May 2010 - Neams-pmt - mailman3.cels.anl.gov

NEAMS Cross-fertilization by Monthlies
by Versluis, Rob 25 Jun '10

25 Jun '10

The mission of NE-AMS (the Office of Advanced Modeling and Simulation) is the creation of predictive (also flexible and upgradeable) code capabilities of interest to its sponsoring DOE-NE programs using modern computational tools and methods. NEAMS is interested in coordinating the NEAMS reactor, fuel, and fuel cycle code efforts, including the high-fidelity, predictive modeling of reactor fuels, neutronics and thermofluid dynamics, etc., with activities conducted under other NE programs. To raise awareness of work conducted by others, we believe it useful to share monthly reports across the spectrum of researchers and program leads/managers involved in such work. We are convinced that this will lead to new connections and the leverage of results obtained by one party to the advantage of other parties. If any recipients have a monthly report to share that is not included here, feel free to send it to me for further distribution or use this distribution list yourself. I also accept new names that should be on distribution. Apologies to those who are on multiple lists and receive more than one copy of this email. Robert Versluis, Ph.D. - tel: 301-903-1890 mob: 202-834-2292 *****************************************************************

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More Details on CASL
by Larzelere, Alex 28 May '10

28 May '10

Everyone, Attached is a fact sheet on CASL that was just posted on the ORNL web site (Doug and company are not letting any grass grow under their feet). I will provide more information as it becomes available. Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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FW: NE Hub announcement update
by Larzelere, Alex 28 May '10

28 May '10

PMT, At last -- now I can say something about the Hub. Below is the DOE press release that came out at 11am this morning. My congratulations to those on the winning side and condolences to those on the "non-selected" side. On the other hand, the winners may also need condolences once they figure out what they have been asked to do. In either case, both proposal teams generated a lot of great ideas and opportunities and we need to make sure they do not get lost. Now we need to start thinking about how we integrate the CASL (Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light water reactors) into NEAMS. More to come. Regards, Alex THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Public Affairs News Media Contact: For Immediate Release: (202) 586-4940 May 28, 2010 Deputy Secretary Poneman Announces Team led by Oak Ridge National Lab Selected to Receive up to $122 Million for Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub WASHINGTON, D.C. - As part of a broad effort to spur innovation and achieve clean energy breakthroughs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman today announced the selection of a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for an award of up to $122 million over five years to establish and operate a new Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub. The Hub, which includes partners from universities, industry and other national labs, will use advanced capabilities of the world's most powerful computers to make significant leaps forward in nuclear reactor design and engineering. "The Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub is a critical element in our efforts to reestablish American leadership in nuclear energy research and development," said Deputy Secretary Poneman. "We need to rev up the great American innovation machine to find solutions to our energy challenges and promote American competitiveness. With the Hubs, we are taking a page from America's great industrial laboratories in their heyday and building creative, highly-integrated research teams that can accomplish more, faster, than researchers working separately." The Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub is one of three Hubs that will receive funding in FY10. The Hubs are large, multidisciplinary, highly-collaborative teams of scientists and engineers working over a longer time frame to achieve a specific high-priority goal, like developing fuels from sunlight in an economical way and making buildings more energy efficient. They will be managed by top teams of scientists and engineers with enough resources and authority to move quickly in response to new developments. Selections for the other Hubs will be announced over the coming months. Specifically, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub will allow engineers to create a simulation of a currently operating reactor that will act as a "virtual model" of that reactor. They will then use the "virtual model" to address important questions about reactor operations and safety. This will be used to address issues such as reactor power production increases and reactor life and license extensions. The combination of data gained from the "virtual model" and the physical reactor will be used to resolve technology issues confronting nuclear energy development in the near, mid, and long terms. The Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub will be located at the ORNL site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In addition to ORNL, the members of the team are: Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, California Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tennessee University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Westinghouse Electric Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The Hub will be funded at up to $22 million this fiscal year. The Hub will then be funded at an estimated $25 million per year for the next four years, subject to Congressional appropriations. More information on the Hubs can be found at: http://www.energy.gov/hubs/ -DOE-

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Monthly Performance Review
by Keith S. Bradley 27 May '10

27 May '10

All, I just participated in the April FY2010 Performance Review for FCRD projects. There were several action items that arose, and I want to pass along a heads-up. Stay tuned for further instruction, but in the meantime, a brief list: FY2010 burn rates have improved in NEAMS, but only by 2%. Please remind your WPM's that they need to spend and get the work done. Beginning this past month, WPM's were explicitly asked to predict and report their carryover. (This was news to me.) As the PMT we need to track that pretty closely. Again, big numbers are targets, both this year and next year. We've been arguing passionately for substantial increases in the program. We need you to reinforce those arguments with actions. There was discussion about the possible need/benefit of pushing some of our FY2010 Level 2 (M2) milestones into the beginning of FY2011. John Herczeg was notably concerned. I'm going to have discussions to better understand what the motivation of "benefit" means, but you should be thinking/communicating with your team about what might make sense. We have some altered Level 3 milestones that have pretty uninformative explanations. Please remind your WPM's that those get reported "in a public forum" each month (senior HQ staff plus other Campaign Directors who are funding our work). While I will defend delays passionately, I cannot do so if I am not armed with the defense. I have requested better explanations for a couple, but have not received them. Regarding descriptions of accomplishments, quality (and brevity) count. A subset are regularly pushed up to NE-1/2, but not if they aren't written well. WPM's should be explicitly reminded this is an opportunity to receive recognition for work well done. In other words, while it may feel like it, this is in fact not a box-checking exercise. Several of us would like to hear how the SafeSeps PIRT meeting went. That should be reported in next month's accomplishments, but feel free to let us know sooner. That's all for now. Thanks for your hard work. ~Keith -- ********************************** ********************************** Keith S. Bradley, Ph.D. DOE National Technical Director, Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling & Simulation LLNL Deputy Program Director, Nonproliferation Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory P.O. Box 808, L-180 Livermore, CA 94551-0808 OFFICE: (925) 422-3581 FAX: (925) 422-2625 CELL: (925) 337-4394 EMAIL: ksbradley(a)llnl.gov PAGER: bradley5(a)pager.llnl.gov ********************************** **********************************

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(no subject)
by Versluis, Rob 27 May '10

27 May '10

who Delft19$#nl Robert Versluis, PhD - tel: 301-903-1890 mob: 202-834-2292 *****************************************************************

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NEAMS Logo
by Larzelere, Alex 24 May '10

24 May '10

Everyone, A quick thought - I believe it is time for NEAMS to improve its appearance. Please start (or have others start) thinking about a "nifty" logo for the program. Hopefully we can review some ideas at our July PMT meeting. Thanks, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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Re: [Neams-pmt] Tis the season ...
by Larzelere, Alex 20 May '10

20 May '10

Everyone, On thing I would like to have everyone keep in mind is that any discussion of the FY-11 numbers is built on a "foundation of sand". We have received no feedback from Congress on our request other than the usual statement that the President's budget request was "dead on arrival!" Unfortunately we are not getting any messages that those communications from the House and Senate are going to happen any time soon. Believe it or not, we are communicating as much as we can about the budget. It is just that things are moving very slowly this year and there has not been a lot of news. Alex -----Original Message----- From: neams-pmt-bounces(a)lists.mcs.anl.gov [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith S. Bradley Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 7:15 PM To: NEAMS PMT Subject: [Neams-pmt] Tis the season ... PMT'ers, As discussed in the last PMT teleconference, we're "out of the gate" on planning for FY2011. Once again, we're faced with the challenge of planning with certainty in neither budgets nor scope. I regret the perpetuation of this perennial defect. I have two important messages to deliver. Please disseminate accordingly. Message #1: Communication Despite uncertainty, I am already receiving complaints from stakeholders about being uninformed or shut out of the process. While I have no illusions we can completely eliminate tensions, I certainly aim to minimize them. As a first step toward transparency, I ask that you take extra steps to assure all stakeholders are clearly informed of your process. That may include research teams across the complex who aren't currently funded by NEAMS. To remain a robust and defensible program, we must protect and honor every institution's right to propose good, relevant work. The first step is assuring they are aware of the opportunity. I view the PMT's first task to be disseminating priorities (more on this below) to the community. I suggest the best way to do this is to identify a point of contact for each lab. Being new, I don't know whether such lab POC's have been established. If not, please begin with your fellow PMT members. We have a PMT representative from most labs. Where we don't, we'll identify a POC ASAP. Over time, we will formalize this communication channel. Message #2: Process By many accounts, last year's process was opaque (discussed above) and in some cases, questionable. I am committed to rectifying that this year. And I am confident that Alex, Hussein and the HQ staff support me in that commitment. As discussed at the last PI meeting (and numerous other forums) NEAMS is a mission-driven program that has challenging deliverables with ambitious time lines. Each program element has priorities, and these will be used to make funding decisions. That is what I mean when I say NEAMS will stay "on purpose". Your guidance to prospective WP managers/PI's should clearly articulate our priorities to avoid wasted effort or hard feelings. As above, please be certain your message is appropriately disseminated. This doesn't mean that the planning process, nor the decision making process, need to include many 10's or 100's of people. That would be inefficient, wasteful and divergent. Decisions will be made by the HQ staff (as required) and informed by Hussein, myself and the PMT. Decisions will be rigorous and defensible. They will be fair. Let's all pledge to work together to assure this season's planning process goes off without a hitch. Thanks, ~Keith -- ********************************** ********************************** Keith S. Bradley, Ph.D. DOE National Technical Director, Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling & Simulation LLNL Deputy Program Director, Nonproliferation Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory P.O. Box 808, L-180 Livermore, CA 94551-0808 OFFICE: (925) 422-3581 FAX: (925) 422-2625 CELL: (925) 337-4394 EMAIL: ksbradley(a)llnl.gov PAGER: bradley5(a)pager.llnl.gov ********************************** **********************************

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Tis the season ...
by Keith S. Bradley 19 May '10

19 May '10

PMT'ers, As discussed in the last PMT teleconference, we're "out of the gate" on planning for FY2011. Once again, we're faced with the challenge of planning with certainty in neither budgets nor scope. I regret the perpetuation of this perennial defect. I have two important messages to deliver. Please disseminate accordingly. Message #1: Communication Despite uncertainty, I am already receiving complaints from stakeholders about being uninformed or shut out of the process. While I have no illusions we can completely eliminate tensions, I certainly aim to minimize them. As a first step toward transparency, I ask that you take extra steps to assure all stakeholders are clearly informed of your process. That may include research teams across the complex who aren't currently funded by NEAMS. To remain a robust and defensible program, we must protect and honor every institution's right to propose good, relevant work. The first step is assuring they are aware of the opportunity. I view the PMT's first task to be disseminating priorities (more on this below) to the community. I suggest the best way to do this is to identify a point of contact for each lab. Being new, I don't know whether such lab POC's have been established. If not, please begin with your fellow PMT members. We have a PMT representative from most labs. Where we don't, we'll identify a POC ASAP. Over time, we will formalize this communication channel. Message #2: Process By many accounts, last year's process was opaque (discussed above) and in some cases, questionable. I am committed to rectifying that this year. And I am confident that Alex, Hussein and the HQ staff support me in that commitment. As discussed at the last PI meeting (and numerous other forums) NEAMS is a mission-driven program that has challenging deliverables with ambitious time lines. Each program element has priorities, and these will be used to make funding decisions. That is what I mean when I say NEAMS will stay "on purpose". Your guidance to prospective WP managers/PI's should clearly articulate our priorities to avoid wasted effort or hard feelings. As above, please be certain your message is appropriately disseminated. This doesn't mean that the planning process, nor the decision making process, need to include many 10's or 100's of people. That would be inefficient, wasteful and divergent. Decisions will be made by the HQ staff (as required) and informed by Hussein, myself and the PMT. Decisions will be rigorous and defensible. They will be fair. Let's all pledge to work together to assure this season's planning process goes off without a hitch. Thanks, ~Keith -- ********************************** ********************************** Keith S. Bradley, Ph.D. DOE National Technical Director, Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling & Simulation LLNL Deputy Program Director, Nonproliferation Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory P.O. Box 808, L-180 Livermore, CA 94551-0808 OFFICE: (925) 422-3581 FAX: (925) 422-2625 CELL: (925) 337-4394 EMAIL: ksbradley(a)llnl.gov PAGER: bradley5(a)pager.llnl.gov ********************************** **********************************

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Fwd: REMINDER: FCRD April Control Account Summary Reports Due in FCPICS
by Keith S. Bradley 17 May '10

17 May '10

PMT'ers, Just to clarify nomenclature, what FCRD refers to as "Control Account Managers" below, we refer to as PMT members. That is, each program element leader that receives funds from FCRD (all but Tim Tautges) is obligated to summarize your respective areas based on monthly progress submitted by the work package managers. I then use that information each month during a lengthy teleconference to describe NEAMS monthly progress to the TIO and DOE HQ. Should you choose to simply "cut and paste" your WPMs' work descriptions verbatim into your "summary", I am left with a lengthy and disjointed (i.e. undistilled) description of the work in each of your areas. Please realize I wish to create less work rather than more work for each of you. So proceed as you see fit. If it isn't worth your time to summarize your respective program areas, you won't get any arguments from me. But please also understand that if I'm faced with spending a lot of time distilling every work package progress report input into the PMT elements, I am more likely going to skip it entirely and find the "dense nuggets" worthy of sharing with DOE HQ. That too is o.k., but it means some really good work isn't being featured in my monthly report. Thanks for your help! ~Keith >X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true >X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: >AiUGAJP28EtLl/2b/2dsb2JhbACBP5teY3K7KQKCYgoHAYIaBI8w >From: Matthew Brainard <mbrainard(a)prc8a.com> >To: "Bob Hill (bobhill(a)anl.gov)" <bobhill(a)anl.gov>, > "busbyjt(a)ornl.gov" > <busbyjt(a)ornl.gov>, > "Chris Grandy (cgrandy(a)anl.gov)" <cgrandy(a)anl.gov>, > "craig02.martin(a)srs.gov" <craig02.martin(a)srs.gov>, > "diachin2(a)llnl.gov" > <diachin2(a)llnl.gov>, > "jecahalan(a)anl.gov" <jecahalan(a)anl.gov>, > "jlmitch(a)sandia.gov" <jlmitch(a)sandia.gov>, > "Jon Carmack > (jon.carmack(a)inl.gov)" <jon.carmack(a)inl.gov>, > "ksbradley(a)llnl.gov" > <ksbradley(a)llnl.gov>, > "moe.khaleel(a)pnl.gov" <moe.khaleel(a)pnl.gov>, > "pnswift(a)sandia.gov" <pnswift(a)sandia.gov>, > "tautges(a)mcs.anl.gov" > <tautges(a)mcs.anl.gov>, > "Terry Todd (terry.todd(a)inl.gov)" > <terry.todd(a)inl.gov>, > "thomas.johnson(a)inl.gov" <thomas.johnson(a)inl.gov>, > "tony.hill(a)inl.gov" <tony.hill(a)inl.gov>, > "weigand(a)ornl.gov" > <weigand(a)ornl.gov>, > "wnutt(a)anl.gov" <wnutt(a)anl.gov> >CC: "brad.couch(a)inl.gov" <brad.couch(a)inl.gov> >Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 11:06:27 -0400 >Subject: REMINDER: FCRD April Control Account Summary Reports Due in FCPICS >Thread-Topic: REMINDER: FCRD April Control Account Summary Reports Due in > FCPICS >Thread-Index: AQHK9dKG3LbGq3n5OEGq32iY8VxZ6w== >Accept-Language: en-US >acceptlanguage: en-US > >Hi Everyone. This is a reminder that your April Control Account >Summary Reports are due in FCPICS >(<http://*www.*fcpics.com/>www.*fcpics.com) by COB today, May 17th. >If you need assistance with your Summary Reports, don't hesitate to >contact me or Brad Couch >(<mailto:[email protected]>brad.couch(a)inl.gov; 208-526-8004). > > > >Regards, > >Matt > > > >301-540-7100 (office) > >208-351-7967 (cell) > > >WBS CAM Name Email Submitted 1.5.09.01 Bradley, Keith >ksbradley(a)llnl.gov N 1.5.09.06 Bradley, Keith ksbradley(a)llnl.gov N >1.5.05.03 Busby, Jeremy busbyjt(a)ornl.gov N 1.6.01.05 Busby, Jeremy >busbyjt(a)ornl.gov N 1.5.05.06 Cahalan, James jecahalan(a)anl.gov N >1.5.01.02 Carmack, Jon jon.carmack(a)inl.gov N 1.5.01.03 Carmack, Jon >jon.carmack(a)inl.gov N 1.5.09.05 Diachin, Lori diachin2(a)llnl.gov N >1.5.05.02 Grandy, Chris cgrandy(a)anl.gov N 1.5.05.07 Grandy, Chris >cgrandy(a)anl.gov N 1.5.05.01 Hill, Bob bobhill(a)anl.gov N 1.5.05.08 >Hill, Bob bobhill(a)anl.gov N 1.6.01.04 Hill, Tony tony.hill(a)inl.gov N >1.5.02.06 Johnson, Tom thomas.johnson(a)inl.gov N 1.5.09.02 Khaleel, >Mohammad moe.khaleel(a)pnl.gov N 1.6.02.01 Martin, Craig >craig02.martin(a)srs.gov N 1.5.09.08 Mitchiner, John >jlmitch(a)sandia.gov N 1.5.08.01 Nutt, William wnutt(a)anl.gov N >1.5.08.02 Nutt, William wnutt(a)anl.gov N 1.5.08.04 Swift, Peter >pnswift(a)sandia.gov N 1.5.09.07 Tautges, Tim tautges(a)mcs.anl.gov N >1.5.02.01 Todd, Terry terry.todd(a)inl.gov N 1.5.09.04 Weigand, Gil >weigand(a)ornl.gov N > > > > > >_________________________________________________ > >Matt Brainard > >Sr. Project Analyst > >Performance Results Corporation, Germantown > >U.S. SBA 8(a) Certified Company > >Toll Free: (866) 889-3142, ext 602 > >Cell: (208) 351-7967 > >Fax: (301) 540-7550 > >Visit our website: <http://*www.*prc8a.com/>www.*prc8a.com > >__________________________________________________ > >From: Brad Couch [Brad.Couch(a)inl.gov] >Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 11:51 AM >To: brad.couch(a)inl.gov; brent.dixon(a)inl.gov; busbyjt(a)ornl.gov; >ebert(a)cmt.anl.gov; felkerlk(a)ornl.gov; gregory.teske(a)inl.gov; >jack.law(a)inl.gov; john.vienna(a)pnl.gov; jon.carmack(a)inl.gov; >kamcmah(a)sandia.gov; kathryn.mccarthy(a)inl.gov; kklasky(a)lanl.gov; >maloy(a)lanl.gov; pnswift(a)sandia.gov; sandra.knoll(a)inl.gov; >steven.piet(a)inl.gov; terry.todd(a)inl.gov; thomas.johnson(a)inl.gov; >tony.hill(a)inl.gov; wnutt(a)anl.gov; cgrandy(a)anl.gov; >ksbradley(a)llnl.gov; sienicki(a)anl.gov; tsofu(a)anl.gov; >moe.khaleel(a)pnl.gov; snorkel(a)deep-powder.net; weigand(a)ornl.gov; >diachin2(a)llnl.gov; cu(a)lanl.gov; tautges(a)mcs.anl.gov; >jlmitch(a)sandia.gov; psadasivan(a)lanl.gov; Matthew Brainard >Subject: FCRD April Control Account Summary Reports > > >The Work Package status is now complete in the system for April >reporting. Your effort to summarize the reporting to the Control >Account level can then begin. Please complete your summary reports >by the end of the week, 5/14. >___________________________________________ >Brad Couch >FCR&D TIO Project Controls Manager >office - 208-526-8004 >cell -208-360-6117 >___________________________________________ -- ************************************************************ ************************************************************ Keith S. Bradley, Ph.D. DOE National Technical Director, Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling & Simulation LLNL Deputy Program Director, Nonproliferation Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory P.O. Box 808, L-180 Livermore, CA 94551-0808 OFFICE: (925) 422-3581 FAX: (925) 422-2625 CELL: (925) 337-4394 EMAIL: ksbradley(a)llnl.gov PAGER: bradley5(a)pager.llnl.gov ************************************************************ ************************************************************

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FW: FYI - DOE Small Modular Reactor Workshop
by Khalil, Hussein S. 17 May '10

17 May '10

Everyone- Please see announcement below regarding the SMR workshop discussed during our call earlier today. Hussein From: MANTSCH, Scott [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 12:58 PM To: GENOA, Paul Subject: FYI - DOE Small Modular Reactor Workshop Good afternoon. Just wanted to share with you that DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy / Office of Advanced Reactor Concepts is holding a small reactors workshop on Tuesday-Wednesday, June 29-30, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, here in Washington. [cid:[email protected]]<http://www.ne.doe.gov/smrworkshop/index.html> Agenda and speaker information will be posted as they become available. June 29th is open to all registrants while Wednesday the 30th is a technical working panel/workshop by invitation only. NEI will attend. DOE encourages early preregistration and hotel reservations - details can be found on the SMR Workshop website at http://www.ne.doe.gov/smrworkshop/index.html. Paul H. Genoa Director, Policy Development Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I St. N.W., Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006 www.nei.org<http://www.nei.org/> P: 202-739-8034 F: 202-785-4019 E: phg(a)nei.org<mailto:[email protected]> nuclear. clean air energy This electronic message transmission contains information from the Nuclear Energy Institute, Inc. The information is intended solely for the use of the addressee and its use by any other person is not authorized. If you are not the intended recipient, you have received this communication in error, and any review, use, disclosure, copying or distribution of the contents of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail and permanently delete the original message. IRS Circular 230 disclosure: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS and other taxing authorities, we inform you that any tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties that may be imposed on any taxpayer or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sent through outbound.mailwise.com

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