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Israeli Rightist Warns That Bush's Iraq Policy Could Hurt Effort To Combat Iran
Efraim "Effi" Eitam, a leader of Israel's right-wing Orthodox Zionist camp, is criticizing President Bush's Iraq policy, saying it could end up undermining efforts to confront Iran.
Eitam, who sits on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and is the leader of the Renewed National Religious Zionist party, spent three days last week in Washington briefing the administration, Congress and think tanks about the Iranian threat. Eitam told the Forward that, during his trip, he criticized Bush's decision to send more troops to Baghdad and the emphasis that his administration is putting on spreading democracy.
The main concern, Eitam said, is that the continuing presence of American troops in Iraq would make it hard to build support for an American strike against Iran.
"The most important commodity we have is the U.S. support for war against Iran, so we need to build on this," he said. "The administration is unpopular but can still take a strategic decision on Iran. Still, I'm concerned Bush is so committed to Iraq that he will lose the possibility of dealing with Iran."
Eitam said that Bush's message to the American public should be that although Iraq was the wrong war, the principle of depriving a rogue state from acquiring nuclear weapons is still a good one.
"The wrong target has been shot," he said. "You get a second chance to shoot the right one…. The original goal of the war in Iraq was WMDs, not democracy, and I tell them this is still true."
Eitam presents an unusual blend of security and religious credentials. He pursued a military career, retiring as a brigadier-general in 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, where he commanded the troops in the south. As head of the National Religious Party, he was minister in several government coalitions between 2002 and 2004.
His outright opposition to concessions to the Palestinians, his attacks on the loyalty of Israeli Arabs and a well-publicized scuffle with the police in the West Bank last year have made him a polarizing figure.
During his trip to Washington, Eitam advised his "Iraq-obsessed" interlocutors to redeploy to pro-American countries in the region, reaffirm their commitment to stay in the Middle East and make it clear that they will prevent Tehran from going nuclear. In doing so, he effectively brushed aside the democracy-spreading agenda backed by the administration, and the recent plan to put more American troops into Baghdad to quell the sectarian violence.
Despite tepid public support in America for another military venture in the Middle East, Eitam asserted that he sensed strong bipartisan support in Washington for using all available means to stop Iran's nuclear program.
Eitam noted that while American intelligence disagreed a year ago with Israel's assessment that Iran was three to four years away from reaching a critical point, Washington now endorses Jerusalem's estimates.
"Everybody now agrees that we have three to four years before we reach a point where the Iranian project can't be reversed," he said. "We are not talking about the time when they will have the knowledge, but when they will have a bomb and the missile to deliver it."
While he did not openly call for military action, Eitam noted that the Iranian program was currently at a stage where "it is big enough to be understood but small enough to be destroyed."
Asked about the danger of Iran retaliating against Jerusalem and Washington in the event of a military strike by Israel or the United States, Eitam struck a confident tone.
"We have the Arrows system to stop missiles, we are now better prepared to deal with Hezbollah and if the U.S. redeploys in Iraq, it will make the troops safer," he said. "So what's the risk of three months of systematic strikes against nuclear facilities, which will end up delaying their program?"
Eitam said that even if Israel were to carry out strikes on its own, it would need American support for refueling, as well as authorization to fly over Iraq and intelligence cooperation. "This is why I tell the Americans that they will be seen as being part of it anyway, which is why they should prepare accordingly," he said.
The Israeli lawmaker dismissed the claims by pro-American Sunni regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan that progress on the Palestinian track would help produce a robust unified front against Tehran.
"This is just propaganda," he said. "They want us to stop the Iranian nuclear program, we don't need progress on the Palestinian issue. The Saudis should salute us for taking care of this, so this idea that we have to give something to the Palestinians is just rubbish."
He went on to claim that the Palestinian question was marginal in those countries, and he dismissed the notion that Israeli occupation of the West Bank was inflaming the Arab public throughout the region.
Eitam, who quit the Sharon government in 2004 because of Israel's decision to withdraw from Gaza, said that the violent aftermath and chaos of the disengagement from there — as well as from Lebanon — had discredited the land-for-peace paradigm.
"No one will want to try this again unless there is a very fundamental change on the Palestinian side, which may take decades," Eitam said. In the meantime, he added, Israel has proved that it could contain the terrorist threat by erecting the security fence.
Eitam said that he expected to play a prominent role in any future government headed by Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the Likud party and is a former prime minister. During his first stint as prime minister, Netanyahu upset many settler leaders by agreeing to Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank. But this time, Eitam said, "I will be nearby him." Eitam added, "He has wounds, and he has matured."


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On the Go...
I finally finished my interlocking stars quilt top. I followed Elizabeth's instructions to press the seams open, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I've always been pretty against open seams, as they always seemed like, well, just too much work. But I have to admit the top lies nice and flat, and I didn't have to pin any of the seams. Up next is a backing pieced from my stash, and some free-motion quilting. Hopefully I'll have a finished quilt to show you next week. This baby is due asap. (And, no, not mine this time.)
|Interlocking Stars Quilt - pattern by Elizabeth Hartman
I made a quick pillow for my friend's little girl who turned 2 last week. My husband thought I was crazy to make a 2-year old a pillow, when she probably really wanted a toy. I explained to him that the pillow is really for her mom who will appreciate it much more than a toy that beeps, squeaks or sings. At least I'm that kind of mom. I gave embroidery a try for the first time. I have a ways to go, but I actually enjoyed the process. Thank goodness for youtube. I was going to give hand quilting a try too, but I just ran out of time. I'd love to make some pillows for my own kids so I'll try it then.
|Sleeping Beauty Birthday Pillow
On Hold....
- Little Man Quilt - just needs the binding sewn down.
- Maple Leaf Rag. I know, I know. Soon. I hope.
- Wonky Star Charity Quilt
- Wonky 1/4 Square {Bee Inspired} Quilt
- Colour Wheel Quilt
I just joined Angela's UFO group on flickr. I'm hoping it will help me to take stock of my UFO's, and finally make a dent in them. And I think I might even give up on a couple of them. You know the ones. With the fabric that is brown, green and maroon. Oh, yes, I have a couple of those.
Hope you had a great Wednesday.

subset: commoncrawl


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59 comments:
i cannot imagine how hard it would be to have to let go of your best friend.ReplyDelete
your words are beautiful and hilarious and sad. thank you for sharing. i wish the best to you and yours on this new chapter without barnaby.
:( What a fun dog!ReplyDelete
Hope he sends you letters. :)
There is no chance I could ever do that. Seriously strong you two were. It may have been the right thing for your circumstances but this will make my wife cry why she reads it. You still have one left right?? or did I miss a post, which is entirely though weirdly possible.ReplyDelete
This made me cry and cry...beautifully sad and bittersweet. You did the right thing and the right thing is oh so hard sometimes.ReplyDelete
*HUGS* barney is lucky to have so much love in his life, from all sorts of angles. being a parent is making the hard decisions. you did good, natalie. you did good.ReplyDelete
truth... this is making me cry.ReplyDelete
This letter has me in a big blubbering ball of mess. You're a really good egg, Natalie. I hope you, Brandon, and that cute kid of yours enjoy the July 4th weekend, and find comfort knowing you've made the best decision for ALL of you. xoReplyDelete
What a tender, beautiful, letter! You are so incredibly talented at expressing yourself- I've got a lump in my throat and tears coming down my face. And I'm not even a pet person (although i'm sure i would LOVE Sir Barnaby McGillicutty). Yes, I'm a big boob and yes, I have always sucked at goodbyes. But this letter just makes my heart swell with emotion, for you, for Brandon, for Huckleberry, for Barney. And the lessons you're drawing from it...WOW. You're one remarkable gal!ReplyDelete
- rachel from austJuly 02, 2011
beautiful words natalie, i hope you gave some form of this letter to his foster mum and dad im sure it will help for a smoother transition. Stay strong xReplyDelete
Oh, I'm so sorry Natalie. Barney will be better than fine, but your heart might take a while to heal. Those darn pets! They make us love them. Hang in there my dear. And tell the Holbs to hang in there too. It'll get better.ReplyDelete
oh my! I'm so sorry, that is sad, and I can't even imagine giving away our boston terrier, even though she is a terror at times and I want to throw her out the kitchen window (don't worry, I would never do that) I still love her to pieces, we've had her since she was 8 or 9 weeks old....ReplyDelete
I'm sorry for your loss, but it will be for the best and barney will be happy, they adapt well!
Best wishes that you feel better about your descion soon!
Oh this breaks my heart. But after reading the previous entry you had about this, and the emotional struggle, you did the right thing for your family & Barnaby. The pain fades and you will all heal. It just feels really, really bad right now. :-(ReplyDelete
It'll be okay. Really.
This made me cry as well! So sweet!ReplyDelete
Sending thoughts and prayers your way.
- jessicaJuly 03, 2011
beautiful. you are all amazing and strong. he will always love you and remember that adorable chubby boy of yours. much love and hugs for all.ReplyDelete
Tears are running down my face as I empathize the feelings that you and your family are having today. Having gone through the same situation, I can tell you that as bad as you are feeling right now, the knowledge that you have made a choice for the better will prevail and get you through this.ReplyDelete
You, are an excellent writer. I was clinging to every word and feeling every emotion as I read this letter. I hope you did send it to the owners so that the can grasp how truly special this dog and his former owners are.
Why on earth are you giving him away? Sorry but I could never do that, regardless of the circumstances...ReplyDelete
I hope he has a happy life with his new family. I also hope they keep him and not pass him off to another family.
I'm so sorry. What a heartbreaking thing to have to do. Please don't let the anonymous commenters torment you; you did the right thing for everyone. There was no way to foresee this when you brought Barnaby home as a puppy.ReplyDelete
You guys are so brave. I'll be thinking of you this weekend, you must be feeling rough.ReplyDelete
Dear anonymous commenters: Your time to criticise was before, when the decision was being made; to give advice and to argue your point. Now that the decision HAS been made and cannot be reversed, what point do your mean comments make except to purposefully hurt the author.ReplyDelete
Do you have no conscience, are you and your lives so perfect that you feel you are in a position to judge others. You never know what is around the corner in life; things happen that mean you have to adjust your circumstances.
Natalie passed on her beloved dog to a proper family that will love & care for him, she didn't toss him in the river or dump him at the Humane Society.
If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.
Thank you
What a hard, hard decision this must have been! So proud of you! This was so touching, and you will get through this!ReplyDelete
i'm so sorry natalie. and i completely support you deleting anonymous comments. if you can't post your name with a mean comment, you're a coward who should be deleted. hugs to you and yours :(ReplyDelete
"People are always saying that change is a good thing. But all they're really saying is that something you didn't want to happen at all... has happened."ReplyDelete
Sorry you went through that! I hope Peter Pan gets to stay, but it's for you and your hubs to decide. I just love the pictures of you holding Peter Pan like a baby; it makes me feel like he was your puppy soulmate during the time you waited for Henry.
Try to feel better, you can be happy in knowing that Barney will be happy.
oh, the lump in my throat. here's to hoping that swallowing around yours eventually gets easier.ReplyDelete
This is so sad. My husband and I have had to make the same decision before. It's definitely not easy and you never quite get over it. You always hope that you made the right decision, not only for yourself, but also for your dog baby. All the best xxxReplyDelete
Sniff! Such a beautiful, heartfelt letter. It most certainly brought tears to my eyes. I'm sorry you guys are going through the pain of it all...sending positive vibes and thoughts your way!ReplyDelete
Oh! So sad! I understand your heartbreak. I had to adopt out a two year old Schnauzer after my daughter was born. He was no longer the baby and became very jealous of that. You have to do, sometimes, what you have to do...♥ReplyDelete
Nat...this is the anonymous commenter that commented about the 'boobs' post. Not all anonymous commenters are cowards. They may not have a Google account, Colleen. Anyway, stick with your gut, not your heart, Nat. Time will heal all wounds. Do not second guess your decision. No matter what the naysayers write, it was your choice to find Barney a new 'crib.' Although painful, you and your husband have your reasons for doing what you did. Be strong, united, and confident in your decision. Don't make excuses for your reasons. If you love something set it free..to run and play in open grassy back yards. 5 years from now Henry will be ready for kindergarten, you will probably have a #2(or one on the way), Brandon will be comfy in his job, and you'll be living in a 900sq ft apartment that has 2 bed rooms and space to decorate.:) Barney will be grey, fat, and will have made friends with the local cat, and chased away all the squirrels. He'll be grateful his birth parents gave him such a wonderful life. It will all work out. Time is on your side. Thanks for writing again!:)ReplyDelete
- ChandraJuly 03, 2011
What a wonderful tribute to Barnaby. You have a huge heart and a huge talent. Be well and at peace with your decision. I know you made it with all the possible soul searching there is in the world. Barnaby will be fine. And so will you. Hugs to you and your family. I don't know you, but feel like I do. A real testament to your writing.ReplyDelete
Oh the tears are flowing. What a hard thing to do. Our first born furry little girl, Maddy, accidently stepped on our 5 month old yesterday. She, the not furry little girl, cried and cried and the thought or having to give away Maddy raced threw my mind. It was just an accident and luckily we can avoid future accidents by picking small children while Maddy goes nuts about going on a walk. My heart goes out to you.ReplyDelete
That is one of my favorite pics of him. Reminds me of Fizzgig from the Dark Crystal.ReplyDelete
I know this was a difficult decision for you and I know you will miss him! Wish I had more profound things to say.ReplyDelete
I know how difficult this must have been, but I also know the decision was made to keep your son safe. What a testament to your love for both of them that you found the best solution possible.ReplyDelete
ahh, this makes me so sad for you guys. i just know how much you love him. i don't know if i could ever love a dog that much, but i've seen dog-loss grief and it has been some of the saddest i've ever, ever seen. i'm really sorry you had to let him go.ReplyDelete
I'm sorry you have to go through this :( I know how it feels, I had to leave my furbaby in England when we moved back to Canada. I still can't look at pictures of him....but it gets better! I know it doesn't seem like it will but I get emails about all the fun he has and I know we did the right thing :) *hugs*ReplyDelete
I'm sorry you had to say goodbye! Hopefully there are more sniffs, squirrels and people for Barney to meet on the island! Saying good bye to a doggy is hard but you'll get through it! We all do!ReplyDelete
Only when you love something that much is the pain that great....better to have loved and lost right?ReplyDelete
My best to you, there is no way you made this decision easily.
I'm crying so hard. It will get easier. You made the ultimate sacrifice for your baby, you did the right thing. Sending love!ReplyDelete
when i moved to europe, the conditions of my grant were that i bring no person (or animal) with me. i wanted to find someone to foster my dog for a few years but everyone told me that it was too cruel to have her adjust to a new home, only to be taken away again upon my arrival. my sister found a new *permanent* home for her and i was so sad i cried for days. i still can't even really talk about too much without feeling sick. that said, i know how you feel and it's horrible.ReplyDelete
so - if i were you, i would just go stare at huck and squeeze/kiss his cheeks. i can't imagine feeling any kind of pain in the world with such a perfect little human in your midst. ;)
- AlexandraJuly 04, 2011
I cannot feel sorry for you; I feel sorry for the animal.ReplyDelete
I must say, all your talk about how you didn't have a "crystal ball" back when you got a dog isn't quite convincing.
My man and I do know that our life may take turns in the future that will make it difficult to own a dog and provide for him in an appropriate way (keeping animals in a shoebox in Manhattan I consider selfish and bordering abuse) - so we are not getting one. Easy, right?
(also: you don't need a crystal ball to predict that an animal will indeed go neurotic in that tiny of a space, new baby and all)
As far as I can tell your priority was always having children; this whole scenario does have the unpleasant taste of the dog just having served his purpose now that you have a baby.
I hope for Barney that his new family doesn't pass him off once he doesn't fit their lifestyle anymore.
For my part, your blog was fun for a little while (maybe a month?), but you do come across as so annoyingly immature - on so many levels - that I am no longer interested in reading.
Nat. I love this post. You are an incredible person. I read this and I see how much you love Barney. It takes a lot of strength and love to do what you and B did. My family and I have been going back and forth trying to decide what to do with our pup, and seeing this post gives me a little bit of strength.ReplyDelete
I sure hope that you don't disable the anonymous comments, because that is all that will allow me to post. I hate that some people hide behind their anonymity and say hurtful things to people. You did what was right for your family and what was right for Barney. Period. There is nothing more to it! That is where your priority is.
Thank you for sharing this difficult decision with us. I hope that I can someday have the same strength that you have.
Oh! I just cried like a fool! I've never met your beautiful Barnaby McDuff - but I miss him so!!ReplyDelete
For years my family did Boxer rescue and it absolutely tore me apart to hand over a dog we had fostered for weeks, even months to their new family. It's bittersweet - but oh so tough.
We'll be keeping the Holbrooks in our prayers to make this transition a bit easier for you, but to hold him in your hearts forever.
....crying. Is it bad that I feel like a very similar letter could be written to my now-ex boyfriend? sad day.ReplyDelete
Ok, this made me cry.ReplyDelete
That must have been so hard. I think that Barney will love his new home and it will be much easier for you. And don't listen to the negativity. People always have the best advice when it's not them in the situation.ReplyDelete
Oh Alexandra, I do so look up to you. You obviously have it all together, always make the right decision, and have such control over your life that no unexpected changes ever force you to adjust. Not to mention your uncanny ability to read other people's minds and hearts and know their true motivations--even when you have never met them! Thank heavens you are here to let us all know how horrible we are in comparison to your unstoppable awesomeness.ReplyDelete
And Natalie, how dare you make a heart-rending decision that will give Barnaby a happier life! For shame.
I am so sorry you had to say goodbye. Sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest thing to do. Whenever you get sad, just picture Barney romping in a field of squirrels. I'm sure he is enjoying his new space.ReplyDelete
Ugh, I'm crying enormously fat tears at this one. I am so sorry for you all... It's an awful thing to say goodbye to a dog, whatever the circumstances.ReplyDelete
- BarbaraJuly 05, 2011
Dear Natalie, I have been reading your blog since that article in Salon, and I also went back to read about your years in Idaho. Usually I can't comment because my computer at work won't allow it. Today, I had to find a way. I am so sad for what you and Brandon have gone through in reaching this heart-wrenching decision. What got my tears flowing was the mental image of Barnaby sleeping with his head on Brandon's shoulder every night. Barnaby will be fine. It's you and particularly your husband I feel for. My husband and I have two spoiled cats, and as it always seems to go with pets, one of them is more 'mine' and the other 'his' even though of course we each love them both. So I think I understand a bit of what you are experiencing. May the many good wishes, of friends and people you don't even know, help you find comfort and healing. It is a brave, thoughtful and very difficult thing you have done for Barnaby and for your family. Thank you for the joy and yes, the tears you bring us with your writing. Peace and love to you.ReplyDelete
- EileenJuly 05, 2011
Sending HUGS to you - what a hard decision but a RIGHT decision. That Barney man will do great. Now I have to go and finish my cry.ReplyDelete
((hugs)) for you and Brandon. I bet Barnaby is getting lots of love from his new family and is just fine. These things seem to be much harder on us humans...ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 05, 2011
Heartbreaking and beautiful. You are good doggy parents and I'm sure Barney absolutely agrees!ReplyDelete
If you guys weren't the best parents you'd have never even considered this option. The best choice is never the easy choice. I'm so sorry for you all but so happy for Barney in his awesome new family. His new dads name is Bruce...any man named Bruce you know will be good fun!!!ReplyDelete
Sigh. I'm going to miss you, Barney. :-(ReplyDelete
Now that he is gone, I'll tell you: he was my favorite. But don't tell The Pan, please.
wow, this almost had me crying too. I'm going to go snuggle my puppy as soon as I get home.ReplyDelete
That Alexandra girl must certainly have a heart of gold.ReplyDelete
- SnoopyJuly 06, 2011
You didn't "adopt" the dog from the pet store. You bought him, thus contributing to puppy mill abuses and creating more demand for the "product." And, in keeping with that mindset, you are still treating the pup like a product that's worn out its welcome. May your precious baby not treat you the same way when you're old and gray.ReplyDelete
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For my computer security course we are brainstorming different ways to use attributes for a unique user (that are readily available over a network) to prevent various mischievous activities. We've already investigated clustering email attributes to help reduce spam and possibly locate botnets, along with some other things. We were asked about validating unique votes for internet contests today, and I'm really stumped. Here are the conditions:
A website is running a week-long contest where users are allowed to vote once per day. There are no accounts or logins necessary to vote, all you need to supply is a valid email address. No verification emails are sent. What can you do to maintain the integrity of the contest?
-I was thinking about tracking IPs, but many computers can be a part of a single network. Is there anything more specific than an IP that is unique to each computer, that is also accessible over a network?
-Also, how can you stop people from entering multiple valid personal email addresses (for example, I have a spam email address that I give out at stores, a university email address, and then an old one I don't use, but they are all valid!).
-Could the contest be illegitimately won by someone who is IP spoofing?
I've seen some similar questions asked on here, but they all contain very complex procedures to minimize cheating. This one is very simple, and there are obviously many holes present.


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For "White Tiger" director Karen Shakhnazarov, Captain Ahab was a scrawny Soviet tank driver and his Moby Dick was a dusty Nazi tank.
Shakhnazarov said he wove Herman Melville's classic whale tale into his story that takes place at the end of World War II.
"I really love 'Moby Dick,' it's one of my favorite novels," he told the audience at TheWrap screening series Wednesday night at the Sundance Cinemas Sunset 5 theater.
"White Tiger," Russia's official Oscar entry for Best Foreign film, follows Red Army Sergeant Ivan Naydenov who, after barely surviving a brutal battle with a mysterious Panzer tank, becomes obsessed with destroying it at any cost. The German tank, which picks off its Russian opponents with ease, appears impervious to the Soviets' counterattacks. In a flash, the so-called "white tiger" routinely disappears into forests too thick and swamps too wet for any ordinary tank to tread.
The Panzer is like a ghost — and its this mystical quality that Shakhnazarov hoped to capture.
"Life is mystic," he told TheWrap's awards editor Steve Pond during a Q&A after the film's showing. "You have no answer. Why? What for? And what happened?"
Shakhnazarov said he had long wanted to film a World War II movie as a tribute to his late father who served in the Red Army during the war.
The director said he had served in a tank battalion as a young man in the Soviet Union, but was mostly inspired by his father's tales of fighting the Germans in the 1940s.
"He was a real guy that fought," Shakhnazarov said. "For me, it was important to make some tribute to his memory and his friends with whom he won the war."
It was no easy feat.
Forgoing any computer animation, Shakhnazarov enlisted scores of actual tanks for the battle scenes. And, the logistical challenge of finding disposable World War II relics aside, he had to make fights between the lumbering behemoths look, well, exciting by conventional action standards.
"Generally, tanks are very slow and usually the fights of tanks are at a big distance," he said. "So for cinema, you must find a way to make this…" He paused to find the right word in English. "I'm sorry, you understand. It was enough of a challenge, yes."
The $6 million budget also paid for elaborate, if destructible, sets.
There was the tiny wood cabins in the Russian village. And the cobble-stoned East German city and the ornate chamber where a disgruntled Adolf Hitler reflected on the Nazis place in history.
"Everything was built," he said. "The village was built, the German city was built, the place of the battle was built."
He paused, laughed to himself, then told the crowd: "So, welcome to the Russian Federation."
Budgeting was likely the least complex element of making the film, which serves as a meditation on the senselessness of war and the violence that spawns in its fog.
"Everyone hates war, but war exists. War is going and going, today it's war somewhere yes?" he said. "Is it part of our nature? Or, like Leo Tolstoy, as he said in 'War and Peace,' it's something out of human nature?"


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Sheryl Sandberg's new book, "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,'' has sparked enormous debate and controversy — and that began before its actual release on March 11. Without the benefit of reading her words, but relying on the publicity blitz that catapulted the book to best seller status based on pre-orders alone, thousands have weighed in on Sandberg's call for women to "lean in" and more aggressively pursue their ambitions.
The passion that spills from so many of these early responses demonstrates just how difficult it is for women who are navigating the difficult terrain of work, career success, and family responsibilities. As Sandberg points out, women have been stuck in the quicksand of bad — and sometimes worsening — statistics for decades. Even as women have outnumbered men in college and graduate schools and have poured into the workplace in nearly equal numbers for decades, we have made little headway in achieving the top leadership jobs, the corporate board seats, or in shrinking the vast gender gap in compensation.
Sandberg's response to the considerable body of research regarding the biases that thwart women's advancement is to conclude that women lean back prematurely and avoid seizing leadership opportunities that could propel their careers forward. Her research, combined with anecdotes from her own experiences, provides a compelling and often inspirational narrative.
As someone who spends much of my professional life focusing on women's leadership and advancement, I love Sandberg's thoughtful advice to women. My hope, however, is that she will use her considerable platform to address the workplace norms and practices that are more of an impediment than our own fears and inhibitions.
Sandberg clearly recognizes that these issues need to be addressed. Her route to such structural change, however, is to increase the number of women who will stay engaged in their careers. Doing so, she argues, will change the power structure and expand opportunities: "More female leadership will lead to fairer treatment for all."
I hope so. But the equally noisy media reaction to Sandberg's former Google colleague, Marissa Mayer, provides a cautionary tale. Sandberg posits that criticism of Mayer's decision to take a 2-week maternity leave as the new CEO of Yahoo ignored the parenting role of Mayer's husband and the breakthrough importance of her position. The book was presumably in print before Mayer's subsequent decision to require all Yahoo workers to cease working remotely, and before Mayer built a personal nursery adjoining her office to address her own workplace flexibility needs.
The juxtaposition of these two women leaders is important. Leaders are role models, whether they choose to be or not. And people who are in minority positions are always being watched.
I recall vividly the time my husband, then in his young 20s, was lectured by a close friend when he planned to work on one of the major Jewish holidays. As a young lawyer, he was anxious to prove his commitment to his job. Her response was adamant: By showing up for work, he would be sending a message to leaders in the workplace that it is OK to expect others to do the same. After all, they were not going to differentiate among their very few Jewish employees when presented with mixed messages. Rather, they would judge by the one who most exhibited commitment through his presence. He stayed home. And neither of us has ever forgotten the important lesson about symbolism in the workplace.
We need our male and female leaders to think structurally, even as they seek to achieve personally. Individual success is hollow if it is at the expense of workers who are unable to meet the demands of the workplace and the needs of their families.
If the cadre of female leadership Sandberg hopes to build brings her passion for change to their roles, then there is reason for optimism. Few female executives have taken the courageous ownership that Sandberg has of the data on unconscious bias, of the importance of women supporting other women, and of the need for our homes to be as egalitarian as we want our workplaces to be. If women come away from her book willing to similarly use their power to change the norms and structures of the workplace, then change can happen.
But until there are enough women in those key roles willing to similarly use their power, we need Sandberg to "lean on" the workplace. With her considerable clout, Sandberg could lead the revolution the workplace needs the most: changing the gendered norms that stymie the careers of ambitious women who do not lean out, but are pushed out by a rigid workplace. Ironically, it is the combination of visionary leadership and technology that can ultimately propel the workplace revolution that Sandberg identifies.
Lauren Stiller Rikleen is president of the Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership and executive-in-residence at the Boston College Center for Work & Family in the Carroll School of Management. The author of "Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women's Success in the Law and Success Strategies for Women Lawyers,'' she is writing a book about Millennials in the workplace.


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Mid-December, 2006, muzzleloader deer season, Ogemaw County – Scott Maxon sits in the dim interior of his camouflage pop-up blind, waiting. It's nearly 10 a.m. He's been perched atop this hill since sunrise. Except for the nasal laugh of nuthatches and the occasional creak of his camp chair, the woods are quiet. No deer crunching through the knee-deep snow. No shots fired.
A commotion on the fringe of the swamp below catches Maxon's eye. He squints out his blind's front window. Two big, dark shapes are charging across the white landscape. His first thought: Dogs. Then, watching the pair hurtle up the deer-run toward his blind … coyotes? As they come crashing through the trees, grunting, snorting, thundering into view, he realizes, no. Not coyotes. Wild pigs.
Maxon raises his CVA Hawken, a classic side-hammer muzzleloader he built from a $100 kit back in '84. He points the barrel out the window, following the pigs' diagonal trajectory. Because muzzleloaders require reloading after each firing, Maxon has just one shot. Trickier still, his moving quarry boasts a plate of skin over its vitals so tough that the best – and likely only – chance he's got at felling one is if he nails it in front of the shoulder, behind the ear.
When the pair gets within 75 yards, Maxon whistles sharply – whitetails, he knows, sometimes hit the skids at the sound. But the pigs don't even slow. As they pass, he pivots to the side window, takes aim at one ragged, hairy shoulder bouncing by, then cocks back the gun's hammer, trips the hair trigger and fires.
The hollow point erupts from the barrel. A plume of gunpowder smoke fills the tent. Maxon scrambles through the haze into the white glare of daylight, racing through the trees to where he last saw his target. There, sinking into the snow, is a thick pool of blood – and running off into the distance, a telltale scarlet trail marking its path, is one pissed-off hog.
No pig is indigenous to the United States. The first came over with Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, who brought some here from Cuba so he'd have a sustainable food source. Early colonists brought the first domestic breeds. More recently, hunting preserves have been importing Eurasian wild boars.
Like many states, Michigan has swine farms. It also has boar-hunting preserves. And, like an estimated 34 other states in the nation, it also has a wild pig problem.
Nobody can pinpoint exactly where. Or when. Or how. But sometime, in some places around Michigan, these pigs – domestic hogs and wild boars – escaped. Met up in the wild. Mated. Multiplied. And began wreaking havoc.


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|Oracle® XML Developer's Kit Programmer's Guide,
11g Release 1 (11.1)
Part Number B28394-01
|View PDF
This chapter contains this topic.
Client-side processing of XML data can use either
XMLType data stored in the database, including data in binary XML format, or transient data that is not in the database.
This chapter assumes that you are familiar with the XML Parser for C, the basic concepts of binary XML, and the OCI (Oracle Call Interface). For this release, only the OCI API can be used for programming in C with binary XML. A discussion of how to use OCI support for XML is found in the Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide, section "OCI Support for XML."
Binary XML was introduced in 11g Release 1 (11.1). Binary XML is an optimized format for XML It includes encoding and decoding of XML documents, from text to binary and binary to text.
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Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering
On-line version ISSN 2309-8775
Print version ISSN 1021-2019
J. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng. vol.54 n.2 Midrand Jan. 2012
Definition and application of a cohesive crack model allowing improved prediction of the flexural capacity of high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete pavement materials
E Denneman; E P Kearsley; A T Visser
In conventional concrete pavement design methods the design parameters are determined using linear elastic analysis. Concrete is subject to significant size effect and as a result linear elastic design concepts, such as the modulus of rupture determined for a beam, have limited reliability in the design of elements of different size and geometry. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that, in contrast to the modulus of rupture, fracture mechanics material parameters can be used to accurately and precisely predict the flexural capacity of elements of a different size and geometry. The experimental framework includes two high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete mix designs, used to produce beams of different sizes tested in three-point bending configuration, as well as centrally loaded round panels. The fracture energy of the material is determined from the flexural beam tests. An adjusted tensile splitting test procedure is used to determine the tensile strength. The flexural tests on the beams and panels are simulated numerically using two finite element implementations of a cohesive crack approach. The numerical simulation yields satisfactory prediction of the flexural behaviour of the beam and disk specimens. It is concluded that using a fracture mechanics approach, the flexural behaviour of structural elements of different size and/or geometry can be reliably predicted.
Keywords: fracture mechanics, fibre-reinforced concrete, cohesive crack, flexural strength, size effect
South Africa boasts an extensive and mature road network. At present the bulk of pavement design activities are aimed at preserving and upgrading the existing road infrastructure. Innovative methods of pavement rehabilitation are required to increase the service life of wearing courses and to reduce the need for traffic hampering maintenance activities. To this aim, the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) has sponsored the development of the ultra-thin continuously reinforced concrete pavement (UTCRCP). UTCRCP is intended as an overlay strategy for existing roads. The technology comprises a high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) layer with a nominal thickness of approximately 50 mm. The material incorporates reinforcement in the form of fibres, as well as mesh, and is characterised by its ability to withstand large deflections. The technology is being implemented as part of major highway rehabilitation projects. The available design tools for the innovative UTCRCP system are currently based on conventional mechanistic-empirical concrete pavement design methodologies. These methodologies make use of linear elastic (LE) mechanics to determine the stress in the pavement slab. In these models the material strength is characterised by the modulus of rupture (MOR), using a standard test method such as SANS 5864:2006. The MOR is also calculated under the assumption of LE material behaviour. The nonlinear, non-elastic post-fracture behaviour of concrete is not taken into consideration. The ratio between the MOR and the stress in the pavement is used to predict the fatigue life of the pavement.
The first objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the fibre-reinforced concrete material under study exhibits a strong size effect due to its high post-crack stress capacity and that this limits the reliability of the MOR obtained for a specific specimen size and geometry, as a predictor of the peak load of elements of a different size and or geometry.
The second objective is to show that, in contrast to the MOR, fracture mechanics material parameters can be used to accurately and precisely predict the peak load, and importantly, the post-peak flexural behaviour of elements of different sizes and geometry.
Theoretical background on the size effect observed in flexural tests on concrete elements is provided in the next section. Following that, a cohesive crack fracture mechanics model for the FRC material is introduced. The material parameters required to define the model are obtained from experiments on beams and cylinders, as discussed in the section on the experimental work performed for this study. The final fracture mechanics model, defined using test results for a single beam size, is used to numerically predict the flexural performance of beams of different sizes, as well as of centrally loaded round panels. The main contribution of this paper is the generalisation of the cohesive crack model for FRC, previously used in two-dimensional space to simulate experiments on beams, to three-dimensional space for tests on centrally loaded disks. The paper presents a complete methodology, simple, yet effective, to determine the fracture parameters of FRC, and applies these to predict the flexural behaviour FRC structural elements.
The MOR, or flexural strength, is a design parameter often used in civil engineering designs. The MOR is obtained from flexural tests on beams and represents the stress in the extreme fibre of the specimen, calculated under the assumption that an LE stress distribution is present at the peak load condition. It is assumed that this material strength parameter obtained from laboratory experiments can be reliably generalised to predict the failure stress in full-size structural elements. Researchers have, however, long established that for concrete the MOR is not a true material property, because its value changes with specimen size (Reagel & Willis 1931; Kellerman 1932). In flexure tests, large beams fail at lower maximum tensile stress than small beams of the same material.
Studies at the University of Pretoria have shown the high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete material used in UTCRCP to have significantly increased post-crack load carrying capacity when compared to plain concrete (Kearsley & Elsaigh 2003; Elsaigh 2007). Subsequent studies found the MOR value of the fibre-reinforced concrete material to be subject to significant size effects (Denneman et al 2010a,b).
To illustrate the size effect, the average load-displacement (P - δ) curves of three-point bending (TPB) tests, performed by Denneman et al (2010b) on specimens of different sizes, are shown in Figure 1a. The TPB test configuration is shown in Figure 2a. The specimens have similar geometry, i.e. the span (s) to height (h) ratio, and span to notch depth (a) ratio are kept constant. To explore the size effect in the experiments, the nominal stress in the section is calculated assuming a linear elastic stress distribution using Equation 1:
where P is the load, and b the beam width.
The stress at the peak load condition (σΝι) represents the flexural strength, or MOR, parameter. An appreciation of the size effect can be obtained by plotting aN against the deflection (δ) as a ratio of the effective beam height (h) as shown in Figure 1b. The figure shows the effect of size not only on the peak stress, but also on the post-crack behaviour of the material.
The modulus of rupture is typically determined from an FPB test configuration, which is shown in Figure 2b. For this configuration aN is obtained from:
The effect of size on MOR values in FPB tests on high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete material is shown in Figure 3.
It is evident that MOR results are highly dependent on the height of the tested specimen. The main implication of the findings from size-effect studies is that the MOR is unsuitable as a design parameter; as the results obtained for a certain specimen size cannot be used to reliably predict the peak load of a specimen with the same geometry, but a different size. Much less can it be used to predict the flexural behaviour of elements of a different geometry.
The study presented in this paper is limited to high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete pavement materials. The findings are, however, relevant to plain concrete pavements as well, as plain concrete exhibits size effect similar in magnitude (Denneman 2011).
The main source of the size-effect phenomenon, is the fracture mechanics size effect (Bazant & Planas 1997). The fracture mechanics size effect is caused by the fact that concrete is a quasi-brittle material, and at the peak-load condition cracks would already have formed in the specimen. Due to the presence of a crack, LE stress distribution assumed in the MOR calculation no longer exists in the beam specimen. In different sizes of specimens, different amounts of fracture energy are released into the crack front, giving rise to the observed size effect.
Similarly, an LE stress distribution will not be present in a pavement slab loaded to failure, because it, too, would have cracked. Size effect in plain concrete has been well documented and can be predicted using fracture mechanics (Bazant & Planas 1997). In this paper a cohesive crack model is used to improve the prediction of the flexural behaviour of FRC elements.
The complex behaviour of FRC composites calls for the use of advanced damage models. This has been the topic of many studies internationally. Local research in this field was performed by Kearsley & Elsaigh (2003), Boshoff & Van Zijl (2007), Shang & Van Zijl (2007), Elsaigh (2007) and Van Zijl (2009).
A fracture mechanics method for the analysis of crack propagation in concrete, favoured by various researchers for implementation in finite element analysis, is the fictitious crack model. The model, nowadays commonly referred to as the cohesive crack model, was introduced by Hillerborg et al (1976). According to the cohesive crack model, the material behaves linear elastically until the tensile stress reaches the tensile strength of the material. At this point a crack is induced. After crack nucleation, stresses are still transferred over the crack according to a softening relation. The crack bridging stress (σ) is written as a function of the crack width (w):
For plain concrete a bi-linear shape for the softening function is often used. For the more complex softening of fibre-reinforced concrete, tri-linear softening functions have been proposed (Lim et al 1987; Pereira et al 2004; RILEM 2003). Denneman et al (2011a) proposed a softening function which combines crack tip singularity with exponential softening. The softening behaviour is shown schematically in Figure 4. The softening function was proposed based on evaluation of direct tensile test results performed on material with similar fibres by Lim et al (1987). The softening model seeks to simulate the initial rapid reduction of stresses transferred across the crack as a crack is formed in the cement aggregate matrix. As the crack width increases, the steel fibres are activated. The point at the base of the crack tip singularity, where the fibres are activated, is represented in Figure 4 by stress σ1 and crack width w1. The values of σ1 and w2 are obtained through calibration. The function is defined by the following equations:
where Gf is the specific fracture energy of the material, which is equal to the area under the softening curve, and ft is the tensile strength, representing the stress at which a crack is formed, of the material need to be determined.
A method to obtain Gf for fibre-reinforced concrete from TPB tests was developed by Denneman et al (2011a). A best estimate of the tensile strength is determined using an adjusted tensile splitting test as described by Denneman et al (2011b). A summary of the methodologies to determine Gf and ft is provided in the following two sections.
Determining specific fracture energy
In order to determine Gf from TPB tests, the work of fracture (Wf) required to completely break the beam specimen needs to be determined. Figure 5a shows the load-displacement curve for a TPB test; the area underneath the curve represents Wf. TPB tests on fibre-reinforced concrete specimens will invariably be stopped short. Near the end of the test the crack would have grown to the top of the beam. However, not all fibres are completely pulled out, and therefore not all work of fracture has been recorded. In the standard test configuration it is physically impossible to run the test up to the high deflection required to pull out the fibres at the top of the beam. To determine Wf the load-displacement tail would have to be extrapolated as shown in Figure 5a. Denneman et al (2011a) proposed a method to model the tail of the curve, based on an earlier methodology proposed for plain concrete by Elices et al (1992).
The methodology makes use of the kinematic model in Figure 5b. It was shown that at large displacements, when the crack has propagated to the top of the beam, the two halves of the beam act as rigid parts, rotating around a hinge point. The angle of rotation (φ) of the individual parts around the hinge point is a function of the deflection (δ) at the centre of the span. The missing part of the tail can be modelled by determining the remaining moment capacity around the hinge point using the cohesive crack relation. Denneman et al (2011a) showed that the work of fracture under the missing tail (Wtail) can be determined from:
where δ is the deflection at the last recorded data point.
A is a parameter corresponding to the slope of a graph plotting the moment due to external loading (M) divided by the width of the beam (b) against 2φ-2. At large deflections, parameter A becomes a constant as shown in Figure 6 for TPB results on specimens of different sizes tested as part of this study. Wtail which may represent up to 20% of the total area (Denneman 2011) is added to the area under the recorded part of the curve to obtain the total Wf required to completely break the specimen. From Wf the fracture energy dissipated per unit fractured surface can be calculated:
The value of Gf thus obtained represents the area under the softening function in Figure 4. The remaining material parameter to be determined for the definition of the softening function is the tensile strength of the material.
Determining the tensile strength
In standard test methods for the cylinder splitting test, such as the ASTM C496 (ASTM 2008a), the maximum tensile strength is calculated from the peak load in the tests using the continuum mechanics solution for a circle loaded with two equal and opposed point loads, offered by Timoshenko & Goodier (1970). However, the loading is actually introduced to the specimen by means of loading strips with a certain width instead of through load points. Tang (1994) corrected the linear elastic plane stress solution for the stress distribution in the specimen for the effect of the width of the load strips.
Denneman et al (2011b) showed that, due to the high post-crack stress capacity of FRC, the ultimate peak load (Pu) recorded in the splitting test is not related to the assumed uniform cracking takes place at the edges of the specimen at Pu as shown in Figure 7b.
For the experiments reported on in this paper, the transversal deformation of the cylinders was measured using linear variable displacement transducers (LVDTs) on fixtures mounted to the base plate, as shown in Figure 8. Measurements were taken at the centre line of the specimen at the centre of its length. In later experiments, the transversal deformation was measured using LVDTs mounted to datum points which were glued to the specimens at either end of the cylinder (Denneman et al 2011b).
If the transversal deformation is measured in this way, the tensile strength ft can be obtained using Equation 9, which includes the correction for the width of the load strip proposed by Tang (1994).
LE tensile stress condition along the loading plane. Through measurement of the transversal deformation of the specimen during the test it was found that the load-deformation curve has two distinct peaks, as shown schematically in Figure 7c. The first peak (PI) is related to principle crack formation along the loading plane, as shown in Figure 7a. After this initial crack has formed, stresses in the specimen redistribute and once again load increases until secondary where D is the diameter of the specimen, b2 is the width of the load strip and Pl is the initial peak load as identified from the load-transversal deformation curve.
Through numerical simulation of the experiments Denneman et al (2011b) confirmed that a close estimate of the true tensile strength of FRC may be obtained from this adjusted tensile splitting test procedure. The tensile splitting methodology for fibre-reinforced concrete proposed by Denneman et al (2011b) provides a relatively simple alternative to the more complex direct tensile testing approach. Direct tensile testing yields more detail on the post-cracking behaviour of the composite material, but if only a measure of the tensile strength is required, the presented tensile splitting methodology will suffice.
The fracture experiments for this study were performed at the University of Pretoria. The components by mass for the concrete mix designs are shown in Table 1. The designs are typical for the material used in UTCRCP. One mix was prepared with 80 kg/m3 steel fibres, the other with a steel fibre content of 120 kg/m3.
For the TPB tests, beam specimens of various sizes and geometry were prepared from both mix designs. To investigate fracture in a three-dimensional test, a centrally loaded round panel on three support points was used. The panels were cast in two different sizes. The test configuration for the tests on panels is shown in Figure 2c. The dimensions of the beam and panel specimens are shown in Table 2.
The procedure for TPB to determine fracture properties as recommended by RILEM technical committee 162-TDF (RILEM 2002) was used as the point of departure for the TPB tests. Besides the standard recommended beams of 150 x 150 mm2 cross section with a 550 mm length and a 25 mm notch, a number of other specimen sizes and geometries were used. Specimens with and without a notch were included to investigate the suitability of the eventual numerical models for fracture simulation for cases with and without a pre-formed crack.
During the TPB tests the vertical displacement at mid-span was recorded by means of LVDTs at either side of the beam. The reference frame for the displacement was mounted at half the height of the beam specimen. Mid-span displacement was measured relative to reference points above the supports.
The tests on the concrete panels were performed in accordance with ASTM standard test method C 1550 - 05 (ASTM 2005). In this test the load-displacement response of a centrally loaded concrete panel supported on three pivot points is recorded. The vertical displacement is measured with an LVDT placed under the disk in line with the position of the loading point at the top of the disk.
All tests were run in displacement control, at the loading rates prescribed in the respective standard test methods.
Compressive strength tests were performed on the material in accordance with British Standard BS 1881 (BSI 1983). The static modulus of elasticity (E) and Poisson's ratio (υ) were determined in accordance with the standard procedures contained in ASTM C469-02 (ASTM 2008b). The average results for fc and E and υ are shown in Table 3. The table also shows the value of ft determined in accordance with the adjusted procedure for the tensile splitting test presented in the previous section. The load-transversal deformation curves for the split cylinder tests on the mixes are shown in Figure 9.
Table 4 shows the values of sNu obtained for the TPB specimens, as well as the fracture properties in terms of A, Wj and Gj determined from the TPB results in accordance with the procedure discussed earlier in the paper. The load-displacement curves for the TPB tests are shown in Figure 10. The results of the flexural tests on panels are shown in Figure 11. Also shown in the figures are the results of the numerical simulation performed using the material parameters in Table 3 and Table 4. The numerical models are discussed in the next section.
Two different finite element method (FEM) software frameworks were used for the simulation of fracture in the beams and panels. The numerical simulation of the beams can be reduced to a two-imensional problem and was performed using the embedded discontinuity method (EDM). The EDM was implemented in the open-source FEM framework OpenSees (2008) by Wu et al (2009). The flexural tests on panels were simulated in three-dimensional space using the commercial software Abaqus (2009); this was necessary as the EDM implementation in OpenSees is at present limited to two-dimensional space.
Simulation of fracture in beams with EDM
The implementation of the embedded discontinuity method by Wu et al (2009) is based on work by Sancho et al (2007). An advantage of EDM over other cohesive crack FEM models is that it allows cracks to propagate through elements, independent of nodal positions and element boundaries. In the earlier work by Wu et al (2009), a simple exponential softening function was used for damage evolution. The softening function was found suitable to predict the fracture behaviour of a plain concrete pavement material (Denneman et al 2010c). The simple exponential shape, however, over-predicts the peak load of fibre-reinforced concrete (Denneman et al 2010a). The EDM code was updated by Denneman et al (2011a) to allow for the more suitable exponential softening function with crack tip singularity described earlier in this paper.
The two-dimensional numerical model consists mainly of triangular elastic bulk elements. These elements require the modulus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio as input. A narrow band of triangular-shaped embedded discontinuity elements is provided at the notch facilitating a vertical crack path to the top of the specimen. It is possible to run the analysis using EDM elements for the entire model. In the numerical simulation, a crack will invariably form at the position with the highest stress. To make the calculation more efficient, a narrow vertical band of triangular EDM elements was provided in the ligament area at the mid-span position of the beam specimens. An impression of the deformed meshes for the TPB tests at high displacements near the end of the test is provided with the simulated load-displacement curves for the various beam types in Figure 10.
Figure 12 shows the calibrated softening curves for Mix A and Mix B. As Gf is determined from the TPB results and ft is obtained from tensile splitting tests, w1 and o1 are the only unknowns to be calibrated in the model. The softening curves were developed based on a parameter study aimed at achieving the best fit for both the flexural beam and tensile splitting tests. w1 was initially set to 0 for the simulation of flexural beam tests. It was later found that if a small displacement w1 is used, a better fit of the model can be obtained for the simulation of tensile splitting tests (Denneman et al 2011b). For the simulation of the flexural beam tests under study, the difference between w = 0 and w = 0.005 is insignificant. The main calibration is therefore the value of sj, which is chosen based on a parameter study for a single beam size after which the fit for other sizes is checked. As shown in Figure 10, the simulation of the TPB tests using the softening curves in Figure 12 results in a satisfactory, size-independent reflection of the physical measurements. As part of this study it will be investigated whether the softening behaviour can be generalised to a geometrically different test setup, i.e. the centrally loaded panel test.
Simulation flexural tests on panels with Abaqus
The commercial FEM software package Abaqus includes a number of fracture mechanics models that can be applied to concrete. The software includes a brittle cracking model intended specifically for the simulation of cracking in concrete. Damage evolution takes place using the cohesive crack relation as introduced by Hillerborg et al (1976). Because the Abaqus brittle crack model uses the cohesive crack principle for damage evolution in the principle tensile stress direction, the softening functions developed for the material in Figure 12 can be used unaltered.
In contrast to the EDM in which both shear and tension are handled using a crack width softening function, the brittle cracking model in Abaqus has a separate strain softening function for shear. To ensure that the response of the Abaqus model in shear was similar to that in the EDM simulation, the shear strain softening function was defined in accordance with the relation:
This relation relates the softening as a result of the fracture strain (ef) over a certain width (hc) in smeared crack models to the softening as function of crack width (w) in cohesive crack models.
To verify that the fracture simulation using the Abaqus brittle cracking model is equivalent to the results obtained from the EDM in Opensees, both approaches were applied to simulate a TPB test using the same softening relation. The results are shown in Figure 13. A characteristic element size of 1 mm was used for both the triangular OpenSees elements and the Abaqus quadrilateral elements in the ligament area above the notch. At the far edges of the mesh, the characteristic size of the elements was set to 25 mm. The results obtained from the simulations are almost equivalent. Only at large displacements do the load displacement curves diverge slightly. This was taken as proof that the Abaqus brittle cracking model was correctly configured, allowing its use for the simulation of the flexural disk tests.
The layout of the disk tests is shown schematically in Figure 14. Owing to symmetry, only one sixth of the disk needs to be modelled as indicated in the figure. The model and boundary conditions are shown in Figure 15a. Fracture elements with the brittle crack damage model were used for the entire model, with exception of the area around the support. In this area linear elastic bulk elements were used to prevent cracks forming due to unrealistic stress concentrations. The support point is connected to a surface corresponding to the area of the transfer plate under the panel using a kinematic rigid coupling. Standard Abaqus 8 node brick elements of the C3D8R type were used for the mesh. The mesh is shown in Figure 15b. The characteristic size of the elements throughout the model is 5 mm, with exception of the area around the support where a size of 15 mm was used.
As the model consists mostly of fracture elements, multiple cracks will occur when stress redistribution after initial cracking leads to the development of new highly stressed areas. The results of the numerical simulation for the panels are shown in Figure 11. The results provide an accurate prediction of the pre-peak, peak load and early post-peak behaviour for the specimens. At larger deflections the crack tends to get locked, leading to unrealistic high stresses in the material. As a result, the load carried by the slab does not decrease at the pace observed in the experiments. The simulation was aborted when crack-locking started to occur. The simulation, however, yields satisfactory results in predicting the peak load for the panels.
To compare the results of the fracture mechanics-based analysis to a linear elastic design approach, the fracture elements in the panels were substituted for elements with linear elastic material behaviour. A load equal to the experimentally determined peak load per specimen type was applied to the models. Figure 16 shows the results in terms of the nominal tensile stress along the symmetry line midway between two supports from the centre of the panel to the edge. The maximum stresses at the centre of the disk are in the order of 22 MPa, almost twice the sNu values determined from beam tests shown in Table 4. These results indicate that if sNu (or MOR) was used to predict the peak load condition of the panels, as is done in pavement design, the flexural capacity of the panels would have been significantly underestimated - the error of the prediction would have been in the order of 70 to 100 per cent due to size effect.
The results in this paper show that, due to size effect, the MOR has limited reliability as a predictor of the peak load of FRC elements of a different size and/or geometry than the specimen for which the MOR was determined.
It was shown that the cohesive softening function with a crack tip singularity and exponential tail can be used to reliably predict the flexural behaviour of beams of different sizes and also of centrally loaded panels. The softening function was defined using a simple, but effective experimental methodology as presented in this paper. It is concluded that, in contrast to the MOR, the fracture mechanics models can be used to generalise the parameters obtained for a certain specimen size to reliably predict the flexural behaviour of specimens with a different size or geometry.
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Elsaigh, W 2007. Modelling the behaviour of steel fibre reinforced concrete pavements, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria. [ Links ]
Hillerborg, A, Modeer, M & Petersson, P 1976. Analysis of crack formation and crack growth in concrete by means of fracture mechanics and finite elements. Cement and Concrete. Research, 6. [ Links ]
Kearsley, E & Elsaigh, W 2003. Effect of ductility on load-carrying capacity of steel fibre reinforced concrete ground slabs. Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 45(1): 25-30. [ Links ]
Kellerman, W 1932. Effect of size of specimens, size of aggregate and method of loading upon uniformity of flexural tests. Public roads. 13(11): 177-184. [ Links ]
Lim, T, Paramasivam, P & Lee, S 1987. Analytical model for tensile behavior of steel-fiber concrete. ACI Materials Journal, 84: 286-298. [ Links ]
OpenSees 2008. Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation v1.7.5. Berkeley: Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California. [ Links ]
Pereira, E N, Barros, J A, Ribeiro, A F & Camóes, A 2004. Post-cracking behaviour of selfcompacting steel fibre reinforced concrete. Proceedings 6th International RILEM Symposium on Fibre Reinforced Concrete-BEFIB 2004, Varenna, pp 1-10. [ Links ]
Reagel, F & Willis, T 1931. The effect of dimensions of test specimens on the flexural strength of concrete. Public Roads, 12: 37-46. [ Links ]
RILEM 2002. RILEM TC 162-TDF: Test and design methods for steel fibre reinforced concrete; bending test. Materials and Structures, 35: 579-582. [ Links ]
RILEM 2003. RILEM TC 162-TDF: 'Test and design methods for steel fibre reinforced concrete' σ-ε- design method. Materials and Structures, 36: 560-567. [ Links ]
Sancho, J, Planas, J, Cendón, D, Reyes, E & Gálvez, J 2007. An embedded crack model for finite element analysis of concrete. Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 74: 75-86. [ Links ]
SANS 2006. SANS 5864:2006 Concrete tests - Flexural strength of hardened concrete. Standards South Africa, Groenkloof. [ Links ]
Shang, Q & Van Zijl, G 2007. Characterising the shear behaviour of strain-hardening fibre-reinforced cement-based composites. Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 49(2): 16-23. [ Links ]
Tang, T 1994. Effects of load-distributed width on split tension of unnotched and notched cylindrical specimens. Journal of testing and Evaluation, 22(5): 401-409. [ Links ]
Timoshenko, S & Goodier, J 1970. Theory of Elasticity (3rd edition). McGraw-Hill Book Company. [ Links ]
Van Zijl, G 2009. Constitutive model for fibre reinforced strain hardening cement composites (SHCC). Concrete Beton, 123: 8-15. [ Links ]
Wu, R, Denneman, E & Harvey, J 2009. Evaluation of Embedded Discontinuity Method for Finite Element Analysis of Cracking of Hot-Mix Asphalt Concrete. Transportation Research Record, 2127: 82-89. [ Links ]
Contact details:
Principal Engineer, Bituminous Surfacing, ARRB Group Ltd 500
Burwood Highway, Vermont South VIC 3133, Australia
E: firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact details:
Head: Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Pretoria,
Pretoria, 00 02, South Africa
E: email@example.com
Contact details:
Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Pretoria Pretoria,
00 02, South Africa
E: email@example.com
DR ERIK DENNEMAN holds a BEng degree in Civil Engineering, an MSc degree in Technology & Society, and a PhD in Engineering from the Universities of Haarlem, Eindhoven and Pretoria -espectively. Erik is registered as a profess iona engineer with ECSA and is a member of SAICE. The work presented in this paper was oerformed at the University of Pretoria and the CSIR in Pretoria, and is related to his PhD study. For the past seven years Erik worked as a Principal Researcher specialising in road surfacing materials at the CSIR. In June 2012 he joined the ARRB Group in Melbourne, where he holds the position of Principal Engineer.
PROF ELSABÉ KEARSLEY graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Pretoria, and holds a PhD from the University of Leeds. She worked in both South Africa and the UK before joining the staff at the University of Pretoria, where she currently is the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering. For the past 18 years she has been involved with cement and concrete materials research.
EMERITUS PROF ALEX VISSER recently retired as the SA Roads Board Professor in Transportation Engineering in the Department of Civi Engineering at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He holds the degrees BSc (Eng) (Cape Town), MSc (Eng) (Wits), PhD (University of Texas at Austin) and BComm (SA). His fields of research interest are primarily low-volume road design and maintenance, roads for ultra-heavy applications, interlocking block paving, and road management systems. He has performed extensive research on non-traditional stabilisers for improving road materials, and has published extensively and lectured internationally on these topics. Since retiring he has also provided advice on projects around the world. Prof Visser s a Fellow and Past-President of the South African Institution of Civi Engineering (SAICE) and a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering. In 1998 he was awarded the SAICE Award for Meritorious Research for his contributions to low-volume road technologies, and in 2004 he received the Chairman's Award from the Transportation Division for contributions to transportation engineering. He was awarded emeritus membership of the US Transportation Research Board for Low-Volume Roads committee in 2006 for lifelong services rendered.


text:
Sequel to our One Million Phone call by Biafrans and members of IPOB worldwide to World governments and Leaders, we hereby urge all Biafrans to pick up their Phones and do the needful. Let the world know our plight and the atrocities Buhari and his agents are committing against Biafrans. Here is what to do.
Biafrans, Friends, and Well Wishers
Starting Monday February 1 through Friday February 5, 2016, we intend to, and shall awake the Government of the United States of America to the plight of Biafrans.
Please endeavor to make phone calls starting this Monday, from (3pm to 11pm Biafra time), 9am to 5pm (US EST) , to Barack Obama, President of USA and United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon
When you call, you don't need to say much—just politely deliver the main points of the petition or just use the example below.
"Hello, my name is (------) I'm calling to appeal to the President to:
1. Condemn the ongoing crimes against the humanity of Biafrans by the current President of Nigeria;
2. Free the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra and other Biafrans arbitrarily incarcerated for peacefully demonstrating;
3. Support freedom and independence of Biafra. Thank you!"
Then, help me keep track of how many calls have been made by clicking here: http://petitions.moveon.org/tools/call.html
The UN &US Gov't Phone Numbers are as follows
1. President Barack Obama, White House
+1 202 456 1111
2. US Congress/Capitol
US Congress Direct Number
+1 202-224-3121
+1 202-225-4361
3. United Nations Secretary General: Ban Ki-moon
+1 212 963 1234
4. Speaker of House of Representatives: Paul Ryan
+1 202 225-0600
5. Republican Majority Leader: Kevin McCarthy
+1 202-225-4000
6. Democratic Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi
+1 202 225-0100
7. USA Senate President: Orrin Hatch
+1(202) 224-5251
8. Republican Majority Leader: Mitch
+1 (202) 224 2541
9. Democratic Minority Leader: Harry Reid Phone
+1 202-224-3542
10. US Senate Foreign Relations Committee : Chairman, Senator Bob Corker; Senator James E Risch; Senator Marco Rubio; Senator Ben Cardin; Senator Barbara Boxer
+1 202 224 4651
11. US House Committee on Foreign Affairs: Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations: Chairman, Ed Royce; Ranking Member: Eliot L. Engel
+1 (202) 225-5021
12. Secretary of State: John Kerry:
From USA, call
From overseas
888 407 4747
+1 202 501 4444


text:
Story highlights
'Cuban Five' renounces U.S. citizenship as condition of staying in Cuba
U.S. judge issued renunciation option for Rene Gonzalez on Friday
Convicted spy would be lesser U.S. security risk in Cuba, judge writes
Four others still serving sentences in U.S. prisons
A member of the "Cuban Five" spy group renounced his United States citizenship at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana on Monday, removing the final obstacle to his permanent return to the island.
Rene Gonzalez, a Cuban intelligence officer, was a member of a network of agents in South Florida that the Cuban government said was gathering intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks against Cuba; U.S. federal prosecutors called them a dangerous spy cell.
The men were convicted in 2001, and ever since they have been the focus of a campaign by Cuban officials to free them.
Gonzalez was released from prison in October 2011 but was required to serve three years' probation in the United States.
But on Friday U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard ruled that Gonzalez, who had already been allowed to temporarily return to Cuba for his father's funeral, could stay there if he renounced his U.S. citizenship.
In her ruling she wrote that federal prosecutors had said Gonzalez would be less of security risk to the United States if he returned to Cuba. Previously prosecutors had argued that Gonzalez should not be allowed to return to Cuba.
Gonzalez, who had dual Cuban and American citizenship, arrived Monday at the U.S. Interest Section in Havana to renounce his citizenship surrounded by his family and U.S. attorney.
"Rene went in and filled out all the paperwork necessary to renounce his citizenship," said his attorney Phil Horowitz. "He will be able to stay in Cuba after a couple more processes, and after the State Department issues a certificate of loss of nationality, he will be able to stay in Cuba forever."
Former federal employee charged in spy conspiracy
Gonzalez is the first of the Cuban Five to return the island. The other four men continue to serve lengthy sentences in U.S. federal prisons. Their case strained already shaky United States-Cuba relations.
The Cuban government said that their agents had simply kept tabs on violent Cuban-American exile groups.
But federal prosecutors argued the men also had tried to infiltrate U.S. military installations and had provided information that led to the 1996 downing of two planes from the group Brothers to the Rescue, which searched for boats stranded in the Florida Straits. Four men flying from Florida to Cuba were shot down and killed by Cuban air force jets.
In 2012 Cuban officials offered to negotiate the release of the Cuban Five for Alan Gross, the U.S. State Department contractor jailed in Cuba for transporting banned communications equipment to the island.
But U.S. officials rebuffed those overtures, saying Gross had not spied in Cuba.


text:
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text: Ciren Town Project Underneath any successful community will be a core of people who are prepared to go out of their way to help others and make the community function. From civic leaders, community groups, historians to the guy that mows the roundabouts. This ongoing series is my attempt to celebrate my community.


text:
The recent clash between indigenous peoples and Peruvian national police sends a powerful message from the Amazon jungle straight to Washington: The enormous social, political, and environmental costs of the free-trade model are no longer acceptable.
Using a combined offensive of helicopter and ground forces, the police attacked a peaceful demonstration of 2,000 Wampi and Aguaruna indigenous people near the town of Bagua. The protesters belong to the interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle, an organization of about 300,000 members and 1,350 communities in the region. They blocked roads and occupied oil facilities to protest the executive decrees of President Alan García to implement the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA). The decrees open up the Amazon to foreign investment, particularly gas and oil extraction.
Graphic Violence
In the police attack and counterattack by protestors and nearby residents of Bagua, indigenous organizations and international news reports count over 50 dead and hundreds missing. The Peruvian government claims that 24 police officers and nine civilians died in the violence.
Reports that police threw the bodies of protestors in the river to hide the real death toll have begun to circulate on the Internet and in the international press. International human rights and advocacy organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Survival International and Amazon Watch, have deplored the violence, the subsequent crackdown on NGOs in Peru, and the role that the free-trade agreement has played in the crisis.
Videos of the attack show well-armed police up against indigenous protesters with spears, and scenes of chaotic violence suffused in tear gas. The rage of the local communities can be seen in this video of an indigenous woman, even if one can't understand Spanish. Many images show indigenous women at the forefront of these protests.
Regional analyst Raul Zibechi points out that mobilization of these indigenous organizations didn't spring up overnight. Protests against the decrees began on April 9 and intensified on June 4, when the ruling party blocked discussion of repeal in Congress, although a commission had already declared them unconstitutional.
Background to the Events
The real back story dates from May 2004, when the U.S. and Peruvian governments began negotiations for a free-trade agreement as U.S. plans for a broader regional agreement broke down. Peru broke from the Andean group, some of whose members had balked at the demands of the United States, to sign its own bilateral agreement on December 8, 2005. The signing provoked the first round of widespread protests, led by small farmers. From then until the signing of the ratified version at the beginning of this year, demonstrations continued in various sectors, leading to four killed in 2008.
The connection between the protests, repudiated decrees, and the free-trade agreement is explicit, as even the Peruvian government describes in its chronology of events: "By Law 29157 published on Dec. 20, 2007 the Congress delegated legislative powers to the Executive branch on various subjects related to the Peru-U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement and to support improvements in economic competitiveness."
The resulting decrees include moves to privatize water and allow private investment in other sectors. The most controversial decree relates to forestry. Indigenous organizations warn that this ruling effectively opens up 45 million hectares to foreign investment and timber, oil, and mining exploitation. The decrees stipulate that a minority of communal land holders can push a vote to parcel off and privatize lands, much as constitutional reform in Mexico was a pre-condition to NAFTA and led to massive out-migration. Two decrees have been suspended for 90 days, but indigenous groups have called for repeal.
Washington's Role
The Amazon conflict presents an acid test for Congress and the Obama administration on trade. The Bush administration presented the Peru agreement as a model of compromise between free-trade Republicans and Democrats with growing anti-free-trade constituents. It incorporated environmental and labor standards into the text and was redubbed a "Trade Promotion Agreement." Obama and the Democratic leadership supported the U.S.-Peru free-trade agreement, although a majority of Democrats still voted against it. At the Pathways to Prosperity meeting, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed the agreement as "good environmental stewardship," just four days before Peruvian police shot indigenous activists protesting invasion of the Amazon jungle.
Some Washington organizations have now signed a letter asking the Obama administration to communicate to the Peruvian government that repeal of the decrees "does not conflict with the obligations of the U.S.-Peru TPA."
But even if the administration showed a new flexibility on free-trade agreements, the conflict wouldn't likely go away. This isn't just a battle over jungle lands and competing interests in the Amazon. As a planetary lung and a reserve of culture and biodiversity, the Amazon region provokes conflicting views of human progress.
For Peruvian President Alan García, in an editorial in El Comercio, the area considered a marvel by many is really just a big waste: "There are millions of hectares of timber lying idle, another millions of hectares that communities and associations have not and will not cultivate, hundreds of mineral deposits that are not dug up and millions of hectares of ocean not used for aquaculture. The rivers that run down both sides of the mountains represent a fortune that reaches the sea without producing electricity."
García argues that indigenous peoples born in the Amazon do not have special land-use rights on the area. Instead, the Amazon should be carved up into very large plots and sold to people with the capital to make use of it. The Peruvian government coveted the free-trade agreement with the United States because, with required changes in national legislation, it opens up the Amazon to foreign investment.
In contrast, indigenous communities and their supporters value the conservation of the Amazon. They want to preserve traditional knowledge and cultures, all of which would be threatened by bioprospecting and patent law changes under the FTA.
This contest between oil wells and jungles, foreign engineers and Amazon inhabitants has spread to the rest of Peru and the world. On June 11, tens of thousands of people marched in support of the indigenous protests in cities and towns across the country, chanting, "In defense of the jungle — the jungle is not for sale." Simultaneously, demonstrators hit the streets to show support for the indigenous communities in cities throughout the world.
In Peru, those who have suffered most under this economic model have led the charge for change — just as in Mexico, where hundreds of thousands of farmers marched to protest NAFTA's agricultural chapter; Colombia, where Minga demonstrations opposing a U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement mobilized thousands of people; Costa Rica, where nearly half the population voted against CAFTA; and Guatemala, where FTA protesters were killed in the streets.
Yet somehow these voices never make it into the U.S. trade debate. The assumption that a free-trade agreement is a gift to a developing country continues to be enforced by governments' refusal to heed messages from grassroots movements. Meanwhile, The New York Times echoes accusations that neighboring countries have duped these thousands of women, farmers, indigenous groups, and workers.
The Amazon conflict shows that as long as providing clear access and mobility for transnational companies and financial capital is accepted as the sole measure of progress, concerns for the earth and human beings with little economic power and a different view of progress won't be part of the discussion.
The U.S. government must do more than authorize repeal of the hated national laws it provoked. It must rethink this free-trade model and begin to listen to voices from the bottom of the economic ladder. The crisis compels a new vision of sustainable growth and social equity, and the Obama administration has noted the need for change. Reviewing trade policy should be at the top of the agenda.


text:
Continuing the theme of my last post, where I shared with you 7 Free Apps to Make Your Life Easier: Commute, Inspiration, Social, News and Job Search, I wanted to share some additional free apps that have made my life easier. These apps focus on productivity, travel and notes.
Do you have any favorite apps? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The 30/30 Time Management app allows you to set up tasks and assign a time frame to spend on each task. Tasks appear in a color coded list. When you start the first task, you start the timer, which can be paused at any time. When the time is up for a task, the alarm sounds to alert you to move on to the next task.
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch
DuoLingo allows you to learn Spanish, German, English, Portguese, Italian or French – absolutely free and with no ads. The app is set up like a game, so learning doesn't feel like work, and has been rated as better than college courses.
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch
Translator with Speech Free allows you to type in text, which it translates and speaks back to you. Translations can be done in 32 languages, and the app interface can be customized to 10 different languages.
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
TripIt allows you to keep all of your travel plans in a central location. Simply forward your confirmation e-mail to the TripIt e-mail address stored in your contacts to import a new itinerary; or turn on auto-import to automatically import travel plans sent to your e-mail address. Once imported, you can sync TripIt itineraries with your Outlook, iPhone, Google or Lotus Notes calendar. You can share your plans through e-mail or social media; and even create an "inner circle" to automatically share your plans with a select few people.
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Tablet
Evernote can organize notes, files, images, photos you take and web content. You can search notes by keyword, tag or text contained in images. Notes are synced across all of your mobile devices and computers, and can be shared with friends.
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, Windows Mobile, HP WebOS, Blackberry, Web
Once you have Evernote, the Evernote Trunk contains a number of useful apps, including:
SignEasy allows you to import various types of documents from your e-mail, Evernote orGoogle Drive; then create and add your signature. You can also add the date, logos or images. Once complete, you can export the document to e-mail to return to the sender!
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android
Evernote Hello helps you to remember the people you meet and eliminates piles of business cards. You can record information such as where you met, a photo of your new connection, contact details and additional notes. Information can be imported through Evernote Connect (if the other person also uses Evernote Hello), social profiles, calendars, address books or photos of business cards.
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android
Note: The apps included in this post represent my own particular preferences and opinions. I am not compensated in any way by app developers, app stores or device providers.