, their sides almost certainly beset by stress fractures he'd someday have to fix, he assumed. His Solomon running shoes fostered an agonizing symphony of blisters, while the top of his glutes often quivered and ached. Kansas had been an inversion of Dorothy's nightmare seemingly infinite and too real, with oppressive July heat and monotonous scenery. But he would put on headphones and listen to a mixtape of his own music, accompanied by voicemails from the likes of Diddy, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, and Posner's mom, Roberta. He'd made the tape in advance, personal affirmations gathered to propel him through the toughest times. For eight states, Posner had heeded the title's advice: Keep Going.

Still, Posner had not been sleeping well. That August morning, he set out long before dawn, walking the day's first eight miles in silence in his tennis-ball-hued safety vest. When cars approached, he would move into the scrubby brush along the thin shoulders of State Highway 10; at some point, a man in a Dodge pickup stopped to warn him that the grasses were a rattlesnake haven and to step lightly. He offered Posner some water and carried on.

That afternoon, Posner finally reached the decade-old Fleetwood RV that an assistant drove ahead of him every day. Sore and sweaty, he took a break and let his guard down. Standing beside his home on wheels, he felt a sudden sting, then heard the rattle. A fan who'd been walking with him late that morning rushed to the road, found a skosh of cell service and called for help. Posner tried to keep the mood light, insisting he'd be back on the road after a jolt of anti-venom. But then his brain began to slow down, the world going dark for 30 seconds at a time. "It felt like the end of Looney Tunes, where the circle gets smaller and smaller, like I was fading away," he says. "You know, 'That's all, folks!' "

Mike Posner, photographed during his walk across the U.S. Zac Zlatic/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Half an hour later, volunteer paramedics rushed him to a hospital and his first round of treatment. When that hospital ran low on anti-venom, another team airlifted Posner to a second facility, where he got more shots and spent days learning to walk again. He returned home to Michigan and slowly rebuilt his stamina by going first to the bathroom, then the kitchen and then down the block. About three weeks after the bite, he was back on State Highway 10, at the spot where the rattlesnake had struck headed west again, this time without headphones.

"When the operator told me that she didn't know if I would live, I thought, 'Well, this could be it for me.' I really got to try out how that feels dying," says Posner, laughing now with the hindsight knowledge of how incredibly rare it is to die from a snakebite in the United States. (Around five people succumb each year.) "I got to think about the fragility of life about how quickly this could all be over. But I forget that even now, how special it is to be alive."

The rattlesnake bite and what, at the time, Posner felt might be his date with mortality was oddly apropos for the journey. Death was, in many ways, the catalyst of and backdrop for Posner's trek.

In January 2017, his father a prominent workers' rights lawyer in Detroit named Jon died from brain cancer; Posner had left Los Angeles 10 months prior to be with him at home. A year later, Avicii the star Swedish DJ that Posner was trying to impress in the first verse of his own 2016 megahit, "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" killed himself. Five months later, the rapper Mac Miller overdosed in Los Angeles, offering the slightly older Posner a painful and poignant reminder of what can happen when the hamster wheel of stardom spins too quickly.

Those feelings form the brittle core of A Real Good Kid, the album Posner released in January, almost two years to the day since his father died. Interlaced with recordings of their bedside conversations, its dozen tracks dangle at the ostensible end of Posner's rope, all raw nerves and dashed hopes. At one point, during "Drip," he reflects on the cyclonic turmoil of death and a break-up and bad habits. He can't contain his rage: "I worked the last 10 years. I'm a multimillionaire. I'm 30 years old. It's supposed to be all good. It is not f****** all good," he screams. You can't tell if he's laughing madly or crying deeply. It is a hard, honest listen, Posner's wide-eyed sentimentality flanked by the savages of love and loss, like twin razors.

Without hesitation, Posner says the album is his best work yet and maybe that's why it could, and should, speak for itself. During an Alaska camping trip late in 2018, he told a friend about the "existential dread" he felt when pondering the album's impending promotional cycle.

"I had nothing inside me that wanted to go to a radio station and try to convince them to play my song more than Ariana Grande. I didn't want to do incessant interviews to maximize my fame and income," Posner admits. "I didn't have it in me to do it again."

Posner has always had an uncomfortable relationship with mainstream success and its job requirements; almost a decade ago, just months after he graduated from Duke University, the popularity of "Cooler Then Me," his innocuous first hit which climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, left him soaring and then reeling from the side effects of stardom. He didn't release another album for six years. The ascendancy of that follow-up's ubiquitous anthem, "I Took a Pill in Ibiza", was a fluke, an acoustic lament about not doing drugs that reached No. 4 on the same chart only after a synth-and-sequencer remix turned it into a fluorescent smash. It was tantamount to "Born in the U.S.A." soundtracking Independence Day cookouts. If that's how people listened that is, not really why should Posner beg for airplay with songs that exposed his marrow?

He knew the time to pursue his real goal had come, that this was his moment to walk away, even temporarily. Standing in Alaska, he decided to tell his band they wouldn't be touring across the country because he'd be hiking across it instead. "If I didn't do it now," he says, "I realized I was always going to be the guy who only talked about doing it."

Perhaps to a fault, Posner has always been hypercompetitive. At Groves High School outside of Detroit, his favorite class was AP Literature as a senior, after peers interested only in building rsums had opted for the easier stuff. Here, reading Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, the discussions were deeper, the stakes higher. The smart kids applied to the University of Michigan; wanting to one-up them (and escape the cold), he applied to Duke, got in, and graduated, as he boasts during Keep Going, with a 3.59 GPA.

These days, Posner is mostly in competition with himself to become a real good adult, as he might put it, someone he finds more meaningful than some nouveau riche pop star whose vapid hits have become shopping-mall wallpaper. He stopped smoking weed almost a decade ago and stopped drinking seven years ago; he dabbles in psychedelics if he has a problem he wants to face, "to help me come back to my life better." He has sworn off and apologized for past misogyny, both in his lyrics and life. (He confesses to stockpiling Plan B pills in his suitcase during "Come Home," then chastises himself, rapping "That's gross / Time to grow.") During a series of increasingly long stays in solitude at a Colorado monastery, he learned self-control and patience walking across the country became an arduous extension of that practice, more mental than physical.

"Most things that are worthwhile, whether raising a child or learning a skill, require tedium. It is part of life," he says. "You can be someone who celebrates and finds glory in the tedium, or you can be somehow who abhors tedium and lives in opposition to life. You get to pick, every day."

Walking through Kansas, undergoing physical therapy after a rattlesnake bite, overcoming grief instead of giving in to it: Posner has learned to choose the tedium.

It is tempting to romanticize Posner's walk as some monastic exercise, a sylvan expedition into the heart of seclusion and self-reflection, la Thoreau at Walden Pond or vogue forest-bathing. And Posner did think about his dad a lot, seeing him in dreams and then waking up to worry about his mom back home. And during walks, he'd ponder impasses with old friends, then call them during breaks to talk it out.

But the truth as with Thoreau and forest-bathing, too is more complex. Before the rattlesnake bite, fans would show up to walk with Posner almost every day. Those who couldn't join him could keep constant tabs via social media and a map on his website, which his managers would update with his progress. And this was a "supported" trek, meaning Posner slept in an RV with one of two rotating assistants who bought and cooked his food.

Hiking nearly 3,000 miles is onerous and even dangerous enough, Posner reckoned, and he had the luxury of affording the extra resources to help him actually succeed, like a Game Genie slipped into an old Nintendo console. "They did everything," he confesses, "except the walking."

Posner performing during the Okeechobee Music Festival on March 5, 2017 in Okeechobee, Fla. Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images hide caption

Posner performing during the Okeechobee Music Festival on March 5, 2017 in Okeechobee, Fla.

Posner estimates that 98% of that walking was on or alongside blacktop, too, not on isolated backwoods trails. Three fabled paths extend between the top and bottom of the United States the Appalachian Trail in the East, the Continental Divide Trail along the spine of the Rockies, and the Pacific Crest Trail in the West. (For context, more than half of those who begin the Pacific Crest Trail each year are believed to finish, while only a quarter complete the Appalachian Trail.) But the journey between the coasts is a different story, requiring a patchwork of highway shoulders, two-lane strolls, and forest-service roads, with only an occasional sojourn onto a traditional trail. Posner walked directly through Pittsburgh and into a string of countless small towns, rarely alone or more than an hour from some civilization.

The close contact pulled Posner out of his own worries and into the wider world, where people had problems of their own. He would strike up conversations with strangers, asking about their anxieties and hopes. In Kansas, he met a farmer who fretted that the world thought he wanted to poison them because his crops weren't organic. In the North and Midwest, he reflected on the privilege of being a white man passing businesses and homes with Confederate flags flapping in the wind; the flag-wavers were uniformly nice to Posner, but he wondered what the situation might look like if he weren't a straight, white man with a battlefield-ready beard.

In journeying across the Navajo nation, a woefully impoverished region the size of West Virginia where some residents still lack electricity, he realized he would never understand the struggles of all Americans, or the complex history of persecution and promise we've built. But he could try. "My conception of America was based on my life, which is fair," he says. "My conception of America was obliterated."

Posner realizes that what he's done may seem like a publicity stunt, from the Forrest Gump-worthy beard and the made-for-Hollywood rattlesnake interlude to the deep reflections on what it all means, bro. After all, his manager, Ryan Chisholm, says he was first worried that, by Posner going away for five months in music's current turbocharged release cycle, his star might diminish. But the trip had the opposite effect: Posner's social media followers actually multiplied, as people tuned in to watch him beam through the daily hardships. According to Chisholm, Posner has never gotten more press than when he wound up in the hospital. There's something satisfying about that, Posner admits.

"There is a part of me that wants to feel special, that doesn't want to be normal. And there's an even ickier part of me that wants attention," he says. "It's a flaw and part of my nature, unfortunately."

But, in many ways, that is the very essence of a journey like Posner's: to square up with the worst aspects of oneself, walk toward them, and then power through anyway. And his reasons for doing it are inherently secondary to the very act of doing it of actually walking the walk, of being transformed by it. He hopes that perseverance and the payoff of finishing give something to his fans, a spark for those who want to pursue an idea that seems impossible or absurd. Posner talks a lot about being his own hero, but it's clear he wants to be someone else's, too, to "the kid who will one day do a deep dive on me." When he crossed the final state line into California in early October, he released Keep Going, that mixtape he'd listened to during the walk, handing over his inspirational score for someone else's adventure.

Since finishing in late October, Posner has done his best to maintain his early-morning schedule and his meditation practice. He has climbed his first two major mountains, summiting Mount Adams and Mount Hood in the Pacific Northwest. He ascended Hood in snow and ice alongside new friend Colin O'Brady, the now-legendary explorer who became the first person to cross Antarctica unsupported last year and, in December, will attempt to row the treacherous 600-plus miles between South America and Antarctica.

"For Mike to say I'm going to walk across America or me to say I want to cross Antarctica, you have to go, 'I don't know who I am going to be on the other side of that journey, '" says O'Brady. "The hope is you're going to learn something about yourself."

Posner says he has learned to speak his mind and to not be so scared of conflict, given the self-reliance it takes to put one foot in front of the other six million times in six months. And he realizes his relationship with the music industry must be different now, at 31, than it was in his 20s. He still has a home in Michigan, but maybe his next move takes him to the mountains, not back to Los Angeles. He doesn't know.

"I want to be somebody I am proud of," Posner says. "I don't want to die living someone else's life or having these dreams I know I have the ability to make real. Now that's really scary to me."

Excerpt from:

Mike Posner's Walk Across America And The Bummers Of Pop Fame - NPR

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Global Cryonics Technology Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 - Industry News Time 24

By Calley Hair

The Columbian

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, co-sponsored a bill last week that would give states incentives to extend the length of time new moms on Medicaid receive coverage.

The Helping Medicaid Offer Maternity Services Act, or MOMS Act, would encourage states to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers from two months to one year postpartum. It would provide a 5 percent bump to the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentages to states that approve the extension.

Every woman whos had a baby knows the postpartum period can be the most difficult, Herrera Beutler said in a media release. In the United States, women are more likely to die of pregnancy-related conditions following the birth of their child than during pregnancy and yet, for many women, their health care coverage ends just 60 days after giving birth.

Currently, pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid if they meet certain residency and income criteria. More than half of new mothers are covered by Medicaid.

California, New Jersey, South Carolina, Missouri and Washington, D.C. already extend Medicaid to new moms for a full year.

If were going to get serious about reversing the maternal death rate in America, we need to ensure that womens access to treatment isnt abruptly cut off during this vulnerable time, and thats what the Helping MOMS Act will do, Herrera Beutler said.

In my ongoing effort to put an end to the maternal mortality crisis, Im proud to help lead this bipartisan legislation that will increase new mothers access to life-saving care.

H.R. 4996 was introduced to the House floor on Nov. 8 by Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill, and is co-sponsored by two other Democrats Lauren Underwood of Illinois and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. Three more Republicans, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Michael Burgess of Texas and Earl Carter of Georgia, have also signed onto the bill.

Before she was elected to represent Washingtons 3rd Congressional District in 2010, Herrera Beutler served as McMorris Rodgers senior legislative aide.

Herrera Beutler is one of two legislators to found the Congressional Maternity Care Caucus, and shes introduced several bills focused on maternal and child health over the last year.

A bill she introduced, the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act, was signed into law last year and authorizes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to offer grants to states for tracking and analyzing maternal mortality data.

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Herrera Beutler co-sponsor of bill that aims to extend Medicaid for moms - The Daily World

An unarmed Trident II D5 missile launches from the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Rhode Island (SSBN-740) off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. on May 9, 2019. US Navy Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. The Navys Strategic Systems Program this fiscal year will begin looking at what new technologies it will need to develop to sustain and modernize its nuclear weapons so they can operate on the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines through the 2080s.

After the Trident D5 missiles underwent an original life extension effort (D5 LE), the office determined they would undergo a D5 LE2 effort that would insert new technologies where possible, find new ways to replace old parts that can no longer be manufactured, and otherwise keep the missiles reliable as a strategic deterrent for more than six more decades.

We are starting this year for the first time in our budget we have a line in [Fiscal Year 2020], and the real crux to that is looking at all of those new technologies that we need to go think about on how were going to take what we have today, how were going to modernize it and how were going to get it to last the entire life of the Columbia, which is we all know about 2084, SSP Director Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe said last week at the Naval Submarine Leagues annual symposium.

Wolfe said the original life extension effort has gone well, with five flight tests in the last year showing the missiles can still fly the tracks theyre supposed to. In fact, three motors involved in a test that were about three decades old performed like new during the test, he said.

However, this first life extension effort wont get the missiles through the end of the Columbia SSBNs life.

For example, Wolfe said, the Navy decided about six years ago to end production on the post-boost control system, and unique materials are used in that system. With industry knowledge now lost, the Navy needs to develop a new post boost control system with new materials, based on what industry can provide today.

The way we did it then were not going to be able to exactly do it in the future, he said, and SSP needs to build in a learning ramp for industry as they reconstitute this capability.

With this second life extension effort, the plan is, if you look at some of the critical technologies weve got today, and Ill just talk about rocket motors: I would tell you, were the only people right now that use a 1.1 propellant and we have to do that because of volume constraints that weve got. Theres no need to change that, and as we talk about how were going to do this, we are going to continue on producing those rocket motors because, quite frankly, if you look from a reliability perspective, that is the biggest contributor and I would tell you theres nothing better than what weve got in the submarine force today with those motors. So were not going to change that. Were going to continue with that, the vice admiral said.What we are going to start to do is start to look at what are those technologies and I talked about post-boost control, things like nose bearings things we know we wont be able to produce anymore.

The government is currently operating under a continuing resolution that does not allow new programs to start. The current CR expires next week and it remains to be seen what funding mechanism Congress will be able to pass, and therefore how it will affect SSPs ability to get started on this early work on the Trident D5 LE2.

Additionally, Wolfe said SSP has been involved in modernizing the legacy Ohio-class SSBNs and using those modernization and upgrade efforts as risk-reduction measures for the Columbia class.

For example, the Ohio class used an Electrostatically-Supported Gyro Navigator (ESGN) as the inertial navigator for the Trident D5 missile. Wolfe said that, in his modernization portfolio, the biggest program right now is making sure we get the next strategic navigator on the Ohio, which is a risk-mitigator for Columbia because, as we make this change from ESGNs to fiber optics, theres a lot of learning weve got there.

He added that several modernization efforts on shipboard systems such as the fire control system are taking place, and that their installation on the Ohio SSBNs will ease the fleets transition to Columbia as sailors on the new subs will already know how to operate and maintain these systems.

Its not just modernizing the triad; its making sure that we can sustain what we have today until we get to all those modernization programs, he said of the importance of these Ohio upgrade efforts.

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Navy Beginning Tech Study to Extend Trident Nuclear Missile Into the 2080s - USNI News