what does the caloric value of natural gas means

 According to the regulation by the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission, Natural gas or gas- is a type of hydrocarbons in a gaseous condition. Discussions about the caloric value of natural gas became frequent recently in Georgia. Some people are hesitating weather the caloric value of gas is about the standard or not. They claim that instead of the Natural gas, they are given an associated gas, which has less calorific value than the ordinary natural gas.  
Lela kuprashvili is living in Tbilisi. She is one of the citizens, who protest against the quality and price of natural gas. 
“I pay 0.51 GEL for each MG gas and this is not a little money. For this price gas must have more caloricity then it has now. It makes much more time to boil one liter water now then in the previous years. I see this problem especially in winter, when the gas worming equipment doesn’t produce heat enough, even when it is set on the high level. Simultaneously, gas counter counts a lot and the gas bills in winter are huge.” Kuprashvili says. As she asserts, there is a general view among the people, that the gas is either polluted with some unknown substances, or it is a low quality associated gas.
According to the Professor Tinatin Sakarashvili, There is difference between Natural and the associated gas. Associated is a gas which is extracted with oil and it may contain different not burning gases: nitrogen, carbon dioxide. Different is natural gas, which people use at home for heat and for cooking. It is liquid propane and butane. This gas is compressed but it has the same quality and caloricity.
“Normally Natural gas is blue, but if a gas which people use enclosures the red color, it means that it is polluted with the unstable airs like nitrogen and Carbon dioxide”- says Andguladze Mzia, Georgian Technical University professor. “More hydrocarbons have gas, more caloric value has it and on the contrary. It means, that CH4 is less caloric than C2H6”- She says.
Expert in Energy Gia Xuxashvili neither confirms that gas quality is law, nor rejects it.
 “I cannot say in a one hand, that the gas, which Georgia imports, is bad. There must be special research centers, which have to check the quality of the natural gas all the time. Only thing, I can say surely, is that the price of the natural gas is not realistic and it must be reduced.
Unlikely to Gia Xuxashvili, Giorgi Abulashvili- Director of Energy efficiency Centre is more decided in this issue. 
“As I know the caloric value of Azerbaijan gas imported in Georgia has to have 9000- 9300 MGCV, But there is no system in Georgia, even the Ministry of Energy of Georgia does not make a suitable verification of it”- Abulashvili says.
Indeed, it turns out, that The Ministry of Energy of Georgia is not responsible for this issue. Nino Kikacheishvili, the advisor of the Minister of Energy of Georgia claims, that the ministry has not duty to control the caloric value of gas.
 “We do not take part in this issue. This is a matter of the companies which are involved in gas imports and trade in Georgia. Also it controls Georgia’s Oil and Gas Corporation. What about the prices, we do not interfere in it either” Kikacheishvili says.
 Oil and Gas Corporation energy expert Temur Gochitashvili denies all the complaints about the law caloric value of gas and he says these complaints are a big misunderstanding. As he says, good quality of natural gas is in their company’s interest in the first place and they will not allow the importers to deceive Georgian consumers of the natural gas.
“Discussions about the law caloricity of imported gas are absurd. We have different sources of gas: Russia, Azerbaijan and 8 domestic points, from where we take it. Each of them has different caloricity value, but none of them is under the standard. “-says Gochitashvili.  
As expert explains, an associated gas contains heavy hydrocarbons and methane, which are burning gases and have high caloric value, so if the associated gas were delivered through the pipelines in peoples gas stoves, it would have only the good effect on the quality of gas.
Georgian Gas transportation Company- The subsidiary company of Oil and Gas Corporation also confirms this information. Gogi Tarxnishvili- analyst from the company says that the Natural gas has good quality enough to be delivered to people’s homes and talks about the gas quality control laboratory in Georgia.
“There is a special laboratory in Georgia, which gives us possibility to verify the quality of gas. Each day our specialists take the tests from the “Red Bridge” and from each point of Georgia, where the natural gas comes from. We are making the full control of the caloricity of the Natural gas. The equipment of the laboratory is latest and the modern. It is brought over here from America. -Tarxnishvili says.
According to the expert in energy and Tbilisi Mayor Candidate on the election in May 30th 2010, under the treaty of the Baku- Tbilisi- Erzurum pipeline, gas supplied by the Azerbaijan consortium must be 8500MGCV. With this energy, housewife can boil one litre water in ten seconds. As Chanturia claims, nowadays the caloric value of Azerbaijan gas is only 6000 MGCV that gives a housewife possibility to boil same amount of water only in 15 minutes.
Gia Chanturia says that usually procuring gas has law caloricity at the first time, but after some period its caloricity becomes more and more quality. He explains Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline agreement and says, that proceeding to the following fact, each year, 8500 MGCV gas must be grown by 1.5% from the 2011 year. With this figures, 1litre water will be able to be boiled in 5 minutes.
In developed countries, natural gas price is calculating based on kw/h it can produce instead of per cubic meters. This means people pay money according how much kw/h they get from each cubic meter of natural gas. As in the Ministry of Energy of Georgia states, Georgia is not going to move to this system of calculating gas price in the near future. System change needs lots of expenses, which country does not have. 
Nowadays Georgia uses 1miliard 200million cubic meter of natural gas a year. Its price for the inhabitant costs 0.51GEL per cubic meter, while it is 0.70 GEL for the industrial consumers According to the official statistics, 62-85% of the family income goes to the different communal taxes. 
So, while hydrocarbon fossil fuels represent the main energy resource, and while the calculating of gas price is based on cubic meter in the country, its caloricity value and price will be important and controversial for each taxpayer in Georgia.

Don’t Expel Us - Autism

One, two, three, Four... hardly counted the numbers 5 years old Dato for himself, but as soon as he recognized that his parents where looking at him, Dato stopped counting at once and concealed himself in the corner of the room, as if he wanted to be invisible from them.
Dato was 3 years old when the neurologist Gia Natriashvili diagnosed him Autism. He said that little boy had serious developmental disability. 
“Still that time I started to treat Dato more tenderly not to damage his psychic. Now I and his Father are trying to follow his wishes all the time” Says Tea Manjgaladze, mother of the child. 
According t mother, Dato was always capricious and nervous child; he could not socialize with different environment and preferred to seclude himself from others. Even he never tried to hug with her by his own initiative. But parents never thought of autism, so did doctors at first. 
“Diagnose for Dato’s disease become challenge for doctors. Only after one year of ineffectual treatment, doctors came up with the correct diagnosis. I wish they could diagnose it earlier. But I see autism people don’t care government, I just want to say: “Don’t expel us” Says Manjgaladze.
According to Qetevan Abdushelishvili, psychiatrist, mental health head instructor at Iashvili Clinic, there is a lack of adequate treatment and management for the prevention of this disease in Georgia.
”At Iashvili clinic we use diagnostic questioner ADI-R and ADOS, which contains 89 questions about children’s habits that makes possible to diagnose the disease. But this technique is used only in certain clinics; most polyclinics do not use this methodology. Says Abdushelishvili.
 Pediatrician Maia Kherkheulidze talks about the ineffective management of the prevention of autism in Georgia. She says that there is a lack of guidelines and the resources for this disease, like diagnostic methods, rehabilitation centers, parents training or intervention services in Georgia. 
“Every baby from 2 month takes special diagnostic service in polyclinics in developed countries, while we have not such services and can’t discover the disease until 18 month child.” Says Kherkheulidze.

 Lika Tushishvili -Psychotherapist maintains that child ill with autism must have special care, and the parents need special trainings to learn how to relate with their

children.

 

“In US and Europe there are special funds for such families, so they are able to take the long term psychological treatment. For example in US there is 3 to 5 million dollars fund of services throughout the lifetime of child with autism. But we don’t have any analog situation here, more if parents want to take a psychologist, they must pay 25 lari in an hour, which most of families can’t effort- she says. 
The exact reason of the appearance of this disease is not asserted yet. It may caused while the pregnancy period. 
“Autism is a disease which has not exact reason to exist. Also this is psychiatrist problem and it can’t be cured. One thing doctors can do is the adequate treatment and management of this problem- says Eka Tushishvili.
Concerning to this issue Georgian Association of Child Neurologists and neurosurgeons has made a project screening and diagnose methods of Autism. Project was granted by Open Society Georgia Foundation and GNSF in 2009 Juny17th. There was held trainings for doctors how to discover disease. Also they observed three region polyclinics in Tbilisi: Saburtalo, Digomi and Vake and set the results, that there is not any supportive service for children with autism there. 

Autism has become a worldwide problem. Approximately 17 percent of children have some type of developmental disability including autism. Experts estimate that every six child out of 1000 has autism. The biggest number of the disease has been discovered in Great Britain. According to the www.emedtv.com, one of the reliable web sites in Britain. 

 Autism signs and symptoms include difficulties with social interaction, problems with communication, and repetitive behaviors. A baby with symptoms may be unresponsive to people or focus intently on one item to the exclusion of others for long periods of time. Symptoms may include engaging in repetitive movements, such as rocking and twirling, or in self-abusive behavior, such as biting or head-banging.

 

People ill with autism can improve their abilities. Many of them have some special talents Famous musician Mozart had autism too.
 Autism was investigated and discovered by the professor Kaner after World War II. He asserted all the symptoms of this disease and named it as Autism, which comes from Greek Auto and means itself.

gypsy family in Tbilisi

Clothing-line was almost full of the cloth, but a gypsy or a Romani woman- barefooted and unwashed, was still swilling some clothes in a cold water flowing from the tap in the yard. Then she put them into the oozy dark grey plastic box and entered the house speaking something in her mother language in an anxious way. 
Though the surrounding houses where quite damaged and old, they still seemed to be a nice compared to the gypsy’s home. Partly wooden, partly iron plated and also cemented walls of gypsy house looked like a stumbling tree in a terrible storm. Without a floor and with a holed ceiling, the house was hosting sixteen member of a gypsy family in it.
16 years old Bela is one of the Romani family members, who speak in Georgian. She is going in a kind of educational centre and learns Georgian reading and writing there.
“My family came from Azerbaijan to Georgia 20 years ago. We like being here and are not going to move from Georgia. ”-Bella says. As she says, her family has lead a beggarly life all time along and this is how they keep their family in Georgia. 
“Sometimes people treat us roughly and impolitely, they don’t like that we beg, but mostly we are not discriminated from Georgians, even we have good relationship with neighbor Georgian families”-She says.
In the sixteen member gypsy family, some of them are couples, sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts.
A 12 years old gypsy boy, playing with a little, nice but a dirty baby with a Georgian name Vaxo says: I am not begging, because my father works, he is fixing cars.
None of gypsy men begs in Georgia and the situation is same with this particular family. Vaxo’s and Bella’s relative men don’t beg, some of them gather scrap-iron and buy, other fix cars.
None of the gypsies have a passport or any kind of identification card. They have no financial support from the Georgian government, no pensions, and no discounts. Because of a lack of money, mostly gypsy women give birth to a child in a home, without doctor’s help. Though if they have money, they are not against by the doctors and visit hospitals with no obstacles, according to Bela.
An aunt of Vaxo a 35 years old Romani woman, with an infant, wrapped up on her back says that there have never been journalist talking with their family and none of their acquaintances have ever had touch with them.
“ journalist doesn’t interested in our life in Georgia, maybe they had covered our history and life style article, but me and my friend gypsies have never been asked for interview by them”- this gypsy woman says.
Gypsy people are also known as a Romani people. Wikipedia says that “they are an ethnic group living mostly in Europe, who traces their origins to medieval India. The Romani are widely dispersed with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe and Anatolia, followed by the Iberian Kale in Southwestern Europe and Southern France, with more recent Diaspora populations in the Americas and, to a lesser extent, in other parts of the world. Romani language is divided into several dialects and mixed languages”. 

Coming Soon: Center of Contemporary Art -Tbilisi

Everything started in Bucharest, on a big conference. It was 2007 then. Seeing amazing Cultural exhibitions and centers in Europe, Artist Vato Tsereteli got inspiration to found alike Center of Contemporary Art in Tbilisi.   Building near river Mtkvari where                                                      the center of   contemporary                                                          art will be situated     

After six month 27 Georgian Artists had exhibition near Amsterdam. There were presented big companies too. Though Vato’s desire was deeper and superior at that time, he had no finances to implement it himself. So he talked to PR manager of TBC Group there and soon it came out that he had already have a foundation on which Vato could built his dream Cultural Center soon.

“I believe in private initiatives, in step by step projects. With my 10 years experience in organizing the cultural events, I am sure Center of Contemporary Art in Tbilisi will justify my hopes and it will definitely serve the aim for what it is building now”- Vato says.
TBC group approved the idea of Art Center. They gave two floors building to Vato and therefore Tsereteli started to found different sources from different countries to bring grants for his project and he did bring. The highest finance he has got now is 10 thousand Euros, which Vato got from Swiss development Agency.
Library, cinema screening place, Three Exhibition and three class rooms, reception, resting and bath rooms. In two floors building which is under thorough repairs now will serve students of different age and education to develop their personal skills and initiatives in contemporary art soon.
“We believe it is of crucial importance to have an independent and open institution, which will work on the development of contemporary visual culture and help artists to effectively address their creative products to local and international audiences” says Tsereteli.
As The Artist explains, Georgia cultural education is behind the east and west culture of middle ages. Even Tbilisi Art Academy does not teach the students the values of contemporary art, which means private ideas and initiatives realization in free and independent art life.
Video Art, Photography, Painting and sound Art. 9 month courses in these spheres of Art will start from October. Teachers from local and foreign countries will introduce to students their knowledge and experience. Each month will cost 350GEL and in return of diploma, graduated students of Center of Contemporary art will gain exhibition and concept based realized private ideas.

Tbilisi's new pedestrian bridges

Pedestrian Bridge standing on the crossing of Vaja pshavela and Gamsaxurdia Avenue on Saburtalo.Bridge is metal and contains 40 step leader up and and 40 step leader down. It was constructed in he end of 2009.

Two young school pupils with well packed knapsacks on their little backs ran across the iron bridge over Gamsakhurdia Avenue recently, and followed the steps down laughing in loud voices.

“Happy kids, they don’t know how strict life is yet, I wish I were a little girl too,” mumbled an old woman watching as the little girls swept by merrily.
She looked up to the bridge and whispered something. Then she moved on the road slowly to the red sign of stoplight. Resting upon the crutch with her right hand and holding a little bag with some medicines in it on the other hand, old women slowly pulled herself up the metal stairs and crossed the street at last.
Crossing the busy, chaotic streets of Tbilisi is no easy challenge, as nearly 4,500 people were injured and 667 died while crossing street during the last three years. Recent surveys show that only 55 percent of 1,500 respondents say that they follow road rules. The other 45 percent just ignore them, according to research conducted by the Association of Safe Driving in 2010 January.
To reduce the number of traffic-pedestrian accidents, Tbilisi City Hall built 20 bridges in different regions of the city in 2009, and plans to build another 20 by the end of 2010. Each pedestrian bridge costs 100 000- 150 000 lari and the light signals will be removed. Starting in 2011, government transportation officials say they are going to install lifts to bring elderly and disabled people up the stairs more easily, but they don’t have a concrete budget yet, or a construction start date.
“We see this problem is one of the most painful issues for Tbilisi inhabitants. That’s the reason why did we start building these bridges. Each of them is done in order to ensure the safe transportation of the people on the streets,” says Akaki Joxadze, the head of the Transport Municipal Department.

The bridges have met with mixed results residents, according to an informal poll conducted in February. On a recent day in front of the bridge standing on the crossing of Vaja Pshavela and Gamsaxurdia Avenue in Saburtalo, 120 respondents were asked if they liked the new bridges. The majority, 50%, said that they liked the bridges, 30% said they disliked them and 20% answered they didn’t care.

Same bridge with another view. There is iron veneer in the end of 10 metre long pedestrian bridge, which covers the window of the flat, where people live.

Those who like the bridges say that this is the best way for safe crossing the streets and they appreciate it.

In general and not surprisingly, the vast number of people who did like the bridges were under the age of 30.
“I use bridges frequently and I guess it is very nice job done for people,”-says Bella Beradze, a 26-year-old medical student.
But the older respondents got, the more they were likely to complain about the bridges – probably because it’s difficult for them to climb up and down the metal steps, such as the Gamsakhudia Bridge, which has 40 steps up and 40 steps down.
Middle aged respondents were less likely to care, but more likely to question whether building bridges was the most important spending priority for the city government.
“Bridges can’t fill in my empty stomach. Authority should think about our vital interests, rather than wasting money in unnecessary things,” says Manana Dumbadze, a 56-year-old woman. She thinks that government should spent money on making new job places, rather than building pedestrian bridges.
Some opposition members claim the bridges are simply visual public relations for the upcoming direct mayor’s election on May 30, and don’t address the real problems.
“Main obligation of Tbilisi City hall is to provide researches about the most vivid issue for the citizens. They must have discussions with NGO-s, experts and after all assert the project, these rules are just ignored -“says Petre Mamradze, president of the Just for Georgia political party.
One of the oppositional political parties, which entered the parliament after the parliamentary elections,-Christian Democrats contends that though the rate of car accidents was high, making so many bridges was “just absurd.”
“I see some of bridges stand on strategic places and I appreciate it, but most of them are constructed in a wrong way, where there aren’t needed,” says Giorgi Axvlediani- member of the political party. “Ninety nine percent of this project is simply P.R. They want us to look like the European Countries, but forget to solve the real problem- unemployment,” Axvlediani says.
Governmental side doesn’t agree with oppositional parties, contending the bridges have saved lives.
According to the Tbilisi Police statistics conducted in 2010, the number of car accidents has decreased by 30% during 2009 in comparison with the last three years, says police officer Guja Gviniashvili.
“We made big changes in a little time. I’m certain, that people will get used to and be satisfied with the bridges,” he says

My profile by Katie tutberidze

When Tako was a little girl, she longed to be a professional journalist. She was fascinated with this job for the colored and lovely microphone the journalist held in her hand. But when she grew older and guessed that journalism isn’t only the big and lovely microphone, covered with a yellow or orange pattern, she was disappointed a little bit. Still, she has chosen this job and is enrolled at the GIPA journalism school.


She remembers two problems from her childhood. The first is that she couldn’t pronounce the letter “R” till thirteen. She did some exercises to improve her speech speaking rhymes and sayings until she could pronounce the symbols.

She also remembers her piano classes as the other problem of her childhood. For seven years her parents forced her, to play piano, but Tako didn’t like it. Maybe , this is the reason she doesn’t like classical music and always prefers to listen to alternative rock, like Coldplay, but sometimes she plays piano, when she’s alone.
Tako is keen on Japanese culture and her dream is to travel around this amazing country, wondering from small town to town, from Nagasaki to Tokyo.
“I’m fascinated with Japanese architecture, amazing bridges and Pagodas. And I’m definitely sure I’ll travel around this country someday“, – says Tako.