Category Archives: Life Extension

Article By : Michael Kirschner

"Systems thinking" should also take into account factors beyond the products themselves. That could include business models.

Over a dozen years ago, DCA put together a fishbone diagram of product-related considerations with environmental and human health impacts to consider during product definition and development. We attempted to take a 360 view of the electronic product development process with the goal of improving the performance of electronic products in the environmental/human health space. The result was presented at various conferences and webinars. While we did not call it systems thinking as applied to electronics for the circular economy, thats essentially what it was.

For a given design, each of these areas must be evaluated and weighted so they can be prioritized. Looking back on this, I see that it is incomplete, focused only on the product itself. And even then, some product-related issues are not included, like repairability (though we did identify serviceability, which can be interpreted as applying to professional and commercial equipment instead of consumer products), disassembly tool requirements, and others.

As noted in previous columns, a companys business model is critical to success and, while it may seem obvious, it deserves another rib in the fishbone diagram. A companys business model impacts a number of areas in the diagram and vice-versa butthe first stepis to assess and measure the current state. Determine the state of your company, your products, and your product lifecycle management process today in each of these areas. Consider what your companys goals are at both the corporate level and the product level in these areas and move forward.

As individual manufacturers wrestle with these issues one common conclusion they come to is their inability to individually drive the supply chain in the most environmentally beneficial direction. I have experienced this challenge in just about every engineering endeavor during my career that has to do with supply chains, not just those related to environmental performance and circularity. Therefore, the inevitable question becomes what should the industrys goal be? And furthermore, who is going to drive it with the leverage necessary to actually make a difference?

Well, electronics isnt justone industryby any stretch of the imagination. The classic herd of cats would be the best analogy, but there are pockets that band together because, again, individually their common dependencies outweigh their individual ability to drive these dependencies including the supply base, markets, and government regulators in a direction that is advantageous to them. Numerous industry associations do have an environment function, includingIPC,ITI,CTA,Zvei, andDigitalEurope, but they are primarily focused on advocacy and preventing or limiting regulation. Leadership is rarely feasible even when it is the desired course of action due to the need to placate laggard members.

As notedlast year,the Circular Electronics Partnership(CEP) formed in order to drive the industry down the circularity path but it has been quiet (or uninformative) since and, while many of them are appropriate for such an endeavor, the manufacturing members primarily represent the consumer electronics market. Commercial and business markets are only represented by a single pure-play manufacturer:Cisco. Perhaps they joined to learn from the several consumer electronics manufacturers involved. Indeed, manufacturers of commercial and industrial equipment can learn a lot from their consumer product-producing brethren, but the learning opportunities cut both ways.

Commercial and industrial equipment is often supported via service contracts for the life of the product. Maximizing service contract profitability requires a product that on top of being reliable is of modular design, easily serviced, very configurable and customizable, and readily upgradeable. This cannot be said of most consumer electronics, yet its a requirement for circularity, particularly reuse and use life extension.FrameworkandFairphoneseem to have gotten the message. Others, includingApple, are changing their ways and moving toward more repairable and perhaps upgradeable and longer-lived products.

The rest of the CEP members represent various aspects of the upstream, downstream, and reverse supply chains. Certain aspects, particularly the chemical supply base, appear to need more forward-thinking and progressive representation.

Medical, aerospace/military, automotive, and other perhaps tangential industries are not represented at all, despite the fact that they ultimately will be impacted by the direction CEP goes, if successful. I do not see their direct involvement as necessary, but their attention is.

The electronics supply chain is what all the OEMs, including these, have in common. Perhaps 90% of the supply chain can be traced back to a handful of polymer resin compounders, a handful of silicon wafer producers, and a handful of metal, ceramic, and glass producers and/or types. So, any changes induced upstream due to downstream demands for sustainability and/or circularity can have a much broader impact in any case.

CEP has bitten off a lot; well see what comes of it. But today they represent what I believe to be the best potential for systems thinking about circularity for a significant fraction of the electronics industry at a level necessary to enable the entire industry to be successful in this area. Recalling the 1995 filmApollo 13, failure is not an option.

This article was originally published onEE Times.

Michael Kirschner is president of Design Chain Associates LLC.

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Systems Thinking and Electronics for the Circular Economy - Eetasia.com

RED CLOUD While a ranchers life in the rolling hills of central Webster County isnt for everyone, for Lindsay Waechter-Mead it comes as naturally as the greening of pastures and arrival of newborn calves in the springtime.

This dear countryside is home to her and her family and thats one reason she is so pleased to be the new Nebraska Extension beef systems educator for an eight-county region that includes most of Tribland.

Being in agriculture is always what I was going to do, said Waechter-Mead, who grew up on her familys diversified crop and livestock farm southeast of Bladen, then went off to college and veterinary school to prepare for that future. I really did see veterinary medicine as a way to stay in rural Webster County.

Today, she and her husband, Clay Mead, live on the family farm her great-grandfather established in 1901. They are raising their three children, ages 12, 10 and 6, as the fifth generation of her family to live on that land.

After 12 years practicing veterinary medicine in Alda and Hastings and then two years on the faculty of the Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center in Clay County, she began work Feb. 1 as a beef systems educator serving Webster, Franklin, Kearney, Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Thayer and Nuckolls counties. Her office is in the Webster County Courthouse.

She is one of 15 beef systems educators posted around the state, interacting directly with ranchers and cattle feeders seeking to sustain and improve their operations.

Besides raising children, Waechter-Mead and her husband have a registered Red Angus beef herd of their own.

When shes not on the job for Nebraska Extension, shes at home tending those cattle or shuttling the children to their growing list of activities.

She said her new job will allow her to assist fellow beef producers and her home community, but without the night and weekend on-call duties of private veterinary practice that crowd out family obligations.

I just thought this is really where I should be, she said. Its home. Thats a big, big reason.

Waechter-Mead grew up the farm near Bladen or 14 miles straight north of Red Cloud with her parents, Keith and Linda (Crom) Waechter, and her three sisters.

She graduated from Blue Hill High School in 1998, then went on to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she studied veterinary science and animal science and met her future husband. Following graduation, she attended the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University.

With her doctorate of veterinary medicine newly in hand, she worked from 2008-10 at a small, mixed practice in Alda caring for both large and small animals. Then, she moved to the Animal Clinic at Hastings, a busy mixed practice with several doctors on staff and patients ranging from horses to house cats.

After nearly a decade at the Animal Clinic, Waechter-Mead was one of three veterinarians added to the faculty at the Great Plains Veterinary Education Center, a UNL center housed on the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center west of Clay Center, in January 2020.

At GPVEC, five veterinarians and a revolving cast of veterinary students help care for the livestock on the sprawling research center operated by the U.S. Department of Agricultures Ag Research Service in collaboration with UNL.

USMARC addresses national priority issues in beef, pork and sheep production from breeding through slaughter, as well as food safety. The research center has its own beef feedlot and abbatoir, or slaughterhouse, as well as many square miles of pasture and cropland for feed.

The veterinary education center brings in students from across the United States for clinical rotations.

As a lecturer and clinical practice veterinarian at GPVEC, Waechter-Mead focused on cow-calf issues and shared her knowledge with the students in the classroom and the field.

Meanwhile, she had a 50% extension appointment from UNL, meaning half of her job was to transmit useful knowledge from the university to beef producers across the state.

Thats basically the hub for veterinary extension specialists right now, she said of GPVEC and its importance to UNL, which partners with Iowa State University for veterinary education but has livestock-producing constituents to support from Harrison to Humboldt and from Stratton to South Sioux City.

While she enjoyed private practice, working with a variety of clients and species to solve problems in a clinical environment, she was looking for a work schedule that would allow her to both practice medicine and make time to be an active and engaged parent.

Waechter-Mead looked at the possibility of focusing on small-animal practice, but also wanted a way to remain living and working in a rural community.

She said she didnt grow up showing cattle, but that her husband always has been passionate about the beef industry, and as a young couple without much money they had begun to build their Red Angus herd by purchasing four bred cows 20 years ago.

I felt myself really appreciating the farm life, she said. I started looking for ways I could really start focusing on the beef-systems side of things.

The Nebraska Extension beef systems position based in Webster County was held for many years by Dewey Lienemann of Blue Hill.

After Lienemann retired in 2017, the position was filled in 2018-19 by Brad Schick and from July 2019 to January 2021 by Sydney ODaniel, then stood vacant for a full year.

While Waechter-Mead enjoyed the relationships she built with students at GPVEC, shes looking forward to more personal contact with producers in her new role.

She said after having statewide outreach responsibilities in her extension role with GPVEC, she sees the eight-county area she now serves as modest in size.

She wants to address the specific challenges producers are facing in her coverage region. In addition, she and her beef systems colleagues meet twice per month to confer about state concerns related to production and economics.

The things were watching as a beef team are definitely drought management and input costs, she said.

Shes continuing her active involvement in her profession, serving as vice president of the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Associations Executive Board. Shell be the board president in 2023.

Shes also continuing the research she started at GPVEC, working with Dr. Brian Vander Ley, a veterinary epidemiologist, to study how environmental factors affect neonatal calf health.

Waechter-Mead believes her qualifications as a veterinarian will give her a unique perspective as a beef systems educator, and she hopes to work closely with her fellow doctors in practice throughout the eight counties.

Through her work with 4-H and FFA, she also hopes to encourage children and teens to consider a possible future career in veterinary medicine especially given the demand for more practitioners to support agriculture in rural America.

Its really the rural practices that are seeing an issue, she said of the unmet need for doctors willing to live in small towns and treat patients on the farm and ranch as well as in the office.

In Webster County shell be involved with community programming including 4-H and the county fair, which her family already knows well. Her husband serves on the fair board.

The connections are personal and heartfelt.

Prior to her death in 2002 at age 106, Waechter-Meads great-grandmother, Margaret Crom, was recognized by the National 4-H Council as perhaps the oldest living 4-H volunteer in the United States. And Waechter-Mead recently found a treasure tucked away in her office: a yellowed handbill from a 1970 extension program that involved her late grandfather, Dale Crom.

She wants the same thing for her constituents as she wants for herself: A chance to keep doing what they love while staying close to their roots.

My ultimate goal is that everyone continue to have this rural lifestyle, be profitable and be able to raise cattle, she said.

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Waechter-Mead brings veterinary perspective to extension beef systems position in her home county - Hastings Tribune

DENISE ATTAWAYSpecial to The T&D

The Palmetto State is home to some of the best peaches in the Southeastern United States.

But pleasing the palate is not the only role peaches play in South Carolina. The peach industry also is a major contributor to the states economy. To help keep the industry growing, the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Peach Team is researching how to keep pests at bay, as well as how using new technologies can help protect peaches.

During the annual Ridge Peach Producers Meeting in Edgefield, Peach Team members briefed growers on how to attack these pests. One discussion was what growers can do now that the insecticide chlorpyrifos has been banned for use on food crops.

Brett Blaauw, professor and extension specialist with the Clemson Cooperative Extension Service and the University of Georgia Extension Service, said changes in management practices can help growers compensate for the loss of this tool.

Chlorpyrifos was commonly recommended for use as a tank mix with horticultural oil to apply in late winter for delayed dormant timing to manage San Jose scale and lesser peach tree borer, Blaauw said. During post-harvest, usually late summer, chlorpyrifos was commonly used as a trunk spray to provide more insect pest management. With the ban on chlorpyrifos, growers will need to replace those sprays with different chemicals or management tactics, such as mating disruption for borers.

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Chlorpyrifos is an inexpensive, but effective insecticide widely used in agriculture for more than 56 years. It is a broad-spectrum insecticide first registered for use in 1965 and kills insects by affecting the nervous system. The Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of chlorpyrifos on food and feed crops in August 2021.

Alternative management tactics currently available are more expensive and potentially more difficult to implement than chlorpyrifos. Alternative insecticides cost more per acre, but the application methods should be the same as with chlorpyrifos. In addition, using cultural controls such as mating disruption and entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs, which are beneficial nematodes) are both more expensive and potentially more difficult to implement in the field. Implementing controls such as mating disruption requires labor to hang pheromone dispensers in peach trees at a rate of 150 dispensers per acre.

On the plus side, the pheromone dispensers last all season long and help manage both peachtree borers and lesser peachtree borers, Blaauw said. EPNs can be applied with the same equipment as used for trunk sprays, but because the EPNs are living creatures, they need moisture to survive, so applying the EPNs to irrigated trees is ideal.

Unlike chlorpyrifos, EPNs can be applied preventatively, as well as curatively to already damaged trees.

While the loss of chlorpyrifos is frustrating, Blaauw told growers it is still encouraging there are alternative, effective methods for control of San Jose scale and the borers. See the Southeastern Peach, Nectarine and Plum Pest Management and Cultural Guide for more information.

In the meantime, you can be assured tree fruit entomologists like myself are going to continue to research new management tactics for these pests so that we can guarantee the best management practices for you and other growers, Blaauw said.

Managing with nematodes

For growers using nematodes as a management tactic, Clemson nematologist Churamani Khanal said there are beneficial nematodes that are good for the soil and there are bad nematodes including plant-parasitic nematodes such as ring nematodes, dagger nematodes and root-knot nematodes.

There are a lot of nematodes in the soil, Khanal said. About 10% of these are dangerous.

Common symptoms of nematode attacks include peach tree short life and dieback. Of special interest is the peach root-knot nematode. This pest was found in one upstate orchard in 2018. Clemson researchers are conducting surveys to determine how much of this nematode exists in South Carolina orchards.

Bacterial spot

Bacterial spot is another disease Clemson peach researchers are studying. This disease is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni (Xap). It begins as twig cankers in the spring and spreads to leaves and fruit as the season progresses. Symptoms on green fruit include water-soaked lesions, while symptoms on maturing fruit vary from light speckles to deep crater lesions. Leaves also are affected and show yellowing starting at the tip. Severe leaf infections can cause early defoliation resulting in reduced fruit size, sunburn and cracking.

Hehe Wang, a Clemson plant bacteriologist, said this bacterial pathogen is difficult to control because most commercial peaches are susceptible and the limited number of disease-tolerant/resistant cultivars could develop symptoms during high-infection periods. In addition, there are no cultural controls available and chemical control options are limited.

Wang is conducting research towards development of novel and more effective control options for integrated management of bacterial spot. New control options, including a spray program, are being studied.

Armillaria Root Rot

Armillaria Root Rot is another pest threatening South Carolina orchards. The only way to control it is to start over in a new area where the soil is not infected.

Armillaria root rot is costing growers a lot of money, said Ksenija Gasic, peach breeder and geneticist. Growers with infected orchards face persistent problem, as both the host and the disease are long-lived. Producers cannot rotate to other sites due to the lack of uninfected land for new plantings. They cannot fumigate the soil and once an entire orchard is replanted, they are left with the prospects of having to replant again not long after having invested in the high orchard establishment costs. So, what can we do?

Planting peach trees in shallow engineered berms with the top parts of roots exposed above ground to extend the productive life of trees is one practice growers can use. Developing disease-resistant rootstock varieties is another option which Gasic and the Peach Team are working on. But they need growers help.

We want to engage growers in our research, she said This helps us better understand what South Carolina growers want and how we can help them get what they need to grow more productive crops.

Protecting peaches with nanocrystal baby blankets

In addition to protecting their crops against pests, growers also learned about a new agricultural innovation from Washington State University that researchers believe may help protect crop plants from freeze damage at bud break.

The Washington State method uses cellulose nanocrystals to insulate buds against frost damage. Juan Carlos Melgar, a Clemson associate professor of pomology, said a study using this technology is being conducted at Clemsons Musser Fruit Research Center. Melgars study focuses on the fruitlets, or small fruits, that appear after pollination. The nanocrystals are applied during early spring when cold snaps can occur and damage fruitlets.

Fruitlets are coated with these nanocrystals, Melgar said. The nanocrystals act as tiny baby blankets, protective layers, that shield fruitlets from frost.

Melgar also said researchers are getting closer to understanding what causes bronzing, a peach skin disorder that can lower the value of a crop. It is cosmetic and damages the skin, not the flesh. Still, peaches with this disorder often are difficult to sell.

We believe bronzing could be caused by nutrient imbalances he said. Nutrient analyses showed areas with bronzing contain higher amounts of magnesium and an imbalanced magnesium/potassium ratio. Our recommendations include checking your soils and especially your leaf tissues to determine the nutrient status and keep nutrients balanced.

Soil tests can be conducted at the Clemson Ag Service Lab. For information, go to https://bit.ly/CU_SoilTestLab.

Peach economics

The peach was named the official State Fruit by South Carolina Legislature Act Number 360 of 1984. South Carolina grows more than 30 varieties of peaches and ranks second in fresh peach production in the United States behind California. Peaches have been commercially grown in South Carolina since the 1860s.

With a combined production value of more than $140 million, peaches are a major contributor to agriculture in South Carolina and Georgia.

Peaches are grown on farms across South Carolina. A list of farms can be found on the South Carolina Peach Councils website: https://scpeach.org/growers/. They are sold from U-Pick Farms, roadside stands and farmers markets.

For more information about peaches, visit Clemson Extensions About Peaches website.

Denise Attaway reports for Public Service and Agriculture in the Clemson University College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.

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Protecting the peaches: Farmers get latest on pests, 'baby blankets' - The Times and Democrat

The circular economy is a system that aims to get the most out of materials, keep products and materials in use and design them to be cycled back into the economy, eliminating waste. It is also a vital pillar of the energy transition.

Over 70 percent of the worlds GDP is covered by a net-zero target, with many advanced economies aiming to decarbonize by 2050 and China committing to 2060.

Share of global GDP percent covered by net-zero targets. Source: Generation (2021).

Transforming our current economic system is both a daunting challenge and a massive opportunity one like the world has never known.

Getting to net-zero by 2050 will mean accomplishing what seems unimaginable, like entirely phasing out the internal combustion engine or adding the equivalent of the worlds largest solar farm every single day.

To support and scale these efforts, speed will be of the essence especially given last years climate report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirming that urgent action is needed to stop global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C. To build out the energy infrastructure the world needs at speed and scale, circular economy will play a vital role in three main ways.

The energy transition depends on a shift to renewable power, pivoting away from natural gas and petroleum and towards solar, wind, hydrogen, geothermal power or other zero-emissions tech supported by batteries.

But transitioning to these technologies is triggering massive demand for the critical minerals required, such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), getting to net zero by 2040 will require a six-fold increase in mineral input by 2040, some key metals, such as lithium, could see growth rates of over 40 times, with nickel and cobalt demand growing more than twentyfold. Demand is already soaring: The price of lithium in February 2021 hit an all-time high of $50,000 per tonne up from $10,000 just one year ago.

Growth in demand for selected minerals from clean energy technologies, 2040 relative to 2020 (multiples). Source: The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, International Energy Agency (2021).

Obtaining these materials exclusively via mining presents sustainability challenges. For instance, the process of mining neodymium, a rare earth metal used in many electric motors and generators including those in wind turbines, is highly polluting. The metal also appears in relatively small concentrations and is hard to capture, making its extraction more intensive compared to other minerals.

These materials also present potential challenges to energy security in Europe. The EU currently supplies only 1 percent of the raw materials needed for key technologies such as wind energy, lithium batteries, silicon photovoltaic assemblies and fuel cells.

The circular economy can reduce the dependence on mining and ensure longer-term use of these materials if implemented at scale. Recycling could help recover metals from the almost 60 million tonnes of smartphones, laptops, hard drives and many other electronic devices. Currently only 1 percent of neodymium is ever recycled and other metals in electronics that are key to the transition (tantalum, lithium, cobalt and manganese) also face poor rates of recycling.

Some companies are moving ahead on this. Many initiatives to recycle these materials are based around IT equipment. The systems being applied to smartphone recycling today may be effective for wind turbines and other equipment tomorrow.

To get to net-zero, clean tech such as electric cars or energy transition equipment will need to be made from zero emissions materials, as well as not produce emissions when they are used. This will be a significant challenge. According to a World Economic Forum study, by 2040, when most vehicles are predicted to be electric, the materials used to produce them could account for60 percent of their totallifetime emissions as opposed to 18 percent in 2020.

Share of lifecycle emissions in cars use and material production 2020-2040. Source: World Economic Forum, 2020.

In fact, emissions generated by the production of all materials globally have more than doubled in the last 20 years. A recent UNEP study estimates this is from 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 1995, to over 11 billion tons in 2015, reaching about a fifth of all greenhouse gases emissions.

The circular economy can be a source of low carbon materials. For example, recycled aluminium emits up to 95 percent less carbon dioxide than that from virgin sources. Building energy transition infrastructure from secondary materials will help our transition to net-zero.

Creating a truly sustainable energy transition means factoring the circular economy in at the design stage.

We need to install massive amounts of renewable energy over the coming decades. However, by the early 2030s, the first generation of solar will come offline, and by 2050 its predicted that we could be decommissioning 78 million tonnes of panels per year. In the same year, wind turbine blades could account for 43 million tonnes of waste.

So now is the right time to think about how these products are designed for longer life, easy disassembly and recycling and how we create and operate the systems to deal with the waste. With the right planning and attention, the panels coming offline in 2030 can become the new panels installed in 2031.

Companies have started to put this into action. For example, Siemens Gamesa recently announced the worlds first fully recyclable wind turbine blade. The resin used in blades allow for an easy separation of different materials at the end of the blades working life, allowing the component materials to be recycled. Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD also claims that its simpler battery chemistry and large cell size allows for easier recycling.

With the right planning and attention, the panels coming offline in 2030 can become the new panels installed in 2031.

Another critical part of circular design is life extension. We should make durable products designed to be repurposed for other uses. Used car batteries which can no longer hold sufficient charge for the range needed in a motor vehicle still hold a residual capacity of 60-80 percent and can be effectively used in other applications that require lower performance, such as stationary energy storage to support the grid.

This is already happening, albeit not at full scale. The stadium of Dutch football club Ajax used second hand Nissan leaf batteries to create a storage unit equivalent to the power used by 7,000 homes in one hour. This allows the club to store energy on sunny days that powers the stadium in evening games, as well as supporting the local grid.

Circular design can create valuable economic opportunities. The Global Battery Alliance predicts that the market for second use batteries could grow to $4 billion by 2030, provided that standardization and better, more flexible energy management systems can be introduced.

The energy transition is finally gathering pace. And at its core is a move away from burning fossil fuels to a system which uses a much broader range of raw materials to fulfill our energy needs.

Circular economy has to be baked into the energy transition by design to ensure the world has a sustainable supply of raw materials. This will take concerted action from companies and regulators.

Companies that use critical materials in their products need to get ahead of the issue. They need a circular economy strategy, to prioritize key materials and set targets and measurable KPIs. They need to think about a product's end of life at the start of its life. And think about the role they can play in extending the product's life or building a reverse supply chain to bring the product back.

Companies that mine critical materials have an opportunity to move beyond being an extraction company towards being a provider of materials and material services. This could include experimenting with leasing models (where the company continues to own materials in products) or investing in recycling capabilities.

As we enter a critical execution phase of limiting climate change the time to act is now for all industries and stakeholders.

Governments must recognize critical materials as a key pillar of energy security over the coming decades. They should put in place national plans and assess and mitigate economic risks, and build giga recycling plants alongside giga battery factories. Smart regulations, which encourage product take back, recycling and reverse supply chains could have a major impact and can be tested today on our old electronics.

Investors can scope opportunities to invest in new recycling capacity as well as offering financial products to their clients which enable new business models such as product as a service or leasing (where companies take back products and materials at end of life). Venture capital needs to seek out some of the most promising start-ups who are working on the tough technical problems in the recycling value chain.

As we enter a critical execution phase of limiting climate change the time to act is now for all industries and stakeholders. Designing the circular economy into the energy transition will allow us to move faster and more sustainably in getting to net-zero.

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3 ways the circular economy is vital for the energy transition | Greenbiz - GreenBiz

The entire 1.9-mile length was closed "out of an abundance of caution" after steel strands became loose from their anchor.

TAMPA, Fla. It's early 2021 all over again for drivers in South Tampa.

Traffic remains blocked from entering the Selmon Extention on Monday since engineers found two steel strands that had come loose from their anchor. The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority says the discovery was made over the weekend during a routine inspection.

While crews could replace the wires with traffic on the extension, its entire length was closed "in an abundance of caution," THEA said in an earlier statement.

The 1.9-mile tolled roadway that stretches from the Gandy Bridge to the Selmon Expressway has been well-welcomed since its opening on April 19, 2021. Officials have said the extension cuts what's normally a 15-30 minute commute on Gandy Boulevard which lies in its shadow down to about two minutes during peak congestion.

With the extension remaining closed, drivers are again feeling what it was like prior to its grand opening. Traffic cameras showed backups on eastbound and westbound Gandy Boulevard for much of the morning.

It remains unclear when exactly the extension will reopen to traffic. In the meantime, drivers can consider taking several routes when needing to get to St. Petersburg:

Drivers can also consider heading north from Gandy Boulevard at any of these above-mentioned roads to get to Tampa.

Originally posted here:

Remember life without the Selmon Extension? Here's how to get around its closure - WTSP.com

March 25th, 2022

Bucs GM Jason Licht

Yes, Tom Brady is playing for the Bucs this season. But will Brady desire his NFL freedom after the 2022 campaign?

Thats a major unknown. And Joe suspects that was part of the discussion when Brady went to England two weeks ago, assuming he actually met with Team Glazer there.Bradys unretirement does not mean hes playing only one more season, so his 2023 rights are a legitimate question.

Listening to Bucs general manager Jason Licht on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week, it sure seems like it wont be long before Brady has a new contract.

We may need to create some more cap space, or what have you, and thats one well take a look at and well talk to his representatives, Licht said while answering a question about a new contract for Brady.

Sowhether its an extension or an adjustment, well see where that goes.

Of course, the Bucs would prefer an extension to Bradys contract that expires after this season. And Joe confidently states the Bucs would give Brady anything he wants, including Aaron Rodgers money (plus an extra million, of course) in 2023 and beyond.

Team Glazer could always pay Brady a monstrous signing bonus as part of a Buccaneers-for-life contract. If he retires, then the Bucs can spread the cap hit over the life of the deal. And who could really cry foul if Brady signed a six-year contract and only played one year? The notion of Brady playing at 50 years old isnt ludicrous.

Joe suspects Team Glazer already has a massive offer to Brady on the table. And as was discussed on the Ira Kaufman Podcast, perhaps an unnamed party also will place an order for 500,000 units of The Big Tom water bottle.

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"Whether It's An Extension Or An Adjustment, We'll See Where That Goes" - JoeBucsFan.com

Loveland, also released as Expired in some countries, is Australian independent filmmaker Ivan Sens take on a futuristic cosmopolitan Asian city which really has no place for love. Visually akin to Hong Kong in real life and Los Angeles in Blade Runner, Sens futuristic city is gradually losing everything real and replacing it with fabrications, which include the residents and even their emotions. Despite having a particular and likable visual style with the use of lights and colors, a haphazard narrative, an unnecessarily poetic script, and an overall sense of pretension bring the film down to a tedious watch.

Jack is a middle-aged man with tough looks and a demeanor, but he is clearly burdened and worn out by his life in the city. In a world full of enough professional and personal rivalries, Jack works as a hired assassin, going around the dark and shady corners of the metropolis to finish off his targets. While traveling one day on the subway, he comes across a woman who he finds of attractive interest. Being someone very experienced in sneakily following people around without their knowledge, Jack goes around following this woman and reaches a club. Going in as a potential customer, he realizes that the woman is one of the many performers at the club; she sings for paying customers from behind a glass chamber, where the customer can see her, but she cannot see them.

During their session, the woman tells Jack that her name is April, and she has moved to the city in search of a living from her small native village in South Vietnam. After the session ends, Jack continues following April around on multiple occasions. He seems to feel an intense attraction towards her, something that is very new to his experience. But along with that, he is also going through bouts of ill health, sometimes pain in his chest, and sometimes something else, for which he is seen taking medicines, but the reason for which is unknown. One day, while following April, he goes into narrow and empty lanes and suddenly realizes that a dark-skinned man seems to be following him. This face is known to him, as the man was also present in a restaurant on the first night, when Jack was on a mission to kill. Jack goes back to the club, and as April recognizes him by his voice, he asks her out to dinner.

That very night, after their date is over, while walking on the streets alone, Jack once again sees his stalker and tries to approach him. But the man carelessly walks onto the main road and is violently hit by a speeding bus. As Jack goes to check on him, he sees that the man is not a human but a humanoid robot that has been destroyed by the accident. He picks up a memory chip from the scene of the accident and tracks it down to Masuka corporation, a biotech company headed by scientist Dr. Bergman who has been missing for a year. Jack tries to track down this scientist while his health grows worse, and he has to consult a doctor about it. The doctor, too, is confused by his ill-health despite having clean DNA. Jack tries to ask Bergman for help, but he refuses to trust him.

After another date with April, Jack confronts another man who seems to have been following him, and the latter explains that Jack had killed his brother, and he wanted to get some sort of revenge. Taking complete control of the situation, Jack is about to shoot the man dead, but falters at the last minute as he loses control over his own body and throws up and falls to the ground.

Spoilers Ahead

Jack is quickly helped back to his feet by Bergman, who had been tailing him the entire day. He takes the ailing assassin to his small apartment and checks on his vitals. Jack reveals that he has been feeling sick since around the same time that he met with April, and the scientist suggests that the two might be somehow linked. After he leaves, Dr. Bergman starts to look into this curious case, trying to read up on his old research documents on life extension and also secretly visiting his old laboratory at Masuka. He realizes that a stranger is also stalking him and trying to get into his well-guarded apartment.

Meanwhile, Jack and April spend a lot of time with each other, growing closer and confiding secrets about their past. April reveals that she once had a daughter who she lost in the world and that she regularly prays for her well-being. Jack, too tells her about his fazed past, about his mother, who abandoned him at a young age, and his father, with whom he does not keep in touch. Although April wants Jack to spend the night at her place, he insists on leaving, saying that it is not safe for her to be near him.

The next day, Jack visits the last address of his father that he had and is informed that the old man had died a year ago. Jack, once completely unaffected by any of these emotions till one point in his life, now almost breaks down after hearing of his fathers demise. Bergman also visits Aprils club and tries to convince her to stay away from the hitman. Then, meeting with Jack, he reveals that in his early childhood, the man was subject to an experimental program in which street children were taken to test trials to extend life. In it, some hormones were restricted from being produced in their bodies, which essentially made them devoid of any deep emotional feelings. Jack had been a part of this and therefore could be a cold-blooded killer, and the corporation was now sending men, or humanoids, to bring him in and conclude the research. However, these hormones now caused a resurgence in Jacks body, which made him feel so strangely attached to things, and also, this was causing an imbalance in his body which was making him so sick.

Bergman also reveals that he was the one heading all such experiments, but is now terribly remorseful of them, and also that Jack is sure to die if his body keeps producing the hormones. For some time, Jack tries to stay away from April, still looking at her from a distance, but then ultimately gives himself in as the two spend a romantic night together.

Despite the character of Jack being framed as a source-less drifter, enough information has been provided about him. He remembers his mother, and tries to very twistedly grow closer to her memory by paying for a night with an elderly sex-bot and then only sleeping with her hand over his head. He remembers his father, and remembers not to meet him. He recalls the sounds and experiences of his childhood, presented in black and white by the film.

But he also has this ever-growing doubt about the actuality of these memorieswhether they were really memories or just a dream. This fixation with what is real and what is not continues, as there is enough reason to be doubtful in the world he lives in, where fake plastic-like strawberries are served at clubs. It is perhaps Jacks gradual realization about the fabric of his life, along with his growing ability to feel, that the director wants to talk about throughout the film. But overall, there seems to be a shroud of almost forced inexplicability and depth to the film.

All three characters are assigned poetic and lyrical monologues, which do not add anything, but instead become dull very quickly. The backdrop of science-fiction also does not play much of a role other than Jacks condition and the ever-present flashing neon lights. There are one or two scenes where civilian protests on the streets are shown in news programs, quite like the recent conditions in Hong Kong, but nothing more of that is explored either.

The next morning, Jack wakes up alone in the apartment, and there is no sign of April anywhere. Coming down to the street, he sees two men (one of whom was earlier seen outside Bergmans apartment) and a black van waiting to abduct him. He starts limping towards the other side of the street, with the two men following him, and then suddenly sees the young man he had not been able to kill earlier in the film. The man now yields a gun and shoots at the two perpetrators. A gunfight follows, which kills all three men, but Jack remains unharmed in the middle; he limps into a corner alley and possibly passes out. With a slow fade, the scene changes to a tall skyscraper where Jack is seen working as a construction laborer. He used to work in this profession earlier, and is now seemingly back to it. He goes back to the club and asks for April, but is told that she has returned to Vietnam. Looking at the plate of fake strawberries, he walks out of the club with a disheartened spirit and walks into the crowd.

Jack does survive physically, but he is definitely lost spiritually. His growing feelings were already making his life more difficult, and now without even his beloved April, Jacks life is nothing but hollow. In a short sequence of fleeting scenes played in slow-motion, Aprils perspective is shown as she walked away from the apartment the previous morning. She had removed Jacks gun and thrown it away, which had rendered him defenseless and could have led to his death. She is also seen meeting with her young daughter, but by now, we really do not know what is real and what is fake. By the end, viewers are left with more confusion, as Jack promises to keep waiting for April in his seemingly unending expanded life. It would be really difficult for even the most enthusiastic viewers of the science-fiction genre to take Loveland with any seriousness.

Loveland (or Expired) is a 2022 Australian Science Fiction film written and directed by Ivan Sen.

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'Loveland' Ending, Explained: What Is The Cause Of Jack Falling Sick? Is He Dead or Alive? | DMT - DMT

As warmer weather approaches and the Appalachian region defrosts, exploring local trails is a great way to get outside.

In Cambria County, Pennsylvania, theres no shortage of opportunities to do just that at any skill level, Conservation and Recreation Authority Executive Director Cliff Kitner said

The cool thing about the trails is you can go out there every day and itll be different every day, he said. From a recreation standpoint to a connection standpoint, to the shear beauty of them, the opportunities are endless.

That includes the authority-owned 48-mile total Ghost Town Trail, with trailheads in Ebensburg, Nanty Glo, Twin Rocks, Wehrum and out-of-county access in Dilltown, Heshbon and John P. Saylor Park, as well as several extension locations; Path of the Flood Trail, which has parking areas at Stineman, Bealtown/Stineman, Ehrenfeld Ball Park, Mainline Memorial Park, Fifficktown, Staple Bend Tunnel Park and Franklin Park; and Jim Mayer Riverswalk Trail that has access at Cleavland Street, Riverside, Bridge Street, Messenger Street and Hickory Street in the City of Johnstown.

More information on those paths can be found at http://www.cambriaconservationrecreation.com.

Throughout the county theres also the nearly 300-acre Stackhouse Park off Luzerne Street; Inclined Plane trails for hiking and downhill mountain biking; Lorain/Stonycreek Hiking Trails; Honan Avenue Trail; 70-mile Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail that stretches from Seward to Ohiopyle in Fayette County; Nathans Divide outside of Ebensburg Borough; the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site that includes part of the 6-to-10 Trail; and Prince Gallitzin State Park.

For more information on these trails, visit http://www.visitjohnstownpa.com.

In addition to those locations, theres the state DCNR Gallitzin State Forests, such as the Charles F. Lewis Natural Area off state Route 403 and Babcock Division off state Route 56 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Kitner also pointed to the various benefits of getting outside.

How can you go out on trail and go by one of the streams or waterfalls and not soak it in and be happy, he said.

According to the United States National Park Service, hiking is one of the best ways to get exercise.

No matter what type of trail you find yourself on, hiking is a great whole-body workout from head to toe and everything in between, the NPS website says.

Hitting a trail can improve heart health and sense of balance and can build stronger muscles and bones.

There are mental health benefits, as well, ranging from boosts to mood to calming anxiety and lower risk of depression, according to the National Parks Service.

In addition to having mental health benefits, being outdoors opens up your senses to your surroundings and improves your sensory perception, the website says. Taking in the sights, smells and feelings of nature has so many health benefits it can even be prescribed by a doctor.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

Joshua Byers is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5054. Follow him on Twitter @Journo_Josh.

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Family Life | 'Different every day': Spring season provides ample opportunity to experience region's many trails - TribDem.com

Environmental activist Sue Nissen wears a teaspoon on a string around her neck, which she likes to hand out to lawmakers during hearings in the Minnesota state legislature. Thats because one teaspoon of salt is enough to pollute five gallons of water, making it inhospitable for life.

Road crews dump more than 20 million metric tons of salt on U.S. roads each winter to keep them free of ice and snow an almost unfathomable number of teaspoons. Now, Nissens organization, Stop Over Salting, is pushing for Minnesota to pass a bill to reduce that figure by helping applicators learn how to use less of it a technique called smart salting.

The reason, she said, is because the states freshwater bodies are in a crisis: 54 lakes and streams are impaired by high salt concentrations, meaning they fail to meet federal water quality standards, while dozens of others are drawing closer to that tipping point, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. But environmental activists and scientists argue that its possible to maintain winter safety while reducing the amount of salt spread on streets and highways.

There are solutions, Nissen told Grist. We can still have our winter mobility and be safe with less salt.

Road salt, which works by lowering the melting point of ice, is cheap and effective, reducing car accidents by up to 85 percent. But aside from corroding metal and concrete leading to an estimated $5 billion worth of damages each year it also ends up in rivers and lakes, where it has toxic effects on aquatic life. In January, researchers from the United States and Canada found that even salt concentrations below the threshold considered safe by governments were causing severe damage to organisms.

Warnings about the effects of road salt on freshwater bodies and ecosystems first started in the 1970s, said Bill Hintz, the studys lead author and an environmental scientist at the University of Toledo in Ohio. But salt use has tripled since then. Now, with climate change encouraging excessive salting by making winter storms more unpredictable, officials in states like Minnesota are starting to realize the magnitude of the problem.

The Minnesota bill, if it passes, would be one of the first state laws to encourage smart salting, a way to reduce road salt use while still maintaining winter safety. New Hampshire passed a similar law in 2013, while Wisconsin also has a salt wise training program. In New York, the Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force launched a three-year pilot program this month to reduce freshwater salt contamination.

The concept of smart salting encompasses a range of technologies and techniques. Brining involves laying down a liquid mixture of salt before a storm, which prevents ice from sticking and reduces the need for repetitive salting. It also includes applicators learning how to calibrate their equipment to know how much salt theyre using in the first place, as well as when to stop salting (below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, for example, salt is much less effective). Minnesota has been training applicators in these techniques since 2005, but under the new bill, certified smart salters would be protected from liability, preventing them from being sued for slip-and-fall accidents.

Nissen hopes that this protection will encourage more private applicators to be certified in smart salting practices, which are not only better for the environment but help save money on salt. But convincing them is a challenge, she said, because people have come to associate the sight of salt with winter safety. If anybody calls in and says, I dont see enough salt, she said, they call the applicator and say get out there and put more salt down.

This overreliance on road salt has severe environmental consequences. The most common kind used for de-icing is sodium chloride rock salt but calcium and magnesium chlorides are sometimes used for colder weather. Once it enters a body of water, salt is almost impossible to remove, requiring expensive and energy-intensive processes like reverse osmosis. Chloride, in particular, binds tightly to water molecules, and can be highly toxic to organisms like fish, amphibians, and microscopic zooplankton, which form the basis of the food chain in a lake or river.

If the zooplankton die off, Hintz said, it can trigger a chain reaction that allows algae to flourish, causing toxic blooms and affecting native fish species that cant survive in murky waters. That should trouble recreational fishers everywhere, he said, but salt contamination has also made it into drinking water, particularly in areas where people rely on deep wells to reach groundwater. In the Adirondacks in upstate New York, a 2019 study found that 64 percent of wells tested for sodium exceeded federal limits which can be particularly dangerous for people with high blood pressure or others on sodium-restricted diets.

This makes salt-reduction programs like Minnesotas crucial, Hintz said, to flatten the curve of freshwater salt concentrations. Best management practices are critically important right now, Hintz said.

But reducing salt use will only slow down the crisis, not stop it, Hintz warned. Salt thats already been deposited might take years to show up in groundwater, and how much can be safely added without permanently damaging an ecosystem is an open question, he said. And non-salt alternatives, like sand or even beet juice, can come with their own problems, silting up rivers or introducing nutrients into ecosystems that can lead to algal blooms.

Some cities have opted for proactive solutions preventing snow and ice from building up in the first place, rather than melting it with salt once its already a problem. Since 1988, the town of Holland, Michigan, has invested in a snowmelt system, which uses pre-heated water from a nearby power plant to warm sidewalks and roads through a network of pipes underneath the surface, eliminating the need for salting. But solutions like this one are expensive and labor-intensive, said Amy Sasamoto, an official with the citys downtown development district. The town spent over $1 million to install the first 250,000 square feet of underground tubing, and the system still only encompasses a few streets in Hollands main downtown shopping area, although Sasamoto said it could expand along with future development.

These solutions may not be scalable to something like a four-lane highway, said Xianming Shi, an engineer and the director of the National Center for Transportation Infrastructure Durability & Life-Extension at Washington State University. Shi studies how connected infrastructure, such as cars tapped into an information-sharing network, can increase winter road safety. For example, sharing real-time information about road conditions can help road maintenance crews know how much salt to use, reducing oversalting.

But even improved technology and data-sharing wont be enough, Shi said, to stop the flow of salt. Instead, its going to be crucial to encourage safer winter driving habits like asking people to stay home during storms whenever possible, or to drive more slowly even on a highway.

Peoples mindset is more of this moment, like I want to drive fast through the winter, Shi said. They dont realize that this has a hidden consequence.

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Road salt is terrible for lakes and streams. Minnesota may have a solution - Grist

THE government officials say Cabinet has not made any decision yet, to shorten the life of parliament or increase it to five years.

Chief of Staff Robson Djokovic and Special Secretary to the Prime Minister (SSPM) Albert Kabui both rejected claims that the government had already made a decision on the parliament extension.

Speaking during the government press conference on Wednesday, Kabui said the Cabinet has not agreed to the suggestion to hold election earlier or to extend the term of the current Parliament.

Mr Djokovic in addition also echoed the same sentiments stating that no decision has been made as to the extension.

It is still in a consultation process. But, yes, it is definitely under consideration and nobody denies that but that process is ongoing, Djokovic said.

He clarified that the extension of parliament is not a government policy rather it is a response to the overarching policies of managing Covid-19 and maintaining economic livelihood in support of governments economic policy.

Djokovic further stated that they are still waiting on analysis of what are the impacts of extending parliament, the impacts of maintaining the national general election (NGE) next year and what are the impacts of calling an early election?

On the cost of the elections, Djokovic said it would cost about $100m.

He also pointed out that $300m is still outstanding to host Pacific Gamesadding that it has put a lot of pressure on the government.

SSPM Kabui in explaining why the government proposed to extend the life of parliament said:

In terms of man-power, resources and logistics we cant have both events in one year.

So, the government feels in order to accommodate the Pacific Games we have to move the election.

However, the Opposition Group has already opposed to the extension.

Leader of the Opposition Mathew Wale last week said Solomon Islands can do both with the support of its partners, but to have that with an excuse for an unnecessary amendment on the face of it, is self-serving and not the best option, and called on the government to step-down if it has no idea on how to run it.

Other groups and organisations have also objected to the idea to extend the parliament.

By FOLLET JOHN Newsroom, Honiara

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Govt: Extension of parliament still in process Solomon Star News - Solomon Star