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Sample records for oil booms

  1. Structural analysis of oil containment booms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badesha, S.S.; Hunt, J.; Wenck, E.

    1993-01-01

    In recent years, major oil spills, such as the Exxon Valdez incident, and many smaller spills have given rise to a worldwide marine environmental concern. One of the most successful devices for containing and facilitating the recovery of spilled oil, and one which does not endanger or alter the environment in any way, is the oil containment boom. Described in this paper is a finite element (FE)-based method for structural analysis of oil booms. In general, a number of FE models for a typical oil boom section are set up using the COSMOS FEA code. These models differ from one another in oil boom geometry, deployment configurations, and oil boom components. The FEA (fimite element analysis) models are made from the plate elements (skirt and tube), truss elements (tension members and ballast chain), and beam elements (end connector). Loads due to tow/current velocity, wind velocity, wave action, and ballasting, as determined from aero/hydrodynamics analysis, are applied as distributed pressures on the plate and beam elements. This method will predict boom tensile load strength, detailed stress distribution, and distortion characteristics for a particular boom with specific deployment configuration and environmental condition. The derived information can be used to highlight critical design features, thereby optimizing the oil boom design. Alternatively, this information can be used for the selection of an oil boom suited for a particular application and, more importantly, can provide the user with a control evaluation tool to determine whether a given oil boom design can withstand the stresses of its intended application

  2. NOFI oil Vee-Sweep and extension boom test at OHMSETT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bitting, K.R.; Vicedomine, J.

    1993-01-01

    The NOFI Vee-Sweep is an inflatable oil collection boom held in a V configuration by cross netting attached to the skirt of the boom. The NOFI 600S is an inflatable oil boom used to divert oil into the Vee-Sweep. The lower section of the 600S skirt consists of a feather net and a ballast chain. The booms are designed for open-ocean skimming where a skimmer is placed in the Vee-Sweep apex to remove the collected oil. During testing, the booms were preloaded with oil and towed in the OHMSETT tank at various speeds and wave conditions. Each boom was tested for its first and gross (continuous) oil loss speeds. The Vee-Sweep was also evaluated for wave performance, oil thickness vs tow speed, oil loss rate, and critical tow speed. Finally, a DESMI-250 oil skimmer was placed in the Vee-Sweep apex and oil loss tests were run while the skimmer was operating. During the critical tow speed testing, failures occurred due to apex submergence at ca 3.5 knots in calm water and short-crested waves, and 2.4 knots in harbor chop. The oil loss tests showed that the Vee-Sweep retains oil at speeds significantly higher than conventional booms. First oil loss speeds ranged from 1.3 knots in calm water to 1.0 knot in regular waves. The Vee-Sweep's high buoyancy/weight ratio gave it good wave performance in all conditions tested. The 600S oil loss speeds were higher than those of most conventional booms, and performance was better when the feather net was attached. 1 ref., 4 figs., 4 tabs

  3. Evaluating a protocol for testing fire-resistant oil-spill containment boom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walton, W.D.; Twilley, W.H.; Hiltabrand, R.R.; Mullin, J.V.

    1998-01-01

    A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate a protocol for testing the ability of fire-resistant booms to withstand both fire and waves. Most response plans for in situ burning of oil at sea require the use of a fire-resistant boom to contain the oil during a burn. For this study, a wave tank was designed and constructed to assess the capabilities of a 15 m section of a boom subjected to a 5 m diameter fire with 0.15 m high waves. Five typical fire-resistant oil-spill containment booms were tested. The purpose of the project was to evaluate the test procedure, therefore the overall performance of the boom was not evaluated on a pass-fail criterion. The two most important aspects of the test method were repeatability and reproducibility. Some of the parameters tested included the effect of wind, waves, fire size, and fire duration. Methods to constrain the booms were also tested. 7 refs., 6 tabs., 7 figs

  4. In situ burning via towed boom of oil spilled at sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrier, G.; Fendell, F.; Mitchell, J.

    1992-01-01

    In this paper, operational guidance for the efficient use of combustion in the cleanup of a surface oil film, formed as a result of a spill at sea, is sought by approximate analysis. In remediation by burning, the spilled oil itself provides the energy for its cleanup. Attention is focused on situations holding relatively far from the source of the spill and/or relatively long after the spill: the oil is taken to have so dispersed that the thickness of the film is on the order of a few millimeters. Under such conditions, the oil film is unlikely to burn without the use of multiple towed booms, each boom spreading its already-ignited, localized fire to continuously collected, previously unignited portions of the oil film. A simple, quasisteady, two-dimensional analysis suggests efficient values for the tow speed and the tow--line length as functions of such parameters as the oil density, oil-film thickness, oil burn/evaporation rate, etc. The analysis leads to specific suggestions for apparently unreported laboratory experiments that may be informative prior to at-sea operation

  5. Rural North Dakota's oil boom and its impact on social services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Bret A; Geigle, Julia; Barkdull, Carenlee

    2014-01-01

    Over the last five years, North Dakota has experienced an oil boom based on high oil prices and hydraulic fracturing technologies. This has brought economic expansion and population growth to rural communities that had previously experienced decades of depopulation and economic struggle. Although the state has enjoyed many benefits--especially in juxtaposition to a sluggish national economy--the boom has also meant the arrival of economic refugees and dramatic impacts on largely rural social service systems. In the midst of a rapidly changing situation, available information tends to swing between euphoria over economic success and hysteria about rising crime and shifting cultures. In response, the authors used a primary focus group with county social service directors from across the state and a followup focus group with social workers operating on the edge of oil activity. Grounded in resilience theory, qualitative analysis of the primary focus group, and triangulation of data from other sources, this study provides a more objective report of the housing and social challenges, the benefits of the boom, and the challenges to solutions.

  6. Macro policy responses to oil booms and busts in the United Arab Emirates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Mutawa, A.K.

    1991-01-01

    The effects of oil shocks and macro policy changes in the United Arab Emirates are analyzed. A theoretical model is developed within the framework of the Dutch Disease literature. It contains four unique features that are applicable to the United Arab Emirates' economy. There are: (1) the presence of a large foreign labor force; (2) OPEC's oil export quotas; (3) the division of oil profits; and (4) the important role of government expenditures. The model is then used to examine the welfare effects of the above-mentioned shocks. An econometric model is then specified that conforms to the analytical model. In the econometric model the method of 'principal components' is applied owing to the undersized sample data. The principal components methodology is used in both the identification testing and the estimation of the structural equations. The oil and macro policy shocks are then simulated. The simulation results show that an oil-quantity boom leads to a higher welfare gain than an oil-price boom. Under certain circumstances, this finding is also confirmed by the comparative statistics that follow from the analytical model

  7. Basin sidewall effects during comparable boom testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DeVitis, D.S.; Hannon, L.

    1995-01-01

    A quantitative investigation of the effects of boom sidewall clearance during first and gross oil loss speed tests was discussed. A second measure of sidewall was quantified in terms of flow characteristics at specific location in the boom apex. The test boom was rigged in 5 different configurations. First oil loss and gross oil loss tow speeds, and relative horizontal flow velocities within the boom apex were obtained for each configuration. Flow velocities of 0.5 to 1.5 knots in 0.25 knot increments were measured. Flow velocities illustrated similar flow characteristics within the apex regardless of side wall clearance. The results of the study illustrated that boom to basin sidewall clearance may be an independent test parameter without a significant bias. 5 tabs., 8 figs.,

  8. Politics and Nigerian agriculture in the first decade of the "Oil boom ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Politics and Nigerian agriculture in the first decade of the "Oil boom", 1970-1980: a preliminary assessment. A Olorunfemi, OC Adesina. Abstract. No Abstract. The Nigerian Journal of Economic History VoL. 1, 1998: 57-69. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT.

  9. An evaluation of propane as a fuel for testing fire-resistant oil spill containment booms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walton, W. D.; Twilley, W. H.

    1997-01-01

    A series of experiments have been conducted to measure and compare the thermal exposure to a fire-resistant boom from liquid hydrocarbon fuel and propane fires. The objective was to test the potential of propane fueled fires as a fire source for testing fire-resistant oil spill containment booms.Thermal exposure from propane fires have been measured with and without waves. Results indicated that although propane diffusion flames on water look like liquid hydrocarbon fuel flames and produce very little smoke, the heat flux at the boom location from propane fires is about 60 per cent of that from liquid hydrocarbon fuel fires. Despite the attractive features in terms of ease of application, control and smoke emissions, it was concluded that the low heat flux would preclude the application of propane as a fuel for evaluating fire resistant containment booms. 2 refs., 7 figs

  10. Booming markets for Moroccan argan oil appear to benefit some rural households while threatening the endemic argan forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lybbert, Travis J; Aboudrare, Abdellah; Chaloud, Deborah; Magnan, Nicholas; Nash, Maliha

    2011-08-23

    Morocco's argan oil is now the most expensive edible oil in the world. High-value argan markets have sparked a bonanza of argan activity. Nongovernmental organizations, international and domestic development agencies, and argan oil cooperatives aggressively promote the win-win aim of simultaneously benefiting local people and the health of the argan forest. This paper tests some of these win-win claims. Analysis of a panel of detailed household data suggests that the boom has enabled some rural households to increase consumption, increase their goat herds (which bodes poorly for the argan forest), and send their girls to secondary school. The boom has predictably made households vigilant guardians of fruit on the tree, but it has not incited investments in longer term tree and forest health. We evaluate landscape-level impacts of these changes using commune-level data on educational enrollment and normalized difference vegetation index data over the period from 1981 to 2009. The results of the mesoanalysis of enrollment are consistent with the microanalysis: the argan boom seems to have improved educational outcomes, especially for girls. Our normalized difference vegetation index analysis, however, suggests that booming argan prices have not improved the forest and may have even induced degradation. We conclude by exploring the dynamic interactions between argan markets, local institutions, rural household welfare, and forest conservation and sustainability.

  11. Testing fire resistant boom in waves and flames

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCourt, J.; Buist, I.; Pratte, B.; Jamieson, W.; Mullin, J.

    1997-01-01

    A near full-scale screening test to evaluate the durability and ability of refractory-fabric fire resistant booms to contain oil during an in-situ burn without the environmental problems of burning crude oil or the cost of testing offshore, was developed. The boom was first flexed under tension for two hours, then deployed in a U-configuration in an outdoor wave tank. Propane gas was burned in the pocket of the boom to simulate the collection and burning phases of an in-situ burn. Finally, the boom was returned to the indoor wave flume for another two hours of wave action and then inspected for damage. Results indicated damage of the same type as suffered in previously conducted sea trials, although the extent of damage was less severe. These results led to recommendations for improvement of the test protocol which included: (1) increasing the heat flux to the boom, (2) improving the heat flux measurement, (3) increasing the tension in the fire boom during flame testing, and (4) improving the characterization of the waves near the fire boom. 16 refs., 6 figs

  12. Applications of flow visualization to the development of an innovative boom system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wong, K.F.V.; Wolek, A.

    1996-01-01

    A new oil retention boom system design was developed using a flow visualization technique. Hydrogen bubbles were generated on a fine wire cathode and placed in a stream of moving water with a strong light source to visualize the flow. Observations were made of the flow patterns around some basic shapes and booms modelled as cylinders with and without a skirt. The most effective system design had two booms with skirts in parallel with a submerged airfoil designed to cause the oil to separate and recirculate. Oil was allowed to flow above the airfoil into the recirculation region between the two floating booms. The new system is expected to outperform the conventional boom system only when flow velocity is high. Its most successful application would be in situations where flow is perpendicular to the length of the boom. 1 ref., 6 figs

  13. Water-cooled, fire boom blanket, test and evaluation for system prototype development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stahovec, J. G.; Urban, R. W.

    1999-01-01

    Initial development of actively cooled fire booms indicated that water-cooled barriers could withstand direct oil fire for several hours with little damage if cooling water were continuously supplied. Despite these early promising developments, it was realized that to build reliable full-scale system for Navy host salvage booms would require several development tests and lengthy evaluations. In this experiment several types of water-cooled fire blankets were tested at the Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Test Tank (OHMSETT). After the burn test the blankets were inspected for damage and additional tests were conducted to determine handling characteristics for deployment, recovery, cleaning and maintenance. Test results showed that water-cooled fire boom blankets can be used on conventional offshore oil containment booms to extend their use for controlling large floating-oil marine fires. Results also demonstrated the importance of using thermoset rubber coated fabrics in the host boom to maintain sufficient reserve seam strength at elevated temperatures. The suitability of passively cooled covers should be investigated to protect equipment and boom from indirect fire exposure. 1 ref., 2 tabs., 8 figs

  14. Raw material boom in an industrial country. Rohstoffboom in einem Industrieland

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Enders, K S

    1984-01-01

    First of all, a theoretical investigation is carried out to discover under which conditions a raw material boom displaces traditional sectors of industry, and which groups win and lose in the process. Subsequently, the peculiarities of the adaption process induced by the boom are analysed. Particular attention is paid to the possibility of transition (short-term) unemployment (Dutch disease). In conclusion, Norway's experiences in the oil and gas boom in the North Sea ar described and then compared with theoretical statements.

  15. Oil spillage recovery by vacuum trawl

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birkett, H.

    1992-01-01

    In this invention, floating oil is sucked from the surface of the sea under a skirt and into a tubular floating boom, along whose interior it is carried to water-oil separation means. The suction is produced by one or more ejectors which are supplied with sea water under pressure and may be located inside the boom, or immediately below it and connected into a separate pipe. The boom is used to enclose an oil slick and drawn tighter to increase the thickness of the oil layer. The oil enters the boom through holes in its upper half and then flows to the ejector(s) along separate internal tubes or between buoyancy balls. A fraction of the oil-water mixture withdrawn from the boom is pressurised and returned to ejector(s) and the rest is diverted to the separation means. (author)

  16. Modification of booming level for higher correlation with booming sensation; Booming level no koseidoka

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hatano, S; Hashimoto, T [Seikei University, Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-10-01

    In our previous study, we proposed a objective measure, i.e., Booming Level for quantifying booming sensation caused by car interior noise. In this paper, Booming Level was modified with its weighting function and within the process of calculation 1/3 octave band level was modified for the best match with subjective result. These modifications were conducted through a subjective experiment rating booming sensation with sounds having much lower frequency contents below 63Hz. With this modified Booming Level, we have obtained higher correlation for rating booming sensation with sounds having prominent low frequency components. 1 ref., 10 figs.

  17. One last boom : Alberta's rapidly expanding oil mines may be the largest and messiest industrial projects in Canadian history

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laird, G.

    2001-01-01

    The bitumen deposits of Alberta, 2.5 trillion barrels of oil, of which 300 billion are considered recoverable, represent the greatest single petroleum resources of the world, based on surface and subsurface calculations. Four deposits, covering an area the size of New Brunswick, are located in the area stretching from Cold Lake to Lloydminster (east of Edmonton), the upper reaches of the Athabasca River east to the Peace River. The largest by far is the Athabasca deposit in the vicinity of Fort McMurray, spread over 4.3 million hectares. The deposit is at the centre of the biggest industrial expansion witnessed by the province. Since 1996, 38 billion dollars worth of new projects have been announced. It is estimated that by 2025, the bulk of the national oil production will originate from open-pit mines and underground wells around Fort McMurray. This oil boom has economic benefits for the population, from welders to real estate agents to stakeholders. The environmental effects are not as beneficial. Huge strip mines are being carved next to the Athabasca River, with great amounts of greenhouse gases emissions. The Suncor and Syncrude oil-sands plants combined represent the fourth largest carbon dioxide emission source in Canada. The development of these projects dramatically affects global warming. The nitrogen and sulphur emissions could also acidify lakes and soil in the region. The Suncor mine resulted from the first boom to hit Fort McMurray in 1964. The Syncrude mine is the result of the second boom which took place in 1973. In 1996, Suncor installed a sulphur scrubber system that removes 95 per cent of sulphur dioxide from the electricity and steam-generation plant. Suncor also invested in various projects, such as wind-power, rainforest cultivation and biomass generation. The volume of pollution increases as the operations expand, even if operations are cleaner. If no new gains in pollution control are achieved, it is expected that by 2015, the total

  18. Alberta's new oil boom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikiforuk, A.

    1997-01-01

    A massive expansion of Canada's oil sands and the oil-mining business is underway. The prediction is that within five years there will be at least three, possibly six, huge new open pit mines north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. It was suggested that within 20 years, possibly half of Canada's oil supply will come from the oil sands industry which has already attracted $10 billion worth of developments. Unlike conventional crude, the oil sands contain bitumen, water, clay, minerals and lots of sands. Shallow deposits are mined like coal. Deeper formations make use of in-situ thermal recovery techniques. Extraction costs are presently at $15 per barrel, aiming for $12 by 1999. Return on investment is in double digits. Estimates of reserves in the Athabasca, Cold Lake, Peace River and Wabasca deposits go as high as 1.7 trillion barrels, or about twice as much as Saudi Arabia's conventional crude reserves. Syncrude has built a $5 billion production facility and two pipelines have already been proposed to transport the oil sands crude to midwestern US refineries. US refineries prize synthetic crude as excellent mixing stock. The major problem with oil sands is that unlike conventional oil, these reserves require an enormous amount of energy to exploit, which in turn means lots of foul air and greenhouse gases. There are many environmental unknowns, and without a clear management framework in sight the addition of two or three Syncrude-size operations has the potential to create a real and significant acid rain problem in the Western Canada Basin

  19. Drilling Down: An Examination of the Boom-Crime Relationship in Resource Based Boom Counties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rick Ruddell

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective to examine the boomcrime relationship in resourcebased boom counties and to propose socioeconomic and legal measures to reduce the boomtown effect. Methods dialectical approach to cognition of social phenomena allowing to analyze them in historical development and functioning in the context of the totality of objective and subjective factors that determined the choice of the following research methods formallogical comparativelegal survey interview focus groups generalized least squares method. Results The expansion in natural resource development in rural communities has led to a number of social problems in these places. The media community stakeholders as well as law enforcement and human service personnel have reported that the rapid growth in these communities leads to increased crime and other social ills. In order to better understand the boomcrime relationship index crimes in oil and natural gas producing counties in Montana and North Dakota were examined. Comparison of 2012 crime rates in a matched sample of counties revealed that crime rates were higher in oilimpacted counties. A prepost analysis found that violent crime in boom counties increased 18.5 between 2006 and 2012 while decreasing 25.6 in a matched sample of counties that had no oil or gas production. Inconsistent with the media portrayal of these communities as a new quotwild westquot we did not find a significant association between oil or natural gas production and property or violent crime in a series of OLS regression models. Scientific novelty for the first time the article uses index crimes in oil and natural gas producing counties in Montana and North Dakota to reveal the association between the rapid growth of towns and the crime rates. Practical significance the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in research and educational activity as well as for predicting the socialeconomic development of boomtowns.

  20. Booming Sand Dunes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vriend, Nathalie

    "Booming" sand dunes are able to produce low-frequency sound that resembles a pure note from a music instrument. The sound has a dominant audible frequency (70-105 Hz) and several higher harmonics and may be heard from far distances away. A natural or induced avalanche from a slip face of the booming dune triggers the emission that may last for several minutes. There are various references in travel literature to the phenomenon, but to date no scientific explanation covered all field observations. This thesis introduces a new physical model that describes the phenomenon of booming dunes. The waveguide model explains the selection of the booming frequency and the amplification of the sound in terms of constructive interference in a confined geometry. The frequency of the booming is a direct function of the dimensions and velocities in the waveguide. The higher harmonics are related to the higher modes of propagation in the waveguide. The experimental validation includes quantitative field research at the booming dunes of the Mojave Desert and Death Valley National Park. Microphone and geophone recordings of the acoustic and seismic emission show a variation of booming frequency in space and time. The analysis of the sensor data quantifies wave propagation characteristics such as speed, dispersion, and nonlinear effects and allows the distinction between the source mechanism of the booming and the booming itself. The migration of sand dunes results from a complicated interplay between dune building, wind regime, and precipitation. The morphological and morphodynamical characteristics of two field locations are analyzed with various geophysical techniques. Ground-penetrating radar images the subsurface structure of the dunes and reveal a natural, internal layering that is directly related to the history of dune migration. The seismic velocity increases abruptly with depth and gradually increases with downhill position due to compaction. Sand sampling shows local

  1. Dual-chamber inflatable oil boom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blair, R.M.; Tedeschi, E.T.

    1993-01-01

    An elongated floating material containment boom section is described having a normally vertical ballasted skirt depending from flotation means, and convertible from a flattened collapsed condition to a deployable condition wherein buoyancy chamber means extending along the upper edge of said skirt are inflated to expanded buoyant configuration, including: a gas-impervious sleeve extending along the upper edge of said normally vertical skirt forming a first outer collapsible and inflatable flotation chamber, a first inflation valve connecting the interior of said sleeve with the ambient atmosphere, through which gas under pressure may be introduced into said sleeve to inflate said first buoyant outer flotation chamber, elongated gas-impervious tube means positioned inside said outer flotation chamber and forming second collapsible and inflatable internal flotation bladder chamber means, second inflation valve means connecting the interior of said bladder means through said outer flotation chamber to the ambient atmosphere through which gas under pressure may be introduced into said bladder means to inflate it forming said second flotation chamber means inside said outer flotation chamber

  2. X-Boom, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed X-Boom is an innovation on rollable boom design directly relevant to NASA SBIR topic H5.01, Deployable Structures. The X-boom is a rollable Carbon Fiber...

  3. A second hydrocarbon boom threatens the Peruvian Amazon: trends, projections, and policy implications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Finer, Matt [Save America' s Forests, 4 Library Court NW, Washington, DC 20003 (United States); Orta-Martinez, Marti, E-mail: matt@saveamericasforests.or, E-mail: martiorta@gmail.co [Institut de Ciencia i Tecnologia Ambiental, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) (Spain)

    2010-01-15

    The Peruvian Amazon is home to extraordinary biological and cultural diversity, and vast swaths of this mega-diverse region remain largely intact. Recent analysis indicates, however, that the rapid proliferation of oil and gas exploration zones now threatens the region's biodiversity, indigenous peoples, and wilderness areas. To better elucidate this dynamic situation, we analyzed official Peruvian government hydrocarbon information and generated a quantitative analysis of the past, present, and future of oil and gas activities in the Peruvian Amazon. We document an extensive hydrocarbon history for the region-over 104 000 km of seismic lines and 679 exploratory and production wells-highlighted by a major exploration boom in the early 1970s. We show that an unprecedented 48.6% of the Peruvian Amazon has been recently covered by oil and gas concessions, up from just 7.1% in 2003. These oil and gas concessions overlap 17.1% of the Peruvian Amazon protected area system and over half of all titled indigenous lands. Moreover, we found that up to 72% of the Peruvian Amazon has been zoned for hydrocarbon activities (concessions plus technical evaluation agreements and proposed concessions) in the past two years, and over 84% at some point during the past 40 years. We project that the recent rapid proliferation of hydrocarbon zones will lead to a second exploration boom, characterized by over 20 000 km of new seismic testing and construction of over 180 new exploratory wells in remote, intact, and sensitive forest areas. As the Peruvian Amazon oil frontier rapidly expands, we conclude that a rigorous policy debate is urgently needed in order to avoid the major environmental impacts associated with the first exploration boom of the 1970s and to minimize the social conflict that recently led to deadly encounters between indigenous protesters and government forces.

  4. A second hydrocarbon boom threatens the Peruvian Amazon: trends, projections, and policy implications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finer, Matt; Orta-Martinez, Marti

    2010-01-01

    The Peruvian Amazon is home to extraordinary biological and cultural diversity, and vast swaths of this mega-diverse region remain largely intact. Recent analysis indicates, however, that the rapid proliferation of oil and gas exploration zones now threatens the region's biodiversity, indigenous peoples, and wilderness areas. To better elucidate this dynamic situation, we analyzed official Peruvian government hydrocarbon information and generated a quantitative analysis of the past, present, and future of oil and gas activities in the Peruvian Amazon. We document an extensive hydrocarbon history for the region-over 104 000 km of seismic lines and 679 exploratory and production wells-highlighted by a major exploration boom in the early 1970s. We show that an unprecedented 48.6% of the Peruvian Amazon has been recently covered by oil and gas concessions, up from just 7.1% in 2003. These oil and gas concessions overlap 17.1% of the Peruvian Amazon protected area system and over half of all titled indigenous lands. Moreover, we found that up to 72% of the Peruvian Amazon has been zoned for hydrocarbon activities (concessions plus technical evaluation agreements and proposed concessions) in the past two years, and over 84% at some point during the past 40 years. We project that the recent rapid proliferation of hydrocarbon zones will lead to a second exploration boom, characterized by over 20 000 km of new seismic testing and construction of over 180 new exploratory wells in remote, intact, and sensitive forest areas. As the Peruvian Amazon oil frontier rapidly expands, we conclude that a rigorous policy debate is urgently needed in order to avoid the major environmental impacts associated with the first exploration boom of the 1970s and to minimize the social conflict that recently led to deadly encounters between indigenous protesters and government forces.

  5. The asymmetric relationship between oil revenues and economic activities: The case of oil-exporting countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mehrara, Mohsen

    2008-01-01

    This paper examines the nonlinear or asymmetric relationship between oil revenues and output growth in oil-exporting countries, applying a dynamic panel framework and two different measures of oil shocks. The main results in this paper confirm the stylized facts that in heavily oil-dependent countries lacking the institutional mechanisms de-linking fiscal expenditure from current revenue, oil revenue shocks tend to affect the output in asymmetric and nonlinear ways. The findings suggest that output growth is adversely affected by the negative oil shocks, while oil booms or the positive oil shocks play a limited role in stimulating economic growth. The findings have practical policy implications for decision makers in the area of macroeconomic planning. The use of stabilization and savings funds and diversification of the real sector seems crucial to minimize the harmful effects of oil booms and busts

  6. A new concept for improved oil spill containment in open waters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sethness, E.D. Jr.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper a new concept for improved oil spill containment in open waters is presented. The proposed system is a combination oil boom and wave barrier. Waveguard International has taken its extensive experience as a designer of floating breakwaters and applied this knowledge into the design of a readily transportable, readily deployable floating oil boom with integrated wave attenuation capabilities as well. The new concept is based on the attenuation of the two major natural causes of oil spill dispersion; first, horizontal dispersion caused by wind shear effects; and second, vertical entrainment into the water column caused by the mixing action of wave motion. The physical encirclement of an oil spill with a floating boom to contain horizontal dispersion is not a new concept. Existing systems, however, work best in calm water and rapidly loose efficiency as waves increase. The proposed system can not only physically surround the spill area, but is as much as 90% effective in stopping the transmission of wave energy. The oil boom thus minimizes vertical mixing of the contained oil slick

  7. Dutch Disease in a small open economy: The case of oil in Saudi Arabia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Mabrouk, S.A.

    1991-01-01

    The effects of 'Dutch Disease' come through two channels: real wage rate and real exchange rate. A sector export boom induces both resource movement and spending effects that reinforce each other in raising higher real wage and real exchange rates. In the case of an oil boom, only the spending effect is in operation because the oil sector does not employ domestic mobile factors. After a great deal of theoretical surveying and consolidation of 'Dutch Disease' on the Saudi Arabian economy throughout the period of 1970s and 1980s. The author was trying to see whether or not the oil boom was an obstacle to economic diversification. The empirical findings support the theoretical prediction. The real exchange rate of Saudi Arabia has appreciated throughout the period of the oil-boom and, in turn, it induced an expansion in the non-traded sector and a contraction in the non-oil traded sector. The indirect effect of the oil boom came through the use of oil wealth to import technology. This effect induced further expansion in the non-traded goods at a faster rate than the non-oil traded goods

  8. The oil boom in Equatorial Guinea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frynas, J.G.

    2004-01-01

    In less than a decade, Equatorial Guinea has transformed itself from an African backwater into one of the world's fastest growing economies and a sought-after political partner in the Gulf of Guinea. The sole reason for this transformation has been the discovery of oil and gas. This article outlines the rise of Equatorial Guinea as one of Africa's leading oil-producing countries and investigates the political, economic and social effects of becoming a petro-state. The article is based on the author's field research in Equatorial Guinea in the autumn of 2003 and interviews with senior oil company staff, government officials and staff of international organizations as well as secondary sources. This research demonstrates how reliance on oil and gas exports can lead to profound changes in a country's political economy. (author)

  9. Realism Assessment of Sonic Boom Simulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Brenda M.; Davies, Patrica; Hodgdon, Kthleen K.; Salamone, Joseph A., III; Pilon, Anthony

    2008-01-01

    Developments in small supersonic aircraft design are predicted to result in low-intensity sonic booms. Booms generated by current aircraft are similar to those that led to the ban on commercial supersonic fli ght over the US, so are unsuitable for parametric studies of psychoac oustic response to low-intensity booms. Therefore, simulators have be en used to study the impact of predicted low-intensity sonic booms. H owever, simulators have been criticized because, when simulating conv entional-level booms, the sounds were observed to be unrealistic by p eople experienced in listening to sonic booms. Thus, two studies were conducted to measure the perceived realism of three sonic boom simul ators. Experienced listeners rated the realism of conventional sonic boom signatures when played in these simulators. The effects on percei ved realism of factors such as duration of post-boom noise, exclusion of very low frequency components, inclusion of ground reflections, a nd type of simulator were examined. Duration of post-boom noise was f ound to have a strong effect on perceived realism, while type of simu lator had a weak effect. It was determined that post-boom noise had t o be at least 1.5 seconds long for the sound to be rated very realist ic. Loudness level did not affect realism for the range of sounds pla yed in the tests (80-93 dB ASEL).

  10. Sleipner mishap jolts booming Norway

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1991-01-01

    This paper reports on Norway's buoyant offshore industry that was stunned when the concrete substructure for Sleipner natural gas field's main production platform sank in the Grandsfjord off Stavanger late last month. The accident, a blow to Norway's gas sales program in Europe, came with offshore activity in the Norwegian North Sea moving into a new boom period. Currently, 10 oil and gas fields are under development, and several projects are on the drawing board. Aker Oil and Gas, a leading offshore firm, says the country's construction industry will be working at capacity for the next 4 years. Norwegian oil production has been hovering just below 2 million b/d since the beginning of this year, making Norway the North Sea's largest producer, a position formerly held by the U.K. Gas production averages about 3 bcfd. With European gas demand sharply increasing, Norway is under pressure to increase output from new fields in the mid to late 1990s. The Sleipner setback forces state owned Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Statoil) to cast around for supplies. Sleipner was to have begun deliveries to a consortium of continental gas companies in October 1993. Statoil believes it can fill the gap from existing fields in Norwegian waters

  11. The containment of heavy oil in flowing water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, H.M.; Goodman, R.H.; Nicholson, P.

    1992-01-01

    Viscous bitumen from Alberta oil sand deposits is diluted with a gas condensate before pipeline transport. Because of its unique properties, the diluent/bitumen mix (dilbit) may require novel containment and recovery techniques in the case of an accidental spill. Preliminary experiments were conducted in a large flowing water channel to determine whether several conventional containment devices could be utilized to trap weathered and emulsified dilbit and bitumen. These devices included a conventional river boom, a nylon fine-weave net, and a low-pressure bubble barrier. The behavior of the oil samples during boom failure was noted in order to understand more completely the mechanisms of failure. The river boom failed to hold viscous floating oil by vortex shedding at flows of under 0.25 m/s. A fine mesh net successfully trapped both floating and mid-channel neutrally buoyant oil but the retention time depends on the oil viscosity. The bubble barrier was not successful in trapping either floating viscous oil or neutrally buoyant oil. At low water velocities, the barrier was able to divert some oils but in an inconsistent manner. The results indicate that conventional barriers need improvement to be effective at higher water velocities and suggest that new concepts in containment should be considered. 9 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs

  12. Contingency plans and successful response strategies for oil spills into rivers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Owens, Edward H. [Polaris Applied Sciences Inc., Bainbridge Island, WA (United States)]. E-mail: ehowens@polarisappliedsciences.com

    2003-07-01

    Oil spilled into a river enters a dynamic environment. An effective response can only succeed if the dynamics of the river system are understood and if the strategies and tactics are designed to match these conditions. Oil is transported downstream at the speed of the current, therefore, an estimate of the rate of movement is essential to identify effective intercept locations. Boom performance is affected by local surface water velocities as entrainment of oil typically begins when velocities exceed 0.4 m/s. However, boom configurations can be effective in current velocities as great as 2.5 m/s. Response operations can be successful if staging or control locations have been identified as part of contingency planning and if booms are deployed to take into account local surface current characteristics. Tracking and control of submerged or sunken oil is difficult and may not be practical. Recovery operations for sunken oil depend on the channel depth, current velocities, and on the distribution and concentration of the oil. (author)

  13. The Newfoundland oil spill burn experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fingas, M.

    1992-01-01

    A major offshore oil-spill combustion experiment is being planned for waters off Newfoundland. The experiment is designed to answer outstanding questions on the acceptability of in-situ oil spill burning. In the experiment, variables will be controlled to allow quantitative measurement of the scientific and operational parameters that will enhance understanding of in-situ combustion as an operational oil-spill response technique. The proposed full-scale tests follow six years of testing in laboratory tanks. Analyses have shown that the high temperatures reached during efficient in-situ combustion result in relatively complete destruction of the oil. Tests have shown that the most important factor in this regard is that the oil must be thickened sufficiently before effective burning will occur. Such thickening is potentially possible in the offshore, under suitable wind and sea conditions, using fireproof containment booms. The experiment will involve measurement of emissions to the air, levels of oil in water, and operational parameters of in-situ burning. Time and location of the experiment are chosen to minimize ecological damage and for operational reasons. When suitable conditions are present in early August 1993, two 45-m 3 batches of crude oil will be released into a containment boom and ignited. The burn residue will be recovered mechanically, and a secondary containment and recovery system will be towed behind the fireproof boom to pick up any fugitive oil or residue. 3 figs., 6 tabs

  14. OIL BOND®

    Science.gov (United States)

    Technical product bulletin: this miscellaneous oil spill control agent is a solidifier used in cleanups. It absorbs and solidifies hydrocarbon spills on freshwater and saltwater or land applications. Ring spill with booms or pillows before treatment.

  15. High-Quality Seismic Observations of Sonic Booms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wurman, Gilead; Haering, Edward A., Jr.; Price, Michael J.

    2011-01-01

    The SonicBREWS project (Sonic Boom Resistant Earthquake Warning Systems) is a collaborative effort between Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This project aims to evaluate the effects of sonic booms on Earthquake Warning Systems in order to prevent such systems from experiencing false alarms due to sonic booms. The airspace above the Antelope Valley, California includes the High Altitude Supersonic Corridor and the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor. These corridors are among the few places in the US where supersonic flight is permitted, and sonic booms are commonplace in the Antelope Valley. One result of this project is a rich dataset of high-quality accelerometer records of sonic booms which can shed light on the interaction between these atmospheric phenomena and the solid earth. Nearly 100 sonic booms were recorded with low-noise triaxial MEMS accelerometers recording 1000 samples per second. The sonic booms had peak overpressures ranging up to approximately 10 psf and were recorded in three flight series in 2010 and 2011. Each boom was recorded with up to four accelerometers in various array configurations up to 100 meter baseline lengths, both in the built environment and the free field. All sonic booms were also recorded by nearby microphones. We present the results of the project in terms of the potential for sonic-boom-induced false alarms in Earthquake Warning Systems, and highlight some of the interesting features of the dataset.

  16. Dynamic Analysis of The Intelligent Sprayer Boom

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wiggers, Sine Leergaard; Maagaard, Jørgen; Terp, Christian Istjord

    called “The intelligent sprayer boom”. For the sprayer boom the primary challenge is to hit the weeds with precision from a movable platform. Since the sprayer boom is mounted on a tractor the system will react to bumps in the field. The intelligent sprayer boom has an integrated camera technology......As part of the 3 year project “The intelligent Sprayer Boom”, financed by The Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation, the dynamics of the sprayer boom is to be analysed. In order to minimize the amount of herbicides used to kill the weeds in agriculture a new sprayer boom is being developed...

  17. Decrease of oil prices: economic boom, ecologic challenge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saussay, Aurelien; Guillou, Antoine; Boissel, Charles

    2015-01-01

    After having outlined how oil price collapse changes the economic deal, the authors analyse the determining factors of this collapse: slowing demand, exceeding supply, financialization of oil markets, no decision of reduction of production by the OPEC, decision by major companies to postpone investments rather than to re-balance short-term supply, production adjustment related to shale oil production. The second part analyses and discusses the economic consequences of oil price collapse: immediate impact on the French economy (reduction of the energy bill, different effects on the different economic actors, main related risks), economic scenarios on a medium term (contribution of models of macro-economic balance, possible economic growth of 0.4 due to oil price reduction, uncertain behaviour of economic actors, risk of deflation). In the third part, the authors make some proposals aimed at adapting the economy in order to take advantage of oil price reduction: to support energy transition with a required reform of energy taxing (for example for automotive fuels), to invest associated savings in energy transition and in transport infrastructure, to help households and companies in their energy transition

  18. Recent Progress on Sonic Boom Research at NASA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loubeau, Alexandra

    2012-01-01

    Sonic boom research conducted at NASA through the Supersonics Project of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program is oriented toward understanding the potential impact of sonic boom noise on communities from new low-boom supersonic aircraft designs. Encompassing research in atmospheric propagation, structural response, and human response, NASA research contributes to knowledge in key areas needed to support development of a new noise-based standard for supersonic aircraft certification. Partnerships with several industry, government, and academic institutions have enabled the recent execution of several acoustic field studies on sonic booms. An overview of recent activities funded by NASA includes: focus boom model development and experimental validation, field experiments of structural transmission of sonic booms into large buildings, and low boom community response testing.

  19. Contained controlled burning of spilled oil during the Exxon Valdez oil spill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allen, A.A.

    1990-01-01

    During the evening of the second day following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, an estimated 57,000-114,000 liters of North Slope crude oil were eliminated using in-situ combustion. The oil was collected with 3M's Fire Boom towed in a U-shaped configuration behind two fishing boats. Working with 152 m long tow lines, a 137 m boom was moved at ca 0.26-5.2 m/s through slightly emulsified oil patches in the downwind region of the spill. A gelled fuel ignitor was used to ignite the captured oil, and the size and intensity of the blaze was controlled by adjusting the speed of the vessels. Total burn time was ca 1.25 h, however the intense part of the burn lasted for ca 45 minutes. Using several methods to estimate the total volume of oil collected, the volume resulted in ca 1136 liters of stiff, taffy-like burn residue that could be picked up easily on completion of the burn. The controlled burn thus resulted in an estimated 98% or better elimination of crude oil. It had been planned to use a helitorch to ignite the captured oil, however darkness required the use of the gelled ignitor. Had the helitorch been used, numerous ignition points could have been spread througout the contained oil, providing a much more efficient heating and ultimate ignition of the oil. 5 figs

  20. Improving Oil Recovery (IOR) with Polymer Flooding in a Heavy-Oil River-Channel Sandstone Reservoir

    OpenAIRE

    Lu, Hongjiang

    2009-01-01

    Most of the old oil fields in China have reached high water cut stage, in order to meet the booming energy demanding, oil production rate must be kept in the near future with corresponding IOR (Improving Oil Recovery) methods. Z106 oilfield lies in Shengli Oilfields Area at the Yellow River delta. It was put into development in 1988. Since the oil belongs to heavy oil, the oil-water mobility ratio is so unfavourable that water cut increases very quickly. Especially for reservoir Ng21, the san...

  1. China expands refining sector to handle booming oil demand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1993-01-01

    China's refining sector is in the midst of a major expansion and reorganization in response to booming domestic demand for petroleum products. Plans call for hiking crude processing capacity to 3.9 million b/d in 1995 from the current 3.085 million b/d. Much of that 26% increase will come where the products demand growth is the strongest: China's coastal provinces, notably those in the southeast. Despite the demand surge, China's refineries operated at only 74% of capacity in 1991, and projections for 1992 weren't much better. Domestic crude supply is limited because of Beijing's insistence on maintaining crude export levels, a major source of hard currency foreign exchange. The paper discusses the superheated demand; exports and imports; the refining infrastructure; the Shenzhen refinery; Hong Kong demand; southeast coast demand; 1993 plans; and foreign investment

  2. Swarm Deployable Boom Assembly (DBA) Development of a Deployable Magnetometer Boom for the Swarm Spacecraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMahon, Paul; Jung, Hans-Juergen; Edwards, Jeff

    2013-09-01

    The Swarm programme consists of 3 magnetically clean satellites flying in close formation designed to measure the Earth's magnetic field using 2 Magnetometers mounted on a 4.3m long deployable boom.Deployment is initiated by releasing 3 HDRMs, once released the boom oscillates back and forth on a pair of pivots, similar to a restaurant kitchen door hinge, for around 120 seconds before coming to rest on 3 kinematic mounts which are used to provide an accurate reference location in the deployed position. Motion of the boom is damped through a combination of friction, spring hysteresis and flexing of the 120+ cables crossing the hinge. Considerable development work and accurate numerical modelling of the hinge motion was required to predict performance across a wide temperature range and ensure that during the 1st overshoot the boom did not damage itself, the harness or the spacecraft.Due to the magnetic cleanliness requirements of the spacecraft no magnetic materials could be used in the design of the hardware.

  3. A natural ice boom

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hopper, H.R. [Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg, MB (Canada)

    1998-10-01

    Planning for ice jams and ice movements are critical on the Nelson River in northern Manitoba in designing cofferdams. Experience on the St. Lawrence River demonstrated the possibility of exercising some control over ice action by judicious placement of log booms or ice control structures. The success of experiments with man-made controls led to field tests in which an ice sheet of sufficient magnitude and competence was introduced into the open water stream of the Nelson River. The ice sheet was subsequently jammed in a narrow channel, thereby creating a natural ice bridge or boom upstream of a proposed hydro development. Under favourable conditions, this boom would initiate the progression of the ice cover from its location upstream, cutting off the downstream reach from the ice producing potential of the upstream reach. Although ice would still be generated downstream, the length of the reach between the ice boom and the development site would be short enough that ice jamming at the development site would never occur. Although problems in blasting prevented the introduction of a competent ice sheet into the main stream of the river at the location chosen, sufficient confidence in the theory was gained to warrant further consideration. 4 refs., 1 tab., 10 figs.

  4. Domestic Crop Booms, Livelihood Pathways and Nested Transitions: Charting the Implications of Bangladesh’s Pangasius Boom

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belton, B.; Asseldonk, van I.J.M.; Bush, S.R.

    2017-01-01

    Rapidly transforming Asian food systems are oriented largely towards domestic markets, yet literature on Asian crop booms deals almost exclusively with commodities produced for export. With reference to pangasius aquaculture in Bangladesh, we argue that ‘domestic crop booms’ - agricultural booms

  5. Waveforms and Sonic Boom Perception and Response (WSPR): Low-Boom Community Response Program Pilot Test Design, Execution, and Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Page, Juliet A.; Hodgdon, Kathleen K.; Krecker, Peg; Cowart, Robbie; Hobbs, Chris; Wilmer, Clif; Koening, Carrie; Holmes, Theresa; Gaugler, Trent; Shumway, Durland L.; hide

    2014-01-01

    The Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response (WSPR) Program was designed to test and demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of techniques to gather data relating human subjective response to multiple low-amplitude sonic booms. It was in essence a practice session for future wider scale testing on naive communities, using a purpose built low-boom demonstrator aircraft. The low-boom community response pilot experiment was conducted in California in November 2011. The WSPR team acquired sufficient data to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the various physical and psychological data gathering techniques and analysis methods.

  6. The U.S. Oil and Gas Boom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brodman, John

    2012-01-01

    A funny thing happened in the last few years when no one was paying attention. What is going on is nothing short of a revolution in U.S., Lower-48 oil and natural gas production that is quickly transforming the energy sector. This transformation, while important for the oil market, is likely to be spectacularly more evolutionary in natural gas markets, both here and abroad. New production technologies have arrived at a time when the whole world is looking for cleaner-burning fuels, and they may usher in a new golden era for natural gas as a bridge fuel to a cleaner, more-sustainable energy future

  7. Floating Oil-Spill Containment Device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jack A.

    2012-01-01

    Previous oil containment booms have an open top that allows natural gas to escape, and have significant oil leakage due to wave action. Also, a subsea pyramid oil trap exists, but cannot move relative to moving oil plumes from deepsea oil leaks. The solution is to have large, moveable oil traps. One version floats on the sea surface and has a flexible tarp cover and a lower weighted skirt to completely entrap the floating oil and natural gas. The device must have at least three sides with boats pulling at each apex, and sonar or other system to track the slowly moving oil plume, so that the boats can properly locate the booms. The oil trap device must also have a means for removal of the oil and the natural gas. A second design version has a flexible pyramid cover that is attached by lines to ballast on the ocean floor. This is similar to fixed, metal pyramid oil capture devices in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California. The ballast lines for the improved design, however, would have winches that can move the pyramid to always be located above the oil and gas plume. A third design is a combination of the first two. It uses a submerged pyramid to trap oil, but has no anchor and uses boats to locate the trap. It has ballast weights located along the bottom of the tarp and/or at the corners of the trap. The improved floating oil-spill containment device has a large floating boom and weighted skirt surrounding the oil and gas entrapment area. The device is triangular (or more than three sides) and has a flexible tarp cover with a raised gas vent area. Boats pull on the apex of the triangles to maintain tension and to allow the device to move to optimum locations to trap oil and gas. The gas is retrieved from a higher buoyant part of the tarp, and oil is retrieved from the floating oil layer contained in the device. These devices can be operated in relatively severe weather, since waves will break over the devices without causing oil leaking. Also, natural

  8. Oil frontiers and indigenous resistance in the Peruvian Amazon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Orta-Martinez, Marti [ICTA, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona (Spain); Finer, Matt [Save America' s Forests, 4 Library Court. NW, Washington DC 20003 (United States)

    2010-12-15

    The Peruvian Amazon is culturally and biologically one of the most diverse regions on Earth. Since the 1920s oil exploration and extraction in the region have threatened both biodiversity and indigenous peoples, particularly those living in voluntary isolation. We argue that the phenomenon of peak oil, combined with rising demand and consumption, is now pushing oil extraction into the most remote corners of the world. Modern patterns of production and consumption and high oil prices are forcing a new oil exploratory boom in the Peruvian Amazon. While conflicts spread on indigenous territories, new forms of resistance appear and indigenous political organizations are born and become more powerful. The impacts of oil exploration and exploitation and indigenous resistance throughout the oil history of the Peruvian Amazon are reviewed here, focusing on the Achuar people in Rio Corrientes. The driving forces, impacts, and responses to the current oil exploration boom are analyzed from an environmental justice perspective. We conclude that, in a context of peak oil and growing global demand for oil, such devastating effects for minor quantities of oil are likely to increase and impact other remote parts of the world. (author)

  9. Del Boom y otras onomatopeyas literarias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Iván Parra Londoño

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo trata de examinar los alcances literarios del llamado Boom latinoamericano, a medio siglo de su estallido, las cuatro obras más representativas y sus respectivos autores, además de proponer un quinto autor, según la invitación que hiciera en su momento el crítico Ángel Rama. Por otro lado, evalua la respuesta literaria por parte del Post Boom, analizando sus características y su vigencia y, de manera concomitante, los movimientos anejos o posteriores a dicho movimiento, como el Crack y la Generación Granta. A manera de propuesta, se pondrán a consideración treinta autores como integrantes del Post Boom y una novela de Carlos Fuentes como el “crash” del Boom. Por último, presenta un breve vistazo a la narrativa española paralela a los mencionados movimientos.

  10. The Effect of Sonic Booms on Earthquake Warning Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wurman, Gilead; Haering, Edward A, Jr.; Price, Michael J.

    2011-01-01

    Several aerospace companies are designing quiet supersonic business jets for service over the United States. These aircraft have the potential to increase the occurrence of mild sonic booms across the country. This leads to interest among earthquake warning (EQW) developers and the general seismological community in characterizing the effect of sonic booms on seismic sensors in the field, their potential impact on EQW systems, and means of discriminating their signatures from those of earthquakes. The SonicBREWS project (Sonic Boom Resistant Earthquake Warning Systems) is a collaborative effort between Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. (SWS) and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This project aims to evaluate the effects of sonic booms on EQW sensors. The study consists of exposing high-sample-rate (1000 sps) triaxial accelerometers to sonic booms with overpressures ranging from 10 to 600 Pa in the free field and the built environment. The accelerometers record the coupling of the sonic boom to the ground and surrounding structures, while microphones record the acoustic wave above ground near the sensor. Sonic booms are broadband signals with more high-frequency content than earthquakes. Even a 1000 sps accelerometer will produce a significantly aliased record. Thus the observed peak ground velocity is strongly dependent on the sampling rate, and increases as the sampling rate is reduced. At 1000 sps we observe ground velocities that exceed those of P-waves from ML 3 earthquakes at local distances, suggesting that sonic booms are not negligible for EQW applications. We present the results of several experiments conducted under SonicBREWS showing the effects of typical-case low amplitude sonic booms and worst-case high amplitude booms. We show the effects of various sensor placements and sensor array geometries. Finally, we suggest possible avenues for discriminating sonic booms from earthquakes for the purposes of EQW.

  11. Fire-fighting burning oil wells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Newbury, Herbert; Risk, Stewart.

    1993-01-01

    A method of extinguishing burning oil wells is presented which involves dispensing liquid nitrogen to the burning site to prevent or inhibit oxygen from fuelling the flames. To carry out the method a remotely operated vehicle is described which is provided with a source of liquid nitrogen and an articulated deployment boom capable of supplying the liquid nitrogen to the site of a burning oil well. (Author)

  12. Subjective Response to Simulated Sonic Booms in Homes

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCurdy, David A.; Brown, Sherilyn A.

    1996-01-01

    One of the environmental issues affecting the development of a second-generation supersonic commercial transport is the impact of sonic booms on people. Aircraft designers are attempting to design the transport to produce sonic boom signatures that will have minimum impact on the public. Current supersonic commercial aircraft produce an 'N-wave' sonic boom pressure signature that is considered unacceptable by the public. This has resulted in first-generation supersonic transports being banned from flying supersonic over land in the United States, a severe economic constraint. By tailoring aircraft volume and lift distributions, designers hope to produce sonic boom signatures having specific shapes other than 'N-wave' that may be more acceptable to the public. As part of the effort to develop a second-generation supersonic commercial transport, Langley Research Center is conducting research to study people's subjective response to sonic booms. As part of that research, a system was developed for performing studies of the subjective response of people to the occurrence of simulated sonic booms in their homes. The In-Home Noise Generation/Response System (IHONORS) provides a degree of situational realism not available in the laboratory and a degree of control over the noise exposure not found in community surveys. The computer-controlled audio system generates the simulated sonic booms, measures the noise levels, and records the subjects' ratings and can be placed and operated in individual homes for extended periods of time. The system was used to conduct an in-home study of subjective response to simulated sonic booms. The primary objective of the study was to determine the effect on annoyance of the number of sonic boom occurrences in a realistic environment. The effects on annoyance of several other parameters were also examined. Initially, data analyses were based on all the data collected. However, further analyser found that test subjects adapted to the sonic

  13. Modeling the macroeconomic impact of oil: Mexico, 1970-1987

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith Villavicencio, W.J.

    1991-01-01

    A saddle-point stable-demand-determined model is theoretically developed to understand the impact of changes in oil revenues with emphasis on the financial aspects. The model includes explicitly a balance of payments and a government budget constraint and features credit as the main transmission mechanism between the financial and the real sector. It is shown that some of the consequences usually proposed by the so-called Dutch Disease literature are dependent on conditions of full employment and that they may not hold when this assumption is dropped. It is found that fiscal policy can be effective in ameliorating the disruptive effects of an oil boom on exchange rate expectations and the foreign-exchange market, but that it can also be destabilizing. It is also shown that an oil boom and an oil bust are not necessarily symmetric and they may share similar effects like an initial depreciation of the exchange rate

  14. Oil spill response engineering and planning. Technical completion report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swift, M.R.; Celikkol, B.; Goodwin, C.E.; Carrier, R.; McDonald, S.P.

    1991-12-01

    Tanker and barge traffic associated with the five petroleum product terminals along the NH side of the Piscataqua River represents a constant oil spill threat to the contiguous Great Bay System, NH, an estuarine reserve. Several serious accidents have in fact taken place in the 1970's and two small spills in 1990. A major factor is that the Piscataqua channel is subject to high velocity tidal currents. Should a spill occur, problems arise in knowing where the slick will move and how to control it using booms. In the project, these problems were addressed by developing procedures for using diversion booms in high speed current environments and in revising and implementing a previously developed Oil Spill Trajectory Model

  15. Maximum tech, minimum time. Response and cleanup of the Fidalgo Bay oil spill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pintler, L.R.

    1991-01-01

    A booster pump failure on a pipeline at Texaco's Anacortes refinery spilled more than 17,000 gallons of oil into Fidalgo Bay. A description is given of the spill control measures taken under Texaco's Spill Prevention and Control Countermeasures and facility contingency plans. The spill was addressed quickly, and containment booms were used to cordon off the spill. Vacuum trucks, rope mop machines and disk skimmers were used to collect the thickest concentrations of oil, and the oil and water collected was separated at the refinery's wastewater treatment centre. Nonwoven polypropylene sorbent pads, sweeps, booms and oil snares were used to clean up thinner concentrations of oil. Essential steps for a smooth spill response include the following: a comprehensive spill prevention and control countermeasures plan, training and regular drills and testing; immediate notification of appropriate regulatory agencies and company emergency response personnel; and the use of professional oil spill management contractors to assist in spill cleanup. 2 figs

  16. Full-Carpet Design of a Low-Boom Demonstrator Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ordaz, Irian; Wintzer, Mathias; Rallabhandi, Sriram K.

    2015-01-01

    The Cart3D adjoint-based design framework is used to mitigate the undesirable o -track sonic boom properties of a demonstrator concept designed for low-boom directly under the flight path. First, the requirements of a Cart3D design mesh are determined using a high-fidelity mesh adapted to minimize the discretization error of the CFD analysis. Low-boom equivalent area targets are then generated at the under-track and one off-track azimuthal position for the baseline configuration. The under-track target is generated using a trim- feasible low-boom target generation process, ensuring that the final design is not only low-boom, but also trimmed at the specified flight condition. The o -track equivalent area target is generated by minimizing the A-weighted loudness using an efficient adjoint-based approach. The configuration outer mold line is then parameterized and optimized to match the off-body pressure distributions prescribed by the low-boom targets. The numerical optimizer uses design gradients which are calculated using the Cart3D adjoint- based design capability. Optimization constraints are placed on the geometry to satisfy structural feasibility. The low-boom properties of the final design are verified using the adaptive meshing approach. This analysis quantifies the error associated with the CFD mesh that is used for design. Finally, an alternate mesh construction and target positioning approach offering greater computational efficiency is demonstrated and verified.

  17. Spray boom for selectively spraying a herbicidal composition onto dicots

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2012-01-01

    There is provided a method and spray boom for discriminating cereal crop (monocot) and weeds (dicots). The spray boom includes means for digitally recording an image of a selected area to be treated by a nozzle on the spray boom, whereby a plant material is identified based on a segmentation proc...

  18. Radiative evaporation of oil spills on seas or rivers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Summerfield, M.

    1993-01-01

    Because of the self-evident drawbacks of in situ oil burning as a means of removing spilled oil from water surfaces, a similar technique suggests itself: evaporation of the oil by absorbed heat. Of the various ways in which heat may be brought to the oil surface, intense radiation seems to be the most convenient technique. Oil spilled on water surfaces can be collected by a boom floating in the water, gathered in a catenary-like contour, and deep enough to absorb the beam of radiation near the apex of the catenary. It seems likely that the circulation of oil in the gathered oil layer would serve to assure the minimum of heat conduction (loss of heat) to the water below. The question is, does a radiator intense enough to evaporate oil at a fast enough rate exist? The answer seems to be that a system does indeed exist, developed by the Gas Research Institute, Chicago, Illinois, and manufactured under GRI sponsorship by at least two companies. It was developed for such applications as paint drying. The radiator is heated to over 1400 K by natural gas combustion (with air); the hot surface is made of a ceramic. The efficiency of the overall process, from the standard heat of combustion to the radiation beam emitted, is about 40 percent. If one assumes a reasonable efficiency for the absorption of radiation and its conversion to heat and then its conversion to evaporated oil, one can compute the beam size, the radiator dimensions, the duration required for a boom-full of oil (only one) and the cost. It turns out that, for a 1,000 gal spill (more than the daily average), a duration of about 5 hours suffices for a single overhead radiator; the cost would be about $400 in fuel. A boat carrying the fuel tanks to feed the radiator, trailing the boom apex, is probably the best way to direct the radiation to the oil surface. Cleanup of a spill in this way is assured. One drawback is the smell of the atmosphere laden with the vapor

  19. Development in helicopter tail boom strake applications in the US

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, John C.; Kelley, Henry L.; Donahue, Cynthia C.; Yenni, Kenneth R.

    1988-01-01

    The use of a strake or spoiler on a helicopter tail boom to beneficially change helicopter tail boom air loads was suggested in the United States in 1975. The anticipated benefits were a change of tail boom loads to reduce required tail rotor thrust and power and improve directional control. High tail boom air loads experienced by the YAH-64 and described in 1978 led to a wind tunnel investigation of the usefullness of strakes in altering such loads on the AH-64, UH-60, and UH-1 helicopters. The wind tunnel tests of 2-D cross sections of the tail boom of each demonstrated that a strake or strakes would be effective. Several limited test programs with the U.S. Army's OH-58A, AH-64, and UH-60A were conducted which showed the effects of strakes were modest for those helicopters. The most recent flight test program, with a Bell 204B, disclosed that for the 204B the tail boom strake or strakes would provide more than a modest improvement in directional control and reduction in tail rotor power.

  20. Environmental Pollution: Noise Pollution - Sonic Boom

    Science.gov (United States)

    1977-06-01

    UNCLASSIFIED AD-A041 400 DDC/BIB-77/06 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION NOISE POLLUTION SONIC BOOM A DDC BIBLIOGRAPHY DDC-TAS Cameron Station Alexandria, Va...rn7Sttio 658S-A041 400 4 TITLE xand r.VuhtlVlia) 2 TA i b- 1iblog ra ph y ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION : --. Apr-l IM59-Jul, 7NOISE POLLUTION -SONIC BOOM. 1,976...BIBLIOGRAPHY SEARCH CONTROL NO. /2OM09 AD- 769 970 20/1 1/3 DEFENSE UOCUMENTATION CENTER ALEXANDRIA VA ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION : NOISE POLLUTION

  1. Alternative Fuels Data Center: Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Boom Coast to

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coast Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Boom Coast to Coast to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Boom Coast to Coast on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Boom Coast to Coast on Twitter Bookmark Alternative

  2. State of the art of sonic boom modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plotkin, Kenneth J.

    2002-01-01

    Based on fundamental theory developed through the 1950s and 1960s, sonic boom modeling has evolved into practical tools. Over the past decade, there have been requirements for design tools for an advanced supersonic transport, and for tools for environmental assessment of various military and aerospace activities. This has resulted in a number of advances in the understanding of the physics of sonic booms, including shock wave rise times, propagation through turbulence, and blending sonic boom theory with modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) aerodynamic design methods. This article reviews the early fundamental theory, recent advances in theory, and the application of these advances to practical models.

  3. Combining conservation value, vulnerability, and effectiveness of mitigation actions in spatial conservation decisions: an application to coastal oil spill combating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ihaksi, Taina; Kokkonen, Teemu; Helle, Inari; Jolma, Ari; Lecklin, Tiina; Kuikka, Sakari

    2011-05-01

    Increasing oil transportation and severe oil accidents in the past have led to the development of various sensitivity maps in different countries all over the world. Often, however, the areas presented on the maps are far too large to be safeguarded with the available oil combating equipment and prioritization is required to decide which areas must be safeguarded. While oil booms can be applied to safeguard populations from a drifting oil slick, decision making on the spatial allocation of oil combating capacity is extremely difficult due to the lack of time, resources and knowledge. Since the operational decision makers usually are not ecologists, a useful decision support tool including ecological knowledge must be readily comprehensible and easy to use. We present an index-based method that can be used to make decisions concerning which populations of natural organisms should primarily be safeguarded from a floating oil slick with oil booms. The indices take into account the relative exposure, mortality and recovery potential of populations, the conservation value of species and populations, and the effectiveness of oil booms to safeguard different species. The method has been implemented in a mapping software that can be used in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) for operational oil combating. It could also be utilized in other similar conservation decisions where species with varying vulnerability, conservational value, and benefits received from the management actions need to be prioritized.

  4. The Asymmetric Effects of Oil Price Shocks on the Chinese Stock Market: Evidence from a Quantile Impulse Response Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huiming Zhu

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper uses a quantile impulse response approach to investigate the impact of oil price shocks on Chinese stock returns. This process allows us to uncover asymmetric effects of oil price shocks on stock market returns by taking into account the different quantiles of oil price shocks. Our results show that the responses of Chinese stock market returns to oil price shocks differ greatly, depending on whether the oil and stock market is in a bust or boom state and whether the shock is driven by demand or supply. The impacts of oil price shocks on Chinese stock returns present asymmetric features. In particular during a bust phase, oil supply and demand shocks significantly depress stock market returns, while during a boom period, the aggregate demand shock enhances stock market returns. These results suggest some important implications for investors and decision makers.

  5. Methodology for the Regulation of Boom Sprayers Operating in Circular Trajectories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfredo Serreta

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available A methodology for the regulation of boom sprayers working in circular trajectories has been developed. In this type of trajectory, the areas of the plots of land treated by the outer nozzles of the boom are treated at reduced rates, and those treated by the inner nozzles are treated in excess. The goal of this study was to establish the methodology to determine the flow of the individual nozzles on the boom to guarantee that the dose of the product applied per surface unit is similar across the plot. This flow is a function of the position of the equipment (circular trajectory radius and of the displacement velocity such that the treatment applied per surface unit is uniform. GPS technology was proposed as a basis to establish the position and displacement velocity of the tractor. The viability of this methodology was simulated considering two circular plots with radii of 160 m and 310 m, using three sets of equipment with boom widths of 14.5, 24.5 and 29.5 m. Data showed as increasing boom widths produce bigger errors in the surface dose applied (L/m2. Error also increases with decreasing plot surface. As an example, considering the three boom widths of 14.5, 24.5 and 29.5 m working on a circular plot with a radius of 160 m, the percentage of surface with errors in the applied surface dose greater than 5% was 30%, 58% and 65% respectively. Considering a circular plot with radius of 310 m the same errors were 8%, 22% and 31%. To obtain a uniform superficial dose two sprayer regulation alternatives have been simulated considering a 14.5 m boom: the regulation of the pressure of each nozzle and the regulation of the pressure of each boom section. The viability of implementing the proposed methodology on commercial boom sprayers using GPS antennas to establish the position and displacement velocity of the tractor was justified with a field trial in which a self-guiding commercial GPS system was used along with three precision GPS systems located in

  6. Stress Analysis of Boom of Special Mobile Crane for Plain Region in Transmission Line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Jian; Shao, Tao; Chen, Jun; Wan, Jiancheng; Li, Zhonghuan; Jiang, Ming

    2017-10-01

    Basis of the boom force analysis of special mobile crane for plain region in transmission line, the load type of boom design is confirmed. According to the different combinations of boom sections, the composite pattern of the different boom length is obtained to suit the actual conditions of boom overlapping. The large deformation model is employed with FEM to simulate the stress distribution of boom, and the calculation results are checked. The performance curves of rated load with different arm length and different working range are obtained, which ensures the lifting capacity of special mobile crane meeting the requirement of tower erection of transmission line. The proposed FEM of boom of mobile crane would provide certain guiding and reference to the boom design.

  7. Design of the De-Orbit Sail Boom Deployment Unit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Sebastian; Hillebrandt, Martin; Straubel, Marco; Huhne, Christian

    2014-06-01

    The design of the De-Orbit Sail boom deployment unit is strongly driven by volume constraints, which are given by the cubesat container. Four CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) booms [4] with a cross-sectional shape of a double-omega and a length of 3.6 m are reeled on one spool in the center of the unit. The deployment of the four booms are controlled by an electric motor, which acts on the boom spool. Due to the volume limitation caused by the dimensions of the cubesat deployer the deployment unit has little room for the mechanisms components. With the aim to achieve a robust design, the deployment concept of the unit has greatly changed during the development process. The history of the design as well as the mechanisms are described. Additionally the results of the flight model testing are presented.

  8. Natural Resources Management: The Effect of the Commodity Boom on Indonesia’s Industrial Development and Welfare

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Monica Wihardja

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The end of the commodity boom in 2012 once again exposed Indonesia to the vulnerability of the commodity price shocks. This article reviews how Indonesia managed its natural resources in 2001–12 and when the commodity boom ends. What are the lessons learned? Indonesia’s experience is similar to that of other countries rich in natural resources, including the crowding-out of non-commodity sectors, protectionist trade regimes, fiscal inefficiency, slow skill accumulation, rising inequality and environmental damages. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008–09, the early trade -policy response at the end of the commodity boom is inward-looking and protective of domestic markets and industries and aims to increase the added value of commodities by downstreaming. This trend is clearly reflected in the 2014 Trade Law, the 2014 Industry Law and the mineral export ban, which was introduced in 2009 through the 2009 Law on Mining of Coal and Minerals and took effect in 2014. Indonesia should learn from other countries in managing its resource revenues, such as through a commodity fund designed to fit its domestic specificity. Reindustrializing, increasing agricultural productivity beyond palm oil and tapping the country’s potential in the services sector including tourism and creative industries are also necessary to promote diversification in production and trade. Resource management policy should also include stronger environmental regulations.

  9. Alyeska/SERVS technological innovations for oil spill response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hillman, S.O.

    1996-01-01

    An overview of technological innovations in spill response by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company/SERVS (ship escort response vessel system), was presented. The company has developed a number of spill response techniques which have needed new strategies and modified equipment for fulfillment of the Prince William Sound Tanker Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan. One of the strategies was the training of personnel to be ready to deploy massive quantities of equipment on short notice to potential spill sites over an 11,000 square mile water body with more than 3,200 miles of wilderness shoreline. Specific response equipment and decision-making tools have been developed in direct support of large scale programs. Along with oil slick tracking buoys and mini barges, SERVS has developed high capacity skimmers with recovery capacities approaching 2,000 to 3,000 barrels of liquid per hour and strategy boom-towing vessels which divert oil into a long U shaped containment boom. SERVS fishing vessel program, hatchery protection and remote response center equipment program, and wildlife treatment facilities were also described. 10 refs., 13 figs

  10. Shuttle sonic boom - Technology and predictions. [environmental impact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holloway, P. F.; Wilhold, G. A.; Jones, J. H.; Garcia, F., Jr.; Hicks, R. M.

    1973-01-01

    Because the shuttle differs significantly in both geometric and operational characteristics from conventional supersonic aircraft, estimation of sonic boom characteristics required a new technology base. The prediction procedures thus developed are reviewed. Flight measurements obtained for both the ascent and entry phases of the Apollo 15 and 16 and for the ascent phase only of the Apollo 17 missions are presented which verify the techniques established for application to shuttle. Results of extensive analysis of the sonic boom overpressure characteristics completed to date are presented which indicate that this factor of the shuttle's environmental impact is predictable, localized, of short duration and acceptable. Efforts are continuing to define the shuttle sonic boom characteristics to a fine level of detail based on the final system design.

  11. High-Speed Research: 1994 Sonic Boom Workshop. Configuration, Design, Analysis and Testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCurdy, David A. (Editor)

    1999-01-01

    The third High-Speed Research Sonic Boom Workshop was held at NASA Langley Research Center on June 1-3, 1994. The purpose of this workshop was to provide a forum for Government, industry, and university participants to present and discuss progress in their research. The workshop was organized into sessions dealing with atmospheric propagation; acceptability studies; and configuration design, and testing. Attendance at the workshop was by invitation only. The workshop proceedings include papers on design, analysis, and testing of low-boom high-speed civil transport configurations and experimental techniques for measuring sonic booms. Significant progress is noted in these areas in the time since the previous workshop a year earlier. The papers include preliminary results of sonic boom wind tunnel tests conducted during 1993 and 1994 on several low-boom designs. Results of a mission performance analysis of all low-boom designs are also included. Two experimental methods for measuring near-field signatures of airplanes in flight are reported.

  12. USAF Flight Test Investigation of Focused Sonic Booms: Project Have Bears

    Science.gov (United States)

    Downing, Micah; Zamot, Noel; Moss, Chris; Morin, Daniel; Wolski, Ed; Chung, Sukhwan; Plotkin, Kenneth; Maglieri, Domenic

    1996-01-01

    Supersonic operations from military aircraft generate sonic booms that can affect people, animals and structures. A substantial experimental data base exists on sonic booms for aircraft in steady flight and confidence in the predictive techniques has been established. All the focus sonic boom data that are in existence today were collected during the 60's and 70's as part of the information base to the US Supersonic Transport program and the French Jericho studies for the Concorde. These experiments formed the data base to develop sonic boom propagation and prediction theories for focusing. There is a renewed interest in high-speed transports for civilian application. Moreover, today's fighter aircraft have better performance capabilities, and supersonic flights ars more common during air combat maneuvers. Most of the existing data on focus booms are related to high-speed civil operations such as transitional linear accelerations and mild turns. However, military aircraft operating in training areas perform more drastic maneuvers such as dives and high-g turns. An update and confirmation of USAF prediction capabilities is required to demonstrate the ability to predict and control sonic boom impacts, especially those produced by air combat maneuvers.

  13. Laboratory hydro-mechanical characterisation of Boom Clay at Essen and Mol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deng, Y. F.; Tang, A. M.; Cui, Y. J.; Nguyen, X. P.; Li, X. L.; Wouters, L.

    2011-01-01

    Boom Clay has been selected as a potential host rock formation for the geological disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium. In the present work, the hydro-mechanical behaviour of Boom Clay samples from the borehole Essen-1 at a depth of 220-260 m and from HADES that is the underground rock laboratory at Mol in Belgium, at 223-m depth was investigated in the laboratory by performing low pressure odometer tests (vertical effective stress ranging from 0.05 to 3.2 MPa), high pressure odometer tests (vertical effective stress ranging from 0.125 to 32 MPa), isotropic consolidation tests (confining effective stress ranging from the in situ stress to 20 MPa) and triaxial shear tests. It has been observed that the mineralogy, geotechnical properties and hydro-mechanical behaviour of Boom Clay from Essen at 227-m, 240-m and 248-m depths are similar to that of Boom Clay from Mol. As in the case of Boom Clay at Mol, the failure envelope of Boom Clay at Essen in the p'- q plane is not linear. The slope of the portion beyond the pre-consolidation stress of Boom Clay from Essen is almost the same as that from Mol, suggesting a similar internal friction angle of about 13 deg. The compression curves (void index I v versus logarithm of vertical stress) beyond the pre-consolidation stress are the same for both samples from Mol and Essen, and situated between the intrinsic compression line (ICL) and the sedimentation compression line (SCL). The yield stress determined from odometer tests seems to be stress-path dependent and lower than the pre-consolidation stress. Thus determining the over-consolidation ratio (OCR) using the yield stress value would lead to an incorrect estimate. From a practical point view, the laboratory test results from Essen and their comparison with those from Mol provide important information regarding the transferability of knowledge on Boom Clay at different sites, taking into account the fact that most investigations have been carried out on Boom Clay at

  14. Sonic boom predictions using a modified Euler code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siclari, Michael J.

    1992-04-01

    The environmental impact of a next generation fleet of high-speed civil transports (HSCT) is of great concern in the evaluation of the commercial development of such a transport. One of the potential environmental impacts of a high speed civilian transport is the sonic boom generated by the aircraft and its effects on the population, wildlife, and structures in the vicinity of its flight path. If an HSCT aircraft is restricted from flying overland routes due to excessive booms, the commercial feasibility of such a venture may be questionable. NASA has taken the lead in evaluating and resolving the issues surrounding the development of a high speed civilian transport through its High-Speed Research Program (HSRP). The present paper discusses the usage of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) nonlinear code in predicting the pressure signature and ultimately the sonic boom generated by a high speed civilian transport. NASA had designed, built, and wind tunnel tested two low boom configurations for flight at Mach 2 and Mach 3. Experimental data was taken at several distances from these models up to a body length from the axis of the aircraft. The near field experimental data serves as a test bed for computational fluid dynamic codes in evaluating their accuracy and reliability for predicting the behavior of future HSCT designs. Sonic boom prediction methodology exists which is based on modified linear theory. These methods can be used reliably if near field signatures are available at distances from the aircraft where nonlinear and three dimensional effects have diminished in importance. Up to the present time, the only reliable method to obtain this data was via the wind tunnel with costly model construction and testing. It is the intent of the present paper to apply a modified three dimensional Euler code to predict the near field signatures of the two low boom configurations recently tested by NASA.

  15. Facts and features of radionuclide migration in Boom Clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Regge, P.; Henrion, P.; Monsecour, M.; Put, M.

    1988-01-01

    The evolution which took place during ten years of research on the behaviour of radionuclides in Boom Clay is described. Initially, the Boom Clay was regarded as a chemically inert exchanger and the radiochemical research aimed at determining the distribution of cations between the clay and some liquid phases. The observation that Boom Clay deteriorates in contact with air and loses important intrinsic properties formed a major breakthrough in the research and led to a careful examination of the real in-situ conditions. Efforts devoted to the understanding of the chemical factors pertaining to the pH, the redox potential, the extent of the buffering capacity of FeS 2 and CaCO 3 in equilibrium with the interstitial aqueous phase are reviewed. Also emerging from the overall picture was the role of the organic material present in the Boom Clay. In contrast to the water percolating fractured formations which may not be in equilibrium with the rock, the interstitial aqueous phase is completely in equilibrium with Boom Clay mainly because of its low permeability and the large excesses of buffering components. As the retention mechanisms are better understood, a more coherent picture is obtained from distribution and diffusion experiments and the effects of consolidation are being investigated in detail. 23 refs.; 4 figs.; 3 tabs

  16. Boom Booom Net Radio

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimshaw, Mark Nicholas; Yong, Louisa; Dobie, Ian

    1999-01-01

    of an existing Internet radio station; Boom Booom Net Radio. Whilst necessity dictates some use of technology-related terminology, wherever possible we have endeavoured to keep such jargon to a minimum and to either explain it in the text or to provide further explanation in the appended glossary....

  17. Managing Credit Booms and Busts : A Pigouvian Taxation Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jeanne, O.; Korinek, A.

    2010-01-01

    We study a dynamic model in which the interaction between debt ac- cumulation and asset prices magni es credit booms and busts. We find that borrowers do not internalize these feedback e¤ects and therefore suf- fer from excessively large booms and busts in both credit flows and asset prices. We show

  18. Oil heritage district : Lambton County Ontario

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shearer, W. [Wendy Shearer Landscape Architect, Kitchener, ON (Canada)

    2009-07-01

    This paper discussed a project conducted to assess the cultural heritage values of oil field equipment in Lambton County, Ontario. Oil was discovered in the region in 1858, after which a boom and bust cycle of exploration created a large rural-industrial landscape. The region now contains a unique collection of historic oil equipment. The region's industrial footprint is interwoven with village settlements, agricultural settlements, and a railway and road network linking the region to remote refineries. Oil wells in the region still operate using a jerker line system developed in the early twentieth century. The operational oil wells are subject to fluctuating oil prices and environmental protection requirements. The project presents a rare opportunity to place industrial heritage conservation directly in the hands of business operators and regulators, while also functioning as part of a living community. 2 figs.

  19. Inlet Trade Study for a Low-Boom Aircraft Demonstrator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heath, Christopher M.; Slater, John W.; Rallabhandi, Sriram K.

    2016-01-01

    Propulsion integration for low-boom supersonic aircraft requires careful inlet selection, placement, and tailoring to achieve acceptable propulsive and aerodynamic performance, without compromising vehicle sonic boom loudness levels. In this investigation, an inward-turning streamline-traced and axisymmetric spike inlet are designed and independently installed on a conceptual low-boom supersonic demonstrator aircraft. The airframe was pre-shaped to achieve a target ground under-track loudness of 76.4 PLdB at cruise using an adjoint-based design optimization process. Aircraft and inlet performance characteristics were obtained by solution of the steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Isolated cruise inlet performance including total pressure recovery and distortion were computed and compared against installed inlet performance metrics. Evaluation of vehicle near-field pressure signatures, along with under- and off-track propagated loudness levels is also reported. Results indicate the integrated axisymmetric spike design offers higher inlet pressure recovery, lower fan distortion, and reduced sonic boom. The vehicle with streamline-traced inlet exhibits lower external wave drag, which translates to a higher lift-to-drag ratio and increased range capability.

  20. Bust without boom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldzieher, J W

    2000-01-01

    Just like injectables, oral contraceptives (OCs), including progestin-only ¿minipill¿ and ¿morning-after¿ pill regimens, have experienced a bust without a boom. Fear of political and religious backlash over emergency contraceptives containing estrogen and progestin prompted large companies not to market these regimens. Another major factor in the bust phase of OC use and acceptance has been a small coterie of English and American epidemiologists focused on the adverse effects of Ocs, including risks of thrombotic events, heart attacks, and strokes. The media played a crucial role in the bust phase of these OCs. In the UK, the alleged increase of cancer risk with pill use, which leaked before publication in London newspapers, resulted in 50,000 additional unintended pregnancies. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that boom-and-bust cycles will continue simply because many of the actors in this drama have too great a vested interest to desist. Groups involved in this field must recognize the hazards that come with the territory and be proactive, anticipatory, and well armed with facts--and get good with media access. Drug companies should think on a long-term basis the potential effects of leaving the field, as they have done, or shooting down competitive innovations.

  1. Analysis of Nozzle Jet Plume Effects on Sonic Boom Signature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bui, Trong

    2010-01-01

    An axisymmetric full Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study was conducted to examine nozzle exhaust jet plume effects on the sonic boom signature of a supersonic aircraft. A simplified axisymmetric nozzle geometry, representative of the nozzle on the NASA Dryden NF-15B Lift and Nozzle Change Effects on Tail Shock (LaNCETS) research airplane, was considered. The highly underexpanded nozzle flow is found to provide significantly more reduction in the tail shock strength in the sonic boom N-wave pressure signature than perfectly expanded and overexpanded nozzle flows. A tail shock train in the sonic boom signature, similar to what was observed in the LaNCETS flight data, is observed for the highly underexpanded nozzle flow. The CFD results provide a detailed description of the nozzle flow physics involved in the LaNCETS nozzle at different nozzle expansion conditions and help in interpreting LaNCETS flight data as well as in the eventual CFD analysis of a full LaNCETS aircraft. The current study also provided important information on proper modeling of the LaNCETS aircraft nozzle. The primary objective of the current CFD research effort was to support the LaNCETS flight research data analysis effort by studying the detailed nozzle exhaust jet plume s imperfect expansion effects on the sonic boom signature of a supersonic aircraft. Figure 1 illustrates the primary flow physics present in the interaction between the exhaust jet plume shock and the sonic boom coming off of an axisymmetric body in supersonic flight. The steeper tail shock from highly expanded jet plume reduces the dip of the sonic boom N-wave signature. A structured finite-volume compressible full Navier-Stokes CFD code was used in the current study. This approach is not limited by the simplifying assumptions inherent in previous sonic boom analysis efforts. Also, this study was the first known jet plume sonic boom CFD study in which the full viscous nozzle flow field was modeled, without

  2. Flow distortion on boom mounted cup anemometers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lindelöw, Per Jonas Petter; Friis Pedersen, Troels; Gottschall, Julia

    In this report we investigate on wind direction dependent errors in the measurement of the horizontal wind speed by boom mounted cup anemometers. The boom mounting on the studied lattice tower is performed according to IEC standard design rules, yet, larger deviations than predicted by flow models...... are observed. The errors on the measurements are likely caused by an underestimation of the flow distortions around the tower. In this paper an experimental method for deriving a correction formula and an in-field calibration is suggested. The method is based on measurements with two cup anemometers mounted...

  3. Sheath-Based Rollable Lenticular-Shaped and Low-Stiction Composite Boom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Juan M. (Inventor)

    2018-01-01

    Various embodiments provide rollable and deployable composite booms that may be used in a wide range of applications both for space and terrestrial structural solutions. Various embodiment composite booms may be bistable, i.e. having a stable strain energy minimum in the coiled configuration as well as the in the deployed configuration. In various embodiments, a boom may be fabricated by aligning two independent tape-springs front-to-front encircled by a durable seamless polymer sleeve. The durable seamless polymer sleeve may allow the two tape-springs to slide past each other during the coiling/deployment process so as to reduce, e.g., minimize, shear and its derived problems.

  4. DOES VOLATILITY IN CRUDE OIL PRICE PRECIPITATE MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph Ayoola Omojolaibi

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the effects of crude oil price changes on economic activity in an oil dependent economy-Nigeria. A small open economy structural vector autoregressive (SVAR technique is employed to study the macroeconomic dynamics of domestic price level, economic output, money supply and oil price in Nigeria. The sample covers the data from 1985:q1 to 2010:q4. The Impulse Response Functions (IRFs and the Forecast Error Variance Decompositions (FEVDs results suggest that domestic policies, instead of oil-boom should be blamed for inflation. Also, oil price variations are driven mostly by oil shocks, however, domestic shocks are responsible for a reasonable portion of oil price variations.

  5. The challenge of the second oil boom? [3. Millenium International Petroleum Conference

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wells, M.

    1997-01-01

    The Third Millennium International Petroleum Conference is briefly reported at which the competitive challenges faced by the upstream industry were considered. An oil industry wanting to be successful in facing these challenges was perceived by Mobil Oil's Vice-President of Global Business Strategy as requiring the following attributes: the ability to partner with others; a truly global perspective; a balanced portfolio to manage risk; strong technological orientation; the capacity to attract an innovative work-force. The new background of energy geopolitics brought about by the integration of Russia, the CIS countries, China and India into the world market economy, was sketched by the former Exploration Director of Premier Oil. Attention was drawn to the concern and tension being created in the Middle East by the restructuring of oil and gas development arising out of the current US containment foreign policy. This policy is changing the geographical focus and regional strategies of US oil companies and contractors. Some examples of these were presented in papers by other US participants. Contributions from natioan producing companies from other countries demonstrated the opportunities offered to foreign countries by increased liberalisation. (UK)

  6. Booming Asia-Pacific oil trade spawns regional storage projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Land, R.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that surging oil trade in the Asia-Pacific region is spawning a number of big petroleum storage projects there. Among the biggest are those in Indonesia and Singapore. A group led by Singapore's Sembawang Group plans to build a $272 million (Singapore) oil storage terminal on Karimun Island in Riau province, Indonesia. Other participants include Kuo International, Hong Kong, and likely companies from Japan, Europe, and the U.S. According to press reports from Jakarta and Singapore, Van Ommeren Terminals of Netherlands was also reportedly involved in negotiations on the projects. A joint venture agreement was expected to be signed by the third quarter. Plans call for building a terminal with a capacity of 1.5 million cu m on the island, where Sembawang has a 100 year lease. Ultimately, Sembawang and Indonesian company Bangun Cipta want to develop the site as an industrial city with petrochemical plants, engineering and manufacturing industries, and shipyards. Semabawang Project Engineering recently completed a feasibility study of the Karimun storage project

  7. The Newfoundland in-situ Oil Burn Experiment - NOBE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fingas, M.; Li, K.; Ackerman, F.; Bissonnette, M.C.; Lambert, P.; Halley, G.; Nelson, R.; Belanger, J.; Pare, J.R.P.; Campagna, P.R.

    1993-01-01

    A group of over 25 Canadian and US agencies conducted a major offshore oil spill burn near Newfoundland. Over 20 vesels, 7 aircraft, and 230 people were involved in this test, the largest of its kind ever conducted. The burn involved release of two oil spills of ca 50 tons each into a towed fireproof boom. Each burn lasted over an hour. The burn plume was sampled using remote-controlled helicopters and a blimp, and air emissions were monitored downwind from remote controlled boats which also took water samples and temperatures. Over 200 sensors or samplers were used; these will yield data on over 2,000 parameters or substances. Preliminary results are reported. Burning occurred outside the boom due to some initial oil splashover, but this did not result in sheening or significant oil loss. The scaling of burns from test tanks to on-sea burns did not always hold true. Quantitative analytical data showed that emissions from this in-situ fire were less than expected; all measured compounds and parameters were below health concern levels beyond ca 150 m from the fire and very little was detected beyond 500 m. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were found to be lower in the soot than in the starting oil and were consumed by the fire to a large degree. Particulates were found to be of concern only up to 150 m downwind at sea level. Combustion gases did not reach levels of concern and volatile organics were in high concentrations but less than those emitted from a non-burning spill. No compounds of concern could be detected in the water samples. Burn residue samples had lower PAH levels than the starting oil. Generally, burning oil spills at sea was found to be feasible and practical. 2 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs

  8. Dynamic simulation of a planar flexible boom for tokamak in-vessel operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ambrosino, G.; Celentano, G.; Garofalo, F.; Maisonnier, D.

    1991-01-01

    In this paper we present a dynamic model for the analysis of the vibrations of a planar articulated flexible boom to be used for tokamak in-vessel maintenance operations. The peculiarity of the mechanical structure of the boom enables us to consider separately the oscillations in the horizontal and vertical planes so that two separate models can be constructed for describing these phenomena. The results of simulations based on booms like that proposed for NET in-vessel operations are presented. (orig.)

  9. The NET articulated boom: Preliminary investigations and justification for a full scale prototype

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suppan, A.

    1990-12-01

    The articulated boom system is the favourite in-vessel handling system for NET which will be used to maintain or replace in-vessel components during short term interventions. The testbed EDITH is the prototype of this system and is the logical step between the proof of principle of the system, which is already performed by the JET articulated boom, and the operational equipment for NET. EDITH is required to demonstrate that maintenance of plasma facing components can be carried out with the anticipated reliability and time. To achieve this aim EDITH is based on the experience of the JET boom and will be constructed in full scale, supplemented by a full scale mock-up. A further goal of EDITH is to allow the testing of boom components and subassemblies. The results of preliminary investigations for the boom are summarized, the need of the testbed EDITH and a full scale mock-up is discussed and both EDITH and the mock-up are described. (orig.) [de

  10. MODEL CORRELATION STUDY OF A RETRACTABLE BOOM FOR A SOLAR SAIL SPACECRAFT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adetona, O.; Keel, L. H.; Oakley, J. D.; Kappus, K.; Whorton, M. S.; Kim, Y. K.; Rakpczy, J. M.

    2005-01-01

    To realize design concepts, predict dynamic behavior and develop appropriate control strategies for high performance operation of a solar-sail spacecraft, we developed a simple analytical model that represents dynamic behavior of spacecraft with various sizes. Since motion of the vehicle is dominated by retractable booms that support the structure, our study concentrates on developing and validating a dynamic model of a long retractable boom. Extensive tests with various configurations were conducted for the 30 Meter, light-weight, retractable, lattice boom at NASA MSFC that is structurally and dynamically similar to those of a solar-sail spacecraft currently under construction. Experimental data were then compared with the corresponding response of the analytical model. Though mixed results were obtained, the analytical model emulates several key characteristics of the boom. The paper concludes with a detailed discussion of issues observed during the study.

  11. Icelandic boom and bust - Immigration and the housing market

    OpenAIRE

    Lúðvík Elíasson

    2014-01-01

    Possible explanations for the rapid increase in house prices and housing investment in Iceland between 2004 and 2007 and the subsequent market crash are studied. The boom was driven in part by banking liberalisation, international financial conditions, and domestic policies. A simple demand and supply model, based on the study by Elíasson and Pétursson (2009), is fitted to data through the recent boom-bust period. The model is remarkably robust through the cycle despite its unprecedented ampl...

  12. Price dependence in the principal EU olive oil markets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Emmanouilides, C.; Fousekis, P.; Grigoriadis, V.

    2014-06-01

    The objective of this paper is to assess the degree and the structure of price dependence in the principal EU olive oil markets (Spain, Italy and Greece). To this end, it utilizes monthly olive oil price data and the statistical tool of copulas. The empirical results suggest that prices are likely to boom together but not to crash together; this is especially true for the prices of the two most important players, Italy (importer) and Spain (exporter). The finding of asymmetric price co-movements implies that the three principal spatial olive oil markets in the EU cannot be thought of as one great pool. (Author)

  13. Presence and evolution of natural organic matter in the boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Geet, M.; Deniau, I.; Largeau, C.; Bruggeman, C.; Maes, A.; Dierckx, A.

    2004-01-01

    Because of its very low hydraulic conductivity, reducing conditions, slightly alkaline pH, high specific surface, high cation exchange capacity and high plasticity, the Boom Clay is studied as a reference host formation for the deep disposal of high-level long-lived radioactive waste (NIRAS/ONDRAF, 1989). However, Boom Clay also contains up to 5% wt. of organic matter (OM). As radionuclides can form complexes with this organic matter, a detailed characterisation and knowledge of the evolution of the organic matter is necessary. An overview of the characteristics of the organic matter present in Boom Clay is given by Van Geet et al., (2003). The solid phase OM can be up to 5%. The dissolved OM fraction is around 200 mg C per liter of Boom Clay pore water. Both kinds of OM will be discussed. Concerning the solid phase OM the focus will be on the past evolution and its possible future evolution due to a thermal stress. For the dissolved OM, the focus will be on its origin. (author)

  14. Insight conference reports : proceedings of the water and land use in Alberta forum : sustainable resource management in a boom economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    Alberta's booming oil and gas industry has led to concerns over land and water use in the province. This forum provided a venue for the discussion of issues related to water and land use in Alberta. Various strategies for land use planning were evaluated. Regulatory frameworks for water and land pollution abatement were considered along with strategies for reducing the environmental impacts of oil and gas resource development in the province. The Wildlife, Habitat, and Species at Risk Act was discussed, as well as issues related to Canada's new endangered species laws. Issues concerning water scarcity and stakeholder relations were discussed. Various water management strategies were evaluated. One of the 14 presentations featured at this conference has been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs

  15. Russia from Bust to Boom: Oil, Politics or the Ruble?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Merlevede, B.; Schoors, A.; Aarle, B. van

    2004-01-01

    This paper develops and estimates a small macroeconomic model of the Russian economy. The model is tailored to analyze the impact of the oil price, the exchange rate, and political stability on economic performance. The model does very well in explaining Russia’s economic history in the period

  16. Modeling and simulation of the agricultural sprayer boom leveling system

    KAUST Repository

    Sun, Jian

    2011-01-01

    According to the agricultural precision requirements, the distance from sprayer nozzles to the corps should be kept between 50 cm to 70 cm. The sprayer boom also needs to be kept parallel to the field during the application process. Thus we can guarantee the quality of the chemical droplets distribution on the crops. In this paper we design a sprayer boom leveling system for agricultural sprayer vehicles combined with a four-rod linkage self-leveling suspension and electro-hydraulic auto-leveling system. The dynamic analysis shows that the suspension can realize an excellent self-leveling in a comparative small inclination range. In addition we build compensation controller for the electro-hydraulic system based on the mathematical model. With simulations we can optimize the performance of this controller to make sure a fast leveling response to the inclined sprayer boom. © 2011 IEEE.

  17. A summary of the lateral cutoff analysis and results from NASA's Farfield Investigation of No-boom Thresholds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cliatt, Larry J.; Hill, Michael A.; Haering, Edward A.; Arnac, Sarah R.

    2015-10-01

    In support of the ongoing effort by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, NASA, in partnership with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to analyze acoustic propagation at the lateral edge of the sonic boom carpet. The name of the effort was the Farfield Investigation of No-boom Thresholds (FaINT). The research from FaINT determined an appropriate metric for sonic boom waveforms in the transition and shadow zones called Perceived Sound Exposure Level, established a value of 65 dB as a limit for the acoustic lateral extent of a sonic boom's noise region, analyzed change in sonic boom levels near lateral cutoff, and compared between real sonic boom measurements and numerical predictions.

  18. Sobre o Boom e outras onomatopeias literárias

    OpenAIRE

    Londoño, Jorge Iván Parra

    2016-01-01

    Este artículo trata de examinar los alcances literarios del llamado Boom latinoamericano, a medio siglo de su estallido, las cuatro obras más representativas y sus respectivos autores, además de proponer un quinto autor, según la invitación que hiciera en su momento el crítico Ángel Rama. Por otro lado, evalua la respuesta literaria por parte del Post Boom, analizando sus características y su vigencia y, de manera concomitante, los movimientos anejos o posteriores a dicho movimiento, como el ...

  19. Modelling and assessment of accidental oil release from damaged subsea pipelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xinhong; Chen, Guoming; Zhu, Hongwei

    2017-10-15

    This paper develops a 3D, transient, mathematical model to estimate the oil release rate and simulate the oil dispersion behavior. The Euler-Euler method is used to estimate the subsea oil release rate, while the Eulerian-Lagrangian method is employed to track the migration trajectory of oil droplets. This model accounts for the quantitative effect of backpressure and hole size on oil release rate, and the influence of oil release rate, oil density, current speed, water depth and leakage position on oil migration is also investigated in this paper. Eventually, the results, e.g. transient release rate of oil, the rise time of oil and dispersion distance are determined by above-mentioned model, and the oil release and dispersion behavior under different scenarios is revealed. Essentially, the assessment results could provide a useful guidance for detection of leakage positon and placement of oil containment boom. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Measuring and explaining the baby boom in the developed world in the mid-twentieth century

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: The early research on the baby boom tried to account for it as a logical recovery following the end of the Second World War (WWII. But it cannot be understood merely as a post-war phenomenon because its origins go back to the 1930s and early 1940s. Objective: I shall describe the methodology used to measure the total and marital baby boom and provide a detailed description of it. I shall attempt to explain the possible reasons that led to the sharp increase in the marital fertility rates and its subsequent decline. Methods: I will use various fertility indices that track the historical development of fertility (total and marital; period and cohort. Results: I show that there are major differences in the measurement of the baby boom depending on the index used. I found that the baby boom is highly heterogeneous in the 25 countries that form part of my study. It represented the logical response that families made to one period of prolonged political, economic, and military crisis (the crash of 1929 and WWII. Conclusions: Researchers who use only the total fertility indices are really analysing only the nuptiality boom, which took place during those years, rather than changes in reproductive behaviour. Contribution: I measure total and marital baby boom for 25 developed countries and perform the calculations to measure the impact of marital fertility and nuptiality on the total baby boom (TBB. I present a new explanation of the origins of the baby boom.

  1. Design methodology for a community response questionnaire on sonic boom exposure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farbry, John E., Jr.; Fields, James M.; Molino, John A.; Demiranda, Gwendolyn A.

    1991-01-01

    A preliminary draft questionnaire concerning community response to sonic booms was developed. Interviews were conducted in two communities that had experienced supersonic overflights of the SR-71 airplane for several years. Even though the overflights had ceased about 6 months prior to the interviews, people clearly remembered hearing sonic booms. A total of 22 people living in central Utah and 23 people living along Idaho/Washington state border took part in these interviews. The draft questionnaire was constantly modified during the study in order to evaluate different versions. Questions were developed which related to annoyance, startle, sleep disturbance, building vibration, and building damage. Based on the data collected, a proposed community response survey response instrument was developed for application in a full-scale sonic boom study.

  2. Numerical Predictions of Sonic Boom Signatures for a Straight Line Segmented Leading Edge Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elmiligui, Alaa A.; Wilcox, Floyd J.; Cliff, Susan; Thomas, Scott

    2012-01-01

    A sonic boom wind tunnel test was conducted on a straight-line segmented leading edge (SLSLE) model in the NASA Langley 4- by 4- Foot Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT). The purpose of the test was to determine whether accurate sonic boom measurements could be obtained while continuously moving the SLSLE model past a conical pressure probe. Sonic boom signatures were also obtained using the conventional move-pause data acquisition method for comparison. The continuous data acquisition approach allows for accurate signatures approximately 15 times faster than a move-pause technique. These successful results provide an incentive for future testing with greatly increased efficiency using the continuous model translation technique with the single probe to measure sonic boom signatures. Two widely used NASA codes, USM3D (Navier-Stokes) and CART3D-AERO (Euler, adjoint-based adaptive mesh), were used to compute off-body sonic boom pressure signatures of the SLSLE model at several different altitudes below the model at Mach 2.0. The computed pressure signatures compared well with wind tunnel data. The effect of the different altitude for signature extraction was evaluated by extrapolating the near field signatures to the ground and comparing pressure signatures and sonic boom loudness levels.

  3. A Flight Research Overview of WSPR, a Pilot Project for Sonic Boom Community Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cliatt, Larry James; Haering, Ed; Jones, Thomas P.; Waggoner, Erin R.; Flattery, Ashley K.; Wiley, Scott L.

    2014-01-01

    In support of NASAs ongoing effort to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to identify the methods, tools, and best practices for a large-scale quiet (or low) sonic boom community human response test. The name of the effort was Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response. Such tests will go towards building a dataset that governing agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization will use to establish regulations for acceptable sound levels of overland sonic booms. Until WSPR, there had never been an effort that studied the response of people in their own homes and performing daily activities to non-traditional, low sonic booms.WSPR was a NASA collaborative effort with several industry partners, in response to a NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Research Opportunities in Aeronautics. The primary contractor was Wyle. Other partners included Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Pennsylvania State University, Tetra Tech, and Fidell Associates, Inc.A major objective of the effort included exposing a community with the sonic boom magnitudes and occurrences expected in high-air traffic regions with a network of supersonic commercial aircraft in place. Low-level sonic booms designed to simulate those produced by the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft were generated over a small residential community. The sonic boom footprint was recorded with an autonomous wireless microphone array that spanned the entire community. Human response data was collected using multiple survey methods. The research focused on essential elements of community response testing including subject recruitment, survey methods, instrumentation systems, flight planning and operations, and data analysis methods.This paper focuses on NASAs role in the efforts

  4. Migrant labor supply in a booming non-renewable resource economy: Cure and transmission mechanism for de-industrialization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nulle, Grant Mark

    This paper challenges the determinism that booming resource economies suffer from de-industrialization, the "Dutch Disease". For several decades, economists have attempted to explain how a sudden surge in mineral and energy extraction affects an economy's output and employment from an aggregate and sectoral perspective. Economic theory shows that a "boom" in mineral and energy production is welfare enhancing to the economy experiencing it. However, the phenomenon also induces inter-sectoral adjustments among non-renewable resource (NRR), traditional traded, and non-traded industries that tend to crowd out traditional export sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. In turn, this paper asks two fundamental questions: 1) Can the inter-sectoral adjustments wrought by a boom in NRR production be mitigated in the resource-abundant economy experiencing it; 2) Can the inter-sectoral adjustments be exported to a neighboring non-resource economy by movements in migrant labor supply? The theoretical model and empirical estimation approach presented in this paper introduces an endogenous migrant labor supply response to booms in NRR output to test the extent traditional tradable sectors shrink in the NRR-abundant economy during the boom and if such effects are exported to a neighboring jurisdiction. Using data at the U.S. county level, the empirical results show that booming economies experience positive and statistically significant rates of real income and traded sector job growth during the boom, attributable to the influx of migrant labor. By contrast, little evidence is found that non-booming counties adjacent to the booming counties experience declines in income or job growth because of labor supply outflows. Instead, the results suggest the larger the number of potential "donor" counties that can supply labor to the booming economies, the more likely the transmission of booming economy effects, namely evidence of de-industrialization, is diffused across all of the

  5. Economic booms and risky sexual behavior: evidence from Zambian copper mining cities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Nicholas

    2012-12-01

    Existing studies suggest that individual and household level economic shocks affect the demand for and supply of risky sex. However, little evidence exists on the effects of an aggregate shock on equilibrium risky sexual behavior. This paper examines the effects of the early twenty-first century copper boom on risky sexual behavior in Zambian copper mining cities. The results suggest that the copper boom substantially reduced rates of transactional sex and multiple partnerships in copper mining cities. These effects were partly concentrated among young adults and copper boom induced in-migration to mining cities appears to have contributed to these reductions. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  6. 1995 NASA High-Speed Research Program Sonic Boom Workshop. Volume 2; Configuration Design, Analysis, and Testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baize, Daniel G. (Editor)

    1999-01-01

    The High-Speed Research Program and NASA Langley Research Center sponsored the NASA High-Speed Research Program Sonic Boom Workshop on September 12-13, 1995. The workshop was designed to bring together NASAs scientists and engineers and their counterparts in industry, other Government agencies, and academia working together in the sonic boom element of NASAs High-Speed Research Program. Specific objectives of this workshop were to: (1) report the progress and status of research in sonic boom propagation, acceptability, and design; (2) promote and disseminate this technology within the appropriate technical communities; (3) help promote synergy among the scientists working in the Program; and (4) identify technology pacing, the development C, of viable reduced-boom High-Speed Civil Transport concepts. The Workshop was organized in four sessions: Sessions 1 Sonic Boom Propagation (Theoretical); Session 2 Sonic Boom Propagation (Experimental); Session 3 Acceptability Studies-Human and Animal; and Session 4 - Configuration Design, Analysis, and Testing.

  7. Influence of Chair Vibrations on Indoor Sonic Boom Annoyance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rathsam, Jonathan; Klos, Jacob; Loubeau, Alexandra

    2015-01-01

    One goal of NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project is to identify candidate noise metrics suitable for regulating quiet sonic boom aircraft. A suitable metric must consider the short duration and pronounced low frequency content of sonic booms. For indoor listeners, rattle and creaking sounds and floor and chair vibrations may also be important. The current study examined the effect of such vibrations on the annoyance of test subjects seated indoors. The study involved two chairs exposed to nearly identical acoustic levels: one placed directly on the floor, and the other isolated from floor vibrations by pneumatic elastomeric mounts. All subjects experienced both chairs, sitting in one chair for the first half of the experiment and the other chair for the remaining half. Each half of the experiment consisted of 80 impulsive noises played at the exterior of the sonic boom simulator. When all annoyance ratings were analyzed together there appeared to be no difference in mean annoyance with isolation condition. When the apparent effect of transfer bias was removed, a subtle but measurable effect of vibration on annoyance was identified.

  8. A comprehensive review of oil spill combustion studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walavalkar, A.Y.; Kulkarni, A.K.

    1996-01-01

    The complex process of in-situ burning of oil or a water-in-oil emulsion floating on top of a water-base, such as the ocean, was discussed. The process was examined before, during and after actual combustion. In general, the success of oil spill combustion is measured in terms of the fraction of the spilled oil or emulsion that is burned away. However, the air and aquatic pollution caused by the combustion should also be considered. The physical conditions such as wind velocity, waves and the presence or absence of a containment device, such as a fire boom, could determine the continuation of the combustion process. An overview of the oil spill combustion techniques was provided. There still remains a need for fundamental studies, especially in mathematical modeling, to understand the basic mechanisms and predict the applicability of the in-situ combustion. 74 refs., 7 tabs., 3 figs

  9. Kazakhstan or challenges of an oil economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coville, Th.

    2006-01-01

    The economic growth of Kazakhstan is in full rise, marked by an activity supported by a public demand for full expansion and financed by the rise of the oil incomes. The budgetary expenditure consists mainly of investments in infrastructures in Astana and Almaty, and in the social fields and education. Exports are also in very big rise (+ 40% in 2005) induced by the rise to power of the quantities of exported hydrocarbons. An economic boom which depends on the oil receipts, in spite of the reforms resulting from the economic growth, Kazakhstan remains confronted with the Islamism rise like its neigh ours of the Central Asia. (author)

  10. 76 FR 20532 - Safety Zone; Boom Days, Niagara River, Niagara Falls, NY

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-13

    ...-AA00 Safety Zone; Boom Days, Niagara River, Niagara Falls, NY AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Temporary final rule. SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the Niagara River... Marina and a portion of the Niagara River, Niagara Falls, NY during the Boom Days Fireworks on April 16...

  11. Simulation and controller design for an agricultural sprayer boom leveling system

    KAUST Repository

    Sun, Jian

    2011-01-01

    According to the agricultural precision requirements, the distance from sprayer nozzles to the corps should be kept between 50 cm to 70 cm. The sprayer boom also needs to be kept parallel to the field during the operation process. Thus we can guarantee the quality of the chemical droplets distribution on the crops. In this paper we introduced a sprayer boom leveling system for agricultural sprayer vehicles with electro-hydraulic auto-leveling system. The suitable hydraulic actuating cylinder and valve were selected according to the specific systemic specifications. Furthermore, a compensation controller for the electro-hydraulic system was designed based on the mathematical model. With simulations we can optimize the performance of this controller to make sure a fast leveling response to the inclined sprayer boom. © 2011 IEEE.

  12. Babies Bottom Out--A 'Maybe Boom'

    Science.gov (United States)

    Science News, 1977

    1977-01-01

    Data for the period September 1976 through April 1977 indicate a rise in the United States birth rate; however, the rate is still below the replacement level. It is speculated that the increase is an "echo" effect to the post-World War II baby boom which peaked in 1957. (SL)

  13. Computer based training for oil spill management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodman, R.

    1993-01-01

    Large oil spills are infrequent occurrences, which poses a particular problem for training oil spill response staff and for maintaining a high level of response readiness. Conventional training methods involve table-top simulations to develop tactical and strategic response skills and boom-deployment exercises to maintain operational readiness. Both forms of training are quite effective, but they are very time-consuming to organize, are expensive to conduct, and tend to become repetitious. To provide a variety of response experiences, a computer-based system of oil spill response training has been developed which can supplement a table-top training program. Using a graphic interface, a realistic and challenging computerized oil spill response simulation has been produced. Integral to the system is a program editing tool which allows the teacher to develop a custom training exercise for the area of interest to the student. 1 ref

  14. A Flight Research Overview of WSPR, a Pilot Project for Sonic Boom Community Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cliatt, Larry J., II; Haering, Edward A., Jr.; Jones, Thomas P.; Waggoner, Erin R.; Flattery, Ashley K.; Wiley, Scott L.

    2014-01-01

    In support of the ongoing effort by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and the NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to identify the methods, tools, and best practices for a large-scale quiet (or low) sonic boom community human response test. The name of the effort was Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response (WSPR). Such tests will be applied to building a dataset that governing agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization will use to establish regulations for acceptable sound levels of overland sonic booms. The WSPR test was the first such effort that studied responses to non-traditional low sonic booms while the subject persons were in their own homes and performing daily activities.The WSPR test was a NASA collaborative effort with several industry partners, in response to a NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Research Opportunities in Aeronautics. The primary contractor was Wyle (El Segundo, California). Other partners included Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (Savannah, Georgia); Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pennsylvania); Tetra Tech, Inc. (Pasadena, California); and Fidell Associates, Inc. (Woodland Hills, California).A major objective of the effort included exposing a community to the sonic boom magnitudes and occurrences that would be expected to occur in high-air traffic regions having a network of supersonic commercial aircraft in place. Low-level sonic booms designed to simulate those produced by the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft were generated over a small residential community. The sonic boom footprint was recorded with an autonomous wireless microphone array that spanned the entire community. Human response data were collected using multiple

  15. Brazil: good news for oil is bad news for alcohol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knight, Patrick

    1999-01-01

    The impact of the doubling of oil prices and the devaluation of the Brazilian currency on the alcohol fuel programme is examined in this article, and the recent discovery by the Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, of a major new offshore oil field, the government's efforts to boost the consumption of alcohol fuel with subsidies and cheap loans, and the lower costs of running alcohol powered cars are discussed. Details of a major restructuring of the alcohol industry, the production of alcohol between 1994-1999, the boom in sugar exports, the glut of sugar cane, the falling confidence of motorists in alcohol powered cars, and the general move away from subsidies spearheaded by the World Trade Organisation are considered. (UK)

  16. Proceedings of the CERI 2005 Oil Conference : What's next? CD-ROM ed.

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    Recent developments in the international petroleum industry were discussed, including events unfolding in the world such as rising oil prices, world oil demand and booming oil markets. The changes reflect both fundamental and geopolitical issues such as OPEC's potential productive capacity. The presentations addressed whether these developments in the petroleum industry represent a structural shift in the market or if they are merely another cyclical movement. In addition to the outlook for world energy markets and prospects for oil supply and reserves, this conference included discussions about oil price differentials, markets for Canadian oil, geopolitical hotspots for exporting countries, enhanced recovery for conventional resources and an oil sands outlook. The role that non-conventional oil play will play in the current marketplace was also addressed. The conference featured 18 presentations, of which 6 have been indexed separately for inclusion in this database. tabs., figs

  17. Spill-Overs of a Resource Boom: Evidence from Zambian Copper Mines

    OpenAIRE

    Alexander Lippert

    2014-01-01

    Do local populations benefit from resource booms? How strong are market linkages between the mining sector and the regional economy? This paper exploits exogenous variation in mine-level production volumes generated by the recent copper boom in Zambia to shed light on these questions. Using a novel dataset, I find robust evidence that an increase in local copper production improves living standards in the surroundings of the mines even for households not directy employed in the mining sector:...

  18. Development narratives, notions of forest crisis, and boom of oil palm plantations in Indonesia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Susanti, Ari; Maryudi, Ahmad

    2016-01-01

    Indonesia experienced massive deforestation in the last decades where rapid oil palm expansion has been considered as one of the main drivers. This article shows that the process of deforestation and the rapid oil palm expansion cannot be viewed in isolation from broader development contexts.

  19. Vibration characteristics of a deployable controllable-geometry truss boom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorsey, J. T.

    1983-01-01

    An analytical study was made to evaluate changes in the fundamental frequency of a two dimensional cantilevered truss boom at various stages of deployment. The truss could be axially deployed or retracted and undergo a variety of controlled geometry changes by shortening or lengthening the telescoping diagonal members in each bay. Both untapered and tapered versions of the truss boom were modeled and analyzed by using the finite element method. Large reductions in fundamental frequency occurred for both the untapered and tapered trusses when they were uniformly retracted or maneuvered laterally from their fully deployed position. These frequency reductions can be minimized, however, if truss geometries are selected which maintain cantilever root stiffness during truss maneuvers.

  20. ATLAS IV in situ heating test in Boom Clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Guangjing; Li, Xiangling; Verstricht, Jan; Sillen, Xavier

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The small scale in-situ ATLAS (Admissible Thermal Loading for Argillaceous Storage) tests are performed to assess the hydro-mechanical effects of a thermal transient on the host Boom clay at the HADES underground research facility in Mol, Belgium. The initial test set-up, consisting of a heater borehole and two observation boreholes, was installed in 1991-1992. The first test (later named 'ATLAS I') was then performed from July 1993 to June 1996; during this time, the heater dissipated a constant power of 900 W. During the second phase ('ATLAS II'), the heating power was doubled (1800 W) and maintained constant from June 1996 to May 1997. This was followed by shutdown and natural cooling starting from June 1997 on. To broaden the THM characterization of the Boom clay at a larger scale and at different temperature levels, the test set-up was extended in 2006 by drilling two additional instrumented boreholes (AT97E and AT98E). The heater was switched on again from April 2007 to April 2008 with a stepwise power increase, followed by an instantaneous shutdown. This phase is called 'ATLAS III'. The above tests have provided a large set of good quality and well documented data on temperature, pore water pressure and total stress; these data allowed to make several interesting observations regarding the thermal anisotropy and THM coupling in the Boom clay. The straightforward geometry and well defined boundary conditions of the tests facilitate the comparison between measurement and numerical modeling studies. Based on the three dimensional coupled THM modeling of the ATLAS III test, the good agreement between measurement and numerical modeling of temperature and pore water pressure yields a set of THM parameters and confirms the thermo-mechanical anisotropy of the Boom clay. To get a better insight in the anisotropic THM behavior of the Boom clay, a new upward instrumented borehole was drilled above the ATLAS heater at

  1. Elastic Deployable Composite Tubular Roll-Out Boom, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Deployable Space Systems (DSS) has developed an affordable and ultra-lightweight elastically self-deployable Roll-Out Boom technology that provides affordability and...

  2. The marriage boom and marriage bust in the United States: An age-period-cohort analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schellekens, Jona

    2017-03-01

    In the 1950s and 1960s there was an unprecedented marriage boom in the United States. This was followed in the 1970s by a marriage bust. Some argue that both phenomena are cohort effects, while others argue that they are period effects. The study reported here tested the major period and cohort theories of the marriage boom and bust, by estimating an age-period-cohort model of first marriage for the years 1925-79 using census microdata. The results of the analysis indicate that the marriage boom was mostly a period effect, although there were also cohort influences. More specifically, the hypothesis that the marriage boom was mostly a response to rising wages is shown to be consistent with the data. However, much of the marriage bust can be accounted for by unidentified cohort influences, at least until 1980.

  3. 30 CFR 77.807-2 - Booms and masts; minimum distance from high-voltage lines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ...-voltage lines. 77.807-2 Section 77.807-2 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION... WORK AREAS OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Surface High-Voltage Distribution § 77.807-2 Booms and masts; minimum distance from high-voltage lines. The booms and masts of equipment operated on the surface of any...

  4. Characterization of groundwater flow in the environment of the Boom Clay (Campine, Belgium)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gedeon, M.; Labat, S.; Wemaere, I.; Wouters, L.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. In Belgium, the Boom Clay formation is considered as reference host rock for the geological disposal of radioactive waste. Aquifers surrounding the Boom Clay play a passive role in the context of the disposal safety whereby the radionuclides are diluted by groundwater flow. The groundwater flow in these aquifers has been studied since decades. This research involves observations of groundwater levels in the regional and local piezo-metric networks, several site investigations including geophysics and core-drilled boreholes and groundwater modelling. In this context, groundwater modelling represents the integration of the site characterization efforts and provides a comprehensive tool for constraining the models used in the safety assessment of the geological disposal. Since 1985, groundwater levels are observed monthly in the regional piezo-metric network. It consists of 142 filters monitoring the groundwater levels at 45 sites. Along with the observed groundwater levels from the local piezo-metric network (concentrated around the Mol-Dessel site for surface disposal), these data provide an excellent insight into the evolution of the groundwater levels. Moreover, they represent a calibration (validation) dataset for groundwater flow modelling. The groundwater system forming the environment of the Boom Clay host rock was characterized during several site investigation campaigns, within which seven core-drilled boreholes were realized, whereby hydraulic parameters and hydro-stratigraphy of the groundwater system could be collected. The dataset obtained from the above mentioned campaigns was complemented by archived data on hydraulic testing in the aquifers in order to build a comprehensive groundwater model integrating these data into a single numerical representation of the groundwater system. Three regional groundwater models have been developed integrating the site characterization data collected in the north

  5. Economic Booms and Risky Sexual Behavior: Evidence from Zambian Copper Mining Cities

    OpenAIRE

    Nicholas Wilson

    2010-01-01

    Existing studies suggest that individual and household level economic shocks affect the demand for and supply of risky sex. However, little evidence exists on the effects of an aggregate shock on equilibrium risky sexual behavior. This paper examines the effects of the early twenty-first century copper boom on risky sexual behavior in Zambian copper mining cities. The results indicate that the copper boom substantially reduced rates of transactional sex and multiple partnerships in copper min...

  6. Real estate boom and export performance bust in Croatia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina Tkalec

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this research is to estimate the effect of resource reallocation from the manufacturing to the real estate economic sector on exporting activity in Croatia, a small open post-transition country that experienced a real estate boom during the previous decade. This paper follows the work by Égert and Kierzenkowski (2014 as we test the hypothesis that the real estate boom had an adverse impact on country’s export performance. For that purpose we use quarterly data ranging from 1Q1998 to 3Q2013, and estimate export equations using maximum likelihood and dynamic ordinary least squares estimators of cointegration. Our results indicate that the distortion of relative prices in favor of non-tradable sectors (construction and real estate, which is a direct by-product of the real estate boom, has had stifling effects on export performance. Our results also suggest that ailing cost competitiveness and governments’ inability to implement policies promoting private sector economic development adversely influenced export performance during the period analyzed. The basic conclusion of our research is that the expansion of a non-tradable sector in a country with limited supply of production factors can have a detrimental effect on the ability of the tradable sector to increase its output and compete in international markets.

  7. Bearings for the biomass boom

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    MacQueen, Duncan

    2011-03-15

    Biomass energy is booming –– more than two billion people depend on biomass for their energy and the International Energy Agency predicts that biomass' share of the global energy supply will treble by 2050. But in many developing countries it is still regarded as a traditional and dirty solution that is often criminalised, unsustainable and poorly paid. A more sophisticated approach that legalises and secures sustainable production by and for local people could help improve energy security, cut carbon emissions, protect forests and reduce poverty.

  8. The research and application of electricity economic boom model under the constraint of energy conservation and emission reduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Guangyan; Xia, Huaijian; Chen, Meiling; Wang, Dong; Jia, Sujin

    2017-10-01

    Energy saving and emission reduction policies affects the development of high power industry, thereby affecting electricity demand, so the study of the electricity industry boom helps to master the national economy. This paper analyses the influence of energy saving and emission reduction on power generation structure and pollutant emission in power industry. Through the construction of electricity market composite boom index to indicate electricity boom, using boom index to study volatility characteristics and trend of electricity market. Here we provide a method for the enterprise and the government, that it can infer the overall operation of the national economy situation from power data.

  9. Environmental Pollution: Noise Pollution - Sonic Boom. Volume I.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Defense Documentation Center, Alexandria, VA.

    The unclassified, annotated bibliography is Volume I of a two-volume set on Noise Pollution - Sonic Boom in a series of scheduled bibliographies on Environmental Pollution. Volume II is Confidential. Corporate author-monitoring agency, subject, title, contract, and report number indexes are included. (Author/JR)

  10. Effects of temperature and thermally-induced microstructure change on hydraulic conductivity of Boom Clay

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W.Z. Chen

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Boom Clay is one of the potential host rocks for deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive nuclear waste in Belgium. In order to investigate the mechanism of hydraulic conductivity variation under complex thermo-mechanical coupling conditions and to better understand the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM coupling behaviour of Boom Clay, a series of permeability tests using temperature-controlled triaxial cell has been carried out on the Boom Clay samples taken from Belgian underground research laboratory (URL HADES. Due to its sedimentary nature, Boom Clay presents across-anisotropy with respect to its sub-horizontal bedding plane. Direct measurements of the vertical (Kv and horizontal (Kh hydraulic conductivities show that the hydraulic conductivity at 80 °C is about 2.4 times larger than that at room temperature (23 °C, and the hydraulic conductivity variation with temperature is basically reversible during heating–cooling cycle. The anisotropic property of Boom Clay is studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM tests, which highlight the transversely isotropic characteristics of intact Boom Clay. It is shown that the sub-horizontal bedding feature accounts for the horizontal permeability higher than the vertical one. The measured increment in hydraulic conductivity with temperature is lower than the calculated one when merely considering the changes in water kinematic viscosity and density with temperature. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR tests have also been carried out to investigate the impact of microstructure variation on the THM properties of clay. The results show that heating under unconstrained boundary condition will produce larger size of pores and weaken the microstructure. The discrepancy between the hydraulic conductivity experimentally measured and predicted (considering water viscosity and density changes with temperature can be attributed to the microstructural weakening effect on the thermal volume change

  11. The regional economic impact of oil and gas extraction in Texas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jim

    2015-01-01

    This paper empirically investigates the regional economic impact of oil and gas extraction in Texas during the recent shale oil boom. Regressions with county-level data over the period 2009–2014 support smaller multiplier effects on local employment and income than corresponding estimates drawn from popular input–output-based studies. Economic impacts were larger for extraction from gas wells than oil wells, while the drilling phase generated comparable impacts. Estimates of economic impacts are greater in a dynamic spatial panel model that allows for spillover effects across local economies as well as over time. - Highlights: • Economic impacts and multiplier effects differ between oil and gas wells in Texas. • Interactions among local economies raise employment and income effects. • Impacts persist over time, raising the long-run multipliers. • Greater economic impacts from newly drilled wells than legacy wells.

  12. The geochemical behaviour of selenium in the Boom Clay system - a XANES and EXAFS study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" data-affiliation=" (Center for surface Chemistry and Catalysis - M2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" >Breynaert, Eric; 2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" data-affiliation=" (Center for surface Chemistry and Catalysis - M2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" >Dom, Dirk; 2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" data-affiliation=" (Center for surface Chemistry and Catalysis - M2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" >Vancluysen, Jacqueline; 2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" data-affiliation=" (Center for surface Chemistry and Catalysis - M2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" >Kirschhock, Christine E.A.; 2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" data-affiliation=" (Center for surface Chemistry and Catalysis - M2S, KULeuven, B-3001Leuven (Belgium))" >Maes, Andre; Scheinost, Andreas C.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. In Belgium, the Boom Clay formation is studied as a reference host formation for the geological disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste for more than 30 years. This formation mainly consists of mixed clay minerals (illite, inter-stratified illite-smectite), pyrite and immobile and dissolved natural organic matter. Since it provides good sorption capacities, very low permeability, and chemically reducing conditions due to the presence of pyrite (FeS 2 ), the Boom clay formation itself is considered to be the main barrier preventing radionuclide migration from the geological repository. Within this concept for geological storage Se 79 has been identified as one of the critical elements contributing to the final dose to man. Although the sorption and migration behaviour of Se in the Boom Clay system has been thoroughly studied, the speciation of Se in the Boom Clay system has never been identified spectroscopically. In all previous studies, the interpretation of the behaviour of Se in Boom Clay conditions has always been based on circumstantial evidence such as solubility measurements or comparison with the spectroscopically identified speciation of Se in model systems. Based on the XANES analysis, selenite is transformed into Se 0 confirming the previously proposed reduction of selenite in the Boom Clay system. Combination of the mass-balance for Se with the results from linear combination analysis of the XANES spectra provided new evidence for the sorption-reduction mechanism proposed to explain the interaction between Se(IV) and the BC solid phase. In addition, evidence was found that that the fate of Se(IV) in the BC system is completely dominated by its interaction with pyrite present in the Boom Clay. The combined EXAFS analysis of Se in Se 0 reference phases (hexagonal, monoclinic, Se-loaded pyrite) allowed to elucidate further details on the short-range structure of the reaction products formed

  13. Boom in boarfish abundance: insight from otolith analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Coad, Julie Olivia; Hüssy, Karin

    2012-01-01

    The boarfish Capros aper is a pelagic shoaling species widely distributed along the Northeast Atlantic continental shelf. In recent years, this species has experienced a dramatic boom in abundance in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea. This study aims at resolving the mechanisms responsible for thi...

  14. Microbial consortia in mesocosm bioremediation trial using oil sorbents, slow-release fertilizer and bioaugmentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gertler, Christoph; Gerdts, Gunnar; Timmis, Kenneth N; Golyshin, Peter N

    2009-08-01

    An experimental prototype oil boom including oil sorbents, slow-release fertilizers and biomass of the marine oil-degrading bacterium, Alcanivorax borkumensis, was applied for sorption and degradation of heavy fuel oil in a 500-L mesocosm experiment. Fingerprinting of DNA and small subunit rRNA samples for microbial activity conducted to study the changes in microbial communities of both the water body and on the oil sorbent surface showed the prevalence of A. borkumensis on the surface of the oil sorbent. Growth of this obligate oil-degrading bacterium on immobilized oil coincided with a 30-fold increase in total respiration. A number of DNA and RNA signatures of aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria were detected both in samples of water body and on oil sorbent. Ultimately, the heavy fuel oil in this mesocosm study was effectively removed from the water body. This is the first study to successfully investigate the fate of oil-degrading microbial consortia in an experimental prototype for a bioremediation strategy in offshore, coastal or ship-bound oil spill mitigation using a combination of mechanical and biotechnological techniques.

  15. A Boom in Boomerangs

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-01-01

    Ted Bailey, a highly-ranked international boomerang designer and thrower, used information from a variety of NASA technical reports on aerodynamics and low-speed airfoils to design more competitive boomerangs. Because the boomerang is essentially an airfoil like an airplane wing, the technology transferred effectively and even contributed to the 1981 American victory over Australian throwers. In 1985, using four NASA reports, Bailey designed a new MTA (maximum time aloft) boomerang that broke the one-minute barrier, enabled throwers to throw and catch in less than three minutes and allowed competitors to complete the difficult "Super Catch" - five throw/catch sequences after launching the original boom while it is still aloft. Bailey is now considering other boomerang applications.

  16. The Effects of Oil Price Shocks on real GDP in Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Taghi Khosravi Larijani

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the asymmetric effects of oil price shocks on GDP have been investigated by co-integration analysis in Iran economy during the period 1960-2010. We used Hodrick-Prescott filtering to separate positive shocks from negative shocks. The results showed that in long run the negative shocks have stronger effects on output than positive ones that can have damaging repercussions on economic growth. The findings have practical policy implications for decision makers in the area of macroeconomic planning. The use of stabilization and savings funds and diversification of the real sector seems crucial to minimize the harmful effects of oil booms and busts

  17. On the thermal behaviour of Boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delage, P.; Cui Yu Jun; Sultan, N.

    2004-01-01

    When temperature is increased, the various phenomena that occur in a saturated natural potential host clay for nuclear waste disposal (Boom clay from SCK-CEN in Mol, Belgium) were experimentally investigated in a temperature controlled high stress triaxial cell. Firstly, the pore pressure build-up due to the difference in thermal dilation of both water and minerals was investigated through thermal consolidation tests. Interesting information was obtained about the dissipation of thermally induced pore pressure in Boom clay, based on the standard Terzaghi consolidation theory. Secondly, the volume change behaviour in drained conditions (i.e. under a very slow temperature increase) confirmed that the clay overconsolidation ratio (OCR) controlled the nature of the volume changes. Whereas overconsolidated soils use to dilate as any material when temperature is elevated, normally consolidated soils present a decrease in volume, which is less common. The principles of a coupled thermo-elasto-plastic model that was specifically developed to model this particular behaviour are finally presented. Obviously, it appears necessary to account in detail for these thermal phenomena in order to properly understand the response of the geological barrier in the near field once nuclear waste has been stored. (orig.)

  18. Analysis of Offshore Knuckle Boom Crane - Part Two: Motion Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morten K. Bak

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper design of electro-hydraulic motion control systems for offshore knuckle boom cranes is discussed. The influence of the control valve bandwidth along with the ramp time for the control signal are investigated both analytically with simplified system models and numerically with an experimentally verified crane model. The results of both types of investigations are related to general design rules for selection of control valves and ramp times and the relevance of these design rules is discussed. Generally, they are useful but may be too conservative for offshore knuckle boom cranes. However, as demonstrated in the paper, the only proper way to determine this is to evaluate the motion control system design by means of simulation.

  19. Pilot Test of a Novel Method for Assessing Community Response to Low-Amplitude Sonic Booms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fidell, Sanford; Horonjeff, Richard D.; Harris, Michael

    2012-01-01

    A pilot test of a novel method for assessing residents annoyance to sonic booms was performed. During a two-week period, residents of the base housing area at Edwards Air Force Base provided data on their reactions to sonic booms using Smartphone-based interviews. Noise measurements were conducted at the same time. The report presents information about data collection methods and about test participants reactions to low-amplitude sonic booms. The latter information should not be viewed as definitive for several reasons. It may not be reliably generalized to the wider U.S. residential population (because it was not derived from a representative random sample) and the sample itself was not large.

  20. Report on the oil and gas sector in Ecuador

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1990-01-01

    After a brief introduction on the economic and political situation in Ecuador, the state of the country's oil and gas sector is reviewed. Before 1967, all oil came from wells along the Pacific coast, but with discoveries in the Amazon Basin, the opening of the trans-Ecuador pipeline, and creation of the state oil company CEPE (renamed Petroecuador in 1990) by the early 1970s, a boom in the industry occurred. Current proven reserves stand at 1.2-1.5 billion bbl of oil and 140 billion ft 3 of natural gas. Current production is generally around 300,000 bbl/d, mostly from the Petroecuador-Texaco consortium block in the Amazon Basin. Petroecuador now operates the main oil export pipeline and has subsidiaries responsible for exploration and production, refining, and the marketing of petroleum and its derivatives. In recent years Petroecuador has imported about $60 million worth of goods annually, offering a market opportunity for foreign companies supplying goods and services to the oil and gas industry. Market opportunities of interest to Canadian companies are outlined, local procedures for doing business are presented, and lists of Canadian and Ecuadorian contacts are provided. 3 figs., 5 tabs

  1. Simplified High-Performance Roll Out Composite Magnetometer Boom, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — In response to NASA's need for compact, low-cost deployable magnetometer booms for CubeSats, Roccor proposes to develop a Simple High-performance Roll-Out Composite...

  2. Passenger Spaceplanes and Airplanes that Have Variable Configuration for Sonic Boom Reduction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constantin SANDU

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available In the last time, the interest for passenger space plane, supersonic passenger aircraft and supersonic business jets is increasing. For reducing sonic boom effects at ground level, some companies proposed airplanes having fuselage with small traversal section or having curved fuselage. This paper presents a new practical method for exciting vibrations in the leading edge of wing, tail and airplane's nose surfaces in order to scatter the shock wave and to reduce the sonic boom impact at ground level. The leading edges of wing, tail and airplane nose are covered with thin elastic fairings made of carbon fiber composite material which are separated through small gaps by the adjacent surfaces of wing, tail and nose. When the aircraft flies over populated areas, compressed air bleed from the engine compressors excites the vibration of carbon fiber fairings. The air is released through calibrated nozzles and directly impinges on the fairing surface generating their vibration. Thus, the shock waves are scattered and the impact of sonic boom on ground is much reduced.

  3. Method of Obtaining High Resolution Intrinsic Wire Boom Damping Parameters for Multi-Body Dynamics Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yew, Alvin G.; Chai, Dean J.; Olney, David J.

    2010-01-01

    The goal of NASA's Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) mission is to understand magnetic reconnection with sensor measurements from four spinning satellites flown in a tight tetrahedron formation. Four of the six electric field sensors on each satellite are located at the end of 60- meter wire booms to increase measurement sensitivity in the spin plane and to minimize motion coupling from perturbations on the main body. A propulsion burn however, might induce boom oscillations that could impact science measurements if oscillations do not damp to values on the order of 0.1 degree in a timely fashion. Large damping time constants could also adversely affect flight dynamics and attitude control performance. In this paper, we will discuss the implementation of a high resolution method for calculating the boom's intrinsic damping, which was used in multi-body dynamics simulations. In summary, experimental data was obtained with a scaled-down boom, which was suspended as a pendulum in vacuum. Optical techniques were designed to accurately measure the natural decay of angular position and subsequently, data processing algorithms resulted in excellent spatial and temporal resolutions. This method was repeated in a parametric study for various lengths, root tensions and vacuum levels. For all data sets, regression models for damping were applied, including: nonlinear viscous, frequency-independent hysteretic, coulomb and some combination of them. Our data analysis and dynamics models have shown that the intrinsic damping for the baseline boom is insufficient, thereby forcing project management to explore mitigation strategies.

  4. A study of sonic boom overpressure trends with respect to weight, altitude, Mach number, and vehicle shaping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Needleman, Kathy E.; Mack, Robert J.

    1990-01-01

    This paper presents and discusses trends in nose shock overpressure generated by two conceptual Mach 2.0 configurations. One configuration was designed for high aerodynamic efficiency, while the other was designed to produce a low boom, shaped-overpressure signature. Aerodynamic lift, sonic boom minimization, and Mach-sliced/area-rule codes were used to analyze and compute the sonic boom characteristics of both configurations with respect to cruise Mach number, weight, and altitude. The influence of these parameters on the overpressure and the overpressure trends are discussed and conclusions are given.

  5. China Oil and Gas Market Assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qiu, Yu

    2004-08-01

    China, with one-fifth of the world's population and one of the fastest rates of economic growth, is experiencing a boom in its energy requirements. China has been identified as a high priority market for the oil and gas sector. This priority has resulted in the high level of investment and many large-scale projects related to the oil and gas industry. Oil production from existing fields is expected to increase, new oil and gas fields will be developed, and the country's oil and gas transmission infrastructure will be extended to meet domestic demands. In addition, total domestic investment needs for the next three decades till 2030 are estimated at around $119 billion, and upstream exploration and development will account for about $69 billion. China's oil and gas exploitation business has been the biggest beneficiary of the bearish crude oil prices, national oil stockpile and the need of infrastructure. In the first six-month period of 2005, this industry has gained a profit of USD16.5 billion, up 73.4 per cent year-on-year. The country is becoming increasingly open to international oil companies, contractors and equipment suppliers, who can bring advanced technology, equipment, and management experience. In this context, considerable opportunities in the supply and service sectors are open to Dutch companies. This report analyses the present situation and market prospect of China upstream oil and gas industry, including: Current status of Chinese oil and gas industry analysis and future development forecast; Potential customers analysis, such as three stated-owned oil companies and their foreign partners;Domestic and foreign competitors analysis; Potential opportunities and challenges analysis; Providing contacts and information on main ongoing oil exploration and development projects, and business practices

  6. The Control of Welding Deformation of the Three-Section Arm of Placing Boom of HB48B Pump Truck

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhi-ling

    2018-02-01

    The concrete pump truck is the construction equipment of conveying concrete with self contained base plate and distributing boom. It integrates the pump transport mechanism of the concrete pump, and the hydraulic roll-folding type distributing boom used to distribute materials, and the supporting mechanism into the automobile chassis, and it is the concrete conveying equipment with high efficient and the functions of driving, pumping, and distributing materials. The placing boom of the concrete pump truck is the main force member in the pump parts with bearing great pressure, and its stress condition is complex. Taking the HB48B placing boom as an example, this paper analyzes and studies the deformation produced by placing boom of pump truck, and then obtains some main factors affecting the welding deformation. Through the riveter “joint” size, we controlled the process parameters, post-welding processing, and other aspects. These measures had some practical significance to prevent, control, and reduce the deformation of welding.

  7. Radionuclide solubilities in boom clay. Final report, part 2 : a report produced for ONDRAF/NIRAS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baker, S.; Baston, G.M.N.; Boult, K.A.

    2000-01-01

    The release of radionuclides from a High Level Radioactive Waste repository situated in the Boom Clay at Mol would depend, in part, on their retardation within the Boom Clay. A number of parameters are required to assess such retardation; these include the solubilities of key radionuclides and their sorption behaviour. ONDRAF/NIRAS has identified neptunium, technetium, selenium, uranium and plutonium as elements for study. AEA Technology plc was requested to undertake a joint experimental and modelling study to determine the solubilities of these five elements under conditions representative of those in the Boom Clay (the in situ chemical conditions are pH∼8, Eh ∼ -230 mV). The work programme was carried out over three years, and for completeness this final report includes all the results

  8. Beyond the low-skill equilibrium? A case study of the local content policy in the Brazilian oil and gas industry

    OpenAIRE

    Melby, Maria

    2015-01-01

    This master thesis wishes to explore the labor market in the Brazilian oil and gas industry during the peak years of the oil boom, seen from Norwegian multinational companies (MNC) point of view. The theoretical perspective applied in the analysis is the hierarchical market economy (HME) typology, deriving from the varieties of capitalism (VOC) framework. In HMEs, the low-skill equilibrium is a prominent feature, in which none of the actors involved has incentives to invest in education and ...

  9. Oil and development in Brazil: Between an extractive and an industrialization strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paz, M. José

    2014-01-01

    In the wake of the commodity boom, “new development strategies” in Latin America are centering on the industrialization of natural resources, thereby questioning the “resource curse” thesis and linking the economic performance of this activity with the institutional framework. In this context, the aim of this paper focusing on the Brazilian oil sector is to analyze the implementation of a resource-based industrialization strategy. After analyzing the Brazilian institutional framework and identifying the key features of a resource-based industrialization strategy, we assess its development and identify its scope and limitations. - Highlights: • We analyze the Brazilian oil sector’s institutional framework. • We analyze the influence of the institutional framework in the Brazilian oil sector performance. • We identify the key features of a resource-based industrialization strategy. • We assess the performance of the Brazilian oil sector and, in particular, its industrialization path

  10. Leading the next boom? competitive Eastern limb platinum supply

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    McGill, JE

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available in USD/troy oz (Data source: Johnson Matthey) Figure 4. Variation in nominal PGEs spot price from July 1992 till July 2010 in USD/troy oz (Data source: Johnson Matthey) PLATINUM IN TRANSITION ?BOOM OR BUST?4 each. In 1996 and 2003 merger attempts...

  11. The New Oil Sector and the Dutch Disease: the Case of Ghana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis Nchor

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the impact of the new oil sector on the economic performance of major traditional sectors of the Ghanaian economy. The discovery of resource booming sectors in most countries often comes with several opportunities as well as challenges. Ghana discovered oil in 2007 and started subsequent commercial production and export in 2010. The results from the study show that, there is no clear case of declining performance of sectors in terms of output, growth and export earnings as a result of the oil production. The study could also not establish a sustained appreciation in the real effective exchange rate since commercial oil production commenced which is an indicator of the presence of the Dutch Disease phenomenon. The real effective exchange rate was also found to be highly influenced by oil production, oil prices, total exports and remittances. The study applied an autoregressive distributed lag model due to differences in the level of integration of variables. The data was obtained from the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Finance in Ghana and the Energy Information Administration.

  12. The Iron Law of Financial Markets: Self-fulfilling Prophecies and Speculative Booms and Busts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ognjen Radonjić

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the factors which, in the absence of strong financial regulation, sustain the Iron Law of the Financial Markets asserting that speculative booms and busts occur more or less regularly from 17 century to the present. The first factor is that financial markets are self-fulfilling system. The second is that human nature does not change and is based on egoism, materialism, loss aversion, exaggerated hopes and fears, emulation, propensity to gamble, herd behavior and so on. Lastly, there is the extreme brevity of the financial memory. In order to enable economic authorities and/or individuals to detect timely that the unsustainable boom is under the way, we have identified the common features of historically recorded speculative episodes. Stages through which the system passes on its way from unsustainable rise to inevitable fall are: displacement, boom, overtrading, financial distress and discredit or revulsion.

  13. Radionuclide solubilities in boom clay. Final report, part 2 : a report produced for ONDRAF/NIRAS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baker, S.; Baston, G.M.N.; Boult, K.A. [and others

    2000-07-01

    The release of radionuclides from a High Level Radioactive Waste repository situated in the Boom Clay at Mol would depend, in part, on their retardation within the Boom Clay. A number of parameters are required to assess such retardation; these include the solubilities of key radionuclides and their sorption behaviour. ONDRAF/NIRAS has identified neptunium, technetium, selenium, uranium and plutonium as elements for study. AEA Technology plc was requested to undertake a joint experimental and modelling study to determine the solubilities of these five elements under conditions representative of those in the Boom Clay (the in situ chemical conditions are pH{approx}8, Eh {approx} -230 mV). The work programme was carried out over three years, and for completeness this final report includes all the results.

  14. Physical model of a floating trash boom to control aquatic weeds at the TVA Widows Creek Fossil Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hopping, P.N.

    1991-01-01

    This paper reports that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Widows Creek Fossil plant seasonally encounters adverse accumulations of aquatic weeds at the intakes of the condenser cooling water pumps. To reduce the accumulations, a floating trash boom has been proposed for the intakes. To evaluate the hydraulic feasibility of a boom, a physical model of the intakes has been built at the TVA Engineering Laboratory. The model was used to determine the boom alignment and depth of skimming needed to successfully deflect weeds away from the intakes and provide self-cleaning

  15. Prisons as Panacea or Pariah? The Countervailing Consequences of the Prison Boom on the Political Economy of Rural Towns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John M. Eason

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The nascent literature on prison proliferation in the United States typically reveals negative impacts for communities of color. Given that Southern rural communities were the most likely to build during the prison boom (1970–2010, however, a more nuanced understanding of prison impact is warranted. Using a dataset matching and geocoding all 1663 U.S. prisons with their Census-appointed place, this study explores the countervailing consequences of the prison boom on rural towns across multiple periods. For example, locales that adopted prisons at earlier stages of the prison boom era received a short-term boom compared to those that did not, but these effects were not lasting. Furthermore, later in the boom, prison-building protected towns against additional economic decline. Thus, neither entirely pariah nor panacea, the prison functions as a state-sponsored public works program for disadvantaged rural communities but also supports perverse economic incentives for prison proliferation. Methodological, substantive, theoretical, and policy implications regarding the intersection of race and punishment are explored.

  16. Investigating the pore-water chemistry effects on the volume change behaviour of Boom clay

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Y. F.; Cui, Y. J.; Tang, A. M.; Nguyen, X. P.; Li, X. L.; Van Geet, M.

    The Essen site has been chosen as an alternative site for nuclear waste disposal in Belgium. The soil formation involved at this site is the same as at Mol site: Boom clay. However, owing to its geographical situation closer to the sea, Boom clay at Essen presents a pore water salinity 4-5 times higher than Boom clay at Mol. This study aims at studying the effects of pore water salinity on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of Boom clay. Specific oedometer cells were used allowing “flushing” the pore water in soil specimen by synthetic pore water or distilled water. The synthetic pore water used was prepared with the chemistry as that for the site water: 5.037 g/L for core Ess83 and 5.578 g/L for core Ess96. Mechanical loading was then carried out on the soil specimen after flushing. The results show that water salinity effect on the liquid limit is negligible. The saturation or pore water replacement under the in situ effective stress of 2.4 MPa does not induce significant volume change. For Ess83, hydro-mechanical behaviour was found to be slightly influenced by the water salinity; on the contrary, no obvious effect was identified on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of Ess96. This can be attributed to the higher smectite content in Ess83 than in Ess96.

  17. Seagrass Control Project: Containment Boom Evaluation. A Method to Protect Seawater Intakes from Seagrass Accumulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1983-10-01

    containment booms at other mooring sites with significantly different physical and environ- mental conditions is recommended before full-scale application...deployment pattern for the different ship types. Modified procedures may also be needed to deploy the boom under a different set of physical and environmental... STPM Press Publ. New York, 353pp. 1980. Pulich, W., S. Barnes and P. Parker. Trace metal cycles in seagrass communities. pp 493-506 in M. Wiley, ed

  18. Modeling and simulation of the agricultural sprayer boom leveling system

    KAUST Repository

    Sun, Jian; Miao, Yubin

    2011-01-01

    According to the agricultural precision requirements, the distance from sprayer nozzles to the corps should be kept between 50 cm to 70 cm. The sprayer boom also needs to be kept parallel to the field during the application process. Thus we can

  19. Experimental Investigation of a Large-Scale Low-Boom Inlet Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirt, Stefanie M.; Chima, Rodrick V.; Vyas, Manan A.; Wayman, Thomas R.; Conners, Timothy R.; Reger, Robert W.

    2011-01-01

    A large-scale low-boom inlet concept was tested in the NASA Glenn Research Center 8- x 6- foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel. The purpose of this test was to assess inlet performance, stability and operability at various Mach numbers and angles of attack. During this effort, two models were tested: a dual stream inlet designed to mimic potential aircraft flight hardware integrating a high-flow bypass stream; and a single stream inlet designed to study a configuration with a zero-degree external cowl angle and to permit surface visualization of the vortex generator flow on the internal centerbody surface. During the course of the test, the low-boom inlet concept was demonstrated to have high recovery, excellent buzz margin, and high operability. This paper will provide an overview of the setup, show a brief comparison of the dual stream and single stream inlet results, and examine the dual stream inlet characteristics.

  20. Political economic origins of Sekondi-Takoradi, West Africa’s new oil city

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franklin Obeng-Odoom

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The origins, growth and trajectory of Sekondi-Takoradi, West Africa’s newest oil city, are considered by using an “institutional-analytical” method of economic history. Particular attention is given to the role of ports, harbours and railways, and how they evolved and interacted with political economic institutions in the last 100 years. This omnibus historical analysis suggests that West Africa’s newest oil city has come full circle. Its contemporary stature in national and international circles has a historical parallel in the 1920s when, as now, it captured national, regional and international attention. The evidence suggests that contemporary narratives that strike a determinist relationship between resource boom and social doom need to be reconsidered.

  1. Thermomechanical behaviour of boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sultan, N.; Delage, P.; Cui, Y.J.

    2000-01-01

    Special attention has been recently paid on temperature effects on the behaviour of deep saturated clays, in relation with nuclear deep waste storage. However, few experimental data are presently available, and existing constitutive models need to be completed. This note is aimed at completing, both experimentally and theoretically, the understanding of the effects of the over-consolidation ration on the thermal volume changes of Boom clay (Belgium). The experimental data obtained here are in a good agreement with existing data. As a complement to existing data, they are used to develop a new elastoplastic model. The adoption of a second coupled plastic mechanism provides good simulations on a complex thermo-mechanical path. (authors)

  2. In situ chemical osmosis experiment in the Boom Clay at the Mol underground research laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garavito, A. M.; De Cannière, P.; Kooi, H.

    Studies on the compatibility of Boom Clay with large amounts of nitrate- bearing bituminized radioactive waste have recently raised a particular interest for osmosis-induced effects in this reference formation in Belgium. Indeed, water flow and solute transport may be associated with several types of driving forces, or gradients (chemical, electrical, thermal), in addition to the hydraulic forces, resulting in the so-called coupled flows. Fluid flow caused by driving forces different than hydraulic gradients is referred to as osmosis. Chemical osmosis, the water flow induced by a chemical gradient across a semi-permeable membrane, can generate pressure increase. The question thus arises if there is a risk to create high pore pressures that could damage the near-field of medium-level waste (MLW) galleries, if osmotically driven water flows towards the galleries are produced by the release of large amounts of NaNO 3 (750 t) in the formation. To what extent a low-permeability clay formation such as the Boom Clay acts as an osmotic membrane is thus a key issue to assess the relevance of osmosis phenomena for the disposal of medium-level waste. An in situ osmosis experiment has been conducted at the H ADES underground research laboratory to determine the osmotic efficiency of Boom Clay at the field scale. A recently developed chemical osmosis flow continuum model has been used to design the osmosis experiment, and to interpret the water pressure measurements. Experimental data could be reproduced quite accurately by the model, and the inferred parameter values are consistent with independent determinations for Boom Clay. A rapid water pressure increase (but limited to about a 2 m water column) was observed after 12 h in the filter containing the more saline water. Then, the osmotically induced water pressure slowly decays on several months. So, the experimental results obtained in situ confirm the occurrence of non-hydraulic flow phenomena (chemical osmosis) in a low

  3. Modelling the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Narayan, Paresh Kumar; Narayan, Seema

    2010-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to model the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices. We use daily data for the period 2000-2008 and include the nominal exchange rate as an additional determinant of stock prices. We find that stock prices, oil prices and nominal exchange rates are cointegrated, and oil prices have a positive and statistically significant impact on stock prices. This result is inconsistent with theoretical expectations. The growth of the Vietnamese stock market was accompanied by rising oil prices. However, the boom of the stock market was marked by increasing foreign portfolio investment inflows which are estimated to have doubled from US$0.9 billion in 2005 to US$1.9 billion in 2006. There was also a change in preferences from holding foreign currencies and domestic bank deposits to stocks local market participants, and there was a rise in leveraged investment in stock as well as investments on behalf of relatives living abroad. It seems that the impact of these internal and domestic factors were more dominant than the oil price rise on the Vietnamese stock market. (author)

  4. Hydraulic fracturing in shales: the spark that created an oil and gas boom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, J. E.

    2017-12-01

    In the oil and gas business, one of the valued properties of a shale was its lack of flow capacity (its sealing integrity) and its propensity to provide mechanical barriers to hydraulic fracture height growth when exploiting oil and gas bearing sandstones. The other important property was the high organic content that made shale a potential source rock for oil and gas, commodities which migrated elsewhere to be produced. Technological advancements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have turned this perspective on its head, making shale (or other ultra-low permeability rocks that are described with this catch-all term) the most prized reservoir rock in US onshore operations. Field and laboratory results have changed our view of how hydraulic fracturing works, suggesting heterogeneities like bedding planes and natural fractures can cause significant complexity in hydraulic fracture growth, resulting in induced networks of fractures whose details are controlled by factors including in situ stress contrasts, ductility contrasts in the stratigraphy, the orientation and strength of pre-existing natural fractures, injection fluid viscosity, perforation cluster spacing and effective mechanical layer thickness. The stress shadowing and stress relief concepts that structural geologists have long used to explain joint spacing and orthogonal fracture pattern development in stratified sequences are key to understanding optimal injection point spacing and promotion of more uniform length development in induced hydraulic fractures. Also, fracture interaction criterion to interpret abutting vs crossing natural fracture relationships in natural fracture systems are key to modeling hydraulic fracture propagation within natural fractured reservoirs such as shale. Scaled physical experiments provide constraints on models where the physics is uncertain. Numerous interesting technical questions remain to be answered, and the field is particularly appealing in that better

  5. Design of an Indoor Sonic Boom Simulator at NASA Langley Research Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klos, Jacob; Sullivan, Brenda M.; Shepherd, Kevin P.

    2008-01-01

    Construction of a simulator to recreate the soundscape inside residential buildings exposed to sonic booms is scheduled to start during the summer of 2008 at NASA Langley Research Center. The new facility should be complete by the end of the year. The design of the simulator allows independent control of several factors that create the indoor soundscape. Variables that will be isolated include such factors as boom duration, overpressure, rise time, spectral shape, level of rattle, level of squeak, source of rattle and squeak, level of vibration and source of vibration. Test subjects inside the simulator will be asked to judge the simulated soundscape, which will represent realistic indoor boom exposure. Ultimately, this simulator will be used to develop a functional relationship between human response and the sound characteristics creating the indoor soundscape. A conceptual design has been developed by NASA personnel, and is currently being vetted through small-scale risk reduction tests that are being performed in-house. The purpose of this document is to introduce the conceptual design, identify how the indoor response will be simulated, briefly outline some of the risk reduction tests that have been completed to vet the design, and discuss the impact of these tests on the simulator design.

  6. Credit Booms and Busts in Emerging Markets: The Role of Bank Governance and Risk Management

    OpenAIRE

    Brown, Martin; Andries, Alin Marius

    2014-01-01

    This paper investigates to what extent risk management and corporate governance mitigate the involvement of banks in credit boom and bust cycles. Using a unique, hand-collected dataset on 156 banks from Central and Eastern Europe during 2005-2012, we assess whether banks with stronger risk management and corporate governance display more moderate credit growth in the pre-crisis credit boom as well as a smaller credit contraction and fewer credit losses in the crisis period. With respect to ba...

  7. Low-Boom and Low-Drag Optimization of the Twin Engine Version of Silent Supersonic Business Jet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Koma; Kumano, Takayasu; Yonezawa, Masahito; Yamashita, Hiroshi; Jeong, Shinkyu; Obayashi, Shigeru

    Multi-Objective Optimization has been applied to a design problem of the twin engine concept for Silent Supersonic Business Jet (SSBJ). This problem aims to find main wing, body, tail wing and engine nacelle configurations, which can minimize both sonic boom and drag in a supersonic cruising flight. The multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) coupled with the Kriging model has been used to globally and effectively search for optimal design candidates in the multi-objective problem. The drag and the sonic boom have been evaluated by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation and the waveform parameter method. As a result, the present optimization has successfully obtained low-boom and low-drag design candidates, which are better than the baseline design by more than 40% regarding each performance. Moreover, the structure of design space has been visualized by the self-organizing map (SOM).

  8. Study of a 30-M Boom For Solar Sail-Craft: Model Extendibility and Control Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keel, Leehyun

    2005-01-01

    Space travel propelled by solar sails is motivated by the fact that the momentum exchange that occurs when photons are reflected and/or absorbed by a large solar sail generates a small but constant acceleration. This acceleration can induce a constant thrust in very large sails that is sufficient to maintain a polar observing satellite in a constant position relative to the Sun or Earth. For long distance propulsion, square sails (with side length greater than 150 meters) can reach Jupiter in two years and Pluto in less than ten years. Converting such design concepts to real-world systems will require accurate analytical models and model parameters. This requires extensive structural dynamics tests. However, the low mass and high flexibility of large and light weight structures such as solar sails makes them unsuitable for ground testing. As a result, validating analytical models is an extremely difficult problem. On the other hand, a fundamental question can be asked. That is whether an analytical model that represents a small-scale version of a solar-sail boom can be extended to much larger versions of the same boom. To answer this question, we considered a long deployable boom that will be used to support the solar sails of the sail-craft. The length of fully deployed booms of the actual solar sail-craft will exceed 100 meters. However, the test-bed we used in our study is a 30 meter retractable boom at MSFC. We first develop analytical models based on Lagrange s equations and the standard Euler-Bernoulli beam. Then the response of the models will be compared with test data of the 30 meter boom at various deployed lengths. For this stage of study, our analysis was limited to experimental data obtained at 12ft and 18ft deployment lengths. The comparison results are positive but speculative. To observe properly validate the analytic model, experiments at longer deployment lengths, up to the full 30 meter, have been requested. We expect the study to answer the

  9. Pembuatan Alur Pelayaran dalam Rencana Pelabuhan Marina Pantai Boom, Banyuwangi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Didi Darmawan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Pantai Boom merupakan pantai yang ada di Kabupaten Banyuwangi. Pantai ini terletak di Kelurahan Kampung Mandar, Kecamatan Banyuwangi, Banyuwangi, Jawa Timur. Pantai tersebut rencananya akan dibangun pelabuhan marina. Pelabuhan harus dilengkapi dengan beberapa fasilitas untuk mendukung rencana tersebut seperti salah satunya adalah alur pelayaran. Untuk membuat alur pelayaran diperlukan penelitian mengenai pasang surut, topografi dasar laut, serta jenis kapal yang melintas untuk memastikan kapal yang berlayar aman dari kemungkinan kecelakaan. Penelitian ini menggunakan data hasil pemeruman, data pasang surut yang diperoleh dari pengamatan langsung, serta berbagai jenis kapal yacht. Hasil dari penelitian ini didapatkan bahwa rencana dermaga sebaiknya dibangun 60 meter menjorok ke arah laut dengan panjang dermaga 25 meter. Dalam keadaan air rendah terendah (LLWL, ketiga jenis kapal yang ditentukan dapat merapat ke rencana Dermaga Pelabuhan Marina Pantai Boom, Banyuwangi. Daerah yang tidak bisa dilewati pada saat LLWL, pada saat MSL daerah tersebut sudah dapat dilewati oleh ketiga jenis kapal tersebut. Pada keadaan muka air tinggi tertinggi (HHWL, Kapal Yacht Class 8 dan 6 dapat melewati sebagian perairan sungai Pantai Boom.         Waktu yang tidak tepat untuk melakukan pelayaran pada saat LLWL dari alur pelayaran yang telah dibuat yaitu antara pukul 04:00 – 06:00 WIB pada saat bulan November 2015-Februari 2016 dan pukul 16:00-18:00 pada saat bulan Juni-Agustus 2016. Sedangkan Waktu yang tepat untuk melakukan pelayaran pada saat HHWL yaitu antara pukul 20:00–23:00 WIB pada saat bulan Desember 2015- Maret 2016 dan pukul 8:00-11:00 pada saat bulan Juni-September 2016.

  10. Small-scale in-situ burn tests to develop operational proficiencies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCarthy, M.W.

    1996-01-01

    A small-scale hands-on in-situ burning experiment was conducted to prepare members of a response community in the event of an actual full scale in-situ burn. Two different styles of fire booms were deployed in open water and exposed to multiple test tank burns. Residual burned crude oil was recovered and the booms decontaminated. The experiments showed that all the methods used to gauge the depth of oil contained in the booms created an element of doubt in their accuracy. The main lessons learned pertained to pre-combustion volume estimation, oil slick ignition, and residue recovery. It was concluded that in-situ burning was a potential technique in oil spill response, but some refinement is still needed to be done with the oil retention booms. The operational costs associated with the experiment were minimal, given the nature of the project. 1 tab

  11. Current-driven plasmonic boom instability in three-dimensional gated periodic ballistic nanostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aizin, G. R.; Mikalopas, J.; Shur, M.

    2016-05-01

    An alternative approach of using a distributed transmission line analogy for solving transport equations for ballistic nanostructures is applied for solving the three-dimensional problem of electron transport in gated ballistic nanostructures with periodically changing width. The structures with varying width allow for modulation of the electron drift velocity while keeping the plasma velocity constant. We predict that in such structures biased by a constant current, a periodic modulation of the electron drift velocity due to the varying width results in the instability of the plasma waves if the electron drift velocity to plasma wave velocity ratio changes from below to above unity. The physics of such instability is similar to that of the sonic boom, but, in the periodically modulated structures, this analog of the sonic boom is repeated many times leading to a larger increment of the instability. The constant plasma velocity in the sections of different width leads to resonant excitation of the unstable plasma modes with varying bias current. This effect (that we refer to as the superplasmonic boom condition) results in a strong enhancement of the instability. The predicted instability involves the oscillating dipole charge carried by the plasma waves. The plasmons can be efficiently coupled to the terahertz electromagnetic radiation due to the periodic geometry of the gated structure. Our estimates show that the analyzed instability should enable powerful tunable terahertz electronic sources.

  12. [Migration and oil in Tabasco].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lezama, J L

    1987-01-01

    "At the beginning of the seventies, important economic investments aimed at developing and commercializing the newly discovered oilwells were made in the state of Tabasco [Mexico]. As a result of this, the distribution and the social growth of the population in this state changed. This paper analyses the general characteristics of these changes, particularly those related to migration.... Generally speaking, the most important migratory movements which took place in this state during the oil boom were from one municipality to another and not from other states to Tabasco, as was thought at first.... This paper also describes the direction of the migratory flows and provides information about the sex of the migrants and about their insertion within the sphere of employment." (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt

  13. The first boom: Industrious ancestors traced by trail-blazing impact assessment done for oil mega projects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chandler, G.

    2003-08-01

    Impact studies done for the mammoth oil projects in the Alberta oil sand deposits have enabled archaeologists to intensively study the archaeological record of the Athabasca lowlands, that until about thirty years ago was an almost complete void. The first major discoveries were done in 1973: the Beaver River Quarry Site on the south bank of the Beaver River, found during an impact assessment study undertaken for Syncrude, yielded hundreds of thousands of artifacts, showing how sandstone was manufactured into tools and projectile points some 10,000 years ago. This discovery was followed by scores of new Historical Resources Impact Assessments (HRIAs) as part of the petroleum industry's expansion of oil sands country. These studies reveal that humans could have been living in the areas as far back as 10,000 years ago, as evidenced by a complex of ancient campsites and stone tool workshops discovered along the shore of the Athabasca River. Other sites and the archaeological significance of artifacts found near Nezu Lake, in the Cree Burn Lake area, and in the Fort Hills area north of Fort McKay are also described. The density of sites and artifacts from the oil sands leases suggest that the sites have been most intensely occupied during the period between 9,600 and 6,000 years ago.

  14. Boom clay pore water, home of a diverse microbial community

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wouters, Katinka; Moors, Hugo; Leys, Natalie

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. Boom Clay pore water (BCPW) has been studied in the framework of geological disposal of nuclear waste for over two decades, thereby mainly addressing its geochemical properties. A reference composition for synthetic clay water has been derived earlier by modelling and spatial calibration efforts, mainly based on interstitial water sampled from different layers within the Boom clay. However, since microbial activity is found in a range of extreme circumstances, the possibility of microbes interacting with future radioactive waste in a host formation like Boom Clay, cannot be ignored. In this respect, BCPW was sampled from different Boom Clay layers using the Morpheus piezometer and subsequently analysed by a complementary set of microbiological and molecular techniques, in search for overall shared and abundant microorganisms. Similar to the previous characterization of the 'average' BCPW chemical composition, the primary aim of this microbiological study is to determine a representative BCPW microbial community which can be used in laboratory studies. Secondly, the in situ activity and the metabolic properties of members of this community were addressed, aiming to assess their survival and proliferation chances in repository conditions. In a first approach, total microbial DNA of the community was extracted from the BCPW samples. This molecular approach allows a broad insight in the total microbial ecology of the BCPW samples. By polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on the highly conserved 16S rRNA genes in this DNA pool and subsequent sequencing and bio-informatics analysis, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) could be assigned to the microbial community. The bacterial community was found to be quite diverse, with OTUs belonging to 8 different phyla (Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chlorobi, Spirochetes, Chloroflexi and Deinococcus-Thermus). These results provide an overall view of the

  15. Boom clay pore water, home of a diverse microbial community

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wouters, Katinka; Moors, Hugo; Leys, Natalie [SCK.CEN, Environment, Health and Safety Institute, B-2400 Mol (Belgium)

    2012-10-15

    Document available in extended abstract form only. Boom Clay pore water (BCPW) has been studied in the framework of geological disposal of nuclear waste for over two decades, thereby mainly addressing its geochemical properties. A reference composition for synthetic clay water has been derived earlier by modelling and spatial calibration efforts, mainly based on interstitial water sampled from different layers within the Boom clay. However, since microbial activity is found in a range of extreme circumstances, the possibility of microbes interacting with future radioactive waste in a host formation like Boom Clay, cannot be ignored. In this respect, BCPW was sampled from different Boom Clay layers using the Morpheus piezometer and subsequently analysed by a complementary set of microbiological and molecular techniques, in search for overall shared and abundant microorganisms. Similar to the previous characterization of the 'average' BCPW chemical composition, the primary aim of this microbiological study is to determine a representative BCPW microbial community which can be used in laboratory studies. Secondly, the in situ activity and the metabolic properties of members of this community were addressed, aiming to assess their survival and proliferation chances in repository conditions. In a first approach, total microbial DNA of the community was extracted from the BCPW samples. This molecular approach allows a broad insight in the total microbial ecology of the BCPW samples. By polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on the highly conserved 16S rRNA genes in this DNA pool and subsequent sequencing and bio-informatics analysis, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) could be assigned to the microbial community. The bacterial community was found to be quite diverse, with OTUs belonging to 8 different phyla (Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chlorobi, Spirochetes, Chloroflexi and Deinococcus-Thermus). These results provide an overall view of the

  16. Simulation and controller design for an agricultural sprayer boom leveling system

    KAUST Repository

    Sun, Jian; Miao, Yubin

    2011-01-01

    According to the agricultural precision requirements, the distance from sprayer nozzles to the corps should be kept between 50 cm to 70 cm. The sprayer boom also needs to be kept parallel to the field during the operation process. Thus we can

  17. Mobility of the dissolved organic matter through intact boom clay cores

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Put, M.J.; Dierckx, A.; Aertsens, M.; Canniere, P. de

    1998-01-01

    Performance assessment studies are expected to predict the enhancement of the migration of trivalent lanthanides and actinides due to their complexation with organic matter, which play a role as a transport agent [1]. Therefore, the mobility of the dissolved organic matter in the interstitial boom clay water is studied. For the first time, the mobile fraction present in the clay water is concentrated and labelled with a radioisotope to study the mobility of the organic matter in clay and the interaction of the mobile with the non-mobile. The isotopes tested as label are 125 I and 14 C. The 125 I label proved to be unstable and hence discarded. The labelled organic matter is then diluted for migration experiments on boom clay cores under anaerobic conditions. The influence of the molecular size on its mobility is studied by the separation of the labelled organic matter in different size fractions. (orig.)

  18. Prime Borrowers and Financial Innovation in the Housing Boom and Bust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bäckman, Claes; Lutz, Chandler

    for better consumption smoothing, even absent any shift in credit supply. In support of the model, we find that the introduction of interest-only mortgages was followed by a large increase in the number of buyers, even as credit quality remained constant. On the aggregate level the results indicate...... that interest-only mortgages amplified the boom-bust pattern in housing: house prices increased an additional 35 percent during the boom due to IO loans, and subsequently reverse during the bust. These effects, which cannot be explained by changes in lending standards or shifts in credit supply, are magnified...... in local housing markets with higher ex-ante house price expectations. Together, the findings document the consequences of introducing IO loans on the micro- and macro level, and illustrates how new mortgage products can have large impacts even in the absence of a shift in credit supply...

  19. Changing Fortunes: How China’s Boom Caused the Financial Crisis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    H. Mees (Heleen)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractThis dissertation includes five academic papers that – one way or the other – all relate to China. The first paper delivers proof for the central thesis of this thesis, which is that China’s boom caused the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing recession. As much as I hoped from the outset

  20. Financial services in England in the late XVII century and first equity market boom (1691–1693

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S.Z. Moshenskyi

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The article shows the formation of the British financial services industry in the 1690's and the reasons of the first joint-stock companies’ boom of 1691–1693's. The author describes the course of events of this boom, and data on the volume of transactions in shares. The reasons of the joint-stock boom end are associated with very low capitalization of most of the new companies. The consequence of rapid economic growth in England in the late XVII century was the appearance and rapid development of financial services. Financial intermediaries appeared first and their services, in particular the services of insurance companies, were in demand. The rapid increase in the number of insurance companies has become prerequisite for becoming financial capitalism that led to the emergence of other intermediaries which provided financial services. Among them there were the so-called "notaries" that offered a full range of services related to land transactions and "bankers, jewelers," that woke the first private bankers. Thus, in the early 1690's London had a favorable environment for the rapid growth of the financial market, which was the main precondition for expanding market shares and led to the joint-stock boom.

  1. Developments in modelling of thermohydro-geomechanical behaviour of Boom clay and clay-based buffer materials (volume 2)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldi, G.; Hueckel, T.; Peano, A.; Pellegrini, R.

    1991-01-01

    This study is composed of two parts: The first part (Volume 1) lays the foundations of a comprehensive theoretical treatment of the interaction between water and soil skeleton during thermal dilatation. The second part (volume 2) is devoted to the development and the application of advance constitutive modelling of mechanical behaviour of clays taking into account the extensive tests of Boom clay reported in the first volume. The development concentrated on the improvement of prediction of the volumetric response of clay skeleton: (a) improving the dilatancy prediction at low to high overconsolidation ratios (Section 2). An elasto-plastic constitutive model has been developed to account for this effect (Section 3.2.); (b) modelling of swelling effects (Section 2.5). A preliminary interpretative model for swelling prediction has been developed (Section 2.5). The application part consisted in interpreting the experimental results obtained for Boom clay to calibrate a set of constants (Section 3) for performing numerical analyses (Section 4) for the thermomechanical model already calibrated for Boom clay (Appendix). Interpretation of the tests required an assessment of influence of the strong anisotropy effects revealed by Boom clay on the basis of an interpretative model characterized by a kinematic hardening plasticity and coupled elasticity (section 3)

  2. Modelling the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Narayan, Paresh Kumar [School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Deakin University, Victoria 3125 (Australia); Narayan, Seema [School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne (Australia)

    2010-01-15

    The goal of this paper is to model the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices. We use daily data for the period 2000-2008 and include the nominal exchange rate as an additional determinant of stock prices. We find that stock prices, oil prices and nominal exchange rates are cointegrated, and oil prices have a positive and statistically significant impact on stock prices. This result is inconsistent with theoretical expectations. The growth of the Vietnamese stock market was accompanied by rising oil prices. However, the boom of the stock market was marked by increasing foreign portfolio investment inflows which are estimated to have doubled from US$0.9 billion in 2005 to US$1.9 billion in 2006. There was also a change in preferences from holding foreign currencies and domestic bank deposits to stocks local market participants, and there was a rise in leveraged investment in stock as well as investments on behalf of relatives living abroad. It seems that the impact of these internal and domestic factors were more dominant than the oil price rise on the Vietnamese stock market. (author)

  3. China's optimal stockpiling policies in the context of new oil price trend

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xie, Nan; Yan, Zhijun; Zhou, Yi; Huang, Wenjun

    2017-01-01

    Optimizing the size of oil stockpiling plays a fundamental role in the process of making national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) policies. There have been extensive studies on the operating strategies of SPR. However, previous literatures have paid more attention to a booming or stable international oil market, while few studies analyzed the impact of a long-term low oil price on SPR policy. As a supplement, this paper extends a static model to study China's optimal stockpiling policy under different oil price trends, and in response to different current oil prices. A new variable “FC”, which demonstrates the appreciation and depreciation of the reserved oil economic value, has been taken into account to assess the optimal size of SPR. In this paper, a more multi-perspective of view is provided to consider the policies of China's SPR, especially under the different trend of international oil price fluctuations. - Highlights: • We extended a static model to study optimal stockpiling size of China's SPR. • A new variable “FC” was applied to illustrate the shifting financial value of SPR. • We analyzed how current oil price and varied prediction influence optimal size. • Operational measures could be adjusted at the end of each decision-making period. • A more multifaceted of view might be provided for China's SPR policy-making.

  4. Being young in a boom town

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O' Connor, Christopher

    2011-08-15

    Fort McMurray is a booming town, having grown from small town to big city in a short time. A study was conducted to determine how this change affected young people. Results show they felt the changing environment required them to adapt all the time, which was a challenge but also a source of opportunities. Fort McMurray, with a labour shortage, afforded young people a lot of well-paid, flexible part time jobs during high school. These jobs were important to fund their post-secondary education. Although most of the young people saw themselves living elsewhere in 10 years, they could possibly stay if local challenges in the city were addressed.

  5. U.S. E and P surge hinges on technology, not oil price

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1997-01-01

    Technology, not oil and gas prices, have fueled the recent surge in US activity, leading to greater sustainability, according to Clarance P. Cazalot Jr., vice-president of Texaco Inc. and president of Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. Cazalot expects gas and oil prices to decrease slightly to within the historical range of $18--21/bbl for oil and $1.50--2.00/Mcf for gas for the next few years. Cazalot said the most critical factors affecting the future of US exploration and production activities are technology and personnel. Technology is driving the current industry boom in the Us and is the basis for Texaco's projected US production growth. Perhaps industry's greatest challenge is attracting, developing, and retaining skilled people at all levels, said Cazalot. People shortages result in increased competition for personnel with critical skills, high employee turnover rates, and increased costs associated with attracting and retaining technical talent. A table gives data on costs of well drilling

  6. In situ bioremediation strategies for oiled shoreline environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, K.; Mora, S. de

    1999-01-01

    Despite advances in preventative measures, recent events have demonstrated that accidental oil spills at sea will still occur. While physical (e.g. booms and skimmers) and chemical (e.g. chemical dispersants) methods have been developed to recover and/or disperse oil spilled at sea, they are not 100% effective and are frequently limited by operational constraints attributed to sea state and/or nature of the contamination. As a result, oil spills frequently impact shoreline environments. In situ bioremediation, the addition of substances or modification of habitat at contaminated sites to accelerate natural biodegradation processes, is now recognised as an alternative spill response technology of the remediation of these sites. Recommended for use following the physical removal of bulk oil, this treatment strategy has an operational advantage in that it breaks down and/or removes the residual contamination in place. Laboratory experiments and field trials have demonstrated the feasibility and success of bioremediation strategies such as nutrient enrichment to enhance bacterial degradation of oil on cobble, sand beach and salt marsh environments. With improved knowledge of the factors that limit natural oil degradation rates, the feasibility of other strategies such as phytoremediation, enhanced oil-mineral fines interaction and the addition of oxygen or alternative electron acceptors are now being evaluated. Laboratory and field test protocols are being refined for the selection of effective bioremediation agents and methods of application. It is recommended that future operational guidelines include real time product efficacy test and environmental effects monitoring programs. Termination of treatment should be implemented when: 1) it is no longer effective; 2) the oil has degraded to acceptable biologically benign concentrations; or 3) toxicity due to the treatment is increasing. (Author)

  7. Baby boom generation at the retirement onset

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stojilković Jelena

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Sudden increase in the number of live births after the Second World War due to an increase in fertility rates has led to the formation of cohorts with specific characteristics or baby boom generation. This generation is unique in the history of the demographic phenomenon that has affected and affects the functioning of many segments of society. The aim of this paper is to assess structure of baby boomers who are few years away from retirement, using demographic data. Impact of baby boomer age structure of current and future retirees is described with a graphical display of current and projected age pyramid of baby boomers. Demographic pattern that women live longer than men is evident in the projected pyramid. In addition, the number of baby boomers will lead to a "younger" old population. The imbalance in the number of men and women pensioners, as well as older cohorts of women and female baby boomers was analyzed. As a result, an increasing trend of women's age pensioners who are members of the baby boom generation was clearly observed, which is opposite to the older cohort of women who often were family pensioners. Different circumstances and conditions in which female boomers lived and worked will form a new "pension model" because they will gain their benefits as well as men, for the first time in significant number, unlike their mothers, which gained the right to retire after they become widows. Number of women age pensioners is getting greater comparing to men, as the result of changes in the economic activities of women in the last half of the 20th century. When baby boomers retire and exit the working population, this will create a vacuum, because the numerically smaller generations will enter working population, while the sudden and very shortly, the number of population older than 60 or 65 will increase, most of them will likely to acquire the right to a pension. It is undeniable that baby boomers had impact on demographic structure

  8. In situ and laboratory migration experiments through boom clay at Mol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Preter, P. de; Put, M.; Canniere, P. de

    1993-01-01

    Physico-chemical characterization and migration studies in the Boom clay, envisaged as a potential host sediment for high level waste disposal in Belgium, were started some 15 years ago. A synthesis study of this experimental work has recently been conducted to compile all available data. From a comparison of the available migration data and the data requirements as derived from the performance assessment studies PAGIS (1988) and PACOMA (1991) the new migration programme (1991-1995) was defined. The critical radionuclides, both with relation to dose rates to man and to missing or unreliable migration data, turned out to be 14 C, 99 Tc. 135 Cs and 237 Np. A second group of radionuclides was found to be possibly critical: 79 Se, 93 Zr, 107 Pd, U - , Am - , Cm - , and Pu-isotopes. This report concentrates on the experimental results as obtained from the migration experiments started in the previous migration programme. Some of the reported radionuclides e.g. 90 Sr) have lost their critical character and will not be further studied within the new programme. New experimental data from laboratory tests have become available for Np, Cs, Sr and C (as HC0 3 - ) and the first results on the migration of organic molecules dissolved in the interstitial Boom clay water are reported. The hydraulic parameters (the hydraulic conductivity K and the storage coefficient S o ) were calculated from both laboratory percolation experiments and in situ piezometric measurements. Conclusions concerning Boom clay anisotropy are drawn. Finally, a short description of the ongoing in situ HTO injection experiment is given and the experimental data are analyzed and discussed. 10 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  9. Oil Price Volatility and Economic Growth in Nigeria: a Vector Auto-Regression (VAR Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edesiri Godsday Okoro

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The study examined oil price volatility and economic growth in Nigeria linking oil price volatility, crude oil prices, oil revenue and Gross Domestic Product. Using quarterly data sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN Statistical Bulletin and World Bank Indicators (various issues spanning 1980-2010, a non‐linear model of oil price volatility and economic growth was estimated using the VAR technique. The study revealed that oil price volatility has significantly influenced the level of economic growth in Nigeria although; the result additionally indicated a negative relationship between the oil price volatility and the level of economic growth. Furthermore, the result also showed that the Nigerian economy survived on crude oil, to such extent that the country‘s budget is tied to particular price of crude oil. This is not a good sign for a developing economy, more so that the country relies almost entirely on revenue of the oil sector as a source of foreign exchange earnings. This therefore portends some dangers for the economic survival of Nigeria. It was recommended amongst others that there should be a strong need for policy makers to focus on policy that will strengthen/stabilize the economy with specific focus on alternative sources of government revenue. Finally, there should be reduction in monetization of crude oil receipts (fiscal discipline, aggressive saving of proceeds from oil booms in future in order to withstand vicissitudes of oil price volatility in future.

  10. Did the Aid Boom Pacify Sub-Saharan Africa?

    OpenAIRE

    Azam, Jean-Paul; Thelen, Véronique

    2017-01-01

    The incidence of civil war in Sub-Saharan Africa since the turn of the century is less than half of what it was on average in the last quarter of the 20th century. This paper shows that the aid boom triggered by 9/11 played a key role in achieving purposefully this result using panel data for 46 African countries over four decades. It applies a nearidentification approach to test the aid-conflict tradeoff, taking due account of asymmetric information between the donors and the econometrician....

  11. NASA's Advanced Solar Sail Propulsion System for Low-Cost Deep Space Exploration and Science Missions that Use High Performance Rollable Composite Booms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Juan M.; Rose, Geoffrey K.; Younger, Casey J.; Dean, Gregory D.; Warren, Jerry E.; Stohlman, Olive R.; Wilkie, W. Keats

    2017-01-01

    Several low-cost solar sail technology demonstrator missions are under development in the United States. However, the mass saving derived benefits that composites can offer to such a mass critical spacecraft architecture have not been realized yet. This is due to the lack of suitable composite booms that can fit inside CubeSat platforms and ultimately be readily scalable to much larger sizes, where they can fully optimize their use. With this aim, a new effort focused at developing scalable rollable composite booms for solar sails and other deployable structures has begun. Seven meter booms used to deploy a 90 m2 class solar sail that can fit inside a 6U CubeSat have already been developed. The NASA road map to low-cost solar sail capability demonstration envisioned, consists of increasing the size of these composite booms to enable sailcrafts with a reflective area of up to 2000 m2 housed aboard small satellite platforms. This paper presents a solar sail system initially conceived to serve as a risk reduction alternative to Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout's baseline design but that has recently been slightly redesigned and proposed for follow-on missions. The features of the booms and various deployment mechanisms for the booms and sail, as well as ground support equipment used during testing, are introduced. The results of structural analyses predict the performance of the system under microgravity conditions. Finally, the results of the functional and environmental testing campaign carried out are shown.

  12. Background Pressure Profiles for Sonic Boom Vehicle Testing in the NASA Glenn 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castner, Raymond; Shaw, Stephen; Adamson, Eric; Simerly, Stephanie

    2013-01-01

    In an effort to identify test facilities that offer sonic boom measurement capabilities, an exploratory test program was initiated using wind tunnels at NASA research centers. The subject of this report is the sonic boom pressure rail data collected in the Glenn Research Center 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel. The purpose is to summarize the lessons learned based on the test activity, specifically relating to collecting sonic boom data which has a large amount of spatial pressure variation. The wind tunnel background pressure profiles are presented as well as data which demonstrated how both wind tunnel Mach number and model support-strut position affected the wind tunnel background pressure profile. Techniques were developed to mitigate these effects and are presented.

  13. Nondestructive Online Detection of Welding Defects in Track Crane Boom Using Acoustic Emission Technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Tao

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Nondestructive detection of structural component of track crane is a difficult and costly problem. In the present study, acoustic emission (AE was used to detect two kinds of typical welding defects, that is, welding porosity and incomplete penetration, in the truck crane boom. Firstly, a subsidiary test specimen with special preset welding defect was designed and added on the boom surface with the aid of steel plates to get the synchronous deformation of the main boom. Then, the AE feature information of the welding defect could be got without influencing normal operation of equipment. As a result, the rudimentary location analysis can be attained using the linear location method and the two kinds of welding defects can be distinguished clearly using AE characteristic parameters such as amplitude and centroid frequency. Also, through the comparison of two loading processes, we concluded that the signal produced during the first loading process was mainly caused by plastic deformation damage and during the second loading process the stress release and structure friction between sections in welding area are the main acoustic emission sources. Thus, the AE is an available tool for nondestructive online detection of latent welding defects of structural component of track crane.

  14. The Use of Structural-Acoustic Techniques to Assess Potential Structural Damage From Sonic Booms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrelick, Joel; Martini, Kyle

    1996-01-01

    The potential impact of supersonic operations includes structural damage from the sonic boom overpressure. This paper describes a study of how structural-acoustic modeling and testing techniques may be used to assess the potential for such damage in the absence of actual flyovers. Procedures are described whereby transfer functions relating structural response to sonic boom signature may be obtained with a stationary acoustic source and appropriate data processing. Further, by invoking structural-acoustic reciprocity, these transfer functions may also be acquired by measuring the radiated sound from the structure under a mechanical drive. The approach is based on the fundamental assumption of linearity, both with regard to the (acoustic) propagation of the boom in the vicinity of the structure and to the structure's response. Practical issues revolve around acoustic far field and source directivity requirements. The technique was implemented on a specially fabricated test structure at Edwards AFB, CA with the support of Wyle Laboratories, Inc. Blank shots from a cannon served as our acoustic source and taps from an instrumented hammer generated the mechanical drive. Simulated response functions were constructed. Results of comparisons with corresponding measurements recorded during dedicated supersonic flyovers with F-15 aircraft are presented for a number of sensor placements.

  15. Radionuclide transport in the Neogene aquifer system located in the environment of the Boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gedeon, M.; Marivoet, J.; Vandersteen, K.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. In the framework the Belgian research program on the long term management of high-level and/or long-lived radioactive waste coordinated by ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Boom Clay is considered as a reference host rock for the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste in NE-Belgium (Campine area). In the frame of the performance assessments of a disposal system located in the Boom Clay Formation, the transport of radionuclides diffusing through the clay barrier into the aquifers located above is modelled. The transport model for the Neogene aquifer is based on a series of groundwater flow models simulating the aquifer systems in the surroundings of the Boom Clay. This series of groundwater models include the regional north-eastern Belgium model simulating flow both above and below the Boom Clay, the recently updated deep-aquifer pumping model, simulating transient flow in the over-exploited aquifers below the Boom Clay and finally the catchment-scale Neogene aquifer model, simulating flow in the aquifer system above the Boom Clay. The Neogene aquifer system consists of two main aquifers. The Pliocene aquifer is located at the top, separated from the underlying Miocene aquifer by the Kasterlee Clay aquitard. The Miocene aquifer consists of three hydrostratigraphic units: the Diest, Berchem and Voort Formations; with the last two having a lower hydraulic conductivity than the Diest unit. The transport model for the Neogene aquifer represents a fraction of the catchment-scale Neogene aquifer model. It stretches from the local divide between the Grote and Kleine Nete Rivers up to the Kleine Nete River, representing the main model sink. The boundary conditions and the sources/sinks in the Pliocene aquifer are defined mostly by the surface water features, such as the rivers, brooks, lakes and canals. In the partially confined Miocene aquifer, the effect of the surface water features is dampened and the heads at the model

  16. Accelerator boom hones China's engineering expertise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Normile, Dennis

    2018-02-01

    In raising the curtain on the China Spallation Neutron Source, China has joined just four other nations in having mastered the technology of accelerating and controlling beams of protons. The $277 million facility, set to open to users this spring in Dongguan, is expected to yield big dividends in materials science, chemistry, and biology. More world class machines are on the way, as China this year starts construction on four other major accelerator facilities. The building boom is prompting a scramble to find enough engineers and technicians to finish the projects. But if they all come off as planned, the facilities would position China to tackle the next global megaproject: a giant accelerator that would pick up where Europe's Large Hadron Collider leaves off.

  17. Higher Education and the Minerals Boom: A View from the Regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Philip

    2014-01-01

    This paper examines the impact of the minerals boom to date on the demand for higher education in Central Queensland, and the sustainability of higher education providers in high economic growth environments. Several datasets were used to examine changes in the demand for higher education among specific student groups within the region, the…

  18. The secret of neuroscience boom: Are there secret human experiments in Latin América?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Salinas Flores

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available About 6 years ago there sparked a phenomenon in science called the neuroscientific boom. Neurologists underpin this phenomenon to cost reduction techniques such as electroencephalograms and to improved noninvasive technology such as functional MRI. But the human brain, the most complex organ in the universe, has not yet been fully investigated with the existing noninvasive technologies. Thus, there is a suspicion that the real reason for this boom is a secret, forced, and illicit human experimentation in Latin America. Physicians should investigate, be alert, and report these potential unethical human experiments to prevent any further damage to the public health of the citizens of Latin societies.

  19. Eagle Ford Shale BTEX and NOx concentrations are dominated by oil and gas industry emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schade, G. W.; Roest, G. S.

    2017-12-01

    US shale oil and gas exploration has been identified as a major source of greenhouse gases and non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) emissions to the atmosphere. Here, we present a detailed analysis of 2015 air quality data acquired by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) at an air quality monitoring station in Karnes County, TX, central to Texas' Eagle Ford shale area. Data include time series of hourly measured NMHCs, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) alongside meteorological measurements. The monitor was located in Karnes City, and thus affected by various anthropogenic emissions, including traffic and oil and gas exploration sources. Highest mixing ratios measured in 2015 included nearly 1 ppm ethane, 0.8 ppm propane, alongside 4 ppb benzene. A least-squares minimization non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) analysis, tested with prior data analyzed using standard PMF-2 software, showed six major emission sources: an evaporative and fugitive source, a flaring source, a traffic source, an oil field source, a diesel source, and an industrial manufacturing source, together accounting for more than 95% of data set variability, and interpreted using NMHC composition and meteorological data. Factor scores strongly suggest that NOx emissions are dominated by flaring and associated sources, such as diesel compressor engines, likely at midstream facilities, while traffic in this rural area is a minor NOx source. The results support, but exceed existing 2012 emission inventories estimating that local traffic emitted seven times fewer NOx than oil and gas exploration sources in the county. Sources of air toxics such as the BTEX compounds are also dominated by oil and gas exploration sources, but are more equally distributed between the associated factors. Benzene abundance is only 20-40% associated with traffic sources, and may thus be 2.5-5 times higher now than prior to the shale boom in this area. Although the monitor was located relatively

  20. China's new oil import status underpins world's most dynamic petroleum scene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1994-01-01

    China is poised to become a net importer of oil in 1994--95. That sets the stage for China importing more than 1 million b/d of crude oil and refined products on a net basis by the turn of the century. That development underpins a bigger story -- arguably the biggest story on the petroleum scene today. The turnabout that is seeing the world's fifth biggest oil producer go from significant oil exporter in recent years to major oil importer by the turn of the century points to several other truisms in the petroleum industry: That an oil demand surge in the Asia-Pacific region led by China will fuel overall world oil demand growth for years to come; that a refining and petrochemical boom in a country that accounts for about one fifth of the world's population has dramatic implications for those two industries; that privatization has gathered so much momentum in the global petroleum industry that even Communist China has embraced some form of it; that China's domestic crude supply shortfall is creating unprecedented opportunities for foreign upstream investors in one of the world's most prospective yet underexplored and underexploited regions; and that the same new openness that is distinguishing China's petroleum industry today is turning some of its state owned companies into major competitors to be reckoned with on the international scene, upstream and downstream. The paper discusses China's oil export/import balance, supply/demand outlook, policy changes, and new regulations governing export of crude oil and products

  1. Thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of Boom clay; Comportement thermo-hydro-mecanique de l'argile de Boom

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Le, T.T

    2008-01-15

    This thesis studied the thermo-hydro-mechanical properties of Boom clay, which was chosen to be the host material for the radioactive waste disposal in Mol, Belgium. Firstly, the research was concentrated on the soil water retention properties and the hydro-mechanical coupling by carrying out axial compression tests with suction monitoring. The results obtained permitted elaborating a rational experimental procedure for triaxial tests. Secondly, the systems for high pressure triaxial test at controlled temperature were developed to carry out compression, heating, and shearing tests at different temperatures. The obtained results showed clear visco-elasto-plastic behaviour of the soil. This behaviour was modelled by extending the thermo-elasto-plastic model of Cui et al. (2000) to creep effect. (author)

  2. Technology for the oil spills clean-up which provides preliminary accumulation of sorbents into the area of emergence and localization oil spills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.L.Soroka

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The implementation of measures for the prevention and spill of dangerous goods is an important aspect of sustainable development of railway transport. oil spills accident are the most dangerous. They are accompanied by significant pollution of all environmental objects. Studying and development of oil localization and clean-up technologies of such accidents is an important problem of environmental protection to modern conditions of railway transport development. The purpose: to improve the effectiveness of traditional methods of oil spill elimination and the development of new clean-up technologies adapted to the real conditions of the railway transport of Ukraine. Methods: To achieve the research purposes was used analysis of material flows, typical for places emergence and localization of the oil spill on the railways. Results: Analysis of standard technological scheme for the oil spills eliminations has shown that the most difficult task of effective clean-up surfaces is the timely delivery of oil sorbents and special equipment to the area spill containment. The general effectiveness of the elimination activities specifies the time from the beginning contact of dangerous goods with environmental objects to the absorption it into the structure of sorbent . Us was developed the technological scheme of oil spill elimination. This scheme provide a permanent and fast access to the sorbents into the oil spill localization area. It was proposed to device that allows you to transport the sorbent into sorption booms directly on the tank for transportation of petroleum products. Conclusions: Preventative accumulation of sorbents to the oil spill elimination into the localization area provides the organizational and operational simplicity of all stages of clean-up technology. Technical and economic assessment shows that the proposed technology is effective, technologically feasible and economically competitive.

  3. China’s Internet Finance Boom and Tyrannies of Inclusion

    OpenAIRE

    Loubere, Nicholas

    2018-01-01

    One of the main drivers of China’s e-commerce boom is the dramatic expansion of the country’s Internet finance industry, which has grown and diversified at a staggering rate over the past decade. The emergence of Chinese Internet finance has been discussed in largely positive terms as facilitating commercial activity. It has also been linked to the wider developmental goal of promoting financial inclusion through the provision of financial services to previously excluded populations. Emerging...

  4. The baby boom, the baby bust, and the housing market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mankiw, N G; Weil, D N

    1989-05-01

    This paper explores the impact of demographic changes on the housing market in the US, 1st by reviewing the facts about the Baby Boom, 2nd by linking age and housing demand using census data for 1970 and 1980, 3rd by computing the effect of demand on price of housing and on the quantity of residential capital, and last by constructing a theoretical model to plot the predictability of the jump in demand caused by the Baby Boom. The Baby Boom in the U.S. lasted from 1946-1964, with a peak in 1957 when 4.3 million babies were born. In 1980 19.7% of the population were aged 20-30, compared to 13.3% in 1960. Demand for housing was modeled for a given household from census data, resulting in the finding that demand rises sharply at age 20-30, then declines after age 40 by 1% per year. Thus between 1970 and 1980 the real value of housing for an adult at any given age jumped 50%, while the real disposable personal income per capita rose 22%. The structure of demand is such that the swelling in the rate of growth in housing demand peaked in 1980, with a rate of 1.66% per year. Housing demand and real price of housing were highly correlated and inelastic. If this relationship holds in the future, the real price of housing should fall about 3% per year, or 47% by 2007. The theoretical model, a variation of the Poterba model, ignoring inflation and taxation, suggests that fluctuations in prices caused by changes in demand are not foreseen by the market, even though they are predictable in principle 20 years in advance. As the effects of falling housing prices become apparent, there may be a potential for economic instability, but people may be induced to save more because their homes will no longer provide the funds for retirement.

  5. Operational comparison of two types of tractor sprayers (microner and boom-type against wheat crop weeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Hamid

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Nowadays, the tractor mounted boom sprayer is used in many agricultural fields. These sprayers have many advantages compared to other sprayers, but in Iran, their field efficiency is much lower than that of the developed countries, because the tank volume and consumption of pesticides per hectare is often so highthat spraying per hectare takesa long time for handling the solutions and transporting the sprayers. Also spray droplet size is ordinarily high and its distribution is unknot uniform. So, often spraying and dropping top parts of plants on the earth is inevitable. According to studies carried out in the country during the years 2005-2008 in the agricultural research centers in several provinces such as Khuzestan, four types of sprayers including tractor mounted sprayer, atomizer, microner, and electrostatic atomizer were studied and some of the results obtained include the following. From the point of view of percentage of crash crop, tractor mounted sprayer has the highest percentage, but microner sprayer had the lowest. From the point of view of the solution of consumption amount and spraying cost per hectare, the operation of the tractor mounted sprayer and electrostatic sprayer had the highest and the lowest ranks, respectively. Atomizer sprayer had the highest effect on the percentage amount of weed control, but it requires a high amount of water consumption, high drift and low operation (Safari and Lovaimi, 2010. Materials and Methods: The experiment was carried out during 2012-2013 in the field of agricultural research located in the Mollasani city located 20 km near Ahvaz. In this study, tractor mounted spinning disk sprayer (mounted microner sprayer was evaluated in comparison with conventional boom sprayer on weeds control. The treatments included medium (3500 rpm and low (2000 rpm speed rotation disk sprayer and two types of nozzle in conventional boom sprayer. One of them was an Italian tee jet nozzle and the

  6. Radiological issues associated with the recent boom in oil and gas hydraulic fracturing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lopez, Alejandro

    2013-01-01

    As the worldwide hydraulic fracturing 'fracking' market continued to grow to an estimated $37 Billion in 2012, the need to understand and manage radiological issues associated with fracking is becoming imperative. Fracking is a technique that injects pressurized fluid into rock layer to propagate fractures that allows natural gas and other petroleum products to be more easily extracted. Radioactivity is associated with fracking in two ways. Radioactive tracers are frequently a component of the injection fluid used to determine the injection profile and locations of fractures. Second, because there are naturally-occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in the media surrounding and containing oil and gas deposits, the process of fracking can dislodge radioactive materials and transport them to the surface in the wastewater and gases. Treatment of the wastewater to remove heavy metals and other contaminates can concentrate the NORM into technologically-enhanced NORM (TENORM). Regulations to classify, transport, and dispose of the TENORM and other radioactive waste can be complicated and cumbersome and vary widely in the international community and even between states/provinces. In many cases, regulations on NORM and TENORM do not even exist. Public scrutiny and regulator pressure will only continue to increase as the world demands on oil and gas continue to rise and greater quantities of TENORM materials are produced. Industry experts, health physicists, regulators, and public communities must work together to understand and manage radiological issues to ensure reasonable and effective regulations protective of the public, environment, and worker safety and health are implemented. (authors)

  7. Radiological issues associated with the recent boom in oil and gas hydraulic fracturing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lopez, Alejandro [AMEC Environment and Infrastructure, 800 North Bell Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15106 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    As the worldwide hydraulic fracturing 'fracking' market continued to grow to an estimated $37 Billion in 2012, the need to understand and manage radiological issues associated with fracking is becoming imperative. Fracking is a technique that injects pressurized fluid into rock layer to propagate fractures that allows natural gas and other petroleum products to be more easily extracted. Radioactivity is associated with fracking in two ways. Radioactive tracers are frequently a component of the injection fluid used to determine the injection profile and locations of fractures. Second, because there are naturally-occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in the media surrounding and containing oil and gas deposits, the process of fracking can dislodge radioactive materials and transport them to the surface in the wastewater and gases. Treatment of the wastewater to remove heavy metals and other contaminates can concentrate the NORM into technologically-enhanced NORM (TENORM). Regulations to classify, transport, and dispose of the TENORM and other radioactive waste can be complicated and cumbersome and vary widely in the international community and even between states/provinces. In many cases, regulations on NORM and TENORM do not even exist. Public scrutiny and regulator pressure will only continue to increase as the world demands on oil and gas continue to rise and greater quantities of TENORM materials are produced. Industry experts, health physicists, regulators, and public communities must work together to understand and manage radiological issues to ensure reasonable and effective regulations protective of the public, environment, and worker safety and health are implemented. (authors)

  8. Fracturing and Self-Healing in the Boom Clay: Evidences and Further Studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernier, Frederic

    2001-01-01

    The Boom Clay is considered as a potential host-rock for the disposal of Belgian radioactive waste. During the sinking of a new shaft to extend the underground facility HADES, an important fracturing has been evidenced around the excavation. Fracturing was already observed previously but to a lesser extent. The low support pressure imposed by the primary shaft lining, combined with the large time over which this support condition held, has favoured the decompression of the clay massif through delayed effects, and therefore the development of fracturing. In the frame of the overall performance of a radioactive waste repository, it is of prime importance to understand the fracturing process induced by excavation in Boom Clay, as well as the self-healing process. Some self-healing evidences have been observed around the HADES underground laboratory but need further investigation to be confirmed. This will be done in the SELFRAC EC project (Fractures and Self-healing within the Excavation Disturbed Zone in clays)

  9. 75 FR 49843 - Regulated Navigation Area; Boom Deployment Strategy Testing, Great Bay, NH

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-16

    ... will be marked with 32-inch floating balls to make the ends of each boom segment more visible to... east, a line drawn between the easternmost end of the Scammel Bridge (Route 4) in position 43[deg]07'41...

  10. Regional modelling of the confined aquifers below the Boom clay in NE-Belgium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vandersteen, K.; Gedeon, M.; Marivoet, J.; Wouters, L.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. In the framework of the Belgian research program on the long term management of high-level and/or long-lived radioactive waste coordinated by ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Boom Clay is considered as a reference host rock for the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste in NE-Belgium (Campine area). The hydrogeological program at SCK.CEN supports the long-term performance assessments of the geological disposal of radioactive waste by performing a phenomenological research of the aquifer systems surrounding the studied disposal system. One of the important components of this programme is the regional hydrogeological modelling. The regional hydrogeology is studied using two main models - the steady state Neogene aquifer model (NAM) and the transient deep aquifer pumping model (DAP), developed to characterize and quantify the regional groundwater flow in, respectively, the aquifers lying above the Boom Clay in the Nete catchment area (NAM), and the aquifers lying below the Boom Clay in the Campine area (DAP). This paper describes the most recent update of the DAP model. The DAP model represents the confined part of the groundwater system located stratigraphically below the Boom Clay. This includes the parts of the Oligocene aquifer, the Bartoon aquitard system and the Ledo-Paniselian-Brusselian aquifer buried under the Boom Clay. Due to the considerable pumping from these aquifers in combination with a limited recharge, a gradual decrease in groundwater levels has been observed in more than 30-year piezometric records. In the DAP model, the shallow aquifer system overlying the Boom Clay is replaced by fixed head boundaries: this aquifer system is dominated by close-to-surface hydrological processes and the heads fluctuate seasonally without any apparent long-term trend. In the horizontal direction, the model extends to the south as far as the outcrops of the major aquitards: the Maldegem Formation confining the Ledo

  11. Lifting the US crude oil export ban: A numerical partial equilibrium analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Langer, Lissy; Huppmann, Daniel; Holz, Franziska

    2016-01-01

    The upheaval in global crude oil markets and the boom in shale oil production in North America brought scrutiny on the US export ban for crude oil from 1975. The ban was eventually lifted in early 2016. This paper examines the shifts of global trade flows and strategic refinery investments in a spatial, game-theoretic partial equilibrium model. We consider detailed oil supply chain infrastructure with multiple crude oil types, distinct oil products, as well as specific refinery configurations and modes of transport. Prices, quantities produced and consumed, as well as infrastructure and refining capacity investments are endogenous to the model. We compare two scenarios: an insulated US crude oil market, and a counter-factual with lifted export restrictions. We find a significant expansion of US sweet crude exports with the lift of the export ban. In the US refinery sector, more (imported) heavy sour crude is transformed. Countries importing US sweet crude gain from higher product output, while avoiding costly refinery investments. Producers of heavy sour crude (e.g. the Middle East) are incentivised to climb up the value chain to defend their market share and maintain their dominant position. - Highlights: • We study the impacts of lifting the US crude ban on global oil flows and investments. • We find massive expansion of US sweet crude oil exports. • We analyze the resulting welfare effects for US producers, refiners and consumers. • We indicate the changes on global trade patterns. • We conclude that lifting the ban is the right policy for the US and the global economy.

  12. Modelling of radionuclide migration and heat transport from an High-Level-Radioactive-Waste-repository (HLW) in Boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Put, M.; Henrion, P.

    1992-01-01

    For the modelling of the migration of radionuclides in the Boom clay formation, the analytical code MICOF has been updated with a 3-dimensional analytical solution for discrete sources. the MICOF program is used for the calculation of the release of α and β emitters from the HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES (HLW). A coherent conceptual model is developed which describes all the major physico-chemical phenomena influencing the migration of radionuclides in the Boom clay. The concept of the diffusion accessible porosity is introduced and included in the MICOF code. Different types of migration experiments are described with their advantages and disadvantages. The thermal impact of the HLW disposal in the stratified Boom clay formation has been evaluated by a finite element simulation of the coupled heat and mass transport equation. The results of the simulations show that under certain conditions thermal convection cells may form, but the convective heat transfer in the clay formation is negligible. 6 refs., 19 figs., 2 tabs., 5 appendices

  13. Asia-Pacific focus of coming LNG trade boom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that the Asia-Pacific region remains the centerpiece of a booming world trade in liquefied natural gas. Biggest growth in LNG demand is expected from some of the region's strongest economies such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, Key LNG exporters such as Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia are scrambling to implement projects to meet that expected demand growth. Uncertainties cloud the outlook for Far East LNG trade, Australia, for one, is more cautious in pressing expansion of its LNG export capacity as more competing LNG expansions spring up around the world, notably in the Middle East and Africa

  14. Oil spill sorbents: Testing protocol and certification listing program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooper, D.; Gausemel, I.

    1993-01-01

    Environment Canada's Emergencies Engineering Division is spearheading a program in conjunction with the Canadian General Standards Board that would see the development of a certification and listing program in addition to a national standard for the testing of sorbent materials. Funding for this program is provided by Environment Canada (EC), Canadian Coast Guard (CCG), Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC), US Coast Guard (USCG), and US Minerals Management Service (MMS). The test methods are based upon those defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials and previous test methods developed by Environment Canada for our series of reports entitled Selection Criteria and Laboratory Evaluation of Oil Spill Sorbents. This series, which was started in 1975, encompasses a number of commercially available oil spill sorbents tested with different petroleum products and hydrocarbon solvents. The testing program will categorize the sorbents according to their operating characteristics. The main categories are oil spills on water, oil spills on land, and industrial use. The characteristics to be evaluated with the new test protocols include initial and maximum sorption capacities, water pickup, buoyancy, reuse potential, retention profile, disintegration (material integrity), and ease of application and retrieval. In the near future are plans to incorporate changes to the test that would involve increasing the list of test liquids to encompass spills in an industrial setting, in addition to testing sorbent booms and addressing the disposal problem

  15. Feasibility study of heavy oil recovery in the Midcontinent region (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olsen, D.K.; Johnson, W.I.

    1993-08-01

    This report is one of a series of publications assessing the feasibility/constraints of increasing domestic heavy oil production. Each report covers a select area of the United States. The Midcontinent (Kansas, Nssouri, Oklahoma) has produced significant oil, but contrary to early reports, the area does not contain the huge volumes of heavy oil that, along with the development of steam and in situ combustion as oil production technologies, sparked the area`s oil boom of the 1960s. Recovery of this heavy oil has proven economically unfeasible for most operators due to the geology of the formations rather than the technology applied to recover the oil. The geology of the southern Midcontinent, as well as results of field projects using thermal enhanced oil recovery (TEOR) methods to produce the heavy oil, was examined based on analysis of data from secondary sources. Analysis of the performance of these projects showed that the technology recovered additional heavy oil above what was produced from primary production from the consolidated, compartmentalized, fluvial dominated deltaic sandstone formations in the Cherokee and Forest City basins. The only projects producing significant economic and environmentally acceptable heavy oil in the Midcontinent are in higher permeability, unconsolidated or friable, thick sands such as those found in south-central Oklahoma. There are domestic heavy oil reservoirs in other sedimentary basins that are in younger formations, are less consolidated, have higher permeability and can be economically produced with current TEOR technology. Heavy oil production from the carbonates of central and wester Kansas has not been adequately tested, but oil production is anticipated to remain low. Significant expansion of Midcontinent heavy oil production is not anticipated because the economics of oil production and processing are not favorable.

  16. Modelling of natural organic matter-linked radionuclide transport in Boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Govaerts, J.; Maes, N.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. In the framework of the Belgian research program on long term management of high-level and/or long-lived radioactive wastes coordinated by ONDRAF/NIRAS, Boom Clay is investigated for its potential to host a deep geological disposal repository. In order to demonstrate the suitability of the Boom Clay as a host rock, the mobility of critical radionuclides in this clay layer has been the subject of research during many years. As actinides, lanthanides and transition metals are known to form strong complexes with organic substances, the influence of the Natural Organic Matter (NOM) present in Boom Clay on the mobility of these critical radionuclides is of crucial importance. Interaction of radionuclides with OM present in Boom Clay could on the one hand retard the migration due to complexation/colloid interaction with the immobile OM, and on the other hand the mobility and solubility of the radionuclide can be enhanced by the formation of complexes/colloids with the mobile OM. The conceptual understanding (and its numerical modelling) of the kinetic stability and transport of these complexes/colloids is therefore regarded as highly important for the the long-term safety assesment of the geological disposal. This can be broken down into two subproblems: 1. Describing the transport behaviour of mobile OM in Boom Clay; 2. Describing the interaction of RN with mobile OM and the transport behaviour of the resulting complexes in Boom Clay. The first part of this paper revolves around the first subproblem, where a robust model for the description of the migration behaviour of Natural Organic Matter (NOM) is derived based on data from column migration experiments using 14 C-labelled NOM Tracer solution, obtained in the framework of the EC TRANCOM-II project. Clay plugs of different lengths and different Darcy velocities were used. Inverse modelling with the MATLAB and COMSOL numerical code was done in order to identify the

  17. The oil boom in the US is the most significant fact of 2012, according to BP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2013-01-01

    In 2012 the USA reached a peak in their production of oil (more than 1 million barrels) thanks to shale gas. The world economic recession that concerned most of OECD countries led to a decrease in energy consumption in the USA, European Union and Japan but because of the energy thirst of the BRICS countries the consumption of energy increased at the world scale as well as the CO 2 level. The world consumption of coal increased by 2.5% which is less than in the previous years but for the first time since 1970 coal reached almost 30% of the world consumption of primary energy. The article includes 3 tables giving the 2012 world consumption of oil, of coal according to continents and listing the places and quantities of proved reserves of natural gas. (A.C.)

  18. Sonic Boom Pressure Signature Uncertainty Calculation and Propagation to Ground Noise

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Thomas K., IV; Bretl, Katherine N.; Walker, Eric L.; Pinier, Jeremy T.

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this study was to outline an approach for the quantification of uncertainty in sonic boom measurements and to investigate the effect of various near-field uncertainty representation approaches on ground noise predictions. These approaches included a symmetric versus asymmetric uncertainty band representation and a dispersion technique based on a partial sum Fourier series that allows for the inclusion of random error sources in the uncertainty. The near-field uncertainty was propagated to the ground level, along with additional uncertainty in the propagation modeling. Estimates of perceived loudness were obtained for the various types of uncertainty representation in the near-field. Analyses were performed on three configurations of interest to the sonic boom community: the SEEB-ALR, the 69o DeltaWing, and the LM 1021-01. Results showed that representation of the near-field uncertainty plays a key role in ground noise predictions. Using a Fourier series based dispersion approach can double the amount of uncertainty in the ground noise compared to a pure bias representation. Compared to previous computational fluid dynamics results, uncertainty in ground noise predictions were greater when considering the near-field experimental uncertainty.

  19. The effect of high pH alkaline solutions on the mineral stability of the Boom Clay - Batch experiments at 60 deg. C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honty, M.; De Craen, M.; Wang, L.; Madejova, J.; Czimerova, A.; Pentrak, M.; Stricek, I.; Van Geet, M.

    2010-01-01

    Boom Clay is currently viewed as a reference host formation for studies on deep geological disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium. The interactions between bulk rock Boom Clay and 0.1 M KOH, 0.1 M NaOH, 0.1 M Ca(OH) 2 , young cement water and evolved cement water solutions, ranging in pH from 12.5 to 13.2, were examined as static batch experiments at 60 deg. C to simulate alkaline plume perturbations, which are expected to occur in the repository due to the presence of concrete. Both liquids and solids were investigated at specific times between 90 and 510 days in order to control the elemental budget and to search for potential mineralogical alterations. Also, the clay fraction was separated from the whole-rock Boom Clay at the end of each run and characterized for its mineralogical composition. Thereby, the importance of the mineral matrix to buffer the alkaline attack and the role of organic matter to protect clay minerals were also addressed. The results indicate that the degree of geochemical perturbation in Boom Clay is dependent on the initial pH of the applied solution together with the nature of the major cation in the reactant fluids. The higher the initial pH of the media, the stronger its interaction with Boom Clay. No major non-clay mineralogical alteration of the Boom Clay was detected, but dissolution of kaolinite, smectite and illite occurred within the studied experimental conditions. The dissolution of clays is accompanied by the decrease in the layer charge, followed by a decrease in the cation-exchange capacity. The highest TOC values coincide with the highest total elemental concentrations in the leachates, and correspondingly, the highest dissolution degree. However, no quantitative link could be established between the degree of organic matter decomposition and clay dissolution.

  20. Operational Satellite-based Surface Oil Analyses (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streett, D.; Warren, C.

    2010-12-01

    During the Deepwater Horizon spill, NOAA imagery analysts in the Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) issued more than 300 near-real-time satellite-based oil spill analyses. These analyses were used by the oil spill response community for planning, issuing surface oil trajectories and tasking assets (e.g., oil containment booms, skimmers, overflights). SAB analysts used both Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and high resolution visible/near IR multispectral satellite imagery as well as a variety of ancillary datasets. Satellite imagery used included ENVISAT ASAR (ESA), TerraSAR-X (DLR), Cosmo-Skymed (ASI), ALOS (JAXA), Radarsat (MDA), ENVISAT MERIS (ESA), SPOT (SPOT Image Corp.), Aster (NASA), MODIS (NASA), and AVHRR (NOAA). Ancillary datasets included ocean current information, wind information, location of natural oil seeps and a variety of in situ oil observations. The analyses were available as jpegs, pdfs, shapefiles and through Google, KML files and also available on a variety of websites including Geoplatform and ERMA. From the very first analysis issued just 5 hours after the rig sank through the final analysis issued in August, the complete archive is still publicly available on the NOAA/NESDIS website http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/MPS/deepwater.html SAB personnel also served as the Deepwater Horizon International Disaster Charter Project Manager (at the official request of the USGS). The Project Manager’s primary responsibility was to acquire and oversee the processing and dissemination of satellite data generously donated by numerous private companies and nations in support of the oil spill response including some of the imagery described above. SAB has begun to address a number of goals that will improve our routine oil spill response as well as help assure that we are ready for the next spill of national significance. We hope to (1) secure a steady, abundant and timely stream of suitable satellite imagery even in the absence of large-scale emergencies such as

  1. Adaptive Aft Signature Shaping of a Low-Boom Supersonic Aircraft Using Off-Body Pressures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ordaz, Irian; Li, Wu

    2012-01-01

    The design and optimization of a low-boom supersonic aircraft using the state-of-the- art o -body aerodynamics and sonic boom analysis has long been a challenging problem. The focus of this paper is to demonstrate an e ective geometry parameterization scheme and a numerical optimization approach for the aft shaping of a low-boom supersonic aircraft using o -body pressure calculations. A gradient-based numerical optimization algorithm that models the objective and constraints as response surface equations is used to drive the aft ground signature toward a ramp shape. The design objective is the minimization of the variation between the ground signature and the target signature subject to several geometric and signature constraints. The target signature is computed by using a least-squares regression of the aft portion of the ground signature. The parameterization and the deformation of the geometry is performed with a NASA in- house shaping tool. The optimization algorithm uses the shaping tool to drive the geometric deformation of a horizontal tail with a parameterization scheme that consists of seven camber design variables and an additional design variable that describes the spanwise location of the midspan section. The demonstration cases show that numerical optimization using the state-of-the-art o -body aerodynamic calculations is not only feasible and repeatable but also allows the exploration of complex design spaces for which a knowledge-based design method becomes less effective.

  2. Literatura y arte latinoamericanos hoy: ¿Boom o Burbuja?

    OpenAIRE

    Sánchez, Yvette

    2016-01-01

    Resumen El presente artículo intenta caracterizar el reemplazamiento de las letras latinoamericanas por las artes visuales, en lo referido a su proyección internacional, en el último medio siglo. Mientras que el Boom latinoamericano de la literatura de los años 60 se extinguía paulatina y casi imperceptiblemente, hay críticos que afirman que la difusión, la demanda en el mercado y el explotado valor monetario de las artes visuales amenazan con desaparecer repentinamente. Este fenómeno suele e...

  3. Pendulation control system and method for rotary boom cranes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinett, III, Rush D.; Groom, Kenneth N.; Feddema, John T.; Parker, Gordon G.

    2002-01-01

    A command shaping control system and method for rotary boom cranes provides a way to reduce payload pendulation caused by real-time input signals, from either operator command or automated crane maneuvers. The method can take input commands and can apply a command shaping filter to reduce contributors to payload pendulation due to rotation, elevation, and hoisting movements in order to control crane response and reduce tangential and radial payload pendulation. A filter can be applied to a pendulation excitation frequency to reduce residual radial pendulation and tangential pendulation amplitudes.

  4. Field research on using oil herding surfactants to thicken oil slicks in pack ice for in-situ burning. Volume 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buist, I.; Potter, S.; Nedwed, T.; Mullin, J.

    2007-01-01

    Laboratory and field studies have been performed in recent years to determine the capability of herding agents to thicken oil slicks among loose pack ice for the purpose of in situ burning. In loose pack ice conditions where booms are not practical, effective in situ burns may be possible if thin slicks could be thickened to the 2 to 5 mm range. However, specific chemical surface-active agents known as herders are need to clear and contain oil slicks on an open water surface. The agents spread quickly over a water surface into a monomolecular layer due to their high spreading coefficients. The best agents have spreading pressures in the mid 40 mN/m range. As such, only small quantities of these surfactants are needed to clear thin films of oil from large areas of water surface, and to contract it into thicker slicks. This paper summarized the previous studies that evaluated shoreline-cleaning agents with oil herding properties. However, the main focus of this paper was on the final phase of testing conducted at the Prudhoe Bay Fire Training Grounds in November 2006 in which a series of outdoor burns were conducted at the scale of 30 m 2 with herders and crude oil in a test pool containing pieces of ice. The tests revealed that when a herder was used on crude oil slicks that were otherwise unignitable, the slicks could be ignited and burned in situ in brash and slush ice conditions at temperatures as low as -17 degrees C. Both the removal rate and efficiencies for the herded slicks were comparable to the theoretical maximum achievable for mechanically contained slicks on open water. 13 refs., 1 tab., 18 figs

  5. Cashing in on Tar Sands. RBS, UK banks and Canada's 'blood oil'

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, M.; Howarth, C.; Kellay, A.; Laboucan, B.J.; Mercredi, M.; Minio-Paluelo, M.; Schling, H.; Smith, K.; Thomas-Muller, C.; Wood, A.

    2010-03-15

    Tar sands extraction in Canada is devastating Indigenous communities, wildlife and vast areas of boreal forests, as well as being many times more carbon-intensive to produce than 'conventional' oil. The higher oil prices in recent years have meant that it's become a more attractive prospect for oil companies to expand their operations in the costly process of obtaining and processing the thick bitumen into a usable form. It's estimated that the industry is looking for a capital investment of 120-220 billion USD over the next 20 years to build the new pipelines, mines, refineries and upgraders that are necessary to sustain the boom. This report looks at the role that UK banks are playing in providing the necessary capital, and how RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), which is 84% owned by the UK public, has been the bank the most heavily involved in underwriting loans to companies engaging in tar sands extraction.

  6. Packaging, deployment, and panel design concepts for a truss-stiffened 7-panel precision deployable reflector with feed boom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heard, Walter L., Jr.; Collins, Timothy J.; Dyess, James W.; Kenner, Scott; Bush, Harold G.

    1993-01-01

    A concept is presented for achieving a remotely deployable truss-stiffened reflector consisting of seven integrated sandwich panels that form the reflective surface, and an integrated feed boom. The concept has potential for meeting aperture size and surface precision requirements for some high-frequency microwave remote sensing applications. The packaged reflector/feed boom configuration is a self-contained unit that can be conveniently attached to a spacecraft bus. The package has a cylindrical envelope compatible with typical launch vehicle shrouds. Dynamic behavior of a deployed configuration having a 216-inch focal length and consisting of 80-inch-diameter, two-inch-thick panels is examined through finite-element analysis. Results show that the feed boom and spacecraft bus can have a large impact on the fundamental frequency of the deployed configuration. Two candidate rib-stiffened sandwich panel configurations for this application are described, and analytical results for panel mass and stiffness are presented. Results show that the addition of only a few rib stiffeners, if sufficiently deep, can efficiently improve sandwich panel stiffness.

  7. Dynamic simulation of cable shovel specific energy in oil sands excavation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Awuah-Offei, K. [Missouri-Rolla Univ., Rolla, MO (United States). School of Materials, Energy and Earth Resources; Frimpong, S. [Missouri-Rolla Univ., Rolla, MO (United States). Dept. of Mining Engineering, Mining and Nuclear Engineering; Askari-Nasab, H. [Alberta Univ., Edmonton, AB (Canada). School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering

    2005-07-01

    Oil sand excavation requires the use cable shovels which constitute one of the major costs in surface mining operations. Random occurrences of shales and limestones within the Athabasca oil sands formation result in varying shovel diggability and stress loading of the boom-crowd-dipper-teeth assembly which reduces digging efficiency. This inefficient use of cable shovels negatively affects the return on capital investment in these otherwise effective machines. In the Athabasca oil sands, varying stress loading has the potential to increase shovel downtime and increase maintenance costs. This paper presented a newly developed cable shovel simulator that uses shovel kinematics and dynamics, dynamic cutting resistance and payload models. It can model the specific energy needed to overcome the resistance to machine motion and material digging. The comprehensive model considers both machine motion and machine-formation interaction forces. It also provides a comprehensive theoretical assessment of shovel performance. The model is useful to mining engineers when examining both the machine operating parameters and material parameters that influence shovel performance. The study showed that bulk density is the most important material property influencing diggability. Operator preferences also influence the specific energy of excavation. 12 refs., 2 tabs., 6 figs.

  8. The Funding of the Irish Domestic Banking System During the Boom?

    OpenAIRE

    Lane, Philip R.

    2015-01-01

    (read before the Society, 15th January 2015) This paper analyses the funding of the Irish domestic banking system during the boom period. We highlight: the shifting roles of deposit and bond funding; the prominence of foreign banks as funding counterparties; the role of interoffice funding; and the scale of US dollar and Sterling funding. From August 2007, the deterioration in funding conditions is clearly evident across a range of indicators.

  9. Technetium migration in Boom Clay - Assessing the role of colloid-facilitated transport in a deep clay formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruggeman, C.; Martens, E.; Maes, N.; Jacops, E.; Van Gompel, M.; Van Ravestyn, L.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The role of colloids - mainly dissolved natural organic matter (NOM, 50-150 mg/l) - in the transport of radionuclides in the Boom Clay formation (Mol, Belgium), has long since been a matter of (heavy) debate. For more than 20 years, batch experiments with Boom Clay suspensions showed a pronounced influence of the dissolved organic carbon concentration on the aqueous concentrations of different radionuclides like Tc, Np, Am and U. Moreover, small fractions of these radionuclides were also observed to elute almost un-retarded out of confined clay cores in percolation experiments. In the past years, a new conceptual model for the speciation of the long-lived fission product Technetium- 99 ( 99 Tc) under Boom Clay conditions has been drafted. In brief, the stable oxidation state of 99 Tc in these conditions is +IV, and, therefore, Tc solution concentrations are limited by the solubility of TcO 2 .nH 2 O(s). However, during reduction of TcVII (in the TcO 4 - form) to TcIV, precursor TcO 2 .nH 2 O colloids are formed, which are stabilised by the dissolved organic matter present in Boom Clay interstitial pore water, and in supernatants of Boom Clay batch suspensions. Moreover, this stabilisation process occurs in such a systematic way, that (conditional) interaction constants could be established, and the behaviour was described as a 'hydrophobic sorption', or, more accurately, a 'colloid-colloid' interaction. This conceptual model was implemented into PHREEQC geochemical and Hydrus transport code to come to a reactive transport model that was used to simulate both the outflow and the tracer profile in several long-term running percolation experiments (both in lab and under in situ conditions). To account for slow dissociation kinetics of Tc from the NOM colloid, a first-order kinetic rate equation was also added to the model. In order to describe the migration of colloidal particles (NOM), an

  10. Decline in the risk of hepatitis A virus infection in China, a country with booming economy and changing lifestyles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zhi-Yu; Wang, Xuan-Yi; Liu, Chang-Qing; Li, Yang-Ting; Zhuang, Fang-Chen

    2008-10-01

    The objective of the study was to identify the protective factors for the rapid decline in the risk of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in China between 1990 and 2006. Results of serological follow-up and data on annual hepatitis A incidence were analysed and correlated with economic growth and HAV vaccine output during the same period. In conclusion, both HAV vaccination and changing lifestyles associated with the booming economy contributed to the rapid risk decline. Changing lifestyles played a major role in the decline especially in the areas with booming economy.

  11. Studying the migration behaviour of radionuclides in boom clay by electromigration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Norbert Maes, H.; Moors, H.; Dierckx, A.; Aertsens, M.; Wang, L.; Canniere, P. de; Put, M. [SCK-CEN, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Waste and Disposal - R and D Geological Disposal Mol (Belgium)

    2001-07-01

    Migration studies are an important part in the assessment of the performance of the Boom Clay Formation as a candidate for geological disposal of High-Level radwaste in Belgium. However, classical diffusion experiments take a long time because of the excellent retention characteristics of the Boom Clay. Electrical fields can be used to move ionic species. Especially for low permeability soils/sediments (such as clays), this driving force is far more efficient than a hydraulic gradient. As a consequence, the experimental time can be reduced drastically. This paper gives an overview on the quantitative and qualitative use of electromigration as a powerful technique to study radionuclides migration in clays. The enormous time gain in the determination of migration parameters for strongly retarded radionuclides as {sup 137}Cs{sup +} and {sup 226}Ra{sup 2+} is first demonstrated. Secondly, we want to demonstrate that electromigration has some useful features to study the behaviour of radionuclides with a more complex chemistry like the redox sensitive element uranium and Am-Organic Matter (OM) complexes. In the case of uranium, electromigration provides information on the speciation of the migrating species while for the Am-organic Matter complexes the role of OM as a possible carrier of actinides is investigated. (orig.)

  12. Studying the migration behaviour of radionuclides in boom clay by electromigration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norbert Maes, H.; Moors, H.; Dierckx, A.; Aertsens, M.; Wang, L.; Canniere, P. de; Put, M.

    2001-01-01

    Migration studies are an important part in the assessment of the performance of the Boom Clay Formation as a candidate for geological disposal of High-Level radwaste in Belgium. However, classical diffusion experiments take a long time because of the excellent retention characteristics of the Boom Clay. Electrical fields can be used to move ionic species. Especially for low permeability soils/sediments (such as clays), this driving force is far more efficient than a hydraulic gradient. As a consequence, the experimental time can be reduced drastically. This paper gives an overview on the quantitative and qualitative use of electromigration as a powerful technique to study radionuclides migration in clays. The enormous time gain in the determination of migration parameters for strongly retarded radionuclides as 137 Cs + and 226 Ra 2+ is first demonstrated. Secondly, we want to demonstrate that electromigration has some useful features to study the behaviour of radionuclides with a more complex chemistry like the redox sensitive element uranium and Am-Organic Matter (OM) complexes. In the case of uranium, electromigration provides information on the speciation of the migrating species while for the Am-organic Matter complexes the role of OM as a possible carrier of actinides is investigated. (orig.)

  13. Homogeneity vs. Heterogeneity of Porosity in Boom Clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hemes, Susanne; Desbois, Guillaume; Urai, Janos L.; De Craen, Mieke; Honty, Miroslav

    2013-01-01

    Microstructural investigations on Boom Clay at nano- to micrometer scale, using BIB-SEM methods, result in porosity characterization for different mineral phases from direct observations on high resolution SE2-images of representative elementary areas (REAs). High quality, polished surfaces of cross-sections of ∼ 1 mm 2 size were produced on three different samples from the Mol-Dessel research site (Belgium). More than 33,000 pores were detected, manually segmented and analyzed with regard to their size, shape and orientation. Two main pore classes were defined: Small pores (< 500 nm (ED)) within the clay matrices of samples and =big' pores (> 500 nm (ED)) at the interfaces between clay and non-clay mineral (NCM) grains. Samples investigated show similar porosities regarding the first pore-class, but differences occur at the interfaces between clay matrix and NCM grains. These differences were interpreted to be due to differences in quantitative mineralogy (amount of non-clay mineral grains) and grain-size distributions between samples investigated. Visible porosities were measured as 15 to 17 % for samples investigated. Pore-size distributions of pores in clay are similar for all samples, showing log-normal distributions with peaks around 60 nm (ED) and more than 95 % of the pores being smaller than 500 nm (ED). Fitting pore-size distributions using power-laws with exponents between 1.56 and 1.7, assuming self-similarity of the pore space, thus pores smaller than the pore detection resolution following the same power-laws and using these power-laws for extrapolation of pore-size distributions below the limit of pore detection resolution, results in total estimated porosities between 20 and 30 %. These results are in good agreement with data known from Mercury Porosimetry investigations (35-40 % porosity) and water content porosity measurements (∼ 36 %) performed on Boom Clay. (authors)

  14. Refinery boom in Southeast Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gruson, J.F.; Virondaud, C.

    1996-01-01

    The Asia demand for oil is increasing dramatically, particularly in the non OECD countries, which represent, today more than 15 % of the world oil market. The expected economic growth in these areas should contribute to a rise in oil demand by about 5.4 per year and hence to a significant increase of this share to 25 % in 2010; virtually a large part of this evolution will come from the transportation sector. The proceeding investments of the regional, refining industry are very high (some evaluations come to around 140 billion of dollars), all the more the protection of the environment takes an increasing significant place. Accordingly the most important challenge to be taken up by these countries will be to mobilize long term fundings to develop and adapt the capabilities of the refineries to meet the growth of gasoline and gas oil demand. The contribution of private operators or capital will be necessary, but will depend strongly on refining margin improvement and on progress of free market areas announced by several countries. (authors)

  15. Analysis of the Effects of Streamwise Lift Distribution on Sonic Boom Signature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, Paul

    2013-01-01

    Investigation of sonic boom has been one of the major areas of study in aeronautics due to the benefits a low-boom aircraft has in both civilian and military applications. This work conducts a numerical analysis of the effects of streamwise lift distribution on the shock coalescence characteristics. A simple wing-canard-stabilator body model is used in the numerical simulation. The streamwise lift distribution is varied by fixing the canard at a deflection angle while trimming the aircraft with the wing and the stabilator at the desired lift coefficient. The lift and the pitching moment coefficients are computed using the Missile DATCOM v. 707. The flow field around the wing-canard- stabilator body model is resolved using the OVERFLOW-2 flow solver. Overset/ chimera grid topology is used to simplify the grid generation of various configurations representing different streamwise lift distributions. The numerical simulations are performed without viscosity unless it is required for numerical stability. All configurations are simulated at Mach 1.4, angle-of-attack of 1.50, lift coefficient of 0.05, and pitching moment coefficient of approximately 0. Four streamwise lift distribution configurations were tested.

  16. Design study for a macropermeability test in an argillaceous formation (Boom clay)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bronders, J.

    1992-01-01

    In the present report a test design has been developed for determining the in-situ permeability of the Boom clay on a large scale at the Mol site (Belgium). Since in the Boom clay at the Mol site an Underground Repository Facility (URF) is operational the test has been designed to be run in or from this facility. The proposal is an in-situ macropermeability test with a set-up comprising a central borehole (metric scale in length) designed to allow various types of control of the water-level, surrounded by a lattice of piezometers installed in the clay mass for the monitoring of the interstitial water pressure changes in function of the various water-level controls. In one part the report describes the potential set-ups and a theoretical background as far as it can be done on the basis of existing literature and experiments. In a second part the method (technical and practical data of a test set-up) is described and documented. The method proposed is largely based on the several years of expertise gained within the field of in-situ migration and hydrogeologic investigations in the Hades-URF. 14 refs., 9 figs., 2 tabs

  17. NASA's Pursuit of Low-Noise Propulsion for Low-Boom Commercial Supersonic Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bridges, James; Brown, Clifford A.; Seidel, Jonathan A.

    2018-01-01

    Since 2006, when the Fundamental Aeronautics Program was instituted within NASA's Aeronautics Mission Directorate, there has been a Project looking at the technical barriers to commercial supersonic flight. Among the barriers is the noise produced by aircraft during landing and takeoff. Over the years that followed, research was carried out at NASA aeronautics research centers, often in collaboration with academia and industry, addressing the problem. In 2013, a high-level milestone was established, described as a Technical Challenge, with the objective of demonstrating the feasibility of a low-boom supersonic airliner that could meet current airport noise regulations. The Technical Challenge was formally called "Low Noise Propulsion for Low Boom Aircraft", and was completed in late 2016. This paper reports the technical findings from this Technical Challenge, reaching back almost 10 years to review the technologies and tools that were developed along the way. It also discusses the final aircraft configuration and propulsion systems required for a supersonic civilian aircraft to meet noise regulations using the technologies available today. Finally, the paper documents the model-scale tests that validated the acoustic performance of the study aircraft.

  18. Thermal shock induced dynamics of a spacecraft with a flexible deploying boom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Zhenxing; Li, Huijian; Liu, Xiaoning; Hu, Gengkai

    2017-12-01

    The dynamics in the process of deployment of a flexible extendible boom as a deployable structure on the spacecraft is studied. For determining the thermally induced vibrations of the boom subjected to an incident solar heat flux, an axially moving thermal-dynamic beam element based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation which is able to precisely describe the large displacement, rotation and deformation of flexible body is presented. For the elastic forces formulation of variable-length beam element, the enhanced continuum mechanics approach is adopted, which can eliminate the Poisson locking effect, and take into account the tension-bending-torsion coupling deformations. The main body of the spacecraft, modeled as a rigid body, is described using the natural coordinates method. In the derived nonlinear thermal-dynamic equations of rigid-flexible multibody system, the mass matrix is time-variant, and a pseudo damping matrix which is without actual energy dissipation, and a heat conduction matrix which is relative to the moving speed and the number of beam element are arisen. Numerical results give the dynamic and thermal responses of the nonrotating and spinning spacecraft, respectively, and show that thermal shock has a significant influence on the dynamics of spacecraft.

  19. Big boom ahead for New Brunswick

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reid, Wes

    2011-10-15

    The technological advances in shale gas extraction make it now feasible to exploit this hydrocarbon resource. Shale gas activity has been booming recently in New Brunswick and the province possibly holds more than 80 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. A new pipeline system has already been put in place. New Brunswick is a socially, politically and economically stable region. In addition, the royalty system in New Brunswick is competitive. For example, right now Corridor Resources Inc. is working on three major projects and some existing production from the McCully field in New Brunswick. Corridor also has prospects at Anticosti Island, Prince Edward Island and Old Harry. Although the government can benefit from royalty revenues generated by the hydrocarbon industry, environmental issues are of concern to citizens' groups, environmentalists and political opposition parties. A moratorium has been called for to make sure the proper protections are in place and the industry is adequately monitored.

  20. Hollow Cylinder Tests on Boom Clay: Modelling of Strain Localization in the Anisotropic Excavation Damaged Zone

    Science.gov (United States)

    François, Bertrand; Labiouse, Vincent; Dizier, Arnaud; Marinelli, Ferdinando; Charlier, Robert; Collin, Frédéric

    2014-01-01

    Boom Clay is extensively studied as a potential candidate to host underground nuclear waste disposal in Belgium. To guarantee the safety of such a disposal, the mechanical behaviour of the clay during gallery excavation must be properly predicted. In that purpose, a hollow cylinder experiment on Boom Clay has been designed to reproduce, in a small-scale test, the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) as experienced during the excavation of a disposal gallery in the underground. In this article, the focus is made on the hydro-mechanical constitutive interpretation of the displacement (experimentally obtained by medium resolution X-ray tomography scanning). The coupled hydro-mechanical response of Boom Clay in this experiment is addressed through finite element computations with a constitutive model including strain hardening/softening, elastic and plastic cross-anisotropy and a regularization method for the modelling of strain localization processes. The obtained results evidence the directional dependency of the mechanical response of the clay. The softening behaviour induces transient strain localization processes, addressed through a hydro-mechanical second grade model. The shape of the obtained damaged zone is clearly affected by the anisotropy of the materials, evidencing an eye-shaped EDZ. The modelling results agree with experiments not only qualitatively (in terms of the shape of the induced damaged zone), but also quantitatively (for the obtained displacement in three particular radial directions).

  1. Barrier to entry : boom or no boom, oilsands outsiders hit barriers to technology uptake

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, M.

    2009-05-15

    Oil sands extraction and upgrading innovators are becoming annoyed at what they perceive as the closed door attitude of existing producers. This article discussed various technologies for oil sands extraction and upgrading such as in-situ fireflooding; electro-thermal stimulation; solvent-enhanced steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD); as well as oil-digesting bugs and miracle solvents and oleophilic screening and borehole mining. Oilpatch outsiders are offering the oilsands industry green alternatives to hot water flotation separation technology and the heavily natural gas-reliant SAGD extraction method. The author cautioned that these solutions and alternatives are largely unproven and untested. Promoters of new technologies claim that while evolutionary technologies that could mesh readily with existing operations are generally welcomed by industry, the so-called disruptive technologies are rarely adopted as producers seek to protect their investments. Several examples were provided in the article that demonstrated barriers to entry into the market such as Houston-based Planet Resource Recovery. The company was promoting a proprietary chemical product called PetroLuxus, which used nanoscale technology to interrupt the bonding of metals and hydrocarbons in soil, water and oil and gas applications. Early efforts to showcase the product, entirely at the company's expense, were rejected despite success in certified independent lab tests using Utah tar sands. The oleophilic process was also described in detail. Last, the article discussed BioTiger, a natural microbial consortium that was the product of eight years of extensive microbiology screening and characterization of bacteria isolates collected from a century-old oil refinery waste lagoon in Poland. A discussion of technologies for borehole mining concluded the article. 1 tab., 5 figs.

  2. Amsterdam Book Design: Irma Boom, Hansje van Halem, Lesley Moore = Amsterdamskij knižnyj dizajn

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lommen, M.

    2012-01-01

    Published on the occasion of the exhibition 'Amsterdam Book Design : Irma Boom, Hansje van Halem, Lesley Moore', from May 26th until June 17th 2012 in the creative platform Taiga Space, Saint Petersburg. In cooperation with Netherlands Institute Saint-Petersburg.

  3. A study on the secondary consolidation of Boom Clay at Essen site under loading and unloading compression

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deng, Y.F.; Cui, Y.J.; Tang, A.M.; Li, X.L.; Sillen, X.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. Boom clay formation, a thick deposit of over-consolidated marine clay has been selected as a possible host material of nuclear waste disposal in Belgium. For this purpose, its deformation behaviour, especially its long-term deformation behaviour (secondary consolidation) is essential for the safety of the whole storage system and therefore needs to be investigated deeply. In the present work, odometer consolidation tests were performed on Boom clay taken from the Essen site. The loading and unloading were run in steps and the secondary consolidation coefficient C α (C α = de/dlogt) was determined for each step. This allows the secondary consolidation behaviour to be analysed. Four soil cores of Boom clay were taken from the site of Essen, Belgium, at the depths of 220-248 m. The geotechnical identification characteristics of these cores are similar: specific gravity, γ s = 2.64-2.68; liquid limit, w L = 68-78%; plastic limit, w P = 29-33%; and plastic index, I P 36-45. The soil water content (w) is between 26.5 and 29.7% and the void ratio (e) between 0.700 and 0.785. The blue methylene values (VBS) are equally similar, VBS = 6.20-6.67 (g/100 g). The clay fraction (< 2 μm) is relatively high (more than 50%). An example of the results obtained is presented (void ratio versus vertical stress and secondary consolidation coefficient versus vertical stress, determined in the e/log t plot) for the core taken at 227 m depth. After the installation of specimen in the odometer cell, an initial loading to the in-situ stress gave rise to a decrease of the void ratio from 0.730 to 0.651. The drainage system was then saturated for the subsequent loading/unloading paths in steps. The results show that the void ratio decreased to 0.270 when the vertical stress reached σ v = 32 MPa. A compression index Cc of about 0.31 can be estimated and the swelling index is estimated at 0.14. C α > 0 during loading and C α < 0 during

  4. Black Gold, White Power: Mapping Oil, Real Estate, and Racial Segregation in the Los Angeles Basin, 1900-1939

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel G. Cumming

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In 1923, Southern California produced over twenty percent of the world’s oil. At the epicenter of an oil boom from 1892 to the 1930s, Los Angeles grew into the nation’s fifth largest city. By the end of the rush, it had also become one of the most racially segregated cities in the country. Historians have overlooked the relationship between industrialists drilling for oil and real estate developers codifying a racist housing market, namely through “redlining” maps and mortgage lending. While redlining is typically understood as a problem of horizontal territory, this paper argues that the mapping of the underground—the location and volume of subterranean oil fields, in particular—was a crucial technique in underwriting urban apartheid. Mapping technologies linked oil exploitation with restrictive property rights, constructing oil as a resource and vertically engineering a racialized housing market. By focusing on petro-industrialization interlocked with segregationist housing, this article reveals an unexamined chapter in Los Angeles’s history of resource exploitation and racial capitalism. Moreover, it contributes to a growing literature on the social production of resources, extractive technology and political exclusion, and the technoscientific practices used by states and corporations to mine the underground while constructing metropolitan inequality above ground.

  5. The Canon is el Boom, et. al., or the Hispanic Difference

    OpenAIRE

    Bell-Villada, Gene H.

    2002-01-01

    In his article, Gene H. Bell-Villada's "The Canon is el Boom, et. al., or the Hispanic Difference," argues that the rich, globally acclaimed, foundational yet contestatory prose literature produced in Latin America allows teachers and scholars of Spanish to teach what is essentially the "canon" via work that is still fresh, yet historically provocative. Bell-Villada argues that in a time of reconsidering the importance of literature in literature programs, programs of Spanish language and cul...

  6. Technology needs for the later phases of an oil spill. Volume 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodman, R.

    2007-01-01

    The phases of an oil spill response can be classified as initial response, project phase, end phase and the monitoring phase. The initial on-water phase of the response or shoreline cleanup includes the development of contingency planning, stockpiling of equipment and research into response equipment for removing oil on water. Lack of planning for a response can lead to an initial response that has less than satisfactory results. An initial assessment of the oil spill response begins at the moment the spill occurs and continues for days, depending on the quality of the initial response. This phase includes the use of booms, skimmers, dispersants and in-situ burning. It was emphasized that oil spill research should focus on gathering scientific information needed to make decisions during the project phase and beyond. Typically, this will involve the study of long-term impacts and should be undertaken in a research environment in order to apply new data to any spill scenario. This paper highlighted knowledge needs to support decisions in the cleanup phase. The Exxon Valdez incident provided information on the long-term impacts of a variety of cleanup techniques. This paper also addressed damage assessment and restoration issues along with the decision to terminate a response. Once a response has been terminated, long-term monitoring of the ecosystem begins in order to identify the spill impact. 9 refs., 6 figs

  7. Lifecycle effects of a recession on health behaviors: Boom, bust, and recovery in Iceland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey; Corman, Hope; Noonan, Kelly; Reichman, Nancy E

    2016-03-01

    This study uses individual-level longitudinal data from Iceland, a country that experienced a severe economic crisis in 2008 and substantial recovery by 2012, to investigate the extent to which the effects of a recession on health behaviors are lingering or short-lived and to explore trajectories in health behaviors from pre-crisis boom, to crisis, to recovery. Health-compromising behaviors (smoking, heavy drinking, sugared soft drinks, sweets, fast food, and tanning) declined during the crisis, and all but sweets continued to decline during the recovery. Health-promoting behaviors (consumption of fruit, fish oil, and vitamins/minerals and getting recommended sleep) followed more idiosyncratic paths. Overall, most behaviors reverted back to their pre-crisis levels or trends during the recovery, and these short-term deviations in trajectories were probably too short-lived in this recession to have major impacts on health or mortality. A notable exception is for binge drinking, which declined by 10% during the 2 crisis years, continued to fall (at a slower rate of 8%) during the 3 recovery years, and did not revert back to the upward pre-crisis trend during our observation period. These lingering effects, which directionally run counter to the pre-crisis upward trend in consumption and do not reflect price increases during the recovery period, suggest that alcohol is a potential pathway by which recessions improve health and/or reduce mortality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Baby Booming Inequality? Demographic Change and Inequality in Norway, 1967{2004.

    OpenAIRE

    Almås, Ingvild; Havnes, Tarjei; Mogstad, Magne

    2011-01-01

    We demonstrate how age-adjusted inequality measures can be used to evaluate whether changes in inequality over time are because of changes in the age structure. In particular, we explore the hypothesis that the substantial rise in earnings inequality since the early 1980s is driven by the large baby boom cohorts approaching the peak of the age-earnings profile. Using administrative data on earnings for every Norwegian male over the period 1967-2004, we find that the impact of age ...

  9. Geotechnical characterization of boom clay in relation to the disposal of radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horseman, S.T.; Winter, M.G.; Enwistle, D.C.

    1987-01-01

    This report describes the results of a laboratory study on the geotechnical properties of the Tertiary Boom clay. Tests were performed on 'undisturbed' samples of clay taken from a location 247 m below surface at the SCK/CEN experimental site at Mol in Belgium. In geotechnical terms, the Boom clay (at depth) may be described as a hard, high-plasticity, overconsolidated clay. Test methods have included (a) the one-dimensional consolidation test with consolidation stresses up to 32 MPa, (b) the one dimensional swelling pressure test, (c) the isotropically-consolidated, undrained (CIU) triaxial test with pore pressure measurement, and (d) the unconsolidated undrained (UU) triaxial test. All triaxial tests were load-controlled. Limited test results are presented on pore pressure responses during heating under undrained conditions and on the effect of elevated temperature (80 O C) on deformability and strength. It is found that significantly large excess pore pressures (circa 1 MPa under in situ stress conditions) may be developed during heating from ambient laboratory temperature to 80 O C. The effect is due, at least in part, to the expansion of the pore fluid

  10. Growing pains : how drug testing keeps workers and assets safe in a booming oil patch

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paulgaard, T.S.

    2006-06-15

    Drug abuse has become a subject of concern to the oil and gas industry, where mistakes in the operation of large machines can result in injury, death and the loss of millions of dollars. Pre-employment urine tests are becoming standard procedure in the oil field. Many supervisors refuse to let employees start work without a clear test. Urine samples are tested for the presence of cannabis, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and phencyclidine. When a worker is injured or killed on the job, or after an uncommon error that causes significant damage, all parties involved are tested as soon as possible and a receipt of the results are expedited. The Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission is now addressing the issue of drug testing, and has ascertained that drug and alcohol testing are only allowable in certain circumstances, and that it is discriminatory to test potential or existing employees for drug and alcohol use if the testing is not reasonable or justifiable. They have also suggested that there is a duty to accommodate persons with disabilities in the workplace. Drug and alcohol dependency fall within the meaning of disabled. Under the Construction Owner's Association of Alberta's Canadian Model for a Safe Workplace, testing must work in concert with treatment. Current employees are directed to seek help via an employee assistant plan. Workers and supervisors report that drug use is rampant in work camps. Industry-wide, fail rates for those who take part in drug testing are quoted by experts as ranging from between 2 to 14 per cent. 2 figs.

  11. Growing pains : how drug testing keeps workers and assets safe in a booming oil patch

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paulgaard, T S

    2006-06-15

    Drug abuse has become a subject of concern to the oil and gas industry, where mistakes in the operation of large machines can result in injury, death and the loss of millions of dollars. Pre-employment urine tests are becoming standard procedure in the oil field. Many supervisors refuse to let employees start work without a clear test. Urine samples are tested for the presence of cannabis, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and phencyclidine. When a worker is injured or killed on the job, or after an uncommon error that causes significant damage, all parties involved are tested as soon as possible and a receipt of the results are expedited. The Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission is now addressing the issue of drug testing, and has ascertained that drug and alcohol testing are only allowable in certain circumstances, and that it is discriminatory to test potential or existing employees for drug and alcohol use if the testing is not reasonable or justifiable. They have also suggested that there is a duty to accommodate persons with disabilities in the workplace. Drug and alcohol dependency fall within the meaning of disabled. Under the Construction Owner's Association of Alberta's Canadian Model for a Safe Workplace, testing must work in concert with treatment. Current employees are directed to seek help via an employee assistant plan. Workers and supervisors report that drug use is rampant in work camps. Industry-wide, fail rates for those who take part in drug testing are quoted by experts as ranging from between 2 to 14 per cent. 2 figs.

  12. The design and testing of a memory metal actuated boom release mechanism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powley, D. G.; Brook, G. B.

    1979-01-01

    A boom latch and release mechanism was designed, manufactured and tested, based on a specification for the ISEE-B satellite mechanism. From experimental results obtained, it is possible to calculate the energy available and the operating torques which can be achieved from a torsional shape memory element in terms of the reversible strain induced by prior working. Some guidelines to be followed when designing mechanisms actuated by shape memory elements are included.

  13. Energy Saving Potential in Knuckle Boom Cranes using a Novel Pump Controlled Cylinder Drive

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Søren Ketelsen

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper is considering the application of a novel pump controlled cylinder drive, the so-called Speed-variable Switched Differential Pump (SvSDP, for knuckle boom crane actuation. Especially the control system for the SvSDP drive is considered, and aiming on improving energy efficiency a refinement of the existing control structure is proposed. An energy efficient sizing algorithm for the SvSDP drive is developed, and fundamental differences between the achievable operating range for the SvSDP drive compared to a conventional valve-cylinder drive are discussed. A case study is conducted with knuckle boom crane actuation, and compared to a conventional valve actuation. Simulation results show that the motion tracking performance is on a similar level compared to the valve actuation approach, while the energy consumption is drastically decreased. For the given test trajectory the valve actuation system consumes 0.79 kWh of electrical energy, while the SvSDP drive consume 0.06 kWh, if ideal energy recovery and storage is assumed.

  14. Reactive transport modelling of a heating and radiation experiment in the Boom clay (Belgium)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montenegro, L.; Samper, J.; Delgado, J.

    2003-01-01

    Most countries around the world consider Deep Geological Repositories (DGR) as the most safe option for the final disposal of high level radioactive waste (HLW). DGR is based on adopting a system of multiple barriers between the HLW and the biosphere. Underground laboratories provide information about the behaviour of these barriers at real conditions. Here we present a reactive transport model for the CERBERUS experiment performed at the HADES underground laboratory at Mol (Belgium) in order to characterize the thermal (T), hydrodynamic (H) and geochemical (G) behaviour of the Boon clay. This experiment is unique because it addresses the combined effect of heat and radiation produced by the storage of HLW in a DGR. Reactive transport models which are solved with CORE, are used to perform quantitative predictions of Boom clay thermo-hydro-geochemical (THG) behaviour. Numerical results indicate that heat and radiation cause a slight oxidation near of the radioactive source, pyrite dissolution, a pH decrease and slight changes in the pore water chemical composition of the Boom clay. (Author) 33 refs

  15. New techniques on oil spill modelling applied in the Eastern Mediterranean sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zodiatis, George; Kokinou, Eleni; Alves, Tiago; Lardner, Robin

    2016-04-01

    Small or large oil spills resulting from accidents on oil and gas platforms or due to the maritime traffic comprise a major environmental threat for all marine and coastal systems, and they are responsible for huge economic losses concerning the human infrastructures and the tourism. This work aims at presenting the integration of oil-spill model, bathymetric, meteorological, oceanographic, geomorphological and geological data to assess the impact of oil spills in maritime regions such as bays, as well as in the open sea, carried out in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea within the frame of NEREIDs, MEDESS-4MS and RAOP-Med EU projects. The MEDSLIK oil spill predictions are successfully combined with bathymetric analyses, the shoreline susceptibility and hazard mapping to predict the oil slick trajectories and the extend of the coastal areas affected. Based on MEDSLIK results, oil spill spreading and dispersion scenarios are produced both for non-mitigated and mitigated oil spills. MEDSLIK model considers three response combating methods of floating oil spills: a) mechanical recovery using skimmers or similar mechanisms; b) destruction by fire, c) use of dispersants or other bio-chemical means and deployment of booms. Shoreline susceptibility map can be compiled for the study areas based on the Environmental Susceptibility Index. The ESI classification considers a range of values between 1 and 9, with level 1 (ESI 1) representing areas of low susceptibility, impermeable to oil spilt during accidents, such as linear shorelines with rocky cliffs. In contrast, ESI 9 shores are highly vulnerable, and often coincide with natural reserves and special protected areas. Additionally, hazard maps of the maritime and coastal areas, possibly exposed to the danger on an oil spill, evaluate and categorize the hazard in levels from low to very high. This is important because a) Prior to an oil spill accident, hazard and shoreline susceptibility maps are made available to design

  16. Prediction of sonic boom from experimental near-field overpressure data. Volume 2: Data base construction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glatt, C. R.; Reiners, S. J.; Hague, D. S.

    1975-01-01

    A computerized method for storing, updating and augmenting experimentally determined overpressure signatures has been developed. A data base of pressure signatures for a shuttle type vehicle has been stored. The data base has been used for the prediction of sonic boom with the program described in Volume I.

  17. The Canadian unemployment rate – with and without Alberta’s Boom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald D. Kneebone

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Over the past two decades there has occurred a shift in economic power from central Canada to other parts of the country. Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador have both claimed a noticeably larger share of Canada’s GDP since 1995 but easily the largest shift of economic output has been to Alberta. This adjustment in the Canadian economy is most easily observed in the large migration between provinces of Canadians seeking employment. Data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey shows that over the period 1995-2014 Alberta has maintained an average annual rate of growth in employment of 2.50 per cent. This is well above the 1.44 percentage rate of employment growth in second-place Ontario and double the average rate of growth in neighbouring British Columbia. This begs the question: What would Canada’s unemployment rate be today if Alberta’s job creation boom hadn’t happened? Since the national jobless rate is a weighted average of the provincial figures, getting an answer is straightforward. Assume Alberta’s employment growth was no higher than Ontario’s over the same period and the impact on Canada’s unemployment rate is startling. By August 2014, Canada’s unemployment would have been 9.39 per cent — 2.23 percentage points higher than the real figure of 7.16 per cent — and the Alberta economy would have created 411,000 fewer jobs; jobs which typically pay $200 to $300 per week more than jobs in Ontario and Quebec. This gloomy scenario means that Canada’s present unemployment rate would be 2.5 percentage points higher than it was in mid-2000, and 411,000 Canadians, along with their dependents, would be clearly much worse off were it not for the boom in Alberta. Obviously this simple experiment can’t capture the situation’s full economic complexity. Would some of those jobs have cropped up in other provinces? Stubbornly lacklustre growth could very well have forced governments and the Bank of Canada to adopt

  18. On the role of anisotropy in the perturbation of Boom Clay by a deep disposal repository for high-level wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sillen, X.; Li, X.L.; Van Marcke, P.; Chen, G.; Bastiaens, W.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. All along the characterisation programme of the Boom Clay, a potential host rock for geological disposal of long-lived, heat-emitting radioactive waste, evidences of anisotropy of key thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) properties have been collected through direct observations and laboratory measurements. In parallel, evidences of anisotropic THM behaviour of the clay massif were obtained during excavations and in-situ experiments in the underground research laboratory HADES at Mol. Careful analysis of the observations and simple modelling reveal the key role of the anisotropy of the material properties and, to a lesser extent, the in situ stresses in the development of a damaged zone around the galleries and the hydro-mechanical perturbation in the clay massif. As a consequence of the sedimentary deposition process, clay formations often exhibit visible bedding. This is the case for Boom Clay. Like other deep clays, Boom Clay also exhibits pronounced strain anisotropy under certain hydro-mechanical loading. Isotropic compression tests performed in the early nineties have shown that, for Boom Clay at a depth of about 225 m, the increments of deformation perpendicular to the bedding planes, i.e. vertical, are about two times larger than increments of deformation parallel to the bedding planes, i.e. horizontal. Moreover, it was observed that this mechanical anisotropy decreases progressively as the isotropic stress is increased. Drained heating tests under constant isotropic loading also evidenced anisotropic behaviour during thermo-consolidation. Like the mechanical properties, hydraulic and thermal properties of the Boom Clay also show anisotropy: lab and in situ measurements suggest that the horizontal hydraulic conductivity is about twice the vertical one while the ratio between horizontal and vertical thermal conductivities is about 1.4. The anisotropic THM behaviour of the Boom Clay was evidenced during excavations

  19. Impact of Air Oxidation on Dissolved Organic Matter from Boom Clay: Comparison Between Natural and Artificial Oxidation Series and In Situ Piezometers Water From Hades Galleries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanchart, Pascale; Faure, Pierre; Michels, Raymond; Bruggeman, Christophe; De Craen, Mieke; Parant, Stephane

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The Boom Clay is considered by the Belgian radioactive waste management agency Ondraf/Niras as a possible host rock for the geological disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste. The drilling of galleries and corings in the Boom Clay (Mol, Belgium) leads to perturbations of the initial physical and chemical conditions. In piezometers, the DOC may show considerable and irregular variations through time, with values ranging from 80 to 425 mg/L. The origin and bio-physico-chemical controls of such variations are yet unknown but oxidation and biodegradation were considered as most likely. Three categories of samples were collected with the aim of determining and quantifying different molecular markers representative for the oxidation process: - Fresh as well as air-oxidized Boom Clay samples were collected in the Underground Research Facility HADES of EURIDICE (Mol, Belgium): they represent a natural series of oxidation; - A fresh Boom Clay sample was submitted to laboratory air oxidation (artificial series). In these experiments, powdered clay was heated at 80 deg. C under air flow during 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months; - Four water samples were collected during January 2010 from different horizons in the Boom Clay by means of piezometers located in the Underground Research Facility. The DOM (dissolved organic matter) of Boom Clay samples (artificial and natural series) was isolated by Soxhlet using pure water as well as by leaching experiments. The quantitative analysis shows an increasing in DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon) content with oxidation. Qualitative characterizations including spectroscopic (3D-fluorescence) as well as molecular analyses (flash pyrolysis - gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (PyGC-MS) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC-HPLC)) show an evolution of the DOM chemistry with oxidation: - An enrichment in oxygen bearing molecules (acidic poly functional groups); - A decrease in

  20. Asia-Pacific lube oil markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamaguchi, N.

    2001-01-01

    An overview of the Asia-Pacific (AP) lubricating oils market, its special characteristics, and its role in the global economy are presented. In the 'boom and bust' years of 1997-1999, the Asia-Pacific market was even bigger then the US market. For the short-term, the scenario is surplus capacity and poor margins, but in the long term there is enormous potential for growth. How fuel demand and quality is related to engine type is discussed. The three basic grades of baseoils are described, and the Asia-Pacific lube demand and the Asia-Pacific lube oil supply are discussed. There are 15 diagrams giving data on: (i) finished lubes in world markets as a percentage of total; (ii) how lube demand follows GDP per capita in Asia; (iii) AP baseoil capacity relationships; (iv) AP baseoil disposition by end use; (v) AP changing shares of baseoil demand; (vi) AP finished lube demand by subregion; (vii) AP finished lube demand growth, indexed; (viii) AP baseoil capacity by region; Singapore baseoil vs. Dubai crude prices, 1992-99; (ix) Singapore baseoil vs. crude prices, 1992-99; (x) AP baseoil deficit moved to surplus; (xi) AP baseoil production; (xii) East Asia net percentage change in lube sales, 1997-1999. (xiii) Southeast Asia net percentage change in lube sales, 1997-1999; (xiv) South East Asia and Australia net percentage change in lube sales, 1997-1999 and (xv) Asia-Pacific major lube marketers

  1. Studies of emissions from oil fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fingas, M.; Lambert, L.; Wang, Z.; Li, K.; Ackerman, F.; Goldthorp, M.

    2001-01-01

    then developed for more than 150 specific compounds or emission categories. They can be used to calculate safe distances and levels of concern for different burn sizes that would likely be contained in a boom. It was concluded that a safe distance for a crude oil burn of about 500 square metres is 500 metres. For a diesel burn it would be much further. 13 refs., 42 tabs., 4 figs

  2. Some aspects of floating ice related to sea surface operations in the Barents sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loeset, S.

    1993-01-01

    The present work highlights some aspects of floating ice related to sea surface operations in the Barents sea. The thesis consists of eight papers which fall into two main categories; one part deals with numerical modeling of the temperature distribution and ablation of icebergs (three papers), and the other part studies the behavior of broken ice, focusing on both laboratory experiments and numerical modeling. The temperature distribution within an iceberg affects the mechanical strength of the ice and is therefore crucial in engineering applications when estimating loads from impinging icebergs on offshore structures. A numerical model which simulates the temperature distribution and ablation of icebergs has been developed. The model shows that the depth of the thermal disturbance and slope of the temperature gradient of an iceberg depend on the boundary conditions and the time at sea. By about 12 m into the ice, the temperature is virtually free of any thermal boundary influence. Oil spill response techniques are vulnerable to the presence of sea ice. Deflecting ice upstream of a spill site by means of a flexible boom will facilitate the application of conventional oil spill recovery systems such as oil skimmers and booms. Experiments with such an ice deflecting boom were conducted in an ice tank to determine the loads on the boom and to study the ice-free wake. The study indicated the technical feasibility of the ice boom concept as an operational tool for oil spill cleanups. A two-dimensional discrete element model has been developed. This model simulates the dynamics and interaction forces between distinct ice floes in a broken ice field. The numerical model was applied to estimate the loads on a boom used for ice management. 121 refs., 70 figs., 10 tabs

  3. Low-Speed Control of Heavy-Load Transfer Robot with Long Telescopic Boom Based on Stribeck Friction Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bo You

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The severe low-speed creep phenomenon occurs in the telescopic boom system of a heavy-load transfer robot with a long telescopic boom as a result of nonlinear friction. In order to improve control precision and operation performance at low speeds, we built a three-loop control nonlinear model of an AC servo motor with Stribeck friction disturbance. Traditional proportional-integral-derivative controller (PID and fuzzy PID controls were, respectively, adopted in the position loop, and the control performance was simulated. The results showed that a system with fuzzy PID control eliminates “flat top” position tracking and “dead zone” speed tracking, which are generated by traditional PID, and thereby decreases the effect of friction on the performance of the servo system. This elimination also improved the tracking accuracy and robustness of the system.

  4. A new and improved methodology for qualitative and quantitative mineralogical analysis of Boom Clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeelmaekers, E.; Vandenberghe, N.; Honty, M.; De Craen, M.; Derkowski, A.; Van Geet, M.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. A good knowledge of the mineralogy of any host formation studied for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, is a prerequisite for understanding the geochemical environment which will determine the migration and retention behaviour of radionuclides. In this respect, the Boom Clay mineralogical composition has been extensively studied last decades as reference host formation (e.g. ARCHIMEDEARGILE project, OECD-NEA clay catalogue report) with the aim to provide reliable data for a safety assessment. However, a comparison of the available literature data clearly showed a serious discrepancy among studies, not only in the quantitative, but also in the qualitative mineralogical composition of the Boom Clay (SAFIR II). The reason for such a huge disagreement could be related, among others, to variable grain size distributions of the studied samples (sample heterogeneity) and differences in the methodological approaches. In particular, the unambiguous characterisation of clay minerals and the quantification of mixed-layer phases appeared as an everlasting problem. This study is aimed at achieving a consensus on the qualitative and quantitative mineralogical data of the Boom Clay using the most advanced techniques currently available in the clay science. A new sampling campaign was performed in such a way that samples are (20 in total) more or less regularly distributed over Boom Clay Formation, ensuring that variations in the grain size distributions due to silty clay-clayey silt layers alternations are accounted for. The novel concept based on an analysis at two levels was applied: (1) bulk rock and (2) clay fraction analysis. (1) A bulk rock analysis consists of conventional XRD analysis with the identification of the principal mineral phases. As a next step, the bulk rock was mixed with a ZnO internal standard and experimental diffraction patterns of randomly oriented powders were analyzed using &apos

  5. Popular Demobilization, Agribusiness Mobilization, and the Agrarian Boom in Post-Neoliberal Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pablo Lapegna

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Based on ethnographic research, archival data, and a catalog of protest events, this article analyzes the relationship between popular social movements, business mobilization, and institutional politics in Argentina during the post-neoliberal phase, which arguably began circa 2003. How did waves of popular mobilization in the 1990s shape business mobilization in the 2000s? How did contentious politics influence institutional politics in the post-neoliberal period? What are the changes and continuities of the agrarian boom that cut across the neoliberal and post-neoliberal periods? While I zoom in on Argentina, the article goes beyond this case by contributing to three discussions. First, rather than limiting the analysis to the customary focus on the mobilization of subordinated actors, it examines the demobilization of popular social movements, the mobilization of business sectors, and the connections between the two. Second, it shows the ways in which the state can simultaneously challenge neoliberal principles while also favoring the global corporations that dominate the contemporary neoliberal food regime. Finally, the case of Argentina sheds light on the political economy of the "Left turn" in Latin America, particularly the negative socio-environmental impacts of commodity booms. The article concludes that researchers need to pay closer attention to the connections between contentious and institutional politics, and to the protean possibilities of neoliberalism to inspire collective actions.

  6. From creekology to geology: Finding and conserving oil on the Southern Plains, 1859--1930

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frehner, Brian

    This dissertation tells the story of the oil industry's westward migration from Pennsylvania to the Southern Plains states of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas and how different environments in these regions influenced prospectors' methods for finding oil. Petroleum engineers, geologists, and businessmen take center stage throughout the narrative, and I emphasize how their biases, values, and interests influenced the kind of knowledge produced. At the heart of this story lay a contest between professional, university-trained engineers and geologists and so-called practical oil men, or "wildcatters," who received their training less formally from surveying the landscape. Although both groups performed field work in their search for oil, I explore how each learned very different information from that activity. Wildcatters met with so much success that the oil industry failed to take geologists seriously for approximately fifty years after 1860 when the Pennsylvania oil boom started, and I argue that the environment played an important role in this contest for authority between oil prospectors who learned their trade through hands-on experience and those who learned it primarily in the classroom. I continue this theme by showing how the environment actively influenced the growing acceptance of geologists as the oil industry migrated west and companies with interests in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas began hiring geologists and establishing their own geological research departments. A pioneer in the use of geology, Henry L. Doherty, controlled Cities Service holding company and dispatched an army of geologists who discovered significant oil strikes in these states. Doherty's embrace of university-trained experts led him to advocate conservation of oil on the basis of geological and engineering principles. Practical men in Oklahoma, however, recognized the need for conservation even earlier and succeeded in lobbying their state legislature for laws which proved effective long

  7. Uplifting : mobile cranes and picker trucks get higher, stronger, and safer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Budd, G.

    2008-10-15

    New crane and picker truck equipment designed for use in the oil and gas industry was discussed in this article. The longest crane in the North America is due to arrive in Calgary soon. Mobile cranes are often used for maintenance, construction, and shutdowns at natural gas plants, refineries, and oil batteries. Telescopic cranes are also used to service pump jacks and lift rolls of coiled tubing into place on drilling rigs. While cranes carry more weight, picker trucks are more mobile and flexible. Lattice boom crawler cranes were designed to pick up loads and carry them to different positions. Telescopic cranes must remain stationary, and careful planning is needed to ensure that they are used efficiently. Modern telescopic cranes have hydraulically powered booms. Advanced steel alloy technology is used to produce lightweight booms equipped with automated pin-locking mechanisms. The largest telescopic crane in North America will be used by an oil and gas operator in Alberta. The crane will have a combined boom and lattice jib height of 226 meters, and its maximum lifting capacity is 1200 tonnes. Gantry cranes are also increasingly being used by oil and gas operators due to their ability to straddle loads, thereby reducing the risk of tipping. It was concluded that gantry cranes are particularly suitable for rougher terrains. 4 figs.

  8. Boom times : Canada's crude petroleum industry : analysis in brief

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rowat, M.R.

    2006-01-01

    This document examined the trends in crude oil prices, the production and exports of Canada's crude petroleum industry, and Canada's imports of crude petroleum. As an exporter and importer of crude oil, Canada's petroleum industry is currently experiencing economic prosperity as a result of high oil prices combined with high global demand for oil. This document reviewed industry activity for 2005 and addressed the reasons for the first decline in Canadian crude oil production in 6 years. A quick review of soaring crude oil prices, supply and shortages was also presented. A review of exports revealed that since 1995, the United States has received 99 per cent of Canadian exports. Although production activity is occurring in 7 provinces, the biggest participant is Alberta, followed by Saskatchewan. In 2005, Canada produced 136.4 million cubic metres of crude petroleum, of which two-thirds came from Alberta. Saskatchewan contributed 18 per cent of total Canadian crude oil production, while offshore oil rigs in Newfoundland and Labrador contributed 13 per cent. The vast oil sands resource accounted for 42 per cent of the province's total production. Alberta oil export is piped entirely into the United States. In 2005, even with a slight drop in exports, Canadian oil exporters received $30 billion for their products, up from $25 billion the year before. Canada also supplied nearly 10 per cent of the American crude oil needs. According to the National Energy Board, Canadian refineries are approaching capacity. Canada's 19 refineries, which have a capacity of 320,000 cubic metres per day, operated at 92 per cent of capacity in 2005 to meet the needs of the domestic market. More imported petroleum was refined than Canadian sourced petroleum. In 2005, the gas and oil industry saw historically high profits, taxes paid and investments. 6 refs., 5 figs

  9. Forensic fingerprinting and source identification of the 2009 Sarnia (Ontario) oil spill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhendi; Yang, C; Yang, Z; Sun, J; Hollebone, B; Brown, C; Landriault, M

    2011-11-01

    This paper presents a case study in which integrated forensic oil fingerprinting and data interpretation techniques were used to characterize the chemical compositions and determine the source of the 2009 Sarnia (Ontario) oil spill incident. The diagnostic fingerprinting techniques include determination of hydrocarbon groups and semi-quantitative product-type screening via gas chromatography (GC), analysis of oil-characteristic biomarkers and the extended suite of parent and alkylated PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) homologous series via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), determination and comparison of a variety of diagnostic ratios of "source-specific marker" compounds, and determination of the weathering degree of the spilled oil, and whether the spilled oil hydrocarbons have been mixed with any other "background" chemicals (biogenic and/or pyrogenic hydrocarbons). The detailed chemical fingerprinting data and results reveal the following: (1) all four samples are mixtures of diesel and lubricating oil with varying percentages of diesel to lube oil. Both samples 1460 and 1462 are majority diesel-range oil mixed with a smaller portion of lube oil. Sample 1461 contains slightly less diesel-range oil. Sample 1463 is majority lubricating-range oil. (2) The diesel in the four diesel/lube oil mixture samples was most likely the same diesel and from the same source. (3) The spill sample 1460 and the suspected-source sample 1462 have nearly identical concentrations and distribution patterns of target analytes including TPHs, n-alkane, PAHs and biomarker compounds; and have nearly identical diagnostic ratios of target compounds as well. Furthermore, a perfect "positive match" correlation line (with all normalized ratio data points falling into the straight correlation line) is clearly demonstrated. It is concluded that the spill oil water sample 1460 (#1, from the water around the vessel enclosed by a boom) matches with the suspected source sample 1462

  10. Mindfulness as a booming, diverse and (non) religious phenomenon

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borup, Jørn

    2016-01-01

    Mindfulness has become a phenomenon with widespread appeal in many Western countries. Like yoga, it has an Eastern religious origin, but through a long history it has been transformed and adapted to new cultural and social contexts. While the majority of research on mindfulness has been conducted...... within the health sciences, the aim of this article is to investigate the distribution, meaning and function of this practice through quantitative mapping and qualitative interviews with 16 mindfulness providers in the city of Aarhus in Denmark. The analysis reveals not just a booming phenomenon......, but also a field characterized by diversity in terms of authority claims, motivations and uses. The discussion focuses on whether mindfulness can be seen as a religious practice or as a typical expression of an individualized and secularized technique....

  11. Report on the explosion, fire, and oil spill resulting in one fatality and injury on September 21, 1978, at Well 6 of Cavern 6 at the West Hackberry, Louisiana, oil storage site of the strategic petroleum reserve. Volume I

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1978-11-01

    The following report is the independent product of the Accident Investigation Committee which was commissioned by the Department of Energy following the accident on September 21, 1978, at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve site at West Hackberry, Louisiana. This Committee is charged with the task of determining the nature, extent, and causes of that accident, which resulted in loss of life, injury and property damage, and the need for corrective action. A nonburning oil spill went into nearby Black Lake, but was contained by the deployment of a series of oil spill containment booms and a prevailing wind from the northeast that kept the oil spill in a restricted area near shore. Because of the rapid and effective containment and cleanup of the oil spill by the Rapid Response Team, it appears very likely at this time that Black Lake will not sustain any permanent environmental damage. Cavern 6 initially contained approximately 7,000,000 barrels of oil at a pressure of 650 psig measured at the well head. As of September 29, 1978, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Office - New Orleans (SPRO) estimated that oil expulsion from Cavern 6 was 67,510 barrels. Of this, 34,620 barrels of oil are accounted for, including 31,200 barrels of oil released into Black Lake and subsequently recovered. The remainder (32,890 barrels) was assumed by SPRO to have been burned. The total loss is presently estimated by the Accident Investigation Committee 's consultant to be $12 million. An assessment of the technical problems present at the time of the accident is given. Recommendations for improved safety procedures are included.

  12. Untamed Jianghu or Emerging Profession: Diagnosing the Psycho-Boom amid China's Mental Health Legislation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Hsuan-Ying

    2017-09-25

    This article focuses on the psychotherapy debate in China that was triggered by the country's mental health legislation. Seeing the release of the draft Mental Health Law in 2011 as a "diagnostic event" (Moore in Am Ethnol 14(4):727-736, 1987), I examine the debate in order to unravel the underlying logic and ongoing dynamics of the psycho-boom that has become a conspicuous trend in urban China since the early 2000s. Drawing on my fieldwork in Beijing and Shanghai, I use the two keywords of the debate-"jianghu" (literally "rivers and lakes"), an indigenous term that evokes an untamed realm, and "profession," a foreign concept whose translation requires re-translation-to organize my delineation of its contours. I describe how anticipation of state regulation prompted fears and discontents as well as critical reflections and actions that aimed to transform the field into a profession. The efforts to mark out a professional core against the backdrop of unruly jianghu further faced the challenge of an alternative vision that saw popularization as an equally noble cause. The Mental Health Law came into effect in 2013; ultimately, however, it did not introduce substantive regulation. Finally, I discuss the implications of this debate and the prospects of the psycho-boom.

  13. Hurricane Andrew causes major oil spill at Florida Power ampersand Light Company's Turkey Point Power Plant, Homestead, Florida

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, M.A.; Butts, R.L.; Lindsay, J.R.; McCully, B.S.; Pickering, T.H.

    1993-01-01

    On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into South Florida with wind gusts in excess of 160 mph. At 4:00 a.m. that day, the eye of this category four storm passed over Florida Power ampersand Light Company's Turkey Point power plant, south of Miami. Although the plant's two nuclear units escaped any significant damage, the storm caused extensive destruction to buildings and transmission facilities, and damaged two 400 foot tall emission stacks associated with the site's two fossil fuel generating units. In addition, a 90,000 to 110,000 gallon spill of No. 6 fuel oil resulted when a piece of wind-blown debris punctured the steel of the unit One 12,000 barrel fuel oil metering tank approximately 30 feet up from the tank bottom. Despite the presence of a secondary containment structure around the tank, the intense wind blew oil throughout the plant site. The damage to the metering tank apparently occurred during the first half hour of the hurricane. As the tank's oil level fell due to the puncture, transfer pumps from the bulk oil storage tanks received a low level alarm which automatically began transferring oil to the damaged metering tank. To prevent the further discharge of oil, plant personnel entered the power block and secured the pumps during the passage of the hurricane eye. Immediately following the storm, facility personnel deployed booms across the barge canal and the Units 1 and 2 intake canal to contain the oil which had entered the water. The response strategy and implementation is described in detail. The remediation costs were approximately $14/gallon spilled, including 54,000 gallons recovered for electricity generation

  14. Global brain storming : oil companies increasingly tap collective intelligence to overcome technology hurdles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, M.

    2009-04-15

    This article described a novel exploration approach that Toronto-based Goldcorp Inc. took a decade ago when it placed its geological data on the web for a mass collaboration effort among the global community of geologists to identify potential drilling sites. The move resulted in the identification of 110 targets, of which half were entirely new to Goldcorp, and of which four in five struck considerable quantities of gold. The article emphasized that the computer network offers a power that has not yet been fully tapped. It described other companies that have followed suite in finding solutions to proprietary challenges, including Schlumberger, Deloro Resources Ltd., Electro-Petroleum Inc., and Proctor and Gamble Inc. among others. The Web 2.0, which serves as a platform for a range of applications, can also be used for open-source science or global brainstorming. While the idea of open innovation was a novelty a year or two ago, it has now become a necessity. InnoCentive solved a long-standing oil spill problem when a chemist from the web with no ties to the oil industry suggested a way to handle the spill. The Cordova, Alaska-based Oil Spill Recovery Institute has also sought solutions for oil spills and novel boom designs. It was concluded that at a time when research and development budgets in the petroleum industry are being cut, open innovation facilitators stand to benefit. This cross-industry collaboration does not involve geoscientists alone. Rather, it includes people from completely different fields of expertise, experience or education who can add to the real issues that the oil industry needs to address and change. 1 ref.

  15. Medium-Term Oil Market Report 2013: Market Trends and Projections to 2018

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2013-06-01

    The global oil market will undergo sweeping changes over the next five years. The 2013 Medium-Term Oil Market Report evaluates the impact of these changes on the global oil system by 2018 based on all that we know today – current expectations of economic growth, existing or announced policies and regulations, commercially proven technologies, field decline rates, investment programmes (upstream, midstream and downstream), etc. The five-year forecast period corresponds to the length of the typical investment cycle and as such is critical to policymakers and market participants. This Report shows, in detailed but concise terms, why the ongoing North American hydrocarbon revolution is a ''game changer''. The region’s expected contribution to supply growth, however impressive, is only part of the story: Crude quality, infrastructure requirements, current regulations, and the potential for replication elsewhere are bound to spark a chain reaction that will leave few links in the global oil supply chain unaffected. While North America is expected to lead medium-term supply growth, the East-of- Suez region is in the lead on the demand side. Non-OECD oil demand, led by Asia and the Middle East, looks set to overtake the OECD for the first time as early as 2Q13 and will widen its lead afterwards. Non-OECD economies are already home to over half global refining capacity. With that share only expected to grow by 2018, the non-OECD region will be firmly entrenched as the world’s largest crude importer. These and other changes are carefully laid out in this Report, which also examines recent and future changes in global oil storage, shifts in OPEC production capacity and crude and product trade, and the consequences of the ongoing refinery construction boom in emerging markets and developing economies. It is required reading for anyone engaged in policy or investment decision-making in the energy sphere, and those more broadly interested in the oil

  16. Technetium behaviour in Boom Clay - a laboratory and field study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baston, G.M.N.; Ilett, D.J.; Cowper, M.M.; Pilkington, N.J.; Tweed, C.J.; Williams, S.J.; Canniere, P.R. de; Wang, L.

    2002-01-01

    This paper describes a study of technetium solubility and migration under chemical conditions representative of those prevailing in a Boom Clay environment. Laboratory and in situ measurements yielded similar aqueous concentrations of technetium, of about 1 x 10 -8 mol dm -3 , close to the concentrations measured for hydrated technetium(IV) oxide TcO 2 .1.6H 2 O in the solubility studies. From fitting the curves of the Tc concentrations as function of time, distribution coefficient (K d ) values were estimated to lie between 0.8 cm 3 g -1 and 1.8 cm 3 g -1 . Exposure of the system at 80 C and to γ-radiation dose rates of several hundred Gy h -1 resulted in only minor differences in behaviour. (orig.)

  17. Youth sexual behaviour in a boomtown: implications for the control of sexually transmitted infections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldenberg, S; Shoveller, J; Ostry, A; Koehoorn, M

    2008-06-01

    Northeastern British Columbia, Canada, is undergoing rapid in-migration of young, primarily male, workers in response to the "boom" in the oil/gas industries. Chlamydia rates in the region exceed the provincial average by 32% (294.6 cases per 100 000 persons compared with 213.3). Evidence indicates that sociocultural and structural determinants of young people's sexual health are key to consider in the design of interventions. To investigate how sociocultural and structural features related to the oil/gas boom are perceived to affect the sexual behaviour of youth in a Northeastern "boomtown". The study included ethnographic fieldwork (8 weeks) and in-depth interviews with 25 youth (ages 15-25 years) and 14 health/social service providers. Participants identified four main ways in which the sociocultural and structural conditions created by the boom affect sexual behaviours, fuelling the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs): mobility of oil/gas workers; binge partying; high levels of disposable income and gendered power dynamics. The sociocultural and structural conditions that are fostered by a resource-extraction boom appear to exacerbate sexual health inequalities among youths who live and work in these rapidly urbanising, remote locales. To meet the needs of this population, we recommend STI prevention and testing service delivery models that incorporate STI testing outreach to oil/gas workers and condom distribution. Global, national and local STI control efforts should consider the realities and needs of similar subpopulations of young people.

  18. Factors affecting future crude oil production in South East Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baugh, M.A.

    1996-01-01

    In the face of booming regional demand, crude oil production in the South East Asian region will decline from a 1996 peak of 5.7 million barrels a day to 3.5 million barrels a day in 2005 unless major new exploration investments are undertaken. The current fiscal terms for such investment will not attract continued significant funds to the region given the low crude price outlook, tough competitive global environment for the upstream industry, and the emergence of more attractive fiscal terms in politically and commercially stable countries with proven prospectivity. There is evidence from the emerging trend toward fiscal terms softening and differentiation around risk in some countries, that the commercial reality is becoming accepted. It remains to be seen if the various national political, bureaucratic and industry constituencies guiding these decisions within the region can respond decisively to mitigate the growing crude import dependency. (author). 2 tabs

  19. Effectiveness of elastic damping in the pivot joints of cargo boom of crane-manipulating installations at large gaps

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lagerev I.A.

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The article was the analysis of dynamic processes in the cylindrical hinges with large gaps in the cargo boom crane-manipulating installations of mobile machines in operation. Consider the design of damping device for articulated joints, which creates a braking force of elastic resistance to the displacement of the hinge pin within the large gap. The mechanism of action of the damping devices was considered. Analysis of the effectiveness of damping device for re-ducing the dynamic stress state in the elements of cargo boom metal structures depending on the gap size and the stiff-ness of the damping device was performed. Damping device with an elastic shock absorbing elements substantially reduces the additional impact load at the time of selection of the gap in the joint, slow the growth of clearance in the pivot joint, limit the size of the gap specified value, which must not be exceeded during the entire service life of swivel independently from the intensity of his load.

  20. Saudi Arabia: Measures of Transition from a Rentier State

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Looney, Robert E

    2001-01-01

    .... Early on after the 1973-74 oil boom, the government decided that a high proportion of the country's oil revenues should be spent in a manner that would encourage private sector investment and production...

  1. Air oxidation and biodegradation of the organic matter from the Boom Claycomparison between artificial and natural altered series

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanchart, Pascale; Faure, Pierre; Michels, Raymond; Bruggeman, Christophe; De Craen, Mieke

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The Boom Clay formation (Belgium) is studied as the reference host rock for methodological studies on the geological disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste. The drilling of galleries in the Boom Clay at Mol lead to the perturbation of the initial physical and chemical conditions. Since organic matter is present in this argillaceous formation, it is important to know its response to these new conditions. The Boom Clay is of Tertiary age (Rupelian) and has a TOC content up to 5%. Its pore water (20% in mass of rock) contains significant quantities of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) with a mean concentration of 115+/-15 mg/L, determined on the basis of piezometer water as well as squeezing and leaching experiments. Yet, in piezometers, the DOC may show considerable and irregular variations through time, with values ranging between 80 and 425 mg/L. The origin and bio-physico-chemical controls of such variations are yet unknown. Perturbation of the in-situ conditions of the clay is a possible reason for such observation. More likely the introduction of air as well as micro-organisms may have an impact that needs to be estimated. Well-preserved, freshly-drilled Boom Clay samples, as well as samples of different degrees of alteration (air exposed clay from the older galleries) were collected with the aim of determining and quantifying different molecular markers representative for the alteration degree. Additionally, increasing artificial air oxidation experiments were carried out on fresh Praclay samples (sampled during the PRACLAY gallery excavation) in order to obtain an altered reference series. Moreover PRACLAY samples previously extracted with an organic solvent (dichloromethane) were also prepared in order to identify the influence of the kerogen during oxidation. In these experiments, powdered clay was heated at 80 deg. C under air flow during 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months. Organic matter composition

  2. How important are national companies for oil and gas sector performance? Lessons from the Bolivia and Brazil case studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paz Antolín, María José; Ramírez Cendrero, Juan Manuel

    2013-01-01

    Control of natural resources, especially oil and gas, has been a major issue in the consideration of underdevelopment. In the present commodity boom, some Latin American economies are reforming their resource exploitation regimes, especially those issues linked with foreign capital share. The purpose of this report is to analyze these changes in the Bolivian and Brazilian oil and gas sectors in order to answer such questions as: Which property system combining public and private capital is the most suitable? Which regulating framework can guarantee a sustainable increase in output and investment? Our analyses lead to the conclusion that the regulatory framework can establish a particular ownership structure that is considered favorable for improving the performance of oil and gas sector, but the internal dynamics and the historical trajectories of enterprises will also be determining factors that interact with the given regulatory framework, generating mixed results. - highlights: • We analyze the influence of the regulatory framework in the growth of production. • We analyze the influence of the regulatory framework in investment dynamics. • We compare the regulatory frameworks for Brazil and Bolivia. • We compare the importance of public and private companies in hydrocarbons in Brazil and Bolivia

  3. The role of natural organic matter in the migration behaviour of americium in the Boom clay - Part II: analysis of migration experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hicks, T.; Bennett, D.; Maes, N.; Wang, L.; Warwick, P.; Hall, T.; Walker, G.; Dierckx, A.

    2005-01-01

    Full text of publication follows: In demonstrating the suitability of Boom Clay as a potential site for the disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium, the role of the relatively high amount of Natural Organic Matter (NOM) present in the Boom Clay on the mobility of critical radionuclides needs investigation. Trivalent actinides and lanthanides form strong complexes with humic substances. Complexation of these trivalent radionuclides with NOM present in the Boom Clay may have opposing effects. If complexed by the aqueous phase (mobile) NOM, radionuclide transport will be governed by the mobility of these dissolved radionuclide-NOM species. If complexed by the solid phase (immobile) NOM, migration will be retarded. One of the aims of the EC projects TRANCOM-Clay and TRANCOM-II was to investigate the role of mobile NOM as radionuclide carrier with the objective of deriving conceptual models that can be implemented in repository performance assessment (PA) models. A separate paper describes the results of column migration experiments involving the transport of 241 Am- 14 C-NOM complexes through Boom Clay cores. This paper describes the transport model, POPCORN, that was developed to describe and evaluate the influence of NOM on radionuclide transport in clay, taking into account attachment/detachment rates of NOM to clay surfaces and the kinetics of RN complexation to, and destabilization from, NOM. The POPCORN model was used to evaluate diffusion experiments involving injection of 14 C-labelled NOM in Boom Clay cores. Model fits were obtained by varying the rates of filtration of NOM by attachment to the surface of the clay matrix. POPCORN was then used to analyse the 241 Am- 14 C-NOM migration experiments. The stability properties of the 241 Am-NOM were characterised by kinetic constants, and good matches to the migration data were achieved for the experiments. The findings suggest that a small sub-population of the original 241 Am-OM is the most stable, and that this

  4. Testing the Deployment Repeatability of a Precision Deployable Boom Prototype for the Proposed SWOT Karin Instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agnes, Gregory S.; Waldman, Jeff; Hughes, Richard; Peterson, Lee D.

    2015-01-01

    NASA's proposed Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, scheduled to launch in 2020, would provide critical information about Earth's oceans, ocean circulation, fresh water storage, and river discharge. The mission concept calls for a dual-antenna Ka-band radar interferometer instrument, known as KaRIn, that would map the height of water globally along two 50 km wide swaths. The KaRIn antennas, which would be separated by 10 meters on either side of the spacecraft, would need to be precisely deployable in order to meet demanding pointing requirements. Consequently, an effort was undertaken to design build and prototype a precision deployable Mast for the KaRIn instrument. Each mast was 4.5-m long with a required dilitation stability of 2.5 microns over 3 minutes. It required a minimum first mode of 7 Hz. Deployment repeatability was less than +/- 7 arcsec in all three rotation directions. Overall mass could not exceed 41.5 Kg including any actuators and thermal blanketing. This set of requirements meant the boom had to be three times lighter and two orders of magnitude more precise than the existing state of the art for deployable booms.

  5. Layout of the manipulator-arm (boom) for the TFTR fusion reactor (Princeton, USA) under UHV-conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klaubert, J.

    1987-01-01

    This presentation shows the main criteria for the layout of the manipulator - arm and the antechamber - vessel of the TFTR - FUSION - REACTOR at Princeton University, PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY (USA). The main problem during layout of a manipulator system like the TFTR - Boom has been the limitation of the vertical deflections due to deadweight of the construction. The design problem is rather a deformation problem and a problem of stability than a stress problem. The way of optimizing the ratio between stiffness and deadweight is the most important part during the complete design - process. Additional earthquake requirements need further investigations for a satisfying layout (horizontal forces, weak-axis of moment of inertia). The details of the construction (welding, connections etc.) have to be designed in respect to UHV - requirements --> no holes and no fillet welds (outgasing - rate.) are allowed. All weldings have to be designed as bevel-welds. This manipulator system is designed for working in a plane system (two degrees of freedom). A manipulator system with the same operating capabilities in a three degree of freedom system needs larger cross sections for the different beam-elements than those of the discussed TFTR - BOOM

  6. Fatigue crack behaviour in mine excavator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yin, Y.; Grondin, G.Y.; Elwi, A.E. [Alberta Univ., Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    2006-05-15

    Fatigue cracking in excavation equipment represents a significant operating cost for oil sands operators. It is caused by high impact loads, the high frequency of load cycles, and large component sizes found in oil sands processing facilities. Monitoring and repair strategies for fatigue cracks are typically based on vendor specifications and the experience of maintenance personnel. This paper provided details of an optimized crack management program applied to a BE 395B shovel boom. The proposed crack management tool uses a chart to predict the remaining life of a corner crack in the shovel boom. Predictions are based on limited field measurements of operating loads as well as on data obtained from fatigue testing of boom material, and a finite element analysis of the shovel boom. Field and laboratory data are used along with fracture mechanics and finite element modelling to predict crack life. It was concluded that the tool will allow inspectors and planners to schedule repairs based on safe service life. The tool is applicable for any components subjected to fatigue loading. 3 refs., 21 tabs., 64 figs.

  7. The Perceived Work Ethic of K-12 Teachers by Generational Status: Generation X vs. Baby Boom Generation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petty, Gregory C.

    2013-01-01

    This was an investigation of the work ethic of K-12 educators from Generation X and Baby Boomer generations. Teachers of the baby boom generation were born between 1946 and 1964, and many are beginning to retire. There is an impending teacher shortage due to the large numbers of this group retiring or leaving the profession. School administrators…

  8. Geo-scientific characterisation of the Boom Clay in the Netherlands in light of permanent confinement of radio-active waste

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Griffioen, J.J.; Simmelink, E.; Westerhoff, W.; Koenen, M.; Tambach, T.; Behrends, T.

    2012-01-01

    Recently, the OPERA research program has been initiated in the Netherlands. Its central objective is to develop initial, conditional safety cases for repositories in the Boom Clay and Zechstein rocksalt formations. TNO Geological Survey of the Netherlands has been granted two projects that deal with

  9. Stay the Course or Seize an Opportunity? Options for Alberta’s Post-Secondary Institutions in a Period of Uncertainty About the Rebound of the Oil Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ken Norrie

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Colleges and universities in Alberta feel the booms and busts of the oil-driven economy, too. When oil prices are high, and oil exploration and new project construction are booming, post-secondary institutions will often find themselves unable to keep up with the demand for the education and skills-training programs that employers are clamouring for, with fewer spots available for students than there are students eager to fill them. When oil prices drop, and exploration and construction dry up, the schools face the opposite problem: They have too much capacity in the kinds of programs for skills that traditionally serve those sectors directly connected to oil, or closely linked to them, where there is suddenly a glut of available labour. Making matters particularly complicated is that when oil prices fall, there is never any certainty of when they will rebound. If the lower oil prices are short lived like after 2009, colleges and universities have needed only to be patient and ride out shortterm disruptions, without the need to restructure their program offerings. However, that was not the case after 1985, where oil prices stagnated for an extended period of time. Now, some observers project that the decline in oil prices that began in 2014, with prices yet to fully recover, could last even longer, perhaps with oil becoming the “new coal” and remaining in glut indefinitely. Not knowing whether oil prices will rebound sooner, later, or never puts Alberta’s post-secondary institutions in a tricky situation. Their programs providing skilled workers to the province’s oil-based economy are longstanding and well-respected and the prospect of shrinking them or dismantling them, and shifting a school’s focus to different programming priorities, should not be taken lightly as it could be very expensive to reverse if oil prices do indeed end up rebounding. But if they do not, they will nevertheless face pressure to do so, anyway, due to the

  10. An alternative method for identifying booms and busts in the euro area housing market

    OpenAIRE

    Gerdesmeier, Dieter; Roffia, Barbara; Lenarcic, Andreja

    2012-01-01

    The main aim of this paper is to apply a method based on fundamentals ─ which has already been applied in the stock market analysis ─ to detect boom/bust in the housing market, with a focus on the euro area. In this context, an underlying model is developed and tested. It turns out that the user cost rate, a demographic variable, the unemployment rate, disposable income (or disposable income per capita), the debt-to-income ratio and, finally, the housing stock are fundamental variables which ...

  11. Technetium behaviour in Boom Clay - a laboratory and field study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baston, G.M.N.; Ilett, D.J.; Cowper, M.M.; Pilkington, N.J.; Tweed, C.J.; Williams, S.J. [AEA Technology plc, Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire (United Kingdom); Canniere, P.R. de; Wang, L. [SCK.CEN, Waste and Disposal Project, Boeretang, Mol (Belgium)

    2002-07-01

    This paper describes a study of technetium solubility and migration under chemical conditions representative of those prevailing in a Boom Clay environment. Laboratory and in situ measurements yielded similar aqueous concentrations of technetium, of about 1 x 10{sup -8} mol dm{sup -3}, close to the concentrations measured for hydrated technetium(IV) oxide TcO{sub 2}.1.6H{sub 2}O in the solubility studies. From fitting the curves of the Tc concentrations as function of time, distribution coefficient (K{sub d}) values were estimated to lie between 0.8 cm{sup 3} g{sup -1} and 1.8 cm{sup 3} g{sup -1}. Exposure of the system at 80 C and to {gamma}-radiation dose rates of several hundred Gy h{sup -1} resulted in only minor differences in behaviour. (orig.)

  12. Use of bore logging for the determination of lithological characteristics of the Boom clay formation and interest for correlations in clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neerdael, B.; Bonne, A.; Manfroy, P.; Vandenberghe, N.; Fierens, E.; Laga, P.

    1981-01-01

    It is first recalled that the purpose of the HADES project of the CEN/SCK at Mol (Belgium) is to study the possibility of geological disposal for radioactive wastes in the Boom clay formation at a depth between +-160 and 270 m. The different steps and aspects of the site investigation are exposed, and for each of them, the specific techniques used are reviewed. One of these steps is elaborated more in detail. It covers namely the lateral extrapolation of the lithological variations as established from a very detailed analysis of the initial cored boring. Among the usefull methods, the most practical and refined results were obtained from the resistivity logs in the reconnaissance holes. Finally, examples are shown of very detailed correlation on site scale, scale of the hydrogeological entity and regional scale (occurrence of Boom clay on the belgian territory)

  13. An Economic Rationale for the West African Scramble? The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1835-1885

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Frankema, Ewout; Williamson, Jeffrey; Woltjer, Pieter

    2018-01-01

    We use a new trade dataset showing that nineteenth century Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a terms of trade boom comparable to other parts of the ‘global periphery’. A sharp rise in export prices in the five decades before the scramble (1835-1885) was followed by an equally impressive decline during

  14. The Speed of Light and the Hubble parameter: The Mass-Boom Effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alfonso-Faus, Antonio

    2008-01-01

    We prove here that Newton's universal gravitation and momentum conservation laws together reproduce Weinberg's relation. It is shown that the Hubble parameter H must be built in this relation, or equivalently the age of the Universe t. Using a wave-to-particle interaction technique we then prove that the speed of light c decreases with cosmological time, and that c is proportional to the Hubble parameter H. We see the expansion of the Universe as a local effect due to the LAB value of the speed of light co taken as constant. We present a generalized red shift law and find a predicted acceleration for photons that agrees well with the result from Pioneer 10/11 anomalous acceleration. We finally present a cosmological model coherent with the above results that we call the Mass-Boom. It has a linear increase of mass m with time as a result of the speed of light c linear decrease with time, and the conservation of momentum mc. We obtain the baryonic mass parameter equal to the curvature parameter, Ω m Ω k , so that the model is of the type of the Einstein static, closed, finite, spherical, unlimited, with zero cosmological constant. This model is the cosmological view as seen by photons, neutrinos, tachyons etc. in contrast with the local view, the LAB reference. Neither dark matter nor dark energy is required by this model. With an initial constant speed of light during a short time we get inflation (an exponential expansion). This converts, during the inflation time, the Planck's fluctuation length of 10 -33 cm to the present size of the Universe (about 10 28 cm, constant from then on). Thereafter the Mass-Boom takes care to bring the initial values of the Universe (about 10 15 gr) to the value at the present time of about 10 55 gr

  15. Pore-water chemistry effects on the compressibility behaviour of Boom Clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deng, Y.F.; Cui, Y.J.; Tang, A.M.; Nguyen, X.P.; Li, X.L.; Maarten, V.G.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. Boom clay is a thick deposit of over-consolidated marine clay, and belongs to the Oligocene series. Its hydraulic conductivity has been investigated since many years in Belgium within the site characterization program related to the performance assessment of potential geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste in this formation. Recently, the work of Wemaere et al. (2008) shows a significant variability of the hydraulic conductivity of the Boom clay. Indeed, they performed measurements on soil cores taken from four distant boreholes at various depths. The vertical hydraulic conductivity was found to vary from 3 x 10 -12 to 10 x 10 -12 m/s. It is suspected that this variability would be partly related to the water chemistry effects. Indeed, De Craen et al. (2006) shows that the pore-water chemical composition of soil cores taken from the Essen site is significantly different from that at the Mol site. If the pore water chemistry has strong effect on the hydraulic conductivity, its effect on the mechanical behaviour needs to be investigated too. The aim of this paper is to verify whether there are significant effects of pore-water chemistry on the soil compressibility. This study would be helpful to transpose the knowledge obtained from the Mol site to other sites of Boom clay formation where the geochemical components are different from the former site, as the hydro-mechanical characteristics of Boom clay at the Mol site has been widely investigated since the last decades. Two soil cores were taken from the Essen site at a depth of 227 m (Ess83) and 240 m (Ess96). Based on the geochemical analysis presented by De Craen et al. (2006), synthetic water having similar chemical composition of the in-situ pore-water was prepared. The identification geotechnical characteristics of these cores are shown in Table 2. It can be observed that the clay content (particle size < 2 μm) is relatively high (more than 50

  16. Institutionalizing Emerging Technology Assessment Process into National Incident Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-01

    mechanical methods, devices, and products, including oil sensors, booms, skimmers, decontamination , and waste minimization technologies...handling). • Alternative Oil Spill Response Technologies (in situ burning , dispersants, etc.). • Oil Spill Damage Assessment and Restoration. The TETs...deaths of eleven crewmembers and a subsequent uncontrolled oil spill that tested the government’s ability to respond to a spill of this magnitude as

  17. El boom, Barral y Barcelona : gestación editorial de un movimiento transoceánico

    OpenAIRE

    Ruiz Ortega, José Luis

    2014-01-01

    En los años sesenta la pequeña editorial barcelonesa de Carlos Barral brindó al peruano Vargas Llosa la posibilidad de publicar su primera novela. Desde entonces, el editor Barral se convierte en el promotor principal del surgimiento y desarrollo del boom latinoamericano y, por consiguiente, en pieza clave para el fortalecimiento de las relaciones editoriales y literarias entre América Latina y España. In the 1960s Carlos Barral's small publishing house in Barcelona affords the Peruvian Va...

  18. Optical MEMS: boom, bust and beyond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramani, Chandra Mouli

    2005-10-01

    Optical Telecommunications bandwidth, spurred by the growth of the internet, experienced unprecedented growth in the late 1990's. The creation of new enterprises was vast and the expansion of established component, system and services companies was also breathtaking. This period of speculative growth was followed in 2001-2004 by one of the most significant market crashes in history. While $20B of venture capital was invested in optical telecom in the last 10 years, the vast majority of that has been written off in the last four. Countless start-ups inaugurated with great fanfare at the end of the 20th century were unceremoniously shut down at the start of the 21st. (1) As in all speculative bubbles, innovative technologies were born and buried. Nonetheless, new capabilities emerge from the chaos and disruption; one such example is the advent of Optical MEMS (MOEMS). Its development was vigorously pursued in both academic and corporate laboratories during the boom and, in the author's view; MOEMS constitutes a powerful and versatile tool set that is an invaluable residual of the last few years. In Telecommunications, MOEMS has proven to be the technology of choice for many optical switching and wavelength management applications. (2) Variable Optical Attenuators (VOA), Wavelength Blockers (WB), Dynamic Gain Equalizers (DGE), and most recently Wavelength Selective Switches (WSS) are being used in the numerous recent network deployments. Moreover, agile networks of the future will have MOEMS at every node. This presentation will provide an overview of the history of MOEMS in Telecommunications, discuss its byproducts and project the future of the technology.

  19. Developments in modelling of thermohydro-geomechanical behaviour of Boom clay and clay-based buffer materials (Volume 1)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldi, G.; Hueckel, T.; Peano, A.; Pellegrini, R.

    1991-01-01

    The results of two years of research on thermomechanics of clays performed within CEC contract Fl1W/0150 are described herein. Previous studies (research contracts with CEC/WAS/380.83.7 l) performed by ISMES have evidenced the need for an improved modelling of the volumetric response of natural clays. In a coupled approach, this leads to an improved prediction of pore-pressure development and dissipation. This is crucial for assessing conditions of a possible local thermal failure as verified in laboratory tests done at ISMES. The first part of the study lays the foundations of a comprehensive theoretical treatment of the interaction between water and soil skeleton. It consists in: (a) developing a framework for inclusion of water/soil particle thermally induced interaction into a thermodynamically consistent mixture theory approach (Section 2); (b) studying possible modelling approaches of considering the effective thermal expansion coefficient of pore water dependency on pore water status (Section 2); (c) testing artificial clays to assess pore water thermal expansion dependence on temperature in the presence of different amounts of active clay minerals and also Boom clay (Section 3); (d) performing a laboratory test campaign on Boom clay with special attention to the response in the overconsolidated domain (Section 4). 89 figs., 18 tabs., 102 refs

  20. A Holistic Assessment of Energy Production: Environmental, Economic, and Social Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing in Williams County, North Dakota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jagdeo, J.; Ravikumar, A. P.; Grubert, E.; Brandt, A. R.

    2016-12-01

    Unconventional oil and natural gas production in the U.S. has increased tenfold between 2005 and 2014 due to advances in hydraulic fracturing technology. Prior studies of hydraulic fracturing activity have mainly focused on two themes: the environmental impacts related to air and water pollution or the direct and spillover economic benefits resulting from oil booms at the state and local level. However, the impacts of hydraulic fracturing extend beyond these effects. Oil-boom counties have experienced environmental changes in land-use and water supply and witnessed social changes in demographics, crime, and health, factors that are not typically evaluated in regard to hydraulic fracturing. Hence, there is a need to consider the holistic effects of oil production on communities. This study examines the environmental, economic, and social impacts of oil and gas activity in Williams County, North Dakota by comparing its pre-boom ( 2005) and post-boom ( 2014) conditions. Annual oil production in Williams County increased from 3.4 million barrels in 2005 to 56 million barrels in 2014, providing an ideal test-case to study the impact of energy development on surrounding communities. We compared changes in multiple impact categories, attributed directly or indirectly to hydraulic fracturing activity, to trends at the national level. For example, between 2005 and 2014, CO2 and CH4 emissions primarily from oil and gas activity increased by 360 thousand metric tons CO2e, corresponding to a 20-fold increase. Concurrently, national emissions decreased by 10.5%. Over twenty indicators were analyzed across environmental, social and economic impact categories, including land-use change, median household income, and crime rates. The datasets were normalized using federal regulations for upper and lower bounds, or calibrated against national averages. Normalized indicators are then aggregated to provide a single-value `impact-factor'. Such `impact-factor' maps will provide a

  1. Preventing the Dutch Disease: The case of Indonesia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramli, R.

    1992-01-01

    Indonesia has been more successful than other oil exporters in mitigating the effects of the Dutch Disease, the decline in non-oil production associated with an oil boom. Typically sharp increases in oil revenues promote the accumulation of international reserves, increasing monetization, and raising prices of non-traded relative to traded goods. The latter causes contraction of output and employment in the traded sector. This study analyzes the magnitude of the boom and its fiscal, monetary, and production effects. Proxies of the real exchange rate, defined as the relative price of traded to non-traded goods, were constructed. The effect of the exchange rate on the Dutch Disease problems were examined. The movement of the real exchange rate and the remarkable growth of production of traded goods indicate that the effects of the Dutch Disease on the Indonesian economy were remarkably limited. Structural and policy-induced factors, such as exchange rate protection and micro interventions, that mitigated the anticipated effects of the Dutch Disease are examined

  2. chemo-Hydro-mechanical modelling of in-situ disposal of a bituminized radioactive waste in boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mokni, N.; Olivella, S.; Valcke, E.; Marien, A.; Smets, S.; Li, X.; Sillen, X.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The current reference solution of the Belgian Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste and Fissile Materials (ONDRAF/NIRAS) envisages underground disposal of Eurobitum Bituminized radioactive Waste (BW) in a geologically stable clay formation. In Belgium, the Boom Clay, which is a 30 to 35 million years old and ∼100 m thick marine sediment is being studied as a potential host formation because of its favorable properties to limit and delay the migration of the leached radionuclides to the biosphere over extended periods of time. The current disposal concept foresees that several drums (220 litres) of Eurobitum would be grouped in thick-walled cement-based secondary containers, which in turn would be placed in concrete-lined disposal galleries that are excavated at mid-depth in the clay layer. Only 80-90 % of the total volume of the drum is filled with Eurobitum.The remaining voids between the containers would be backfilled with a cement-based material. The interaction between the BW and the host clay formation is a very complicated chemo-hydro-mechanical process and depends not only on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of the Boom Clay itself, but also on that of the BW. In fact, the osmosis-induced uptake of water by the dehydrated hygroscopic salts embedded in the waste induces a geo-mechanical perturbation of the host formation, caused by the swelling and the increase of the pressure in and around the waste. The objectives of the Chemo-Hydro-Chemical (CHM) analysis presented in this work are (i) to get insights on the kinetics of water uptake by BW, dissolution of the embedded NaNO 3 crystals, solute leaching, and maximum generated pressure under disposal conditions and (ii) to study the stress redistribution due to the recompression of the clay around a gallery caused by the swelling pressure of the bitumen and the admissible swelling pressure for Boom clay. Firstly, a CHM formulation of chemically and

  3. Analysis of Offshore Knuckle Boom Crane - Part One: Modeling and Parameter Identification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morten K. Bak

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an extensive model of a knuckle boom crane used for pipe handling on offshore drilling rigs. The mechanical system is modeled as a multi-body system and includes the structural flexibility and damping. The motion control system model includes the main components of the crane's electro-hydraulic actuation system. For this a novel black-box model for counterbalance valves is presented, which uses two different pressure ratios to compute the flow through the valve. Experimental data and parameter identification, based on both numerical optimization and manual tuning, are used to verify the crane model. The demonstrated modeling and parameter identification techniques target the system engineer and takes into account the limited access to component data normally encountered by engineers working with design of hydraulic systems.

  4. Study of the Boom clay layer as a geochemical barrier for long-lived radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baetsle, L.H.; Henrion, P.; Put, M.; Cremers, A.

    1985-01-01

    The Boom clay layer below the nuclear site of Mol, Belgium has been thoroughly investigated on its geohydrologic and physicochemical characteristics as well as by laboratory experiments and in situ tests in the underground laboratory. Hydraulic permeabilities have been measured in situ; the chemical composition of the interstitial clay water is related to the mineralogical composition. Radionuclide sorption data and sorption mechanisms are given for Cs, Sr, Eu, Tc, Am, Pu and Np; experimental diffusion coefficients were determined by clay plug migration tests in representative conditions. Results of model calculations for the migration of radionuclides in dense porous media are given for Cs, Sr, Pu and Np

  5. Le boom du raffinage en Asie du Sud-Est Refinery Boom in Southeast Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gruson J. F.

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available Le marché pétrolier connaît en Asie un développement rapide, principalement dans la zone non OCDE, qui représente aujourd'hui plus de 15 % de la consommation pétrolière mondiale. La croissance économique attendue dans ces pays devrait porter cette part à plus de 25 % d'ici 2010, soit une hausse de la demande de 5,4% par an, principalement dans le secteur des transports. Les investissements qui en découlent pour l'industrie du raffinage régionale sont très élevés (des évaluations les chiffrent à près de 140 milliards de dollars, d'autant plus que la protection de l'environnement commence à prendre une importance significative. Dès lors, le défit majeur de ces pays sera d'assurer les financements nécessaires pour augmenter la capacité de raffinage (un quasi-doublement et l'adapter au poids croissant de l'essence et des distillats moyens dans la demande. La participation d'opérateurs privés apparaît essentielle, mais dépendra fortement du redressement des marges de raffinage et de la réalité de l'ouverture des marchés pétroliers nationaux annoncée par les pouvoirs publics. The Asia demand for oil is increasing dramatically, particularly in the non OECD countries, which represent, today more than 15% of the word oil market. The expected economic growth in these areas should contribute to a rise in oil demand by about 5. 4 per year and hence to a significant increase of this share to 25% in 2010; virtually a large part of this evolution will come from the transportation sector. The proceeding investments of the regional, refining industry are very high (some evaluations come to around 140 billions of dollars, all the more the protection of the environment takes an increasing significant place. Accordingly the most important challenge to be taken up by these countries will be to mobilize long term fundings to develop and adapt the capabilities of the refineries to meet the growth of gasoline and gasoil demand. The

  6. 33 CFR 155.1130 - Requirements for prepositioned response equipment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) POLLUTION OIL OR HAZARDOUS MATERIAL POLLUTION PREVENTION REGULATIONS FOR... sorbents; (3) Sorbents including booms, sweeps, pads, blankets, drums and plastic bags; (4) Personnel...

  7. Revising the potential of large-scale Jatropha oil production in Tanzania: An economic land evaluation assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Segerstedt, Anna; Bobert, Jans

    2013-01-01

    Following up the rather sobering results of the biofuels boom in Tanzania, we analyze the preconditions that would make large-scale oil production from the feedstock Jatropha curcas viable. We do this by employing an economic land evaluation approach; first, we estimate the physical land suitability and the necessary inputs to reach certain amounts of yields. Subsequently, we estimate costs and benefits for different input-output levels. Finally, to incorporate the increased awareness of sustainability in the export sector, we introduce also certification criteria. Using data from an experimental farm in Kilosa, we find that high yields are crucial for the economic feasibility and that they can only be obtained on good soils at high input rates. Costs of compliance with certification criteria depend on site specific characteristics such as land suitability and precipitation. In general, both domestic production and (certified) exports are too expensive to be able to compete with conventional diesel/rapeseed oil from the EU. Even though the crop may have potential for large scale production as a niche product, there is still a lot of risk involved and more experimental research is needed. - Highlights: ► We use an economic land evaluation analysis to reassess the potential of large-scale Jatropha oil. ► High yields are possible only at high input rates and for good soil qualities. ► Production costs are still too high to break even on the domestic and export market. ► More research is needed to stabilize yields and improve the oil content. ► Focus should be on broadening our knowledge-base rather than promoting new Jatropha investments

  8. Organic matter linked radionuclide transport in Boom clay - Phenomenological understanding and abstraction to PA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maes, N.; Bruggeman, C.; Liu, D.J.; Salah, S.; Van Laer, L.; Wang, L.; Weetjens, E.; Govaerts, J.; Marivoet, J.; Brassinnes, S.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. In the frame of the Belgian research program on long term management of high-level and/or long-lived radioactive wastes coordinated by ONDRAF/NIRAS, plastic clays (i.e., Boom Clay and Ypresian clays) are investigated for their potential to host a deep geological disposal repository for radioactive waste because of, among others, their ability to significantly retard radionuclide releases to the biosphere. The Boom Clay is characterised by the presence of a relatively high amount of dissolved organic matter (DOM, humic substances) which show a strong interaction with a suite of radionuclides (RN) like lanthanides, actinides and transition metals. This interaction with DOM leads in general to an increased mobility of the radionuclide as the OM can act as a colloidal carrier for the radionuclide. Therefore, the quantification and the understanding of the underlying processes are needed for the demonstration of confidence in the host formation to act as a suitable barrier. However, this is not an easy task, given the multitude of processes involved: complexation/colloid formation, sorption, kinetics, filtration, -. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the research work that leads to a straightforward reactive transport model capturing fairly well the experimental observations. The model can be considered as an intermediate model providing a good basis for further safety abstraction on the one hand and the way to a more detailed phenomenological understanding on the other hand. The research is focussed on the underlying processes that govern speciation, sorption and transport. These underlying processes are investigated in a bottom-up approach, from simple systems to more complex systems. Interpretation is done using thermodynamic based models. Whereas the contribution of Bruggeman et al. focusses mainly on (batch) sorption studies (of trivalent RN), this presentation will provide more details on the

  9. Transesterification of jojoba oil, sunflower oil, neem oil, rocket seed oil and linseed oil by tin catalysts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shah, Mazloom; Tariq, Muhammad; Ali, Saqib; Guo, Qing-Xiang; Fu, Yao

    2014-01-01

    The methanolysis of jojoba oil has been studied in the presence of tin powder, dibutyltin diacetate (C 4 H 9 ) 2 Sn(OOCCH 3 ) 2 , dioctyltin diacetate (C 8 H 17 ) 2 Sn(OOCCH 3 ) 2 , dibutyltin oxide (C 4 H 9 ) 2 SnO, dioctyltin oxide (C 8 H 17 ) 2 SnO, diphenyltin oxide (C 6 H 5 ) 2 SnO, dibutyltin chloride dihydroxide (C 4 H 9 ) 2 Sn(OH) 2 Cl, butyltinhydroxide hydrate (C 4 H 9 )Sn(=O)OH.xH 2 O, Ni nanoparticles and Pd nanoparticles act as catalysts. Among these, 1 weight % of dibutyltin diacetate shows the maximum conversion. Then, methanolysis of sunflower oil, neem oil, rocket seed oil and linseed oil into methyl esters studied in the presence of 1% dibutyltin diacetate as a catalyst and was compared their percentage conversions. The experimental yield for the conversion of jojoba oil, sunflower oil, neem oil, rocket seed oil and linseed oil into biodiesel was found to be 71%, 51%, 50.78%, 40.90% and 39.66%, respectively. The experimental yield of the conversion of jojoba oil into methyl esters was found to be increased up to 96% by increasing reaction time, without emulsion formation. The synthesis of jojoba seed oil biodiesel (JSOB), soybean oil biodiesel (SOB), neem oil biodiesel (NOB), rocket seed oil biodiesel (RSOB) and linseed oil biodiesel (LSOB) was confirmed by NMR ( 1 H and 13 C) and FT-IR analyses of biodiesel. - Highlights: • Transesterification of jojoba oil into biodiesel by tin and nano catalysts. • 1 weight % dibutyltin diacetate showed highest yield at 60 °C. • Catalytic conversion comparison of five oils using dibutyltin diacetate • The experimental yield of the conversion of jojoba oil increased with time. • FT-IR and NMR ( 1 H and 13 C) characterization

  10. A Whitham-Theory Sonic-Boom Analysis of the TU-144 Aircraft at a Mach Number of 2.2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mack, Robert J.

    1999-01-01

    Officially, the Tu-144 was the first supersonic-cruise, passenger-carrying aircraft to enter commercial service. Design, construction, and testing were carried out by the Soviet Union, flight certification was by the Soviet Union, and the only regular passenger flights were scheduled and flown across the territory of the Soviet Union. Although it was not introduced to international passenger service, there were many significant engineering accomplishments achieved in the design, production, and flight of this aircraft. Development of the aircraft began with a prototype stage. Systematic testing and redesign led to a production aircraft in discrete stages that measurably improved the performance of the aircraft from the starting concept to final aircraft certification. It flew in competition with the English-French Concorde for a short time, but was withdrawn from national commercial service due to a lack of interest by airlines outside the Soviet Union. NASA became interested in the Tu- 144 aircraft when it was offered for use as a flying "testbed" in the study of operating characteristics of a supersonic-cruise commercial airplane. Since it had been in supersonic-cruise service, the Tu- 144 had operational characteris'tics similar to those anticipated in the conceptual aircraft designs being studied by the United States aircraft companies. In addition to the other operational tests being conducted on the Tu-144 aircraft, it was proposed that two sets of sonic-boom pressure signature measurements be made. The first set would be made on the ground, using techniques and devices similar to those in reference I and many other subsequent studies. A second set would be made in the air with an instrumented aircraft flying close under the Tu-144 in supersonic flight. Such in-flight measurements would require pressure gages that were capable of accurately recording the flow-field overpressures generated by the Tu- 144 at relatively close distances under the vehicle

  11. Reflections on a boom: Perceptions of energy development impacts in the Bakken oil patch inform environmental science & policy priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGranahan, Devan Allen; Fernando, Felix N; Kirkwood, Meghan L E

    2017-12-01

    Ecosystems worldwide have been subject to new or intensified energy development facilitated by technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, activity that has generated concern for air, water, biotic, and social resources. Application of these technologies in the development of the Bakken oil patch has made it one of the most productive petroleum plays in North America, causing unprecedented landscape industrialization of otherwise rural, agricultural counties in western North Dakota. The region is isolated, and development impacts have not been well-studied. To identify concerns of citizens of the Bakken and determine how research and policy might support them, we conducted a two-part study: First, we held focus groups with resource management and community leaders in three major oil-producing counties. Second, we used an outline of the major concerns expressed by focus group members as a survey for landowners and farm/ranch operators. We found little relationship between survey respondents' reported categorization of energy impacts and actual land area impacted, suggesting factors such as attitude towards development, degree of compensation, and level of disturbance are relevant. Landowners agreed with focus groups on the nature of relationships between energy companies and locals and development impacts on infrastructure and communities; those reporting greater impacts tended to agree more strongly. But many specific problems described in focus groups were not widely reported in the survey, suggesting energy-community relationships can be improved through state-level public policy and respect from energy companies for locals and their way of life. Consideration of these concerns in future energy policy-both in the Bakken and worldwide-could reduce social tension, lessen environmental impact, and increase overall social, economic, and environmental efficiency in energy development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Automatic path-planning for a multilink articulated boom within the torus of a fusion reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smidt, D.

    1986-08-01

    For in-torus maintenance of fusion machines a manipulator is conveyed to the working area by a multilink-transporter, also called 'articulated boom'. Systems of this type have in general four to five links and move in the midplane of the torus. They are kinematically redundant and have a very restricted working space. In this paper automatic methods for the collision free approach of any position of the final joint within the reach of the transporter are presented, including insertion and removal. By automatic teach-in with the CAD-simulation a table of safe configurations can be generated and supplemented by a fine-positioning algorithm. (orig.) [de

  13. After Welfare Reform and an Economic Boom: Why Is Child Poverty Still So Much Higher in the U.S. Than in Europe?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danziger, Sheldon

    This paper argues that the U.S.'s experience during the economic boom of the 1990s, together with its choices concerning social welfare policies, imply that child poverty in the United States will be much higher than that in most European countries. It hypothesizes that Americans reveal their preferences about the extent of poverty they are…

  14. Study of the 'Clay of Boom' with regard to the storage of nuclear waste. Appendices; Onderzoek Klei van Boom in verband met eventuele opslag kernafval. Bijlagen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brugge, J.V.M.; Vrouwe, B.J. [T and A Survey, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2011-01-15

    The Dutch government aims to store nuclear waste in the Dutch soil. Geological research organization T and A Survey mapped the areas that match with the demands of the Dutch government regarding underground storage of nuclear waste. These are areas in which the Clay layer of Boom has a minimal thickness of 100 meters and the depth of the top of the clay formation is at least 500 meters. This report contains the appendices with (geological) maps and data. [Dutch] De Nederlandse overheid wil kernafval ondergronds opslaan in de Nederlandse bodem. Geologisch onderzoeksbureau T and A Survey brengt de gebieden in kaart, die voldoen aan de door de overheid gestelde eisen voor mogelijke ondergrondse opslag van kernafval. Het gaat om gebieden waar de Boomse kleilaag een minimale dikte van 100 meter heeft en de diepte van de top van de kleiformatie minimaal 500 meter bedraagt. Dit rapport bevat de bijlagen met (geologische) kaarten en gegevens.

  15. Sizzling Qatar boom sparked by foreign money, technology, and gas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aalund, L.R.

    1998-01-01

    International oil companies have collected advanced upstream and downstream technology and focused it on the small Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar, a roughly 110 mile long by 50 mile wide, thumb-like peninsula that juts out from Saudi Arabia. The emirate, in a burst of enlightened self interest, has opened its doors to international companies and is now riding a wave of foreign investment and new technology to major increases in oil, natural gas, and petrochemical production. The largest natural gas reserve in the world is under Qatari waters and is the driver for the activity that includes two LNG plants. Qatar has proven that you don''t need crude oil in the Persian Gulf to be important. Activities are discussed

  16. Analysis of the effects of frequent strikes on academic performance ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The history of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)'s strike can be traced back to 1978, the period of the beginning of the decline in the oil boom, when the country faced the consequences of the failure by its rulers to use the oil wealth to generate production and a social welfare system. Military dictatorship had ...

  17. Gulf gas - tomorrow's nest-egg

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roberts, J.

    1993-01-01

    The Persian Gulf remains the world's largest crude oil reservoir but it also contains some of the world's biggest gas reserves and for much of the 1990s the countries that grew rich on the oil booms of the 1970s and 1980s will be seeking to develop their gas resources as well as their oilfields. (author)

  18. Prospects for the North America’ shale hydrocarbons development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana V. Polyakova

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available An entire generation of American politicians were concerned about the growing U.S. dependence on imported oil and natural gas. However, in the last few years the situation has changed dramatically: there was started the development of not only the resources of shale gas, but shale oil. As a result in political and economic circles they began to talk about it as the most significant breakthrough in the energy resources development since the oil boom in Texas in the late 1920s. How large are these resources? What problems have to be overcome if the available potential will be realized? How will this problems affect the U.S. energy policy? Concerns about the adequacy of regulation, in particular the environmental issues associated with the non-conventional hydrocarbons production, have led to the internal public debate on the impact of unconventional oil and gas resources mining boom. One thing is clear: significant amounts of additional oil and gas supplies in the U.S. will have far-reaching political consequences for the world. The article presents the different points of view on the prospects for oil and gas production in North America, as well as on the political issues related to it.

  19. The Baby Boom As It Ages: How Has It Affected Patterns of Consumptions and Savings in the United States?

    OpenAIRE

    Diane Macunovich

    1999-01-01

    Using detailed estimates of personal consumption expenditures at the state level for 1900, 1929, 1970, and 1982 developed by Stanley Lebergott, this paper demonstrates that the passage of the Baby Boom from childhood through the teen years and into family formation would have caused market swings in patterns of aggregate consumption and savings in the United States during the past 50 years. The effect of age structure on personal consumption expenditures is estimated using population by singl...

  20. Measured Sonic Boom Signatures Above and Below the XB-70 Airplane Flying at Mach 1.5 and 37,000 Feet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maglieri, Domenic J.; Henderson, Herbert R.; Tinetti, Ana F.

    2011-01-01

    During the 1966-67 Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) National Sonic Boom Evaluation Program, a series of in-flight flow-field measurements were made above and below the USAF XB-70 using an instrumented NASA F-104 aircraft with a specially designed nose probe. These were accomplished in the three XB-70 flights at about Mach 1.5 at about 37,000 ft. and gross weights of about 350,000 lbs. Six supersonic passes with the F-104 probe aircraft were made through the XB-70 shock flow-field; one above and five below the XB-70. Separation distances ranged from about 3000 ft. above and 7000 ft. to the side of the XB-70 and about 2000 ft. and 5000 ft. below the XB-70. Complex near-field "sawtooth-type" signatures were observed in all cases. At ground level, the XB-70 shock waves had not coalesced into the two-shock classical sonic boom N-wave signature, but contained three shocks. Included in this report is a description of the generating and probe airplanes, the in-flight and ground pressure measuring instrumentation, the flight test procedure and aircraft positioning, surface and upper air weather observations, and the six in-flight pressure signatures from the three flights.

  1. Embedding industrial policy in oil-states:The mixed-effects of an uncoordinated state and the strategies of the Venezuelan business elites at the close of an oil boom (2012-2014)

    OpenAIRE

    Rios Ludena, Eduardo; Dabène, Olivier

    2016-01-01

    The evidence of the bolibourgeois (the new rich of the bolivarian revolution headed by Hugo Chávez) reveals an uncoordinated dual institutional structure generating mixed-incentives. This type of institutional structure is prevalent in oil countries and states suck in the middle-income trap. In these countries, where industrial policy is a political necessity, an uncoordinated state is usually the norm. In these states, the strategies of the business elites follow the incentives generated ...

  2. Effects of Sonic Booms on Marine Mammals: Problem Review and Recommended Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowles, Ann E.

    1996-01-01

    By flying the High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) exclusively over uninhabited areas and mo over water, human annoyance will be reduced to acceptable levels. However, this strategy will for HSCT proponents to contend with the potential effects of sonic booms on animals, particularly ma mammals. What follows is a summary of the environmental regulations that must be addressed, the scientific community's concerns about the potential effects of the HSCT, and recommendations fox research to address the most important concerns. The recommendations included herein are based both on existing scientific evidence and regulatory needs. One cannot over-emphasize the importance of obtaining the appropriate information prior to substantial public exposure. Recent controversies over other human-made acoustic sources in the ocean suggest that the HSCT will receive intense scrutiny. It seems certain that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) or its equivalent will be necessary.

  3. The experimental testing of the long-term behaviour of cemented radioactive waste from nuclear research reactors in the geological disposal conditions of the boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sneyers, A.; Marivoet, J.; Iseghem, P. van

    1998-01-01

    Liquid wastes, resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from the BR-2 Materials Testing Reactor, will be conditioned in a cement matrix at the dedicated cementation facility of UKAEA at Dounreay. In Belgium, the Boom clay formation is studied as a potential host rock for the final geological disposal of cemented research reactor waste. In view of evaluating the safety of disposal, laboratory leach experiments and in situ tests have been performed. Leach experiments in synthetic clay water indicate that the leach rates of calcium and silicium are relatively low compared to those of sodium and potassium. In situ experiments on inactive samples are performed in order to obtain information on the microchemical and mineralogical changes of the cemented waste in contact with the Boom clay. Finally, results from a preliminary performance assessment calculation suggest a non-negligible maximum dose rate of 5 10 -9 Sv/a for 129 I. (author)

  4. The experimental testing of the long-term behaviour of cemented radioactive waste from nuclear research reactors in the geological disposal conditions of the boom clay

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sneyers, A.; Marivoet, J.; Iseghem, P. van [SCK-CEN, B-2400 Mol (Belgium)

    1998-07-01

    Liquid wastes, resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from the BR-2 Materials Testing Reactor, will be conditioned in a cement matrix at the dedicated cementation facility of UKAEA at Dounreay. In Belgium, the Boom clay formation is studied as a potential host rock for the final geological disposal of cemented research reactor waste. In view of evaluating the safety of disposal, laboratory leach experiments and in situ tests have been performed. Leach experiments in synthetic clay water indicate that the leach rates of calcium and silicium are relatively low compared to those of sodium and potassium. In situ experiments on inactive samples are performed in order to obtain information on the microchemical and mineralogical changes of the cemented waste in contact with the Boom clay. Finally, results from a preliminary performance assessment calculation suggest a non-negligible maximum dose rate of 5 10{sup -9} Sv/a for {sup 129}I. (author)

  5. Metal working oils. Cutting oils, rolling oils, quenching oils, rust preventive oils; Kinzoku kakoyu. Sessakuyu, atsuenyu, yakiireyu, boseiyu

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koyama, S. [Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

    1996-04-01

    With the demand against complicating working techniques for a background, foundations of the consideration for each of the lubricants in future are outlined. 1. Cutting oils: From the standpoint of speeding up and fireproofing, share of water-soluble type has come up to 30-40%. In this type, emulsifying dispersants and preservatives are combined. 2. Rolling oils: According to thinning of the standard thickness of steel plates, pressure of contacting surfaces has come up to 300 kg/mm{sup 2}(max.) and slip speed has increased too. In stainless steel plates, in order to get rid of the heat-streak (baking streak originated from wearing-out of oil film) shifting from neat oil to emulsion type is required. 3. Quenching oils: Following two systems are recent tendencies, the mineral oil system having excellent thermostability or the water system containing polyalkylneglycol etc., but the latter is expected from the viewpoint of fireproofing. 4. Rust preventive oils: As this oils do not aim at the rust prevention for long term, degreasing property is required. 20 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

  6. Non linear shock wave propagation in heterogeneous fluids: a numerical approach beyond the parabolic approximation with application to sonic boom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagrau, Franck; Coulouvrat, François; Marchiano, Régis; Héron, Nicolas

    2008-06-01

    Dassault Aviation as a civil aircraft manufacturer is studying the feasibility of a supersonic business jet with the target of an "acceptable" sonic boom at the ground level, and in particular in case of focusing. A sonic boom computational process has been performed, that takes into account meteorological effects and aircraft manoeuvres. Turn manoeuvres and aircraft acceleration create zones of convergence of rays (caustics) which are the place of sound amplification. Therefore two elements have to be evaluated: firstly the geometrical position of the caustics, and secondly the noise level in the neighbourhood of the caustics. The modelling of the sonic boom propagation is based essentially on the assumptions of geometrical acoustics. Ray tracing is obtained according to Fermat's principle as paths that minimise the propagation time between the source (the aircraft) and the receiver. Wave amplitude and time waveform result from the solution of the inviscid Burgers' equation written along each individual ray. The "age variable" measuring the cumulative nonlinear effects is linked to the ray tube area. Caustics are located as the place where the ray tube area vanishes. Since geometrical acoustics does not take into account diffraction effects, it breaks down in the neighbourhood of caustics where it would predict unphysical infinite pressure amplitude. The aim of this study is to describe an original method for computing the focused noise level. The approach involves three main steps that can be summarised as follows. The propagation equation is solved by a forward marching procedure split into three successive steps: linear propagation in a homogeneous medium, linear perturbation due to the weak heterogeneity of the medium, and non-linear effects. The first step is solved using an "exact" angular spectrum algorithm. Parabolic approximation is applied only for the weak perturbation due to the heterogeneities. Finally, non linear effects are performed by solving the

  7. Shale gas boom in the US. Technology - economy - environmental effects; Schiefergas-Boom in den USA. Technologie - Wirtschaftlichkeit - Umwelteffekte

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meyer-Renschhausen, Martin; Klippel, Philipp

    2017-09-01

    There is hardly any other issue that polarizes the energy policy discussion so far as the production of shale gas and shale oil by means of fracking processes. For the advocates, the expansion of unconventional gas and oil production offers the opportunity to intensify competition in the oil and gas markets, to lower prices and to reduce the dependence on uncertain deliveries of OPEC and Russia by increased domestic production. The critics, on the other hand, emphasize the environmental risks associated with fracking and see the extension of the fossil energy base as an obstacle to the climatically required transition to renewable energies. The German legislature emphasizes the environmental risks associated with fracking and has de facto forbidden fracking with the fracking law package of 24 June 2016. Internationally, the advantages and disadvantages of fracking are, however, assessed very differently, so that a further expansion of unconventional oil and gas production is to be expected. Fracking currently focuses almost entirely on the USA. Numerous studies investigate the potentials, the profitability of the different methods of production as well as the environmental effects. Therefore, American shale gas production offers an excellent viewpoint in order to estimate the technology, its economic efficiency and its consequences. This book evaluates the current studies and data and contributes to the assessment of the long-term energy-economic and climatological significance of shale gas production in the international context. [German] Kaum ein anderes Thema polarisiert die energiepolitische Diskussion derzeit so stark wie die Gewinnung von Schiefergas und Schieferoel mit Hilfe von Frackingverfahren. Fuer die Befuerworter bietet der Ausbau der unkonventionellen Gas- und Oelfoerderung die Chance, den Wettbewerb auf den Maerkten fuer Oel und Gas zu intensivieren, die Preise zu senken und durch erhoehte einheimische Produktion die Abhaengigkeit von unsicheren

  8. From chickpeas to oil. The keys to fifteen years of hispanic-mexican economic relations (1977-1992

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santiago Forcada

    1993-07-01

    Full Text Available This article intends to analyse the evolution of economic relations between Spain and Mexico from the reestablishment of diplomatic relations taking into account both the keys to this evolution and its changes. The authors highlight three distinct periods : a boom between 1977 and 1981 ; a relapse between 1982 and 1986 and a recovery between 1987 and 1992. This division into periods takes note of an initial spectacular increase in which bilateral exchanges were multiplied up to 33 times. A five year period in which oil replaced chickpeas as the main product bought in Mexico (up to four-fifths of the total volume and in which Spanish exports multiplied themselves ten times over. Already from this first phase, the commercial balance was clearly in favour of Mexico, a fact more striking during the second period, during which Spanish imports fell up to 50% but whileher exports were reduced by two-thirds. The key was the fall in the price of oil. The continuity of Spanish oil buying in Mexico however precipitated the recovery of the third period which coincided with the signing of the General Friendship and Cooperation Agreement between both countries. In 1992 Spain regained second place as a customer of Mexico behind the United States while the joint political policies coincide in pointing out that these are two reciprocal pathways to both the EC and US markets. The authors however, sustain that the global evolution of economic blocks does not favour this vision bearing in mind that the composition of and leadership in trade between such blocks will be governed, basically, by the strategies deployed by transnational companies.

  9. An Economic Rationale for the West African Scramble? The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1835-1885

    OpenAIRE

    Frankema, E.H.P.; Williamson, J.G.; Woltjer, P.J.

    2018-01-01

    We use a new trade dataset showing that nineteenth century Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a terms of trade boom comparable to other parts of the ‘global periphery’. A sharp rise in export prices in the five decades before the scramble (1835-1885) was followed by an equally impressive decline during the colonial era. This study revises the view that the scramble for West Africa occurred when its major export markets were in decline and argues that the larger weight of West Africa in French imp...

  10. Oil vulnerability index of oil-importing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gupta, Eshita

    2008-01-01

    This paper assesses the relative oil vulnerability of 26 net oil-importing countries for the year 2004 on the basis of various indicators - the ratio of value of oil imports to gross domestic product (GDP), oil consumption per unit of GDP, GDP per capita and oil share in total energy supply, ratio of domestic reserves to oil consumption, exposure to geopolitical oil market concentration risks as measured by net oil import dependence, diversification of supply sources, political risk in oil-supplying countries, and market liquidity. The approach using the principal component technique has been adopted to combine these individual indicators into a composite index of oil vulnerability. Such an index captures the relative sensitivity of various economies towards developments of the international oil market, with a higher index indicating higher vulnerability. The results show that there are considerable differences in the values of individual indicators of oil vulnerability and overall oil vulnerability index among the countries (both inter and intraregional). (author)

  11. Oil vulnerability index of oil-importing countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gupta, Eshita [The Energy and Resources Institute, Darbari Seth Block, Habitat Place, New Delhi 110 003 (India)

    2008-03-15

    This paper assesses the relative oil vulnerability of 26 net oil-importing countries for the year 2004 on the basis of various indicators - the ratio of value of oil imports to gross domestic product (GDP), oil consumption per unit of GDP, GDP per capita and oil share in total energy supply, ratio of domestic reserves to oil consumption, exposure to geopolitical oil market concentration risks as measured by net oil import dependence, diversification of supply sources, political risk in oil-supplying countries, and market liquidity. The approach using the principal component technique has been adopted to combine these individual indicators into a composite index of oil vulnerability. Such an index captures the relative sensitivity of various economies towards developments of the international oil market, with a higher index indicating higher vulnerability. The results show that there are considerable differences in the values of individual indicators of oil vulnerability and overall oil vulnerability index among the countries (both inter and intraregional). (author)

  12. 'Barreira ativa': a new concept of mitigation system dedicated to the environment; Barreira ativa: um novo conceito de mitigacao dedicado ao meio-ambiente

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza, Andre A. de; Camerini, Daniel A.; Ferreira, Rodrigo Carvalho; Lima, Vinicius de Carvalho [Pontificia Univ. Catolica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), RJ (Brazil); Reis, Ney Robinson Salvi dos [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2004-07-01

    Oil spill in water environments (sea, lakes and rivers) causes big social, economic, and environmental impacts. Upon the techniques of contingency, the first providence adopted is the superficial confinement, using conventional containment booms. The Also available systems require complex logistic of installation, and generally do not obtain ideal indices of contention, besides that, they need subsequent phases of collect and handling the pollutant. We present a new concept, already patented, and developed specially for these situations of contingency - the 'Barreira Ativa'. The innovative concept of this proposal is the collector system incorporated to the traditional booms. The pumping system is continuous and assembled to a series of lateral modules which offers the ability to recover and collect oil spill. Positioned in the oil spill region, it permits the pollutant capture that is pumped to special tanks. Thus, beyond it contains the oil advancement , Barreira Ativa also collects it. In this work we show the principle of operation, the field test results, discussing the efficacy and the future possibilities. Also we present a project for an automated system to mitigate oil spill in aquatic environments. The system integrates the Barreira Ativa with sensors and cameras to monitoring the area, and satellite communication. (author)

  13. Technical feasibility of a concept radioactive waste disposal facility in Boom clay in the Netherlands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vardon, P.J.; Hicks, M.A.; Fokker, P.A.; Fokkens, J.H.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The current management strategy in the Netherlands for radioactive waste is interim storage for approximately 100 years, followed by final deep geological disposal. At present, both Boom Clay and Salt formations are being considered and investigated via the OPERA (Onderzoeks Programma Eindberging Radioactief Afval) and CORA (Commissie Opberging Radioactief Afval) research programmes respectively, instigated by COVRA (Centrale Organisatie Voor Radioactief Afval). This paper outlines the on-going investigation into the initial technical feasibility of a high-level radioactive waste disposal facility, located within a stratum of Boom Clay, as part of the OPERA research programme. The feasibility study is based on the current Belgian Super-container concept, incorporating specific features relevant to the Netherlands, including the waste inventory and possible future glaciation. The repository is designed to be situated at approximately 500 m depth in a Boom Clay stratum of approximately 100 m thickness, and will co-host vitrified High Level Waste (HLW), spent fuel from research reactors, non-heat generating HLW, Low and Intermediate Level Waste (LILW) and depleted uranium. The total footprint is designed to be 3050 m by 1300 m, and will be segregated by waste type. The waste will be stored in drifts drilled perpendicular to the main galleries and will vary in length and diameter depending upon waste type. The repository life-cycle can be considered in three phases: (i) the pre-operation phase, including the conceptual development, site investigation and selection, design and construction; (ii) the operational phase, including waste emplacement and any period of time prior to closure; and (iii) the post-operational phase. The research on the technical feasibility of the repository will investigate whether the repository can be constructed and whether it is able to perform the appropriate safety functions and meet

  14. Giant Oil Fields - The Highway to Oil: Giant Oil Fields and their Importance for Future Oil Production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robelius, Fredrik

    2007-01-01

    Since the 1950s, oil has been the dominant source of energy in the world. The cheap supply of oil has been the engine for economic growth in the western world. Since future oil demand is expected to increase, the question to what extent future production will be available is important. The belief in a soon peak production of oil is fueled by increasing oil prices. However, the reliability of the oil price as a single parameter can be questioned, as earlier times of high prices have occurred without having anything to do with a lack of oil. Instead, giant oil fields, the largest oil fields in the world, can be used as a parameter. A giant oil field contains at least 500 million barrels of recoverable oil. Only 507, or 1 % of the total number of fields, are giants. Their contribution is striking: over 60 % of the 2005 production and about 65 % of the global ultimate recoverable reserve (URR). However, giant fields are something of the past since a majority of the largest giant fields are over 50 years old and the discovery trend of less giant fields with smaller volumes is clear. A large number of the largest giant fields are found in the countries surrounding the Persian Gulf. The domination of giant fields in global oil production confirms a concept where they govern future production. A model, based on past annual production and URR, has been developed to forecast future production from giant fields. The results, in combination with forecasts on new field developments, heavy oil and oil sand, are used to predict future oil production. In all scenarios, peak oil occurs at about the same time as the giant fields peak. The worst-case scenario sees a peak in 2008 and the best-case scenario, following a 1.4 % demand growth, peaks in 2018

  15. Oil risk in oil stocks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scholtens, Bert; Wang, L

    2008-01-01

    We assess the oil price sensitivities and oil risk premiums of NYSE listed oil & gas firms' returns by using a two-step regression analysis under two different arbitrage pricing models. Thus, we apply the Fama and French (1992) factor returns in a study of oil stocks. In all, we find that the return

  16. Energy developments and the transportation infrastructure in Texas : impacts and strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-01

    In recent years, Texas has experienced a boom in energy-related activities, particularly in wind power : generation and extraction of oil and natural gas. While energy developments contribute to enhance the : states ability to produce energy relia...

  17. Building a sustainable GIS framework for supporting a tribal transportation problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-03-01

    Due to the recent oil boom, the Fort Berthold Reservation has experienced a dramatic increase in highway and local traffic. To support energy transportation and provide safe roads, the reservation needs cost-efficient and effective transportation pla...

  18. Prioritizing Wetlands for Waterbirds in a Boom and Bust System: Waterbird Refugia and Breeding in the Murray-Darling Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bino, Gilad; Kingsford, Richard T; Porter, John

    2015-01-01

    Dryland rivers have considerable flow variability, producing complex ecosystems, processes, and communities of organisms that vary over space and time. They are also among the more vulnerable of the world's ecosystems. A key strategy for conservation of dryland rivers is identifying and maintaining key sites for biodiversity conservation, particularly protecting the quantity and quality of flow and flooding regimes. Extreme variability considerably challenges freshwater conservation planning. We systematically prioritised wetlands for waterbirds (simultaneously for 52 species), across about 13.5% of the Murray-Darling Basin (1,061,469 km2), using a 30-year record of systematic aerial surveys of waterbird populations. Nine key wetlands in this area, primarily lakes, floodplains, and swamps, consistently contributed to a representation target (80%) of total abundances of all 52 waterbird species. The long temporal span of our data included dramatic availability (i.e., booms) and scarcity (i.e., busts) of water, providing a unique opportunity to test prioritisation at extremes of variation. These extremes represented periods when waterbirds were breeding or concentrating on refugia, varying wetland prioritisation. In dry years, important wetlands for waterbirds were riverine and lacustrine (12 wetlands) but this changed in wet years to lacustrine and palustrine (8 wetlands). Such variation in ecosystem condition substantially changes the relative importance of individual wetlands for waterbirds during boom and bust phases. Incorporating this variability is necessary for effective conservation of Murray-Darling Basin waterbirds, with considerable generality for other similarly variable systems around the world.

  19. Prioritizing Wetlands for Waterbirds in a Boom and Bust System: Waterbird Refugia and Breeding in the Murray-Darling Basin.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gilad Bino

    Full Text Available Dryland rivers have considerable flow variability, producing complex ecosystems, processes, and communities of organisms that vary over space and time. They are also among the more vulnerable of the world's ecosystems. A key strategy for conservation of dryland rivers is identifying and maintaining key sites for biodiversity conservation, particularly protecting the quantity and quality of flow and flooding regimes. Extreme variability considerably challenges freshwater conservation planning. We systematically prioritised wetlands for waterbirds (simultaneously for 52 species, across about 13.5% of the Murray-Darling Basin (1,061,469 km2, using a 30-year record of systematic aerial surveys of waterbird populations. Nine key wetlands in this area, primarily lakes, floodplains, and swamps, consistently contributed to a representation target (80% of total abundances of all 52 waterbird species. The long temporal span of our data included dramatic availability (i.e., booms and scarcity (i.e., busts of water, providing a unique opportunity to test prioritisation at extremes of variation. These extremes represented periods when waterbirds were breeding or concentrating on refugia, varying wetland prioritisation. In dry years, important wetlands for waterbirds were riverine and lacustrine (12 wetlands but this changed in wet years to lacustrine and palustrine (8 wetlands. Such variation in ecosystem condition substantially changes the relative importance of individual wetlands for waterbirds during boom and bust phases. Incorporating this variability is necessary for effective conservation of Murray-Darling Basin waterbirds, with considerable generality for other similarly variable systems around the world.

  20. [Fertility and reproductive behavior in Peru: Andes mountains and the Amazon basin].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fort, A L

    1992-01-01

    "The article attempts to discuss the historical and contemporary situations of [fertility among] populations residing in the two least studied areas of Peru: the Andes mountains and the Amazon basin. The study starts with a review of the 'demographic catastrophe' that the Spanish presence meant to the people of these areas.... The harmful effects of the 'rubber boom' and, more recently, of the 'oil boom', periods are also reviewed." Fertility trends in the two areas are analyzed, with a focus on marriage, breast-feeding, and contraceptive use. (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt

  1. Inspecciones de seguridad y mantenimiento de naves en la navegación amazónica

    OpenAIRE

    Gálvez Martínez, Hernán Martín

    2013-01-01

    For centuries, commercial activities in the Amazon basin have been of great importance for trade in Peru, Brazil, and Colombia. The rubber boom increased the growth of towns in the Amazon region, but during the collapse, those towns also fell, limiting their activities to trade and agriculture only. In the 1970s, the oil boom gave a new boost to ship constructions in the Amazon region. By the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, the production of natural gas again enhanced the market, but with a...

  2. Do high levels of unemployment influence the health of those who are not unemployed? A gendered comparison of young men and women during boom and recession.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novo, M; Hammarström, A; Janlert, U

    2001-08-01

    Research has shown that health among young people, particularly women, deteriorates during a recession compared to a boom. It seems that the trade cycle mainly affects the health of those who are not long-term unemployed. The aim of this study was to analyse the relation between the health of non-unemployed people and the levels of unemployment in society. Two groups of young people aged 21 were surveyed, one in 1986 (the boom group, n = 1083) and one in 1994 (the recession group, n = 898). The non-response rate was 2% in the first and 10% in the second group. Both groups were investigated with a self-administered questionnaire, which included questions about somatic and psychological health, as well as experiences of employment, unemployment, education and labour market programmes. Young men and women generally reported more somatic and psychological symptoms during recession than boom. The only exception was psychological symptoms among men, which was of the same magnitude during both periods. Poorer health during recession was found among women in work and in labour market programmes, as well as among both male and female students. Multiple regression analysis was performed in order to analyse if the occupational-related health effects of the trade cycle remained after controlling for possible moderating factors. The effects of unemployment in society on young people's health may be mediated through pessimism about the future, high demands and financial problems. Lack of control over the work situation may also be an important contributing factor to ill health among women during recession. The trade cycle was correlated with ill health among women only. Possible explanations for poorer health among women during a recession were discussed.

  3. Shale gas boom in the US. Technology - economy - environmental effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyer-Renschhausen, Martin; Klippel, Philipp

    2017-01-01

    There is hardly any other issue that polarizes the energy policy discussion so far as the production of shale gas and shale oil by means of fracking processes. For the advocates, the expansion of unconventional gas and oil production offers the opportunity to intensify competition in the oil and gas markets, to lower prices and to reduce the dependence on uncertain deliveries of OPEC and Russia by increased domestic production. The critics, on the other hand, emphasize the environmental risks associated with fracking and see the extension of the fossil energy base as an obstacle to the climatically required transition to renewable energies. The German legislature emphasizes the environmental risks associated with fracking and has de facto forbidden fracking with the fracking law package of 24 June 2016. Internationally, the advantages and disadvantages of fracking are, however, assessed very differently, so that a further expansion of unconventional oil and gas production is to be expected. Fracking currently focuses almost entirely on the USA. Numerous studies investigate the potentials, the profitability of the different methods of production as well as the environmental effects. Therefore, American shale gas production offers an excellent viewpoint in order to estimate the technology, its economic efficiency and its consequences. This book evaluates the current studies and data and contributes to the assessment of the long-term energy-economic and climatological significance of shale gas production in the international context. [de

  4. 187 AGRICULTURAL GROWTH AND EXTERNAL DEBT ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    indices painted a dark picture at the middle stage of Nigerian economy. ... 1980, the oil boom that drafted away government's attention from agriculture in early 70's ..... projects, thus creating room for some selective prestigious projects of ...

  5. Experimental evaluation of the hydraulic resistance of compacted bentonite/boom clay interface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang, Anh-Minh; Cui, Yu-Jun; Delage, Pierre; Munoz, Juan Jorge; Li, Xiang-Ling

    2008-01-01

    In the framework of the in-situ PRACLAY Heater experiment to be performed in the HADES URF in Mol (Belgium), the feasibility of a hydraulic cut-off of the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) and the Repository Components (RC) of the disposal galleries by using a horizontal seal will be examined. It has been planned to install an annular seal composed of compacted bentonite between the heated zone and the access gallery (PRACLAY seal test), so that to avoid any hydraulic shortcut towards the access gallery. According to numerical scoping calculations, heating until 80 deg C will induce a pore pressure of the order of 3.0 MPa. In order to verify the effects of this water pressure on the performance of the annular seal system and more specifically on the hydraulic resistance of the interface between the compacted bentonite and the host rock (Boom clay), laboratory percolation tests at 20 and 80 deg C were performed. The results confirm the performance of the compacted bentonite seal to avoid the hydraulic shortcut to the access gallery under the foreseen hydraulic and thermal conditions. (author)

  6. [Cigarette and advertising poster: history of a dangerous connection in the post-war economic boom].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olivier, Jacques

    2013-11-27

    The advertising poster's main characteristic is the ability to convey a commercial message quickly and publicly thanks to its straightforward image and text. The young people, being the tobacco industry's principal target, are particularly exposed to these messages. This kind of advertisement becomes a mean of counterstroke as soon as the cigarette's harmfulness is acknowledged. Some of the cigarette industry's strategies can be revealed by the historical analysis of a 253 posters corpus selected among the main cigarette manufacturers in Switzerland at the time of the post-war economic boom. With the misuse of sport's theme, the overvaluation of the filter's efficiency, the use of a vocabulary that implies lightness and by erasing the image of smoke in its advertisement, the industry tries to reassure the smoker wrongly.

  7. Virtual learning : oil and gas training in the virtual world

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Macedo, R.

    2006-07-15

    New software technologies may help to meet increased training demands in the booming oil and gas industry. Although not intended to take the place of hands-on training, a new 3-D simulation program designed by Terris Hill may help new employees demonstrate initial competency. The program outlines the basic training requirements of working on a service rig and was designed to look like many of today's video games. The software was patterned after one cycle of work on a particular job on a service rig. Workers navigate through the 3-D program, which was was built by animators and graphic artists and then tested by experts in the industry. Calgary-based 3D Internet is also developing technology to create training programs for workers in the oil and gas industry. In addition to interactive training programs, the company has constructed simulations, and has recently completed a project for a massive water treatment plant in Saudi Arabia. The company has also created a substation training program that includes voice-overs from actual field employees, as well as interactive knobs and gauges. Simulation training may benefit both employers and employees, as trainees can review procedures repeatedly without the dangers of personal injury or equipment failure. Entry modules can include helpful hints and guidelines while certification modules will grade for behaviour and quality of work performed without system help. However, although simulation technology may help the safety level and proficiency of workers, it represents only a fraction of what workers will need to know before working on an actual service rig. It was concluded that any move to incorporate new simulation training programs within current interactive training programs will need to be driven by industry. 4 figs.

  8. Vegetable oil spills : oil properties and behaviour

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fingas, M.; Fieldhouse, B.; Jokuty, P.

    2001-01-01

    In 1997, the United States Environmental Protection Agency conducted a thorough review of the issue regarding vegetable oil spills. Recent attention has refocused on this issue as a result of an incident where 20 tons of canola oil was spilled in the Vancouver Harbour in 2000. In the past, vegetable oils were suggested to be a useful test material because they were thought to be innocuous. It was even suggested they be used to remove petroleum oil residues from beaches. However, recent studies have shown that spills of vegetable oils can have major environmental consequences, equivalent to those of petroleum oil spills. The spills have devastating effects on birds and intertidal organisms. This paper presented a summary of historical vegetable spills from around the world. In this study, specific behaviour tests were examined for several oils including canola, soy bean, olive, castor and corn oils. Evaporation, water-in-oil emulsification and chemical dispersion were measured and were found to be nearly zero, suggesting that vegetable oil spills are not very soluble in water. The aquatic toxicity of vegetable oil is low, but their fate is quite different from petroleum. Vegetable oils do not evaporate to a significant degree, they do not form water-in-oil emulsions, nor do they disperse in water. The physical properties of vegetable oils were also measured, including density and viscosity. This paper presented the aquatic toxicity of several vegetable oils along with other environmental data including the degradation rates noted in the literature. Most environmental damage reported in the literature is by contact with birds feathers resulting in hypothermia and secondly by smothering of intertidal organisms. The effect of vegetable oil on fish has not been well studied, but it is expected that there will be little destructive effect except where smothering can occur. 35 refs., 3 tabs

  9. Vegetable oil spills : oil properties and behaviour

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fingas, M.; Fieldhouse, B.; Jokuty, P. [Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Emergencies Science Div

    2001-07-01

    In 1997, the United States Environmental Protection Agency conducted a thorough review of the issue regarding vegetable oil spills. Recent attention has refocused on this issue as a result of an incident where 20 tons of canola oil was spilled in the Vancouver Harbour in 2000. In the past, vegetable oils were suggested to be a useful test material because they were thought to be innocuous. It was even suggested they be used to remove petroleum oil residues from beaches. However, recent studies have shown that spills of vegetable oils can have major environmental consequences, equivalent to those of petroleum oil spills. The spills have devastating effects on birds and intertidal organisms. This paper presented a summary of historical vegetable spills from around the world. In this study, specific behaviour tests were examined for several oils including canola, soy bean, olive, castor and corn oils. Evaporation, water-in-oil emulsification and chemical dispersion were measured and were found to be nearly zero, suggesting that vegetable oil spills are not very soluble in water. The aquatic toxicity of vegetable oil is low, but their fate is quite different from petroleum. Vegetable oils do not evaporate to a significant degree, they do not form water-in-oil emulsions, nor do they disperse in water. The physical properties of vegetable oils were also measured, including density and viscosity. This paper presented the aquatic toxicity of several vegetable oils along with other environmental data including the degradation rates noted in the literature. Most environmental damage reported in the literature is by contact with birds feathers resulting in hypothermia and secondly by smothering of intertidal organisms. The effect of vegetable oil on fish has not been well studied, but it is expected that there will be little destructive effect except where smothering can occur. 35 refs., 3 tabs.

  10. Converting heavy oils into light oils, etc

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mony, H

    1915-12-22

    A process is described for transforming heavy oils obtained by the carbonization of lignites, peats, coals, shales into light oils, and also the heavy oils of mineral and vegetable origin, consisting of heating the heavy oils or tars in the presence of one or more solid substances or liquids suitably chosen to cause the distillation of the oils under atmospheric pressure at an appropriate temperature; solid and liquid substances which favor the production of light products under the influence of heat being added preferably to the oil to be treated before putting it in the retort and before heating, so that light oils are obtained by treatment of the heavy oils in a single operation.

  11. An air quality emission inventory of offshore operations for the exploration and production of petroleum by the Mexican oil industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villasenor, R.; Magdaleno, M.; Quintanar, A.; Gallardo, J. C.; López, M. T.; Jurado, R.; Miranda, A.; Aguilar, M.; Melgarejo, L. A.; Palmerín, E.; Vallejo, C. J.; Barchet, W. R.

    An air quality screening study was performed to assess the impacts of emissions from the offshore operations of the oil and gas exploration and production by Mexican industry in the Campeche Sound, which includes the states of Tabasco and Campeche in southeast Mexico. The major goal of this study was the compilation of an emission inventory (EI) for elevated, boom and ground level flares, processes, internal combustion engines and fugitive emissions. This inventory is so far the most comprehensive emission register that has ever been developed for the Mexican petroleum industry in this area. The EI considered 174 offshore platforms, the compression station at Atasta, and the Maritime Ports at Dos Bocas and Cayo Arcas. The offshore facilities identified as potential emitters in the area were the following: (1) trans-shipment stations, (2) a maritime floating port terminal, (3) drilling platforms, (4) crude oil recovering platforms, (5) crude oil production platforms, (6) linking platforms, (7) water injection platforms, (8) pumping platforms, (9) shelter platforms, (10) telecommunication platforms, (11) crude oil measurement platforms, and (12) flaring platforms. Crude oil storage tanks, helicopters and marine ship tankers were also considered to have an EI accurate enough for air quality regulations and mesoscale modeling of atmospheric pollutants. Historical ambient data measure at two onshore petroleum facilities were analyzed to measure air quality impacts on nearby inhabited coastal areas, and a source-receptor relationship for flares at the Ixtoc marine complex was performed to investigate health-based standards for offshore workers. A preliminary air quality model simulation was performed to observe the transport and dispersion patterns of SO 2, which is the main pollutant emitted from the offshore platforms. The meteorological wind and temperature fields were generated with CALMET, a diagnostic meteorological model that used surface observations and upper

  12. A see-saw of pre-Columbian boom regions in southern Peru, determined by large-scale circulation changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mächtle, B.; Schittek, K.; Forbriger, M.; Schäbitz, F.; Eitel, B.

    2012-04-01

    Environmental changes and cultural transitions during several periods of Peruvian history show a strong coincidence between humid and dry climatic oscillations and the rise and decline of cultures. It is noteworthy, that alternating periods of geo-ecological fragility and stability occurred in time and space between the coastal Nasca region (14.5° S) and the high Andean northern Titicaca basin, just a few hundred kilometers to the east. Based on a multi-proxy palynological and sedimentological approach to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental changes, we found that the Nasca region received a maximum of precipitation during the archaeological boom times of the Early Horizon and the Early Intermediate Period (800 BC - 650 AD, Paracas and Nasca cultures) as well as during the late intermediate period (1150-1450 AD), whereas, in contrast, the Titicaca region further to the south-east experienced drought and cultural depression during that times. During the Middle Horizon (650 - 1150 AD), the Tiwanaku agronomy and culture boomed in the Titicaca region and expanded to the west, contemporaneous with a raised lake level and more humid conditions. In the Nasca region, runoff for irrigation purposes was reduced and less reliable due to drought. Considering a coincidence between environmental and cultural changes, we state that success and decline of civilizations were controlled by hydrological oscillations, triggering fertility as well as a critical loss of natural resources. In response to spatial changing resources, cultural foci were shifted. Therefore, the success of pre-Columbian civilizations was closely coupled to areas of geo-ecological favorability, which were directly controlled by distinct regional impacts of large-scale circulation mechanisms, including El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Changes in the position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the Bolivian anticyclone determined meridional shifts in moisture transport across the Andes, which

  13. Iranian-Oil-Free Zone and international oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza; Raeisian Parvari, Mozhgan

    2014-01-01

    One of the main elements of economic sanctions against Iran due to its nuclear and military programs is crude oil exportation restrictions in addition to investment in Iranian energy related projects. Senders of such sanction are interested in understanding the impacts of such embargos on international oil prices. We apply unrestricted vector autoregressive (VAR) model, using impulse response functions (IRF) and variance decomposition analysis (VDA) tools with annual data from 1965 to 2012 to analyze the dynamic response of international oil prices to Iranian oil export sanction. Controlling for the supply of non-Iranian oil, the world GDP per capita, and post-Islamic revolution exogenous dummy variables, we show that international oil prices respond negatively and statistically significant to increasing shock in absolute negative changes of the Iranian oil exports – our proxy of Iran oil sanctions – following the first 2 years after shock. The main reason is the positive response of the non-Iranian oil supply to negative shocks in Iranian oil exports, filling the missing supply of Iranian oil in international markets. - Highlights: • We analyze the interconnections between Iranian oil supply and global oil prices. • We use VAR modeling and annual data from 1965 to 2012 for the case of Iran. • There are no inflationary effects of Iranian oil sanction on world oil prices. • Non-Iranian oil supply offsets the missing Iranian oil in the market

  14. Energy revolution: Fracking. In booming speed back to petroleum and natural gas; Energierevolution: Fracking. Im Boomtempo zurueck zu Oel und Gas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mardo, Dietrich

    2013-06-06

    Fracking is the extraction of petroleum and shale gas from deep layers of earth. This technology is not new, as it was already used in the year 1940 and is comparable to geothermal drilling. In the United State of America as well as in the People's Republic of China fracking experiences an economic boom. The deposits are large. However, fracking can be a deathblow for the German energy policy turnaround. In this regard, the contribution under consideration reports on the developments.

  15. Green bio-oil extraction for oil crops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zainab, H.; Nurfatirah, N.; Norfaezah, A.; Othman, H.

    2016-06-01

    The move towards a green bio-oil extraction technique is highlighted in this paper. The commonly practised organic solvent oil extraction technique could be replaced with a modified microwave extraction. Jatropha seeds (Jatropha curcas) were used to extract bio-oil. Clean samples were heated in an oven at 110 ° C for 24 hours to remove moisture content and ground to obtain particle size smaller than 500μm. Extraction was carried out at different extraction times 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, 60 min and 120 min to determine oil yield. The biooil yield obtained from microwave assisted extraction system at 90 minutes was 36% while that from soxhlet extraction for 6 hours was 42%. Bio-oil extracted using the microwave assisted extraction (MAE) system could enhance yield of bio-oil compared to soxhlet extraction. The MAE extraction system is rapid using only water as solvent which is a nonhazardous, environment-friendly technique compared to soxhlet extraction (SE) method using hexane as solvent. Thus, this is a green technique of bio-oil extraction using only water as extractant. Bio-oil extraction from the pyrolysis of empty fruit bunch (EFB), a biomass waste from oil palm crop, was enhanced using a biocatalyst derived from seashell waste. Oil yield for non-catalytic extraction was 43.8% while addition of seashell based biocatalyst was 44.6%. Oil yield for non-catalytic extraction was 43.8% while with addition of seashell-based biocatalyst was 44.6%. The pH of bio-oil increased from 3.5 to 4.3. The viscosity of bio-oil obtained by catalytic means increased from 20.5 to 37.8 cP. A rapid and environment friendly extraction technique is preferable to enhance bio-oil yield. The microwave assisted approach is a green, rapid and environmental friendly extraction technique for the production of bio-oil bearing crops.

  16. Morphogenic Regulators Baby boom and Wuschel Improve Monocot Transformation[OPEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowe, Keith; Wu, Emily; Cho, Myeong-Je; Lenderts, Brian; Chamberlin, Mark; Cushatt, Josh; Ryan, Larisa; Khan, Tanveer; Chow-Yiu, Julia; Hua, Wei; Banh, Jenny; Bao, Zhongmeng; Brink, Kent; Igo, Elizabeth; Rudrappa, Bhojaraja; Shamseer, PM; Shen, Bo; Zheng, Peizhong; Bidney, Dennis; Falco, Carl; Zhao, Zuo-Yu; Xu, Deping

    2016-01-01

    While transformation of the major monocot crops is currently possible, the process typically remains confined to one or two genotypes per species, often with poor agronomics, and efficiencies that place these methods beyond the reach of most academic laboratories. Here, we report a transformation approach involving overexpression of the maize (Zea mays) Baby boom (Bbm) and maize Wuschel2 (Wus2) genes, which produced high transformation frequencies in numerous previously nontransformable maize inbred lines. For example, the Pioneer inbred PHH5G is recalcitrant to biolistic and Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation. However, when Bbm and Wus2 were expressed, transgenic calli were recovered from over 40% of the starting explants, with most producing healthy, fertile plants. Another limitation for many monocots is the intensive labor and greenhouse space required to supply immature embryos for transformation. This problem could be alleviated using alternative target tissues that could be supplied consistently with automated preparation. As a major step toward this objective, we transformed Bbm and Wus2 directly into either embryo slices from mature seed or leaf segments from seedlings in a variety of Pioneer inbred lines, routinely recovering healthy, fertile T0 plants. Finally, we demonstrated that the maize Bbm and Wus2 genes stimulate transformation in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) immature embryos, sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) callus, and indica rice (Oryza sativa ssp indica) callus. PMID:27600536

  17. Boom, Bust and Beyond: Arts and Sustainability in Calumet, Michigan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richelle Winkler

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Cycles of boom and bust plague mining communities around the globe, and decades after the bust the skeletons of shrunken cities remain. This article evaluates strategies for how former mining communities cope and strive for sustainability in the decades well beyond the bust, using a case study of Calumet, Michigan. In 1910, Calumet was at the center of the mining industry in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but in the century since its peak, mining employment steadily declined until the last mine closed in 1968, and the population declined by over 80%. This paper explores challenges, opportunities, and progress toward sustainability associated with arts-related development in this context. Methods are mixed, including observation, interviews, document review, a survey, and secondary data analysis. We follow Flora and Flora’s Community Capitals Framework to analyze progress toward sustainability. Despite key challenges associated with the shrunken city context (degraded tax base, overbuilt and aging infrastructure, diminished human capital, and a rather limited set of volunteers and political actors, we find the shrunken city also offers advantages for arts development, including low rents, less risk of gentrification, access to space, and political incentive. In Calumet, we see evidence of a spiraling up pattern toward social sustainability resulting from arts development; however impacts on environmental and economic sustainability are limited.

  18. On the oxidation of the dissolved organic matter in Boom clay by NaNO3 and NaNO2 from disposed Eurobitum bituminized waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasile, M.; Bleyen, N.; Valcke, E.; Bruggeman, C.; Marien, A.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. In Belgium, Boom Clay is studied as a potential host clay formation for the final disposal of EUROBITUM bituminized waste, which consists of 60 wt% hard bitumen (Mexphalt R85/40) and 40 wt% waste. The main salts that are present in the bituminized waste are NaNO 3 , 20-30 wt%, and CaSO 4 , 4-6 wt%. After disposal of the waste in the clay, an uptake of pore water by the embedded, dehydrated and hygroscopic salts will lead to a swelling of the waste and to a release of the salts into the Boom Clay. A possible consequence of the salt release is the oxidation of the clay by nitrate and, possibly, nitrite, resulting in a lower reducing capacity of the clay towards redox sensitive radionuclides, which in turn could have an impact on the migration behaviour of these radionuclides. The extent of oxidation of authigenic Boom Clay redox sensitive components, like organic matter and pyrite is studied at the SCK.CEN. As a first step in the study of the influence of nitrate and nitrite on the redoxactive Boom Clay components, we performed batch tests with dissolved organic matter (DOM). DOM was exposed to different concentrations of nitrate and nitrite for more than one year in both biotic and abiotic conditions. This paper will discuss the results obtained by exposing DOM to nitrate and nitrite and comparing two methods for the determination of its redox capacity. NaNO 3 or NaNO 2 , previously stored under inert atmosphere to remove all oxygen gas, was added to Boom Clay water collected from a piezometer to obtain final salt concentrations of 0.1 and 0.005 M NaNO 3 , or 0.05 and 0.005 M NaNO 2 . Sodium azide, also stored under inert atmosphere, was added (0.2 wt. %) to inhibit the microbial activity in the tests, creating abiotic conditions. All solutions were prepared in an anaerobic glove box. The nitrate and nitrite reduction by DOM was followed by analysing the concentrations of nitrate, nitrite and ammonium in the

  19. Effect of mineral oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil on prevention of hair damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rele, Aarti S; Mohile, R B

    2003-01-01

    Previously published results showed that both in vitro and in vivo coconut oil (CNO) treatments prevented combing damage of various hair types. Using the same methodology, an attempt was made to study the properties of mineral oil and sunflower oil on hair. Mineral oil (MO) was selected because it is extensively used in hair oil formulations in India, because it is non-greasy in nature, and because it is cheaper than vegetable oils like coconut and sunflower oils. The study was extended to sunflower oil (SFO) because it is the second most utilized base oil in the hair oil industry on account of its non-freezing property and its odorlessness at ambient temperature. As the aim was to cover different treatments, and the effect of these treatments on various hair types using the above oils, the number of experiments to be conducted was a very high number and a technique termed as the Taguchi Design of Experimentation was used. The findings clearly indicate the strong impact that coconut oil application has to hair as compared to application of both sunflower and mineral oils. Among three oils, coconut oil was the only oil found to reduce the protein loss remarkably for both undamaged and damaged hair when used as a pre-wash and post-wash grooming product. Both sunflower and mineral oils do not help at all in reducing the protein loss from hair. This difference in results could arise from the composition of each of these oils. Coconut oil, being a triglyceride of lauric acid (principal fatty acid), has a high affinity for hair proteins and, because of its low molecular weight and straight linear chain, is able to penetrate inside the hair shaft. Mineral oil, being a hydrocarbon, has no affinity for proteins and therefore is not able to penetrate and yield better results. In the case of sunflower oil, although it is a triglyceride of linoleic acid, because of its bulky structure due to the presence of double bonds, it does not penetrate the fiber, consequently resulting

  20. Biobased products from rubber, jatropha and sunflower oil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bin Abu Ghazali, Yusuf

    2015-01-01

    In dit proefschrift wordt onderzoek beschreven naar het identificeren van interessante producten uit de zaden van de rubber boom (Hevea brasiliensis). Deze zaden worden momenteel niet gebruikt en in vele rubberplantages gezien als afval. De zaden bestaan uit een harde schil (39 wt%) en een kern (61

  1. China’s Largesse: Why China Is Generous With Foreign Aid

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-12-01

    Saharan Africa (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2009), 84. 174 David E. Brown, Africa’s Booming Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production...Kenya, resource exploration and exploitation does not motivate Chinese investment. Kenya is resource poor. It does not export oil or gas and has no...Unipolarities? Power Distribution and State Behaviour in South America and Southern Africa,” Strategic Analysis 41, no. 1 (2017): 74, doi:10.1080

  2. Chemometric techniques in oil classification from oil spill fingerprinting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ismail, Azimah; Toriman, Mohd Ekhwan; Juahir, Hafizan; Kassim, Azlina Md; Zain, Sharifuddin Md; Ahmad, Wan Kamaruzaman Wan; Wong, Kok Fah; Retnam, Ananthy; Zali, Munirah Abdul; Mokhtar, Mazlin; Yusri, Mohd Ayub

    2016-10-15

    Extended use of GC-FID and GC-MS in oil spill fingerprinting and matching is significantly important for oil classification from the oil spill sources collected from various areas of Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah (East Malaysia). Oil spill fingerprinting from GC-FID and GC-MS coupled with chemometric techniques (discriminant analysis and principal component analysis) is used as a diagnostic tool to classify the types of oil polluting the water. Clustering and discrimination of oil spill compounds in the water from the actual site of oil spill events are divided into four groups viz. diesel, Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), Mixture Oil containing Light Fuel Oil (MOLFO) and Waste Oil (WO) according to the similarity of their intrinsic chemical properties. Principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrates that diesel, HFO, MOLFO and WO are types of oil or oil products from complex oil mixtures with a total variance of 85.34% and are identified with various anthropogenic activities related to either intentional releasing of oil or accidental discharge of oil into the environment. Our results show that the use of chemometric techniques is significant in providing independent validation for classifying the types of spilled oil in the investigation of oil spill pollution in Malaysia. This, in consequence would result in cost and time saving in identification of the oil spill sources. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  3. Essays in the Economics of Energy Development and Disamenities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rakitan, Timothy J.

    This dissertation consists of three essays broadly themed around evaluating the impact of energy infrastructure on local consumers and industries. Taken together, they characterize ways in which the presence of energy activity is reflected in local land and labor market conditions, with a particular focus on the deployment of wind energy generation and shale resource extraction. The first chapter examines the relationship between the placement of wind energy infrastructure and house values and incomes in Iowa. The results suggest that income growth offsets some of the negative house-value effects commonly observed in the evaluation literature, but also that income gains reported in the literature are geographically distributed away from wind farm locations. I conclude that proximity to wind turbines does not increase the real incomes of local residents. The second chapter applies a regional model to county-level wage, house value, employment and energy production data to characterize the economic impact of the U.S. shale boom of the mid-2000s. While the boom has been responsible for wage and employment gains in counties located within the bounds of U.S. shale oil and gas plays, the net effect on house values has been negative. Within the set of energy-producing counties, however, house value declines are mitigated during the boom period as willingness-to-pay for residential space can overcome some of the negative impacts of energy industry activity. I conclude that shale energy extraction is a disamenity at the local level. The third chapter extends the analysis of the impact of the shale boom by examining possible spillovers in agriculture. Using parcel-level data from North Dakota, I analyze rental rates to assess the extent to which oil industry activity affects the returns to agricultural land. While "on-shale" parcels lease at lower rates than parcels located outside the oil fields, I cannot reject the hypothesis that proximity to an oil well has no impact on

  4. 21 CFR 172.861 - Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... kernel oil, or both oils. 172.861 Section 172.861 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT... substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils. The food additive, cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils, may be safely used in food in accordance with the following...

  5. Determination of gas diffusion coefficients in undisturbed Boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacops, E.; Volckaert, G.; Maes, N.; Govaerts, J.; Weetjens, E.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The Belgian agency for radioactive waste and enriched fissile materials Ondraf/Niras presently considers Boom Clay as a potential host formation for the disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste. The production of gas is unavoidable within a geological repository. Gas is produced by different mechanisms: anaerobic corrosion of metals in waste and packaging, radiolysis of water and organic materials in the waste and engineered barriers and microbial degradation of various organic wastes. Corrosion and radiolysis yield mainly hydrogen while microbial degradation leads to methane and carbon dioxide. The gas generated in the near field of a geological repository will dissolve in the pore water and is transported away from the repository by diffusion as dissolved species. If the gas generation rate is larger than the diffusive flux, the pore water will become over-saturated and a free gas phase will form. Initially, isolated gas bubbles will accumulate until a continuous gas phase is formed. As gas pressure continues to increase, discrete gas pathways may be formed by tensile fractures within the rock fabric. Consequently, this entire process may locally and at least temporarily alter the hydraulic and mechanical properties of the engineered barriers and the clay and, perhaps, their performance. Therefore it is important to assess whether or not gas production rates might exceed the diffusive gas flux. The currently available gas diffusion parameters (D eff : effective diffusion coefficient) for hydrogen in Boom Clay, obtained from the MEGAS project, and re-evaluated after lead to an estimated D eff between 1.9 10 -12 and 1.5 10 -10 m 2 /s. Sensitivity calculations showed that this uncertainty on the diffusion coefficient, combined with that on the gas source term, made it impossible to exclude the formation of a free gas phase. To reduce the uncertainty, an experimental method was developed to determine

  6. Combustive management of oil spills

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    Extensive experiments with in situ incineration were performed on a desert site at the University of Arizona with very striking results. The largest incinerator, 6 feet in diameter with a 30 foot chimney, developed combustion temperatures of 3000, F, and attendant soot production approximately 1000 times less than that produced by conventional in situ burning. This soot production, in fact, is approximately 30 times less than current allowable EPA standards for incinerators and internal combustion engines. Furthermore, as a consequence of the high temperature combustion, the bum rate was established at a very high 3400 gallons per hour for this particular 6 foot diameter structure. The rudimentary design studies we have carried out relative to a seagoing 8 foot diameter incinerator have predicted that a continuous burn rate of 7000 gallons per hour is realistic. This structure was taken as a basis for operational design because it is compatible with C130 flyability, and will be inexpensive enough ($120,000 per copy) to be stored at those seaside depots throughout the US coast line in which the requisite ancillary equipments (booms, service tugs, etc.) are already deployed. The LOX experiments verified our expectations with respect to combustion of debris and various highly weathered or emulsified oils. We have concluded, however, that the use of liquid oxygen in actual beach clean up is not promising because the very high temperatures associated with this combustion are almost certain to produce environmentally deleterious effects on the beach surface and its immediately sublying structures. However, the use of liquid oxygen augmentation for shore based and flyable incinerators may still play an important role in handing the problem of accumulated debris

  7. Quantification of rice bran oil in oil blends

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mishra, R.; Sharma, H. K.; Sengar, G.

    2012-11-01

    Blends consisting of physically refined rice bran oil (PRBO): sunflower oil (SnF) and PRBO: safflower oil (SAF) in different proportions were analyzed for various physicochemical parameters. The quantification of pure rice bran oil in the blended oils was carried out using different methods including gas chromatographic, HPLC, ultrasonic velocity and methods based on physico-chemical parameters. The physicochemical parameters such as ultrasonic velocity, relative association and acoustic impedance at 2 MHz, iodine value, palmitic acid content and oryzanol content reflected significant changes with increased proportions of PRBO in the blended oils. These parameters were selected as dependent parameters and % PRBO proportion was selected as independent parameters. The study revealed that regression equations based on the oryzanol content, palmitic acid composition, ultrasonic velocity, relative association, acoustic impedance, and iodine value can be used for the quantification of rice bran oil in blended oils. The rice bran oil can easily be quantified in the blended oils based on the oryzanol content by HPLC even at a 1% level. The palmitic acid content in blended oils can also be used as an indicator to quantify rice bran oil at or above the 20% level in blended oils whereas the method based on ultrasonic velocity, acoustic impedance and relative association showed initial promise in the quantification of rice bran oil. (Author) 23 refs.

  8. Oil spills

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katsouros, M.H.

    1992-01-01

    The world annually transports 1.7 billion tons of oil by sea, and oil spills, often highly concentrated discharges, are increasing from a variety of sources. The author discusses sources of oils spills: natural; marine transportation; offshore oil production; atmospheric sources; municipal industrial wastes and runoff. Other topics include: the fate of the spilled oil; the effects of the oil; the response to oil spills; and prevention of oil spills. 30 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs

  9. The world energy demand in 2007: How high oil prices impact the global energy demand? June 9, 2008

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    How high oil prices impact the global energy demand? The growth of energy demand continued to accelerate in 2007 despite soaring prices, to reach 2,8 % (+ 0,3 point compared to 2006). This evolution results from two diverging trends: a shrink in energy consumption in most of OECD countries, except North America, and a strong increase in emerging countries. Within the OECD, two contrasting trends can be reported, that compensate each other partially: the reduction of energy consumption in Japan (-0.8%) and in Europe (-1.2%), particularly significant in the EU-15 (-1.9%); the increase of energy consumption in North America (+2%). Globally, the OECD overall consumption continued to increase slightly (+0.5%), while electricity increased faster (2,1%) and fuels remained stable. Elsewhere, the strong energy demand growth remained very dynamic (+5% for the total demand, 8% for electricity only), driven by China (+7.3%). The world oil demand increased by 1% only, but the demand has focused even more on captive end usages, transports and petrochemistry. The world gasoline and diesel demand increased by around 5,7% in 2007, and represents 53% of the total oil products demand in 2007 (51% in 2006). If gasoline and diesel consumption remained quasi-stable within OECD countries, the growth has been extremely strong in the emerging countries, despite booming oil prices. There are mainly two factors explaining this evolution where both oil demand and oil prices increased: Weak elasticity-prices to the demand in transport and petrochemistry sectors Disconnection of domestic fuel prices in major emerging countries (China, India, Latin America) compared to world oil market prices Another striking point is that world crude oil and condensate production remained almost stable in 2007, hence the entire demand growth was supported by destocking. During the same period, the OPEC production decreased by 1%, mainly due to the production decrease in Saudi Arabia, that is probably more

  10. Hydroprocesssing of light gas oil - rape oil mixtures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walendziewski, Jerzy; Stolarski, Marek; Luzny, Rafal; Klimek, Bartlomiej [Faculty of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Technology, ul. Gdanska 7/9, 50-310 Wroclaw (Poland)

    2009-05-15

    Two series of experiments of hydroprocessing of light gas oil - rape oil mixtures were carried out. The reactor feed was composed of raw material: first series - 10 wt.% rape oil and 90 wt.% of diesel oil; second series - 20 wt.% rape oil and 80 wt.% of diesel oil. Hydroprocessing of both mixtures was performed with the same parameter sets, temperature (320, 350 and 380 C), hydrogen pressure 3 and 5 MPa, LHSV = 2 h{sup -} {sup 1} and hydrogen feed ratio of 500 Nm{sup 3}/m{sup 3}. It was stated that within limited range it is possible to control vegetable oil hydrogenolysis in the presence of light gas oil fraction (diesel oil boiling range) through the proper selection of the process parameters. Hydrogenolysis of ester bonds and hydrogenation of olefinic bonds in vegetable oils are the main reactions in the process. Basic physicochemical properties of the obtained hydroprocessed products are presented. (author)

  11. Oil Spills

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... up. How Oil Harms Animals and Plants in Marine Environments In general, oil spills can affect animals and plants in two ways: from the oil ... up. How Oil Harms Animals and Plants in Marine Environments In general, oil spills can affect animals and plants in two ways: from the oil ...

  12. The Tangdan Copper Mines and the 1733 Earthquake: A Mining Community before the Boom in the Far Southwest of Qing China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nanny Kim

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In the official records, copper mines in the southwest of the Qing empire seem to suddenly appear in the late 1730s. In part, this impression is an effect of government attention. Copper, which was the most important metal for casting cash coins, became a pressing concern when imports of Japanese copper dwindled. The government responded by developing domestic resources. Seemingly overnight, Yunnan mines reached impressive levels of productivity and replaced imports. For several decades, the Tangdan mines in northeastern Yunnan supplied most of the copper consumed by the centrally important metropolitan mints. The sudden boom is remarkable and not entirely plausible. This article reassesses the history of Qing-period mining by examining a particular case study. It explores an essay about the Dongchuan earthquake of 1733 that provides a glimpse at the empire’s leading copper mines on the eve of the recorded boom. A close analysis of figures, mining technology, and organizational structures reveals that the mines had been developed by mining entrepreneurs and migrant workers for a considerable period of time outside government attention, operating in a gray zone of unlicensed exploitation. The studied case permits a new assessment of the role of the state and of nonstate players in the industry. Moreover, it throws a new light on the image of Qing society and economy created by the official emphasis on agriculture and the actual role of the nonagrarian sector.

  13. Non-OPEC Oil Supply: Economics and Energy Policy Options

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mourik, Maarten van [Paris (France); Shepherd, Richard K. [Perpignan (France)

    2003-07-01

    Apart from the enigmatic FSU, there is little prospect of long term growth for non-OPEC oil supply and a strong likelihood that over the next few years the trend will flatten and then decline irrevocably. Decline will come faster if the spectacular discoveries in the deep water offshore plays of the southern Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico attract sufficient investment to match the loss of production in the North Sea. Deep water oil supply might be expected to reach a peak of as much as 6-7 million barrels a day by the time the North Sea has lost more than half its current output in the period beyond 2010. But economics play as strong a role as geology in real world oil business. Current indicators suggest that the prolific deep water wells are delivering less oil than expected and for a shorter period. That means less revenue. This paper outlines the disappointing performance of recent offshore fields, in both deep water and conventional water depths, and suggests consequences for global supply in the next decade. The 30 year success story of non-OPEC oil supply stems directly from the oil price revolution of the 1970s, without which the North Sea and most other offshore oil plays would not have been economic. The non-OPEC oil boom was also necessary because access to the cheap oil of the Persian Gulf and a few other plays were simply not available to the international private sector oil industry, as they had been before. That era is now over. It is ending not because oil is too cheap, but because there are powerful reasons for change. Firstly there is not enough oil left to make a difference beyond the next few years. Secondly, the economics of deep water and other offshore oil may not be attractive enough. Thirdly the doors to the Middle East are now being opened again to companies that can write those assets on their balance sheets and generate profits, allowing better return on investment and their higher share prices. There is no more compelling reason for a

  14. Broadening benefits from natural resource extraction: Housing values and taxation of natural gas wells as property

    OpenAIRE

    Weber, Jeremy G.; Burnett, J.Wesley; Xiarchos, Irene M.

    2016-01-01

    We study the effects of the property tax base shock caused by natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale in Texas–a state that taxes oil and gas wells as property. Over the boom and bust in drilling, housing appreciation closely followed the oil and gas property tax base, which expanded the total tax base by 23 percent at its height. The expansion led to a decline in property tax rates while maintaining or increasing revenues to schools. Overall, each $1 per student increase in the oil and gas...

  15. Panorama 2007: Biofuels Worldwide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prieur-Vernat, A.; His, St.

    2007-01-01

    The biofuels market is booming: after more than 20 years of industrial development, global bio-fuel production is growing fast. Willingness to reduce their oil dependence and necessity to promote low-carbon energies are the two main drivers for states to support biofuels development. (author)

  16. Oil/gas collector/separator for underwater oil leaks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henning, C.D.

    1992-12-31

    This invention is comprised of an oil/gas collector/separator for recovery of oil leaking, for example, from an offshore or underwater oil well. The separator is floated over the point of the leak and tethered in place so as to receive oil/gas floating, or forced under pressure, toward the water surface from either a broken or leaking oil well casing, line, or sunken ship. The separator is provided with a downwardly extending skirt to contain the oil/gas which floats or is forced upward into a dome wherein the gas is separated from the oil/water, with the gas being flared (burned) at the top of the dome, and the oil is separated from water and pumped to a point of use. Since the density of oil is less than that of water it can be easily separated from any water entering the dome.

  17. 27 CFR 21.98 - Bone oil (Dipple's oil).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Bone oil (Dipple's oil....98 Bone oil (Dipple's oil). (a) Color. The color shall be a deep brown. (b) Distillation range. When... below 90 °C. (c) Pyrrol reaction. Prepare a 1.0 percent solution of bone oil in 95 percent alcohol...

  18. Indoor spray measurement of spray drift potential using a spray drift test bench : effect of drift-reducing nozzle types, spray boom height, nozzle spacing and forward speed

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moreno Ruiz, J.R.

    2014-01-01

    In a series of indoor experiments spray drift potential was assessed when spraying over a spray drift testbench with two different driving speeds, 2m/s and 4m/s, two different spray boom heights, 30 cm and 50 cm, and two different nozzle spacing, 25 cm and 50 cm, for six different nozzle types. The

  19. Calibration of mathematical models for simulation of thermal, seepage and mechanical behaviour of boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldi, G.; Borsetto, M.; Hueckel, T.

    1987-01-01

    This report presents results of research on the verification of the validity of a generalized thermo-elastoplastic-hydraulic mathematical model elaborated at Ismes for description of the behaviour of boom clay. The model is described in Section 2. Experimental results performed at Ismes for the identification of the material constants in athermal and thermal drained conditions are then presented. Procedures for the identification are described in Section 4. The undrained consolidated constant total stress heating test is then discussed. The undrained test shows the possibility of clay yielding due to effective pressure decrease during heating, caused by water pressure growth. The test has been simulated numerically, confirming the interpretation of the experiment. Further simulation of plane strain and plane stress central heating axisymmetric problem shows again a formation of a yielded clay zone around the heater. Interpretation of the results and recommendations for further research are given

  20. Compositional modification of crude oil during oil recovery

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, Yangming; Weng, Huanxin [Department of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China); Chen, Zulin; Chen, Qi [Petroleum Geochemistry Research Center, Jianghan Petroleum University, Jingzhou, Hubei (China)

    2003-05-01

    Ten crude oils from two recovery stages spanning 5-10-year interval of five productive wells in the Tarim Basin, northwest China were analyzed for their compositional modification during production process. Significant compositional changes in polar and nonpolar fractions between the previous oil samples and the latter ones were noted at both bulk and molecular level. The latter oil samples appear to contain more aromatic fraction and less asphaltenes and resin, and their gas chromatography (GC) data for whole oil show reduced alkanes with low molecular weight and enhanced high homologue relative to the previous oil samples. Compared with the oils collected from the previous recovery stage, the concentration of basic type of nitrogen-containing compounds and organic acids in oils from the latter recovery stage have a reducing trend, suggesting the occurrence of interaction between crude oil and reservoir rock.

  1. Effect of Sludge Concentration and Crude Glycerol Matrix as a Substrate on the Production of Single-Cell Oil by Oleaginous Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica SKY7

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saurabh Kumar Ram

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The disposal of excess crude glycerol produced by the booming biodiesel industry and wastewater sludge solid waste has become a severe problem, and alternate routes of use and valorization of these waste byproducts are needed. The use of cheaply available wastewater sludge solids in fermentation media is very much desirable to reduce the cost of production. The strains of Yarrowia lipolytica can assimilate a wide array of waste substrates, such as crude glycerol, waste cooking oil, starch wastewater, and cellulosic. This study optimized the concentration of wastewater sludge solids (5–35 g/L to be used with crude glycerol in fermentation media to produce microbial oil as feedstock for biodiesel production. The results indicated that 20 g/L of sludge solids with 40 g/L of crude glycerol resulted in highest lipid content of 29.35% in 96 h. Further, assuming wet extraction of lipids, it was found that at least 11.2% or higher lipid content is required for this process to have an overall positive net solid waste reduction. Insignificant inhibition was observed by the crude glycerol used in this study as compared to pure glycerol, which proves it to be an adequate source of carbon substrate for lipid production.

  2. Oil and influence: the oil weapon examined

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maull, H

    1975-01-01

    The term ''oil weapon'' as used here signifies any manipulation of the price and/or supply of oil by exporting nations with the intention of changing the political behavior of the consumer nations. The political potential of the oil price is fairly restricted so, in effect, the supply interruptions are of prime concern. Manipulating price does, in principle, offer the possibilities of both conferring rewards and inflicting sanctions. Oil could be sold on preferential prices and terms. A precondition for using the oil weapon successfully would be the ability to cause real and serious damage to the consumer countries. Four damaging potentials for using the oil weapon could include its application by: (1) one producer against one consumer; (2) one producer against all consumers; (3) a group of producers against one consumer; and (4) by a group of producers against all consumers. It is concluded that the oil weapon will continue to be a force in the international system. (MCW)

  3. Biochemically enhanced oil recovery and oil treatment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Premuzic, Eugene T.; Lin, Mow

    1994-01-01

    This invention relates to the preparation of new, modified organisms, through challenge growth processes, that are viable in the extreme temperature, pressure and pH conditions and salt concentrations of an oil reservoir and that are suitable for use in microbial enhanced oil recovery. The modified microorganisms of the present invention are used to enhance oil recovery and remove sulfur compounds and metals from the crude oil.

  4. Indonesia focuses upstream toward sweeter terms, gas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1994-01-01

    With the prospect looming this decade of losing its status as a net oil exporter, Indonesia is sweetening the pot for foreign petroleum investors and refocusing on natural gas. The decline in the discovery rate of oil reserves and low world oil prices have caused Indonesian hydrocarbon exploration in 1992--93 to fall short of expectations after the boom in drilling during 1989--91. Indonesia's government earlier this month disclosed a long awaited incentive package designed to attract new oil investors to high risk and remote areas of the archipelago. The paper describes the incentive package, production sharing contracts, reserves and production, the gas future, and domestic gas use

  5. Research of losses of oil oil and mineral oil at transportation and storage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akzhigitov, A.S.

    2005-01-01

    Full text : All way of hydrocarbonic raw material from a mouth of oil wells up to the consumer is accompanied by losses which occur as a result of evaporation, outflow and change of quality. Therefore preservation of quantity and quality of oil and mineral oil during transportation and storages is the major not only economic, but also an ecological problem. The facilitated fractional structure, the big maintenance concern to prominent features of the majority oil from underground salts adjournment Prycaspi in them of the easy hydrocarbons, the raised gas factor in conditions of deposits and presence in structure of gases, except for hydrocarbons and sour a component, - hydrogen sulphide, carbonic gas, etc. The superficial tests stabilized on phase structure oil depending on conditions of preparation for external transport and the subsequent processing can contain this or that quantity of residual hydrogen sulphide, easy hydrocarbons and the lowest sulfhydrates. For change of temperature and external pressure, during transportation and storage the part of easy hydrocarbons and not hydrocarbonic connections (sulfur organic) can be allocated from oil in a gaseous phase and in case of hit in an atmosphere sharply worsens ecology. In the Western Kazakhstan during the years period the temperature of air sometimes reaches up to 40-45 degrees. As is known, at such temperature there is a strengthened warming up of the open surface of oil tanks, that finally leads to increase evaporation easy oil and oil hydrocarbons. With this purpose experiences by quantitative definition evaporation lungs oil and petromixes of the Western Kazakhstan were spent. As a result of the lead works it is found out, that the size of losses at the given fixed temperature depends on evaporation by nature, fractional and hydrocarbonic structures of oil

  6. Influence of oil and mineral characteristics on oil-mineral interaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wood, P.A.; Lunel, T.; Daniel, F.; Swannell, R.; Lee, K.; Stoffyn-Egli, P.

    1998-01-01

    A laboratory study was conducted to simulate the process of oil-mineral interaction in seawater. Thirteen different crudes, emulsions and oil products were used in the study. The objective was to improve the fundamental understanding of the characteristics of oils and minerals that influence the process. The findings of an initial phase of studies based on the swirling flask and marine simulation procedures were also described. Oil content associated with flocs to oil and mineral characteristics were discussed. Emulsions were prepared at 10 degrees C by vigorously mixing the oil with excess artificial seawater in a Kilner jar using a high shear homogenizer. Topped oils were prepared by distillation to 250 degrees C. The biodegraded oil was prepared from the topped crude oil. Biodegradation was achieved over a 28 day period using natural seawater and naturally occurring hydrocarbon degraders. The relationships between oil concentration, oil density and mineral exchange capacity were determined. The study showed that greater oil concentrations in the water column could be expected with (1) the presence of mineral fines, (2) minerals with greater cation exchange rates, (3) minerals with finer sizes, and (4) oils of lower viscosity and density. It was determined that in coastal waters the viscosity of the oil/emulsion will likely be the main factor affecting oil-mineral interactions. The viscosity limit for allowing oil fines interaction is likely to be dependent on the energy in the coastal zone affected by the oil pollution. 18 refs., 5 tabs., 13 figs

  7. Dynamic correlation between stock market and oil prices: The case of oil-importing and oil-exporting countries

    OpenAIRE

    Filis, George; Degiannakis, S.; Floros, C.

    2011-01-01

    The paper investigates the time-varying correlation between stock market prices and oil prices for oil-importing and oil-exporting countries. A DCC-GARCH-GJR approach is employed to test the above hypothesis based on data from six countries; Oil-exporting: Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Oil-importing: USA, Germany, Netherlands. The contemporaneous correlation results show that i) although time-varying correlation does not differ for oil-importing and oil-exporting economies, ii) the correlation i...

  8. What is behind the increase in oil prices? Analyzing oil consumption and supply relationship with oil price

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gallo, Andres; Mason, Paul; Shapiro, Steve; Fabritius, Michael

    2010-01-01

    The continuing increases in oil prices have renewed the argument over the real culprits behind these movements. The growth in demand for oil in international markets, especially from the United States and China, is often identified as the main source of consumption pressure on prices, and thus the upward trend in oil prices. This paper uses unit root tests with two endogenous breaks to analyze the characteristics of oil prices, production, and consumption for several countries. By taking into account structural breaks, we find that many countries' oil consumption and oil prices are stationary, while other countries' are not. We also perform causality tests to determine the direction of any possible relationship between oil price and oil consumption and production. Our statistical analysis reveals that production variables cause oil prices, while oil prices tend to cause consumption. As a result, we claim that the blame for the recent fluctuations in oil prices is more appropriately associated with supply factors, not consumption influences. (author)

  9. Oil flow in deep waters: comparative study between light oils and heavy oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andreolli, Ivanilto [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2009-12-19

    Ultra deeper waters fields are being exploited due to technological development. Under this scenario, the flow design is accomplished through pipelines subjected to low temperature and high pressure. Moreover, these flow lines are usually long causing a fast fluid cooling, which may affect flow assurance in some cases. Problems during topsides production plant's restart might occur if the oil is viscous and even in steady state a significant different behavior can be noticed, if compared to a less viscous oil. A comparison between light and heavy oil through a case study with the objective to show some heavy oil flow particularities is the purpose of this paper. Permanent and transient analyses for a specific geometry are presented. The results showed that thermal and proper viscosity modeling are required for heavy oil flow, differently from that of light oil flow, due to the exponential viscosity dependence to temperature and because the predominant laminar regime. In addition, on heavier and heavier oil flow systems, it is essential to consider exportation system's restart. (author)

  10. Japan FRI research activities on oil tank/spilled oil fire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koseki, Hiroshi

    1992-01-01

    Introduction of research activities on oil tank/spilled oil fire at FRI, Japan is done. FRI has a long history of studying oil tank and spilled oil fires. Many large oil fire tests were done. The purpose of these studies is different with research of response of oil spill, but the accumulation of this knowledge is useful for conducting elimination of spilled oil on the sea with burning. Therefore to do collaboration with fire science research groups, such as FRI is useful for future activities for response to oil spills

  11. A method for the determination of gas diffusion coefficients in undisturbed Boom Clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacops, E.; Volckaert, G.; Maes, N.; Weetjens, E.; Maes, T.; Vandervoort, F.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The main mechanisms by which gas will be generated in deep geological repositories are: anaerobic corrosion of metals in wastes and packaging; radiolysis of water and organic materials in the packages, and microbial degradation of various organic wastes. Corrosion and radiolysis yield mainly hydrogen while microbial degradation leads to methane and carbon dioxide. The gas generated in the near field of a geological repository in clay will dissolve in the ground water and be transported away from the repository by diffusion as dissolved species. However if the gas generation rate is larger than the diffusive flux, the pore water will get over-saturated and a free gas phase will be formed. This will lead to a gas pressure build-up and finally to an advective gas flux. The latter might influence the performance of the repository. Therefore it is important to assess whether or not gas production rates can exceed the capacity of the near field to store and dissipate these gases by dissolution and diffusion only. The current available gas diffusion parameters for hydrogen in Boom Clay, obtained from the MEGAS project, suffer from an uncertainty of 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. Sensitivity calculations performed by Weetjens et al. (2006) for the disposal of vitrified high-level waste showed that with this uncertainty on the diffusion coefficient, the formation of a free gas phase cannot be excluded. Furthermore, recent re-evaluations of the MEGAS experiments by Krooss (2008) and Aertsens (2008) showed that the applied technique does not allow precise determination of the diffusion coefficient. Therefore a new method was developed to determine more precisely the gas diffusion coefficient for dissolved gases (especially dissolved hydrogen) in Boom Clay. This should allow for a more realistic assessment of the gas flux evolution of a repository as function of the estimated gas generation rates. The basic idea is to perform a

  12. Yield and characteristics of shale oil from the retorting of oil shale and fine oil-shale ash mixtures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niu, Mengting; Wang, Sha; Han, Xiangxin; Jiang, Xiumin

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • The whole formation process of shale oil might be divided into four stages. • Higher ash/shale mass ratio intensified the cracking and coking of shale oil. • Ash/shale ratio of 1:2 was recommended for oil shale fluidized bed retort with fine oil-shale ash as solid heat carrier. - Abstract: For exploring and optimizing the oil shale fluidized bed retort with fine oil-shale ash as a solid heat carrier, retorting experiments of oil shale and fine oil-shale ash mixtures were conducted in a lab-scale retorting reactor to investigate the effects of fine oil-shale ash on shale oil. Oil shale samples were obtained from Dachengzi Mine, China, and mixed with fine oil-shale ash in the ash/shale mass ratios of 0:1, 1:4, 1:2, 1:1, 2:1 and 4:1. The experimental retorting temperature was enhanced from room temperature to 520 °C and the average heating rate was 12 °C min −1 . It was found that, with the increase of the oil-shale ash fraction, the shale oil yield first increased and then decreased obviously, whereas the gas yield appeared conversely. Shale oil was analyzed for the elemental analysis, presenting its atomic H/C ratio of 1.78–1.87. Further, extraction and simulated distillation of shale oil were also conducted to explore the quality of shale oil. As a result, the ash/shale mixing mass ratio of 1:2 was recommended only for the consideration of increasing the yield and quality of shale oil

  13. Palm Oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palm oil is obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree. Palm oil is used for preventing vitamin A deficiency, cancer, ... blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cyanide poisoning. Palm oil is used for weight loss and increasing the ...

  14. Diesel oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oil ... Diesel oil ... Diesel oil poisoning can cause symptoms in many parts of the body. EYES, EARS, NOSE, AND THROAT Loss of ... most dangerous effects of hydrocarbon (such as diesel oil) poisoning are due to inhaling the fumes. NERVOUS ...

  15. Theory and practice of deepwater pipe laying

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fernández, M.L.; Carlson, W.O.

    1980-01-01

    Actual offshore developments (steel platforms and subsea completions in up to 1025 ft. of water), the world energy situation, and continued increase in proven and probable oil and gas reserves in deep water suggest a boom in construction of submarine pipelines in over 600 ft. water depth. Human

  16. Development of Danish Wind Power Market

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meyer, Niels I

    2007-01-01

    The modern phase of Danish wind power started after the oil crisis in 1973. During the eighties technological development resulted in increased cost efficiency. In the early nineties favourable feed-in tariffs were introduced together with easy access to the grid. As a result wind power was booming...

  17. Gas, gas, gas... discoveries and developments booming worldwide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maxwell, F.

    2000-01-01

    Deep water exploration is yielding more than billion barrel oil fields. Unocal's 3 May discovery of 2-3 Tcf of gas in its Kutei block of Indonesia marks the first major discovery of natural gas in the deep water frontier: Wildcats Gula and Gada were drilled in over 1800 m of water as part of an aggressive search for gas instigated by Unocal last year. The author makes a survey of gas exploration and development throughout the world. (author)

  18. Shale-oil-derived additives for fuel oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raidma, E.; Leetsman, L.; Muoni, R.; Soone, Y.; Zhiryakov, Y.

    2002-01-01

    Studies have shown that the oxidation, wearing, and anticorrosive properties of shale oil as an additive to liquid fuels and oils enable to improve the conditions of their use. Studies conducted by Institute of Oil Shale have shown that it is possible, on the basis of shale oil produced by Viru Keemia Grupp AS (Viru Chemistry Group Ltd.) and, particularly, on the basis of its fractions 230-320 and 320-360 deg C to produce efficient and stable additives for liquid fuels to improve their combustion and storage properties. In the production of additives from shale oil the prerequisite taken into account is its complexity of composition and high concentration of neutral and phenolic oxygen compounds. Additives produced from shale oil have multifunctional properties which enable to improve operational data of liquid fuels and to increase the power of diesel engines and boilers. (author)

  19. Investigating oiled birds from oil field waste pits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gregory, D.G.; Edwards, W.C.

    1991-01-01

    Procedures and results of investigations concerning the oiling of inland raptors, migratory water-fowl and other birds are presented. Freon washings from the oiled birds and oil from the pits were analyzed by gas chromatography. In most instances the source of the oil could be established by chromatographic procedures. The numbers of birds involved (including many on the endangered species list) suggested the need for netting or closing oil field waste pits and mud disposal pits. Maintaining a proper chain of custody was important

  20. Toxicities of Selected Essential Oils, Silicone Oils, and Paraffin Oil against the Common Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zha, Chen; Wang, Changlu; Li, Andrew

    2018-02-09

    The common bed bug [Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)] and tropical bed bug [Cimex hemipterus F. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)] resurged in the United States and many other countries over the past decades. The need for safe and effective bed bug control products propelled the development of numerous 'green insecticides', mostly with essential oils listed as active ingredients. Various inorganic and organic oils also were used for bed bug management. However, there are no published studies on their toxicities against bed bugs. In this study, we screened 18 essential oils, three silicone oils, and paraffin oil (C5-20 paraffins) for their toxicities against bed bugs. All the oils exhibited insecticidal activity in topical assays. Their toxicities varied significantly; all of the evaluated essential oils were less effective than silicone oils and paraffin oil. The LD50 values of the most effective essential oil (blood orange), paraffin oil, and the most effective silicone oil (dodecamethylpentasiloxane) are 0.184 ± 0.018, 0.069 ± 0.012, and 0.036 ± 0.005 mg per bug, respectively. Direct spray of 1% water solution of 3-[hydroxy (polyethyleneoxy) propyl] heptamethyltrisiloxane, the only silicone oil that mixes well with water, resulted in 92% bed bug mortality after 1 d. Results of this study indicate silicone oils and paraffin oil have the potential to be used as safer alternative bed bug control materials. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. Construction of an underground facility for ''in-situ'' experimentation in the boom clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonne, A.; Manfroy, P.; Van Haelewijn, R.; Heremans, R.

    1985-01-01

    The Belgian R and D Programme concerning the disposal of high-level and alpha-bearing radioactive waste in continental geological formations was launched by SCK/CEN, Mol in 1974. The programme is characterised by its site and formation specific approach, i.e. Mol and Boom clay. In the framework of site confirmation, an important issue is the ''in situ'' experimentation which should allow to determine with a higher degree of confidence the numerical value of the data needed for the evaluations, assessments and designs. The present report deals with the construction of an underground experimental facility, which was scheduled to be fully completed in mid 1984. Initially, the completion was scheduled for the end of 1983, but supplementary experiments related to geomechanics and mining capabilities and to be performed during the construction phase of the experimental facility delayed the completion of the underground facility. During the construction, a continuous observation was made of the behaviour of the clay mass and the structures. In this final contract-report, only the as-built structure, the time schedule and the ''in situ'' experiments launched or performed during the construction phase are dealt with

  2. Oil on seawater

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boerresen, J.A.

    1993-01-01

    The present book discusses the effects of oil spills at sea. Topics covered are as follow: Petroleum properties; oil spills at sea; harmfulness of oil spills; effects from acute oil spills; experience of oil spills; oil spill contingency planning in Norway; oil spill protecting equipment and methods; emergency of unloading equipment. 252 refs., 86 figs., 54 tabs

  3. Method of removing paraffin from mineral oils, shale oils, tar oils, and their fractions or residues

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Palmquist, F T.E.

    1949-09-08

    A method is described for removing paraffin from mineral oils, shale oils, tar oils, and their fractions or residues by centrifuging in the presence of oil-dissolving and paraffin-precipitating solvents, by which the precipitated paraffin is made to pass through an indifferent auxiliary liquid, in which a removal of oil takes place, characterized in that as auxiliary liquid is used a liquid or mixture of liquids whose surface tension against the oil solution is sufficiently low for the paraffin to pass the layer of auxiliary liquid in the form of separate crystals.

  4. Asian oil demand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fesharaki, F.

    2005-01-01

    This conference presentation examined global oil market development and the role of Asian demand. It discussed plateau change versus cyclical movement in the global oil market; supply and demand issues of OPEC and non-OPEC oil; if high oil prices reduce demand; and the Asian oil picture in the global context. Asian oil demand has accounted for about 50 per cent of the global incremental oil market growth. The presentation provided data charts in graphical format on global and Asia-Pacific incremental oil demand from 1990-2005; Asia oil demand growth for selected nations; real GDP growth in selected Asian countries; and, Asia-Pacific oil production and net import requirements. It also included charts in petroleum product demand for Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Other data charts included key indicators for China's petroleum sector; China crude production and net oil import requirements; China's imports and the share of the Middle East; China's oil exports and imports; China's crude imports by source for 2004; China's imports of main oil products for 2004; India's refining capacity; India's product balance for net-imports and net-exports; and India's trade pattern of oil products. tabs., figs

  5. ’n Murgtere saak: ’n Gendermatige lees van Boom van my lewe en Ad hominem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Louisemarié Combrink

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Hierdie artikel bied ontleed twee kunstenaarsboeke deur manlike kunstenaars wat aan die praktykgebaseerderde navorsingsprojek Oor die einders van die bladsy deelgeneem het. Die gekose kunstenaars spreek spesifiek die gedagte van manlike weerloosheid en verwonding aan en maak in die proses van ’n aantal sogenaamde manlike maar veral ook vroulike genderbetekenaars gebruik. Schutte se Boom van my lewe en Strydom en Burger se Ad hominem word ondersoek. Daar word aangevoer dat die gebruik van veral konvensioneel vroulike mediums tesame met temas wat sowel ’n manlike as vroulike karakter het, meewerk om die ervaring van manlike weerloosheid en verwonding op so ’n wyse te kommunikeer dat ’n ongewone manlike subjekposisie daargestel word. Hierdie subjekposisie bied ’n meer genuanseerde beskouing van manlikheid as wat konvensionele (heteronormatiewe en selfs ook sogenaamde ‘nuwe’ of alternatiewe manlike subjekposisies (soos transgender, homoseksueel en dies meer diskoerse bied.

  6. Brine crude oil interactions at the oil-water interface

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chakravarty, Krishna Hara; Fosbøl, Philip Loldrup; Thomsen, Kaj

    2015-01-01

    The impact of brine salinity and its ionic composition on oil displacement efficiency has been investigated extensively in recent years due to the potential of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Wettability alterations through relative interactions at the mineral surface have been the basis of proposed...... in enhancing oil emulsion formation by increasing interactions between polar acids and brine solutions. The results propose the potential use of HPO42- ions in reservoirs having inactive mineral surfaces. The relative oil affinity of different ions including K+, Na+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ (cations), and Cl-, SO42...... and thus reduces the interfacial viscoelasticity of the trapped oil. These results show significant correlation between oil emulsion formation and increased oil recovery. Copyright 2015; Society of Petroleum Engineers...

  7. Detection of argan oil adulterated with vegetable oils: New markers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ourrach, I.; Rada, M.; Perez-Camino, M. C.; Benaissa, M.; Guinda, A

    2012-07-01

    This work aims to contribute to controlling the authenticity of pure argan oil, a valuable Moroccan product. Fatty acids, hydrocarbon fraction, 3,5-stigmastadiene, the alkyl esters of fatty acids, chlorophyllic pigments and physical properties such as viscosity, density and refractive index were studied in order to detect the adulteration of argan oil with edible vegetable oils. The results found in this study show that 3,5-stigmastadiene, kaurene and pheophytin-a can be used as possible new markers for argan oil blends of up to 5% with refined, sunflower and virgin olive oils. Due to the similarity of the fatty acid compositions of the edible oils studied and argan oil, fatty acids can be employed as markers for the detection of argan oil adulteration at levels higher than 10%. Among the physical properties studied, the refractive index shows significant differences for sunflower oil and its blend at 10% with argan oil. (Author) 35 refs.

  8. Modification of Oil Palm Plantation Wastes as Oil Adsorbent for Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noraisah Jahi; Ling, E.S.; Rizafizah Othaman; Suria Ramli

    2015-01-01

    This research was conducted to modify oil palm solid wastes chemically to become oil adsorbent for palm oil mill effluent (POME). The purpose of modification on oil palm leaves (OPL) and oil palm frond (OPF) was to change the hydrophilic nature to a more hydrophobic character. This study also exploited the production of sorbent materials with high efficiency in the oil uptake for POME from OPL and OPF. Chemical modification was carried out using 200 mL of 1.0 M lauric acid solution for 6 hrs at room temperature. The modified OPL and OPF were preceded to adsorption test for POME and the capacity of oil adsorbed was compared between them. FTIR analysis supported the modification to occur with the increase in a peak of C-H group and the presence of C=O originated from lauric acid structure chain. The hydrophobicity of modified OPL and OPF samples was supported by XRD and contact angle analysis with modified OPL became more hydrophobic than the modified OPF, which had been 38.15 % and 24.67 % respectively. Both the analyses proved that the result from the oil adsorption test on POME showed the presence of a new peak attribute at C=C stretching of aromatics for the oil in POME proved that it was attached on the sorbent materials. Based on SEM analysis, the perforated and rough surface had been observed on modified OPL and OPF samples because oil layers on OPL and OPF surfaces were observed on the modified samples after the adsorption test. All the analyses in the study agreed that the results from oil adsorption test showed that the modified OPL had higher adsorption capacity than the modified OPF with the percentage of oil uptake at 83.74 % and 39.84 % respectively. The prepared adsorbent showed the potential to be used as a low-cost adsorbent in oil for POME. (author)

  9. The oil and oil services industry international context 2008

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serbutoviez, S.; Silva, C.

    2008-11-01

    Oil companies rarely do their own major work within the framework of their investments or in the operation of their facilities. They most often act as project coordinators, thereby opening up a vast market for equipment, services and engineering, involving many companies of widely-varying sizes, which constitute the oil services industry. This document provides a panorama of the international oil context in three distinct parts, for 2007, for the first three quarters of 2008, and aspects of trends for 2009. - The first part is devoted to a rapid description of the oil context and the economic environment in which it is evolving. - The second part examines the evolution of world investment in exploration-production (E and P) activities, distinguishing the investments made by oil and oil product/service companies throughout the E and P chain from the more targeted ones of three specific sectors: seismic, drilling and the construction of offshore production equipment. These markets are observed exclusively for oil product/service companies. - The last part is devoted to investments in the refining sector, focusing on the changes in the fundamentals, particularly the equilibrium between refining capacities and medium- term oil demand. This latter analysis involves both oil and oil product/service companies. (authors)

  10. The functioning of the oil market during an oil crisis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hughes, G.; Siner, M.; Tijdhof, B.

    2003-01-01

    The title study regarding the functioning of the oil market during an oil crisis is carried out with particular reference to the strategic behaviour of oil companies. Section 2 identifies major oil supply disruptions since 1951 and describes some important changes in the market that have occurred in recent decades; Section 3 reviews the economic literature of the functioning of oil markets during disruptions and models of oil supply disruptions; Section 4 examines the response of oil markets to recent supply disruptions; Section 5 examines the incentives and scope for strategic behaviour; Section 6 considers the implications of our analysis for the design of policy responses to oil supply disruptions; Appendix A describes the background to the four recent oil supply disruptions; Appendix B discusses the relationship between spot and futures prices for a storable commodity; and Appendix C is the bibliography

  11. Export incentives, exchange rate policy and export growth in Turkey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Wijnbergen, S.J.G.; Arslan, I.

    1993-01-01

    The driving forces behind the Turkish export miracle, and in fact its very existence, have remained a matter of debate We show there was a boom. As to contributing factors, import growth in the Middle East in excess of import growth elsewhere made a negative contribution. On exports to non-oil

  12. HOW PROPERTIES OF EDIBLE OILS ARE IMPROVED BY ESSENTIAL OILS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SONIA AMARIEI

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The main aim of the present paper is to find out whether the addition of essential oils determines better oxidation stability and positive change of sensory and hedonic perception of edible oils. The oxidation stability of sunflower, corn and grape seed oils was analyzed in the presence of antioxidants in essential oils of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis, thyme (Thymus vulgaris and basil (Ocimum basilicum during storage, under conditions of accelerated oxidative processes (4 days, at 60 °C. The total phenolic compounds of these essential oils were determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The DPPH method was used to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of basil, rosemary and thyme essential oils in comparison with known synthetic antioxidant L(+-ascorbic acid. The addition of essential oils to edible oils, the amounts proposed in analyses, determines a favorable influence on their oxidation stability as well as their taste. The influence of addition of essential oils on the taste of edible oils was studied in two products consumed mainly at breakfast, bread and spinach leaves. The results recommend the use of these plant extracts as additives in edible oils rather than synthetic antioxidants.

  13. Policy Challenges of Accelerating Technological Change: Security Policy and Strategy Implications of Parallel Scientific Revolutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-09-01

    today, hydraulic fracking technology has created a boom in U.S. oil and gas production that may allow us to achieve that goal of energy independence by...has seen a seismic shift, as vast North American reserves of oil and gas have been unlocked by hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling. This will...www.disa.mil/About/Our-Work/JIE 94 For a good overview, see http://www.cfr.org/energy-and-environment/ hydraulic -fracturing- fracking /p31559 95 For a

  14. From Boom to Bust: The Effects of Economic Recession on Minority Groups' Experience in the Housing Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    From Boom to Bust: The Effects of Economic Recession on Minority Groups' Experience in the Housing Market

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The homeownership rate in the US reached an all-time high of 69.2 percent by 2006, attributed to factors like favorable mortgage lending practice, economic boom, and incentive policies. The recent subprime mortgage crisis and economic recession, however, widened the gap in homeownership between racial minorities and whites. A sharp drop in housing price also posed a threat to the amount of equity one could accumulate. In this paper, we examined how the changing economy and both structural and individual-level factors affected the racial disparities in homeownership and home equity, using the 2005 and 2009 American Housing Survey national data. The major finding was that the economic recession affected Blacks the most, followed by Hispanics. Asians, though showing a decline in their home equity, were able to maintain their advantages in the housing market.

  15. Using a multi-scale approach to identify and quantify oil and gas emissions: a case study for GHG emissions verification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweeney, C.; Kort, E. A.; Rella, C.; Conley, S. A.; Karion, A.; Lauvaux, T.; Frankenberg, C.

    2015-12-01

    Along with a boom in oil and natural gas production in the US, there has been a substantial effort to understand the true environmental impact of these operations on air and water quality, as well asnet radiation balance. This multi-institution effort funded by both governmental and non-governmental agencies has provided a case study for identification and verification of emissions using a multi-scale, top-down approach. This approach leverages a combination of remote sensing to identify areas that need specific focus and airborne in-situ measurements to quantify both regional and large- to mid-size single-point emitters. Ground-based networks of mobile and stationary measurements provide the bottom tier of measurements from which process-level information can be gathered to better understand the specific sources and temporal distribution of the emitters. The motivation for this type of approach is largely driven by recent work in the Barnett Shale region in Texas as well as the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado; these studies suggest that relatively few single-point emitters dominate the regional emissions of CH4.

  16. The CEC benchmark interclay on rheological models for clays results of pilot phase (January-June 1989) about the boom clay at Mol (B)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Come, B.

    1990-01-01

    A pilot phase of a benchmark exercise for rheological models for boom clay, called interclay, was launched by the CEC in January 1989. The purpose of the benchmark is to compare predictions of calculations made about well-defined rock-mechanical problems, similar to real cases at the Mol facilities, using existing data from laboratory tests on samples. Basically, two approaches were to be compared: one considering clay as an elasto-visco-plastic medium (rock-mechanics approach), and one isolating the role of pore-pressure dissipation (soil-mechanics approach)

  17. Dinámicas espaciales generadas a partir de las agroexportaciones: el boom de los espárragos en Ica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brenda Toledo Asenjo

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Spatial Dynamics Generated by Agroexports: The Asparragus Boom at IcaDifferent economic and subsistence activities respond to changes or dynamics that are formed in each context. At present, globalization appears as one of the main factors that influence on the economic activities. That is, it is undeniable that all economic activities transform their processes induced by that phenomenon as well as the distinct regions have required to get integrated to that process. In that sense, the states, procuring to get integrated to the global context have contributed to the configuration of the new commercial scenery. This implies that many societies with distinct living patterns have had to adequate to a new commercial dynamics, where exports are the principal connection to the global market. The main objective of this paper is to identify and analyze the spatial dynamics originated as result of agro exports such as the case of the asparagus’ «boom» at the Ica Valley. Moreover, there is a revision of some environmental dynamics or impacts that the process has given way in order to have a correct vision of the topic. To do this, there was a spatial review of the study area based on satellite images in identified dates, from which it was possible to see gross evidence of a spatial transformation and the appearance of new land use formsLas distintas actividades económicas y de subsistencia responden a los cambios o dinámicas que se forman en cada contexto. Actualmente, la globalización aparece como uno de los factores principales de influencia sobre las actividades económicas. Es decir, es innegable que todas las actividades económicas transforman sus procesos inducidas por ese fenómeno, en la medida que las distintas regiones han requerido integrarse al proceso. En ese sentido, los Estados, al procurar sumarse al contexto global han contribuido a la configuración del nuevo escenario comercial. Esto implica que muchas sociedades con costumbres

  18. Mexican oil industry: Shifting to difficult oil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bazan G., Gerardo; Gonzalez, Cristobal J.

    2010-09-15

    Mexico has stepped into an important transition of declining oil fields and new challenging oil projects. The aim of this paper is to show a new perspective of the oil resources that have been exploited throughout the Mexican territory, as well as the remaining resources yet to be exploited. We have developed a resources/production-costs chart that illustrates the historical and future development of the Mexican oil industry, showing the shift that the industry will face in the coming years; this chart was taken from a model already in use by the most prestige energy agencies in the world.

  19. Oil markets to 2010: the impact of non-Opec oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enav, Peter

    1998-09-01

    This report provides an in-depth assessment of oil development scenarios in every non-Opec oil producing country from 1998 to 2010, in addition to evaluating the extent and direction of future oil trade for Opec and non-Opec countries alike. It re-assesses world oil consumption patterns in light of the Asian financial crisis, providing a concise yet comprehensive coverage of an often-neglected oil production group. The oil market development scenario is analysed in each country, with detailed consideration of the major players providing historical production, consumption, import and export data; current oil balance - production, imports and exports; an assessment of oil development policy; analysis of potential development obstacles considering regulatory, financial, political and environmental issues; oil production and consumption projections to 2010, by type; and import and export projections to 2010, by destination and source. More than 80 tables supplying essential statistics on the world's non-Opec markets accompany the report, with maps and schematic diagrams showing existing and potential infrastructure and fields. (Author)

  20. Coconut oil has less satiating properties than medium chain triglyceride oil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinsella, R; Maher, T; Clegg, M E

    2017-10-01

    It is well established that the consumption of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) can increase satiety and reduce food intake. Many media articles promote the use of coconut oil for weight loss advocating similar health benefits to that of MCT. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of MCT oil compared to coconut oil and control oil on food intake and satiety. Following an overnight fast, participants consumed a test breakfast smoothie containing 205kcal of either (i) MCT oil (ii) coconut oil or (iii) vegetable oil (control) on three separate test days. Participants recorded appetite ratings on visual analogue scales and were presented with an ad libitum lunch meal of preselected sandwiches 180min after consumption of the breakfast. The results showed a significant difference in energy and macronutrient intakes at the ad libitum meal between the three oils with the MCT oil reducing food intake compared to the coconut and control oil. Differences in food intake throughout the day were found for energy and fat, with the control having increased food intake compared to the MCT and coconut. The MCT also increased fullness over the three hours after breakfast compared to the control and coconut oils. The coconut oil was also reported as being less palatable than the MCT oil. The results of this study confirm the differences that exist between MCT and coconut oil such that coconut oil cannot be promoted as having similar effects to MCT oil on food intake and satiety. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Time extrapolation aspects in the performance assessment of high and medium level radioactive waste disposal in the Boom Clay at Mol (Belgium)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volckaert, G.

    2000-01-01

    SCK-CEN is studying the disposal of high and long-lived medium level waste in the Boom Clay at Mol, Belgium. In the performance assessment for such a repository time extrapolation is an inherent problem due to the extremely long half-life of some important radionuclides. To increase the confidence in these time extrapolations SCK-CEN applies a combination of different experimental and modelling approaches including laboratory and in situ experiments, natural analogue studies, deterministic (or mechanistic) models and stochastical models. An overview is given of these approaches and some examples of applications to the different repository system components are given. (author)

  2. Separation of oil and grease from oil sludge using surfactant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ainon Abdul Aziz; Syed Hakimi Sakuma Syed Ahmad; Zalina Laili

    2005-01-01

    The objective of the experiments was to observe the efficiency of the surfactant to remove oil and grease from oil sludges using various surfactant concentration ranging from 10 %, 15 %, 20 % and 30 %. The surfactant solution consists of two mixtures of Aqua 2000 and D Bond. The oil sludge were subjected to heating and surfactant treatment process. Remaining oil and grease concentration were observed on the oil sludges after treatment. Small scale experiments were conducted by heating process, without heating process and heating process with addition of sodium chloride. Surfactant solution was added in each process. Results shows that there is separation of oil and grease from the oil sludges. There were formation of mini emulsions (oil in water). The higher the concentration of surfactant used, the higher the concentrations of mini emulsion formed as observed. Solid remains after the treatment process were found to contain lesser oil concentration with presence of bitumen, sediment, organic and inorganic materials. After a washing process using distilled water, the solid was still black but less oily than before the treatment. There is no separation of oil occurred in aqueous solution for the control experiment. (Author)

  3. Oil Spills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oil spills often happen because of accidents, when people make mistakes or equipment breaks down. Other causes include natural disasters or deliberate acts. Oil spills have major environmental and economic effects. Oil ...

  4. Process for complete conversion of coal oils, shale oils, etc

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dubois, P

    1911-07-08

    A process is described for complete conversion of mineral coal oil, shale oil, and other similar oils in pitch, characterized by these oils being mixed with a nonvolatile substance with a boiling point on the average higher than the boiling point of the oil to be treated, and then being heated under pressure with the introduction of air, whereby the heating is interrupted if necessary on account of the known exothermic reaction and the conversion of the oil in the pitch or its distillation can be carried out without further heating.

  5. Increasing oil recovery from heavy oil waterfloods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brice, B.W. [Society of Petroleum Engineers, Canadian Section, Calgary, AB (Canada)]|[BP Exploration, Calgary, AB (Canada)

    2008-10-15

    In an effort to optimize waterflood strategies in Alaska, the authors examined the results of up to 50 years of waterflooding on 166 western Canadian waterfloods recovering oil of less than 30 degrees API. The study determined the best operating practices for heavy oil waterflooding by investigating the difference between waterflooding of heavy oil and lighter oil counterparts. Operators of light oil waterflooding are advised to begin waterflooding early and maintain the voidage replacement ratio (VRR) at 1. However, this study showed that it is beneficial to delay the start of waterflooding until a certain fraction of the original oil in place was recovered. Varying the VRR was also shown to correlate with increased ultimate recovery. This statistical study of 166 western Canadian waterfloods also examined the effect of injection strategy and the effect of primary production before waterflooding. Some pre-waterflood production and under injection time is advantageous for ultimate recovery by waterfloods. Specific recommendations were presented for waterfloods in reservoirs with both high and low API gravity ranges. Each range showed a narrow sweet spot window where improved recovery occurred. 27 refs., 13 figs.

  6. Comparative Effect of Dietary Soybean Oil, Fish Oil, and Coconut Oil on Performance, Egg Quality and Some Blood Parameters in Laying Hens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, X F; Liu, S; Tong, J M

    2018-04-14

    Two hundred and sixteen 28-wk-old Hy-line laying hens were randomly distributed to three dietary treatments and fed 1of 3 diets containing 8% soybean oil, fish oil, or coconut oil from 28 to 47 wk of age to investigate comparative effect of dietary soybean oil, fish oil, and coconut oil on the performance, egg quality and blood malondialdehyde (MDA), aspartate transaminase (AST) and uric acid (UA). Hens fed fish oil showed poor performance compared with soybean oil or coconut oil, and especially egg weight throughout the trial was significantly and consistently decreased (P oil. Unexpectedly, shell reflectivity throughout the majority of the trial was consistently and significantly higher (P oil than that when fed soybean oil or coconut oil. Dietary treatments affected (P oil treatment was higher (P oil group. Albumen height, Haugh unit and yolk color were influenced by dietary treatments only at 1 or 2 time points. However, average albumen height and Haugh unit in fish oil treatment were higher (P soybean oil or coconut oil treatments and average yolk color in coconut oil treatment was higher (P soybean oil group. Serum MDA, AST and UA concentrations were increased (P oil during the majority of the first 2 mo of the trial. These data suggested that the inclusion of fish oil into feed may reduce the performance of laying hens, especially the egg weight, decrease the intensity of egg brown color and increase blood MDA, AST and UA levels compared with soybean oil or coconut oil. As a result, hens fed fish oil may lay smaller, longer and lighter-brown eggs whereas those fed coconut oil produce blunter and darker-brown eggs relative to soybean oil.

  7. Production of oil from Israeli oil shale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Givoni, D.

    1993-01-01

    Oil shale can be utilized in two-ways: direct combustion to generate steam and power or retorting to produce oil or gas. PAMA has been developing both direct combustion and retorting processes. Its main effort is in the combustion. An oil shale fired steam boiler was erected in the Rotem industrial complex for demonstration purposes. PAMA has also been looking into two alternative retorting concepts - slow heating of coarse particles and fast heating of fine particles. The present paper provides operating data of oil shale processing in the following scheme: (a) retorting in moving bed, pilot and bench scale units, and (b) retorting in a fluidized bed, bench scale units. (author)

  8. Genetic determinism of oil acidity among some DELI oil palm (Elaeis ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    USER

    2016-08-24

    Aug 24, 2016 ... Key words: Elaeis guineensis Jacq., free fatty acid content, crude palm oil, inheritance. INTRODUCTION. The oil palm (Elaeis ... of world's production of vegetable oils. The highest palm oil producing countries ... Without prior refining, acidic palm oil is improper for human consumption (Anonymous, 2005).

  9. Improving oil classification quality from oil spill fingerprint beyond six sigma approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juahir, Hafizan; Ismail, Azimah; Mohamed, Saiful Bahri; Toriman, Mohd Ekhwan; Kassim, Azlina Md; Zain, Sharifuddin Md; Ahmad, Wan Kamaruzaman Wan; Wah, Wong Kok; Zali, Munirah Abdul; Retnam, Ananthy; Taib, Mohd Zaki Mohd; Mokhtar, Mazlin

    2017-07-15

    This study involves the use of quality engineering in oil spill classification based on oil spill fingerprinting from GC-FID and GC-MS employing the six-sigma approach. The oil spills are recovered from various water areas of Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah (East Malaysia). The study approach used six sigma methodologies that effectively serve as the problem solving in oil classification extracted from the complex mixtures of oil spilled dataset. The analysis of six sigma link with the quality engineering improved the organizational performance to achieve its objectivity of the environmental forensics. The study reveals that oil spills are discriminated into four groups' viz. diesel, hydrocarbon fuel oil (HFO), mixture oil lubricant and fuel oil (MOLFO) and waste oil (WO) according to the similarity of the intrinsic chemical properties. Through the validation, it confirmed that four discriminant component, diesel, hydrocarbon fuel oil (HFO), mixture oil lubricant and fuel oil (MOLFO) and waste oil (WO) dominate the oil types with a total variance of 99.51% with ANOVA giving F stat >F critical at 95% confidence level and a Chi Square goodness test of 74.87. Results obtained from this study reveals that by employing six-sigma approach in a data-driven problem such as in the case of oil spill classification, good decision making can be expedited. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  10. Geochemical characterisation of kerogen from the Boom Clay Formation (Mol, Belgium) and evolution under different thermal stress

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deniau, I.

    2002-12-01

    The Boom clay formation in Belgium has been chosen as test site for the disposal of high level radioactive wastes. The organic matter present in the clay (kerogen) is sensible to the thermal stress and can generate a huge number of gaseous and liquid compounds leading to local pH changes and to fracturing processes. In particular, some polar compounds can complex radionuclides. The samples analyzed in this work were taken in the underground laboratory of Mol at a 223 m depth. They have been analyzed in detail using geochemical methods (Rock-Eval pyrolysis, element analysis, transmission and scanning electron microscopy), spectroscopic methods (Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy, solid state 13 C NMR, Raman) and pyrolytic methods (off-line, on-line and in sealed tubes combined with coupled CG/SM analyses). The study of a representative sample of this formation has permitted to characterize the organic matter at the molecular scale, to determine its fossilization mechanisms and the nature of the organic compounds trapped inside the kerogen. The organic matter of the Boom clays comes mainly from phyto-planktonic matter with an important contribution of terrestrial and bacterial matter. The degradation-recondensation played an important role in its preservation but the presence of numerous oxygenated molecules implies that oxidative incorporation also participated to this preservation. Finally, various products (hydrocarbons, oxygenated and nitrogenous polar compounds) trapped in significant amount inside the macro-molecular structure are released under a relatively weak thermal stress. Moreover several small polar organic molecules are released and can play a significant role in the retention or migration of radionuclides inside the geologic barrier. A sample submitted to a in-situ thermal stress of 80 deg. C during 5 years (Cerberus experiment) do not show any significant change in its kerogen structure with respect to the non-heated reference sample

  11. Comparative effects of dietary corn oil, safflower oil, fish oil and palm oil on metabolism of ethanol and carnitine in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sachan, Dileep S; Yatim, Ayub M; Daily, James W

    2002-06-01

    This study was launched to determine comparative effects of corn oil (CO), safflower oil (SO), fish oil (FO) and palm oil (PO) on carnitine status and ethanol metabolism in rats. Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats (300 g bw) were randomly divided into four groups (n = 6) and fed a semisynthetic diets containing fat as oils listed above. Blood and 24 hour urine samples were collected before and after dietary treatment and acute ethanol administration. Samples were analyzed for blood-ethanol concentration (BEC) and carnitine species. The diets containing FO and PO retarded ethanol metabolism compared to the diets containing CO and SO. The effect of these dietary fats on carnitine species in plasma and urine was varied before and after dietary treatment and following a single oral ethanol dose. The liver carnitine content was higher in the PO group after dietary and ethanol treatment. It is concluded that attenuation of ethanol clearance was related to unique fatty acid makeup of the oils that in part may be attributed to the composite ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids in the oils.

  12. Wash-oil problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chlosta, J

    1941-01-01

    Meier-Grolman and others have deduced from experimental studies of the vapor pressure of solutions of benzene in paraffin oil and Solway oil-paraffin oil mixtures that the higher the proportion of aliphatic compounds in a wash oil, the less suitable it is for benzene scrubbing. This generalization is not supported. Paraffin oils from brown-coal tar and low viscous oils from the Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbon synthesis process are both being successfully used for benzene scrubbing.

  13. Oil-in-oil emulsions stabilised solely by solid particles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Binks, Bernard P; Tyowua, Andrew T

    2016-01-21

    A brief review of the stabilisation of emulsions of two immiscible oils is given. We then describe the use of fumed silica particles coated with either hydrocarbon or fluorocarbon groups in acting as sole stabilisers of emulsions of various vegetable oils with linear silicone oils (PDMS) of different viscosity. Transitional phase inversion of emulsions, containing equal volumes of the two oils, from silicone-in-vegetable (S/V) to vegetable-in-silicone (V/S) occurs upon increasing the hydrophobicity of the particles. Close to inversion, emulsions are stable to coalescence and gravity-induced separation for at least one year. Increasing the viscosity of the silicone oil enables stable S/V emulsions to be prepared even with relatively hydrophilic particles. Predictions of emulsion type from calculated contact angles of a silica particle at the oil-oil interface are in agreement with experiment provided a small polar contribution to the surface energy of the oils is included. We also show that stable multiple emulsions of V/S/V can be prepared in a two-step procedure using two particle types of different hydrophobicity. At fixed particle concentration, catastrophic phase inversion of emulsions from V/S to S/V can be effected by increasing the volume fraction of vegetable oil. Finally, in the case of sunflower oil + 20 cS PDMS, the study is extended to particles other than silica which differ in chemical type, particle size and particle shape. Consistent with the above findings, we find that only sufficiently hydrophobic particles (clay, zinc oxide, silicone, calcium carbonate) can act as efficient V/S emulsion stabilisers.

  14. Comparative study of ozonized olive oil and ozonized sunflower oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Díaz Maritza F.

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study the ozonized olive and sunflower oils are chemical and microbiologically compared. These oils were introduced into a reactor with bubbling ozone gas in a water bath at room temperature until they were solidified. The peroxide, acidity and iodine values along with antimicrobial activity were determined. Ozonization effects on the fatty acid composition of these oils were analyzed using Gas-Liquid Chromatographic Technique. An increase in peroxidation and acidity values was observed in both oils but they were higher in ozonized sunflower oil. Iodine value was zero in ozonized olive oil whereas in ozonized sunflower was 8.8 g Iodine per 100 g. The antimicrobial activity was similar for both ozonized oils except for Minimum Bactericidal Concentrations of Pseudomona aeruginosa. Composition of fatty acids in both ozonized oils showed gradual decrease in unsaturated fatty acids (C18:1, C18:2 with gradual increase in ozone doses.

  15. Oil crises

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linderoth, H.

    1992-01-01

    The author's aim was to give very precise information on the many causes and effects of the oil crises that have occurred since 1900, and at the same time offer the reader the possibility to build up a basic knowledge of the oil industry and market, as he feels that the public is often subjected to misleading information. Political and economical aspects are elaborated. First-hand sources such as statistics and investigations have been used as far as possible to give information on the oil market. An oil crisis is defined by the author as a significant change in the price of oil compared to prices of other goods. Changes can be in the form of either rising or falling prices. A special chapter concentrates on Denmark in relation to the oil crises. (AB) (165 refs.)

  16. [Efficiency evaluation of capsaicinoids to discriminate bio-waste oils from edible vegetable oils].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, Lisha; Liu, Honghe; Kang, Li; Jiang, Jie; Liao, Shicheng; Liu, Guihua; Deng, Pingjian

    2014-07-01

    To evaluate the efficiency of capsaicinoids to discriminate bio-waste oil from edible vegetable oil. 14 raw vegetable oils, 24 fried waste oils, 34 kitchen-waste oils, 32 edible non-peanut vegetable oil, 32 edible peanuts oil, 16 edible oil add flavorand and 11 refined bio-waste oils were prepared and examined for capsaicinoids including capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin and nonylic acid vanillylamide. The detection results of the above samples were statistically tested based on sample category to assessment identify the effectiveness of the bio-waste oils with capsaicinoids. As a indicator, capsaincin was possessed of high detection sensitivity and has the highest efficiency to discern kitchen-waste oils and refined bio-waste oils samples from edible non-peanut vegetable oil correctly. The accuracy rate of identification were 100% and 90.1% respectively. There is the background in peanut oil. CONCLUSION Capsaicin added in cooking process can be retained in the refining process and hardly be removed in the refining process. In the case of fully eliminating the background interference, capsaicinoids can effectively identify bio-waste oils and edible vegetable oil in combination.

  17. Oil trading manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Long, D.

    1995-01-01

    This manual provides basic information on all aspects of oil trading. Topics reviewed in Part 1 include physical characteristics and refining and oil pricing arrangements. Part 2 on instruments and markets contains chapters on crude oil markets, product markets, forward and futures contracts, forward paper markets, oil future exchanges, options, swaps and long term oil markets. Part 3 deals with administration and has chapters on operations and logistics, credit control, accounting, taxation of oil trading, contracts and legal and regulatory issues. (UK)

  18. Boom-to-bust. The scallop (Argopecten purpuratus fishery in the Pisco-Paracas region, southern Peruvian coast Auge y crisis: la pesquería de la concha de abanico (Argopecten purpuratus en la región Pisco-Paracas, costa sur del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo M. González Hunt

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines scallop (Argopecten purpuratus booms experienced in the Pisco-Paracas Region of southern Peru, triggered by the 1982-1983 and the 1997-1998 mega-El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO events.The quiet fishing ports have been transformed by these booms, which have attracted outside stakeholders transforming the local society. Government institutions in their role as resource managers and environmental stewards have attempted to control access to a region that until recently contained the only marine protected area of Peru.This situation has led to rapid growth in the scallop industry, the overexploitation and depletion of the shellfish, creating a sustainability crisis. Furthermore, this paper examines contradictions and relationships across local, regional, national, and international scales.Este trabajo examina los ciclos de expansión (boom de la explotación de la concha de abanico (Argopecten purpuratus observados en la región Pisco-Paracas del sur del Perú, resultantes de los fenómenos El Niño de 1982-1983 y 1997-1998.Los apacibles puertos de pesca han sido transformados por estos booms productivos que han atraído actores externos y han generado un impacto en la sociedad local. Las instituciones gubernamentales, en su papel de administradores de recursos y protectores del medio ambiente, han tratado de controlar el acceso a una región que hasta hace poco contenía la única área marina protegida del Perú.Esta situación ha producido un rápido crecimiento de la industria de la concha de abanico, su sobreexplotación y el agotamiento de dicho recurso, y ha producido una crisis de sostenibilidad. Asimismo, este trabajo examina las contradicciones y las relaciones entre las escalas local, regional, nacional e internacional.

  19. Myristica oil poisoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nutmeg oil; Myristicin ... Myristica oil ( Myristica fragrans ) can be harmful. It comes from the seed of a nutmeg. ... Myristica oil is found in: Aromatherapy products Mace Nutmeg Other products may also contain myristica oil.

  20. Mining and oil. Oil shale's contribution to future oil supply; Bergbau und Oel. Der Beitrag des Oelschiefers zur Oelversorgung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linden, Eike von der [Linden Advisory, Dreieich (Germany)

    2012-05-15

    Crude oil contributes in Germany and globally approximately one third to the consumption of primary energies and actually is and in the foreseeable future will be the most important energy source. Recently shale oil as an unconventional oil has gained attention in public discussions. Depending on temperatures oil shale contains either already matured fluid shale oil or immature waxy kerogen. For determination of kerogen containing oil shale and shale oil common definitions for fluid hydrocarbons will be presented. Fluid hydrocarbons (molecular chains > C{sub 5}H{sub 12}) originate from animal substance which had been settled millions of years in sediments on sea- or lakebeds under anaerobic conditions. High pressure and high temperatures effect conversion to hydrocarbons. With sufficient permeability the liquid hydrocarbons migrate from the sediment as the source rock and get assembled in porous rocks under the cover of an impermeable rock strata, in so called entrapment structures. In case there is no impermeable rock strate the hydrocarbons will diffuse into the atmosphere. The hydrocarbons in entrapment structures are called conventional oil and are extracted by drilling wells. The extractable oil as part of the oil in place depends on the viscosity of the oil, the permeability of the host rock and applied exploitation methods which can affect pressure, viscosity and permeability. The exploitation achieves 30 to 50% of the oil in place. When the source rock consisting of strata hundreds of meters thick is not sufficiently permeable the matured hydrocarbons remain at its place of origination. These hydrocarbons are called shale oil and belong to the unconventional oil resources. For exploitation of shale oil by wells the source rock must be treated by intensive energy input, amongst others, by fracking which creates artificial permeability and by pressure which affects migration of the hydrocarbons to the well. The exploitation methods for shale oil do not

  1. Comparison of lubricant properties of castor oil and commercial engine oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Binfa Bongfa

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The tribological performance of crude Nigeria-based castor oil has been investigated and compared with that of a foreign, 20W-50 high quality crankcase oil, to see its suitability as base oil for lubricating oils in indigenous vehicle and power plants engines. The experiment was conducted using a four ball tester. The results showed that unrefined castor oil has superior friction reduction and load bearing capability in an unformulated form than the commercial oil; can compete favourably with the commercial oil in wear protection when formulated with suitable antiwear agent, hence can be a good alternative base stock for crankcase oils suitable for Nigeria serviced vehicles, and plants engines from tribological, environmental, and non-food competitive points of view.

  2. RESEARCH OIL RECOVERY MECHANISMS IN HEAVY OIL RESERVOIRS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anthony R. Kovscek; William E. Brigham

    1999-06-01

    The United States continues to rely heavily on petroleum fossil fuels as a primary energy source, while domestic reserves dwindle. However, so-called heavy oil (10 to 20{sup o}API) remains an underutilized resource of tremendous potential. Heavy oils are much more viscous than conventional oils. As a result, they are difficult to produce with conventional recovery methods such as pressure depletion and water injection. Thermal recovery is especially important for this class of reservoirs because adding heat, usually via steam injection, generally reduces oil viscosity dramatically. This improves displacement efficiency. The research described here was directed toward improved understanding of thermal and heavy-oil production mechanisms and is categorized into: (1) flow and rock properties; (2) in-situ combustion; (3) additives to improve mobility control; (4) reservoir definition; and (5) support services. The scope of activities extended over a three-year period. Significant work was accomplished in the area of flow properties of steam, water, and oil in consolidated and unconsolidated porous media, transport in fractured porous media, foam generation and flow in homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media, the effects of displacement pattern geometry and mobility ratio on oil recovery, and analytical representation of water influx. Significant results are described.

  3. Experimental study on kinetics oil oil-suspended particulate matter aggregation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, J.; Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON; Khelifa, A.; Wang, Z.; Brown, C.; Fieldhouse, B.; Yang, C.; Zheng, X.; Wong, S.; So, L.C.

    2009-01-01

    Past studies of oil spills have shown that oil suspended particulate matter aggregates (OSAs) play a role in enhancing the natural cleansing of oiled shorelines. OSAs result from aggregation between suspended oil droplets and suspended particulate matter (SPM) in aquatic environments. During this process, oil dispersion into the water column is significantly increased since the surface of the oil droplet is surrounded by sediment particles. In addition, the accelerated biodegradation of the oil can be attributed to the greater oil-water contact area. This study focused on the kinetic aspects of OSA formation, with particular reference to the time scale of this process and its significance to oil dispersion following oil spills in water. A laboratory study was conducted to measure the time scale of OSA formation and its variations with mixing conditions. A reciprocating shaker and various oil/sediment mixtures were used to prepare the OSAs. Standard reference material 1941b was used as the natural sediment mixed with Arabian medium crude and artificial seawater under various mixing energies. The sediment-to-oil ratio remained constant for all experiments. Gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) analysis was used to measure the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) trapped in negatively buoyant OSAs. Results showed that the TPH in OSAs increased exponentially with shaking time and reached an equilibrium value within 3 hours. The equilibrium decreased from 3 hours to 1.3 hours when the shaking rate increased from 2.0 to 2.3 Hz. It was concluded that high mixing energy enhances OSA formation and shortens the time for OSA formation. 42 refs., 6 tabs., 5 figs

  4. Experimental study on kinetics oil oil-suspended particulate matter aggregation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sun, J. [Ocean Univ. of China, Qingdoa (China). Environmental Science and Engineering Inst.; Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Emergencies Science and Technology Section, Emergencies, Operational Analytical Laboratories and Research Support Division; Khelifa, A.; Wang, Z.; Brown, C.; Fieldhouse, B.; Yang, C. [Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Emergencies Science and Technology Section, Emergencies, Operational Analytical Laboratories and Research Support Division; Zheng, X. [Ocean Univ. of China, Qingdoa (China). Environmental Science and Engineering Inst.; Wong, S. [Ottawa Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Chemistry; So, L.C. [Waterloo Univ., ON (Canada). Faculty of Engineering

    2009-07-01

    Past studies of oil spills have shown that oil suspended particulate matter aggregates (OSAs) play a role in enhancing the natural cleansing of oiled shorelines. OSAs result from aggregation between suspended oil droplets and suspended particulate matter (SPM) in aquatic environments. During this process, oil dispersion into the water column is significantly increased since the surface of the oil droplet is surrounded by sediment particles. In addition, the accelerated biodegradation of the oil can be attributed to the greater oil-water contact area. This study focused on the kinetic aspects of OSA formation, with particular reference to the time scale of this process and its significance to oil dispersion following oil spills in water. A laboratory study was conducted to measure the time scale of OSA formation and its variations with mixing conditions. A reciprocating shaker and various oil/sediment mixtures were used to prepare the OSAs. Standard reference material 1941b was used as the natural sediment mixed with Arabian medium crude and artificial seawater under various mixing energies. The sediment-to-oil ratio remained constant for all experiments. Gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) analysis was used to measure the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) trapped in negatively buoyant OSAs. Results showed that the TPH in OSAs increased exponentially with shaking time and reached an equilibrium value within 3 hours. The equilibrium decreased from 3 hours to 1.3 hours when the shaking rate increased from 2.0 to 2.3 Hz. It was concluded that high mixing energy enhances OSA formation and shortens the time for OSA formation. 42 refs., 6 tabs., 5 figs.

  5. Oil intensities and oil prices : evidence for Latin America

    OpenAIRE

    Alaimo, Veronica; Lopez, Humberto

    2008-01-01

    Crude oil prices have dramatically increased over the past years and are now at a historical maximum in nominal terms and very close to it in real terms. It is difficult to argue, at least for net oil importers, that higher oil prices have a positive impact on welfare. In fact, the negative relationship between oil prices and economic activity has been well documented in the literature. Ye...

  6. A catalogue of crude oil and oil product properties, 1990

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bobra, M.A.; Callaghan, S.

    1990-09-01

    This catalogue is a compilation of available data on crude oils and petroleum products. The emphasis of the catalogue is upon oils which could potentially impact Canada's environment. Other oils which are unlikely to be of direct Canadian concern are also included because they have been well characterized and used in relevant studies. The properties listed for each oil are those which will provide an indication of a spilled oil's environmental behaviour and effects. The properties on which data is provided include API gravity, density, viscosity, interfacial tension, pour point, flash point, vapor pressure, volatility and component distribution, emulsion formation tendency and stability, weathering, dispersability, major hydrocarbon groups, aqueous solubility, toxicity, sulfur content, fire point, and wax content. Most of the chemical-physical properties listed in this catalogue were measured using standard tests. For certain properties, data are given at different temperatures and for different degrees of oil weathering. An oil's degree of weathering is expresed as the volume or weight percent evaporated from the fresh oil. Weathered oils used for testing were artificially weathered by gas stripping following the method of Mackay and Stiver. 109 refs

  7. A catalogue of crude oil and oil product properties, 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whiticar, S.; Bobra, M.; Liuzzo, P.; Callaghan, S.; Fingas, M.; Jokuty, P.; Ackerman, F.; Cao, J.

    1993-02-01

    This catalogue is a compilation of available data on crude oils and petroleum products. The emphasis of the catalogue is upon oils which could potentially impact Canada's environment. Other oils which are unlikely to be of direct Canadian concern are also included because they have been well characterized and used in relevant studies. The properties listed for each oil are those which will provide an indication of a spilled oil's environmental behaviour and effects. The properties on which data is provided include API gravity, density, viscosity, interfacial tension, pour point, flash point, vapor pressure, volatility and component distribution, emulsion formation tendency and stability, weathering, dispersability, major hydrocarbon groups, aqueous solubility, toxicity, sulfur content, fire point, and wax content. Most of the chemical-physical properties listed in this catalogue were measured using standard tests. For certain properties, data are given at different temperatures and for different degrees of oil weathering. An oil's degree of weathering is expresed as the volume or weight percent evaporated from the fresh oil. Weathered oils used for testing were artificially weathered by gas stripping following the method of Mackay and Stiver. 140 refs

  8. Neutron Backscattered Technique for Quantification of Oil Palm Fruit Oil Content

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ismail Mustapha; Samihah Mustaffha; Md Fakarudin Ab Rahman; Roslan Yahya; Lahasen Norman Shah Dahing; Nor Paiza Mohd Hasan; Jaafar Abdullah

    2013-01-01

    Non-destructive and real time method becomes a well-liked method to researchers in the oil palm industry since 2000. This method has the ability to detect oil content in order to increase the production of oil palm for better profit. Hence, this research investigates the potential of neutron source to estimate oil content in palm oil fruit since oil palm contains hydrogen with chemical formula C 55 H 96 O 6 . For this paper, oil palm loose fruit was being used and divided into three groups. These three groups are ripe, under-ripe and bruised fruit. A total of 21 loose fruit for each group were collected from a private plantation in Malaysia. Each sample was scanned using neutron backscattered technique. The higher neutron count, the more hydrogen content, and the more oil content in palm oil fruit. The best correlation result came from the ripe fruits with r 2 =0.98. This research proves that neutron backscattered technique can be used as a non-destructive and real time grading system for palm oil. (author)

  9. Mitsubishi Oil to become a major oil player?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ash, N.

    1994-01-01

    Mitsubishi Oil became a wholly-owned Japanese company in 1984. Before that, since 1981, it had been a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Getty oil. Recently the company has discovered a major new oilfield off the coast of Vietnam. In addition it has a strategic stake in the Canadian Athabasca Far Sands, major investments in Angola and operations in Papua New Guinea and Gabon. It aims to cover 30 % of the crude oil imports to its four existing, and fifth projected, refineries from owned sources by the end of the century. Mitsubishi has a network of 4500 service stations in Japan and has become one of the largest lubricating oil producers. The company's main overseas sales are of jet fuel, lubricating and tanker oils, sulphur and some petrochemicals. (UK)

  10. Recycling used palm oil and used engine oil to produce white bio oil, bio petroleum diesel and heavy fuel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-abbas, Mustafa Hamid; Ibrahim, Wan Aini Wan; Sanagi, Mohd. Marsin

    2012-09-01

    Recycling waste materials produced in our daily life is considered as an additional resource of a wide range of materials and it conserves the environment. Used engine oil and used cooking oil are two oils disposed off in large quantities as a by-product of our daily life. This study aims at providing white bio oil, bio petroleum diesel and heavy fuel from the disposed oils. Toxic organic materials suspected to be present in the used engine oil were separated using vacuum column chromatography to reduce the time needed for the separation process and to avoid solvent usage. The compounds separated were detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and found to contain toxic aromatic carboxylic acids. Used cooking oils (thermally cracked from usage) were collected and separated by vacuum column chromatography. White bio oil produced was examined by GC-MS. The white bio oil consists of non-toxic hydrocarbons and is found to be a good alternative to white mineral oil which is significantly used in food industry, cosmetics and drugs with the risk of containing polycyclic aromatic compounds which are carcinogenic and toxic. Different portions of the used cooking oil and used engine were mixed to produce several blends for use as heavy oil fuels. White bio oil was used to produce bio petroleum diesel by blending it with petroleum diesel and kerosene. The bio petroleum diesel produced passed the PETRONAS flash point and viscosity specification test. The heat of combustion of the two blends of heavy fuel produced was measured and one of the blends was burned to demonstrate its burning ability. Higher heat of combustion was obtained from the blend containing greater proportion of used engine oil. This study has provided a successful recycled alternative for white bio oil, bio petroleum fuel and diesel which can be an energy source.

  11. A consistent phenomenological model for natural organic matter linked migration of Cm(III), Pu(III/IV), Np(IV), Tc(IV) and Pa(V) in the Boom Clay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martens, E.; Maes, N.; Bruggeman, C.; Van Gompel, M.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. As Natural Organic Matter (NOM) may modify/enhance the mobility of radionuclides (RNs) through complexation or colloidal interactions, it is essential to evaluate the impact of these processes before performing safety assessments aiming at demonstrating the suitability of deep-seated clayey formations for geological disposal of radioactive waste. Column migration experiments with Cm, Pu, Np, Tc and Pa in Boom Clay, initiated about 10 years ago, showed strikingly similar features despite their different chemical speciation. On a relative short time, these RNs began percolating through the clay core until a constant concentration at the outlet side was reached. As most of the aqueous forms of these RNs are supposed to sorb strongly onto the Boom Clay solid phase, it was assumed that their relative fast transport was due to colloids (either intrinsic colloids or NOM-colloids). The constant concentration percolating from the core was thought to result from a solubility limiting phase precipitated at the source position. However, the concentrations in the percolate were systematically lower than the thermodynamic calculated solubilities, and all the more, complexation to NOM would likely result in an increased RN concentration. Although these curves could be modelled by a simple diffusion-advection relationship with linear sorption, they could not be backed up by a mechanistic understanding. As the concentration in the percolate remained constant for many years, the RN-species eluting from the core are assumed to be well in equilibrium with the Boom Clay geochemical conditions. Therefore, they were used as input source (constant concentration boundary condition) for a migration experiment through a fresh clay core (i.e. the outlet of a first cell was coupled to the inlet of a second cell). The measured concentrations at the outlet of the second clay core also reached a constant value, but this value is about one order

  12. Global Trends and Development Prospects for Oil and the Oil Products Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Dorozhkina

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the important issue of the development of the global market of oil and oil products. It offers an overview of how this market was formed and its current status, classification, location and potential of countries in the oil and oil processing business. It analyzes the Ukrainian oil products market. The article discusses the shortcomings and strategic areas for the development of Ukraine’s oil transport system. It presents an optimum method for creating integration groups in order to develop the oil processing business in Ukraine for the future. The article considers the main trends and outlines development prospects for the global oil and oil products market.

  13. The oil price

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alba, P.

    2000-01-01

    Statistical analysis cannot, alone, provide an oil price forecast. So, one needs to understand the fundamental phenomena which control the past trends since the end of world war II After a first period during which oil, thanks to its abundance, was able to increase its market share at the expense of other energies, the first oil shock reflects the rarefaction of oil resource with the tilting of the US production curve from growth to decline. Since then, the new situation is that of a ''cohabitation'' between oil and the other energies with the oil price, extremely volatile, reflecting the trial and error adjustment of the market share left to the other energies. Such a context may explain the recent oil price surge but the analogy between the US oil situation at the time of the first shock and that existing today for the world outside Middle East suggest another possibility, that of a structural change with higher future oil prices. The authors examine these two possibilities, think that the oil price will reflect both as long as one or the other will not become proven, and conclude with a series of political recommendations. (authors)

  14. Oil My Love

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gay, Michel

    2014-01-01

    The author first describes how oil will disappear from non-producing countries, notably France and Europe and will therefore lead to an energy crisis. He outlines that renewable energies will have a weak contribution in the replacement of fossil energies (in this case, oil and gas). To illustrate these trends, the author proposes an appendix which presents and discusses the evolution of global consumption of fossil fuels, the evolution of production of different oil grades, a forecast of global oil demand by 2035, evolutions of productions and exports. Another appendix discusses additional issues on oil: the meaning of reserves, solutions for France in case of shortage of oil, the world oil situation (USA, China, Russia, the European Union, Japan)

  15. Non-Petroleum Oils

    Science.gov (United States)

    These include synthetics such as silicone fluids and tung oils, wood-derivative oils such as resin/rosin, animal fats/oil, and seed oils. Many have similar physical properties to petroleum-based, such as water insolubility and formation of slicks.

  16. Hydrocarbon oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Foorwood, G F; Taplay, J G

    1916-12-12

    Hydrocarbon oils are hydrogenated, cracked, or treated for the removal of sulfur by bringing their vapors mixed with steam at temperatures between 450 and 600/sup 0/C into contact with a form of carbon that is capable of decomposing steam with the production of nascent hydrogen at those temperatures. The forms of carbon used include lamp-black, soot, charcoals derived from wood, cellulose, and lignite, and carbons obtained by carbonizing oil residues and other organic bodies at temperatures below 600/sup 0/C. The process is applied to the treatment of coal oil, shale oil, petroleum, and lignite oil. In examples, kerosene is cracked at 570/sup 0/C, cracked spirit is hydrogenated at 500/sup 0/C, and shale spirit is desulfurized at 530/sup 0/C. The products are led to a condenser and thence to a scrubber, where they are washed with creosote oil. After desulfurization, the products are washed with dilute caustic soda to remove sulfurretted hydrogen.

  17. The oil industry in 2007

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    The various contributions present and comment many data about the evolutions of different parts of the oil industry until 2007: world oil and gas markets, worldwide oil exploration and production, oil exploration and production in France, oil and oil-related industry in France, hydrocarbon supplies, oil refining in France, fuel quality, substitution fuels, inner transportation of oil products, storage of oil products, consumption of oil products, taxing of oils products, price of oil products, distribution of oil products

  18. The oil industry in 2006

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-01-01

    The various contributions present and comment many data about the evolutions of different parts of the oil industry until 2006: world oil and gas markets, worldwide oil exploration and production, oil exploration and production in France, oil and oil-related industry in France, hydrocarbon supplies, oil refining in France, fuel quality, substitution fuels, inner transportation of oil products, storage of oil products, consumption of oil products, taxing of oils products, price of oil products, distribution of oil products

  19. Detection of olive oil adulteration by low-field NMR relaxometry and UV-Vis spectroscopy upon mixing olive oil with various edible oils

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Ok

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Adulteration of olive oil using unhealthy substitutes is considered a threat for public health. Low-field (LF proton (1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR relaxometry and ultra-violet (UV visible spectroscopy are used to detect adulteration of olive oil. Three different olive oil with different oleoyl acyl contents were mixed with almond, castor, corn, and sesame oils with three volumetric ratios, respectively. In addition, Arbequina olive oil was mixed with canola, flax, grape seed, peanut, soybean, and sunflower seed oils with three volumetric ratios. Transverse magnetization relaxation time (T2 curves were fitted with bi-exponential decaying functions. T2 times of each mixture of olive oils and castor oils, and olive oils and corn oils changed systematically as a function of volumetric ratio. To detect the adulteration in the mixtures with almond and sesame oils, both LF 1H NMR relaxometry and UV-Vis spectroscopy were needed, where UV-Vis-spectroscopy detected the adulteration qualitatively. In the mixtures of Arbequina olive oil and flax, peanut, soybean, and sunflower seed oils, both T21 and T22 values became longer systematically as the content of the olive oil was decreased. The unique UV-Vis maximum absorbance of flax oil at 320.0 nm shows the adulteration of olive oil qualitatively.

  20. Detection of olive oil adulteration by low-field NMR relaxometry and UV-Vis spectroscopy upon mixing olive oil with various edible oils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ok, S.

    2017-01-01

    Adulteration of olive oil using unhealthy substitutes is considered a threat for public health. Low-field (LF) proton (1H) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry and ultra-violet (UV) visible spectroscopy are used to detect adulteration of olive oil. Three different olive oil with different oleoyl acyl contents were mixed with almond, castor, corn, and sesame oils with three volumetric ratios, respectively. In addition, Arbequina olive oil was mixed with canola, flax, grape seed, peanut, soybean, and sunflower seed oils with three volumetric ratios. Transverse magnetization relaxation time (T2) curves were fitted with bi-exponential decaying functions. T2 times of each mixture of olive oils and castor oils, and olive oils and corn oils changed systematically as a function of volumetric ratio. To detect the adulteration in the mixtures with almond and sesame oils, both LF 1H NMR relaxometry and UV-Vis spectroscopy were needed, where UV-Vis-spectroscopy detected the adulteration qualitatively. In the mixtures of Arbequina olive oil and flax, peanut, soybean, and sunflower seed oils, both T21 and T22 values became longer systematically as the content of the olive oil was decreased. The unique UV-Vis maximum absorbance of flax oil at 320.0 nm shows the adulteration of olive oil qualitatively. [es

  1. Kolkhoung (Pistacia khinjuk Hull Oil and Kernel Oil as Antioxidative Vegetable Oils with High Oxidative Stability and Nutritional Value

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maryam Asnaashari

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, in order to introduce natural antioxidative vegetable oil in food industry, the kolkhoung hull oil and kernel oil were extracted. To evaluate their antioxidant efficiency, gas chromatography analysis of the composition of kolkhoung hull and kernel oil fatty acids and high–performance liquid chromatography analysis of tocopherols were done. Also, the oxidative stability of the oil was considered based on the peroxide value and anisidine value during heating at 100, 110 and 120 °C. Gas chromatography analysis showed that oleic acid was the major fatty acid of both types of oil (hull and kernel and based on a low content of saturated fatty acids, high content of monounsaturated fatty acids, and the ratio of ω-6 and ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, they were nutritionally well-balanced. Moreover, both hull and kernel oil showed high oxidative stability during heating, which can be attributed to high content of tocotrienols. Based on the results, kolkhoung hull oil acted slightly better than its kernel oil. However, both of them can be added to oxidation–sensitive oils to improve their shelf life.

  2. Experimental oil release on Haltenbanken 1982. Drifting and spreading of oil. [Norway

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soerstroem, S.E.; Johansen, Oe; Celius, K.K.; Audunson, T.; Steinbakke, P.

    1984-03-29

    In the experiment, 100 m/sup 3/ of Statfjord crude oil was released at Haltenbanken. The oil was followed for 7 days and projects concerning drifting and spreading of oil, microbiological decay and ecological effects, ecological studies of the impact on fish, zooplancton, fish eggs and larvae, training with equipment and control functions and experiment leading and coordination were carried out. In this project ''drifting and spreading of oil'' information on physical environment, decay of oil, mixing of oil in water, oil spill surveillance, warning and simulation and numerical modelling are collected. The results of these areas were compared to the mathematical simulation and warning models Oilsim and Sliktrak. New methods for in situ measurements for relative values of oil in water were used. It was found that most of the physical and chemical changes of oil spills occur during the first 24 hours. The drifting and alterations of the oil was recorded and a new simulation model for three-dimentional spreading of oil in water was made. 49 tables, 130 drawings, 32 references.

  3. Oil biodegradation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rahsepar, Shokouhalsadat; Langenhoff, Alette A.M.; Smit, Martijn P.J.; Eenennaam, van Justine S.; Murk, Tinka; Rijnaarts, Huub H.M.

    2017-01-01

    During the Deepwater Horizon (DwH) oil spill, interactions between oil, clay particles and marine snow lead to the formation of aggregates. Interactions between these components play an important, but yet not well understood, role in biodegradation of oil in the ocean water. The aim of this study

  4. Estimation on oil demand and oil saving potential of China's road transport sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Boqiang; Xie, Chunping

    2013-01-01

    China is currently in the stage of industrialization and urbanization, which is characterized by rigid energy demand and rapid growth of energy consumption. Therefore, energy conservation will become a major strategy for China in a transition to low-carbon economy. China's transport industry is of high energy consumption. In 2010, oil consumption in transport industry takes up 38.2% of the country's total oil demand, of which 23.6% is taken up by road transport sector. As a result, oil saving in China's road transport sector is vital to the whole nation. The co-integration method is developed to find a long-run relationship between oil consumption and affecting factors such as GDP, road condition, labor productivity and oil price, to estimate oil demand and to predict future oil saving potential in China's transport sector under different oil-saving scenarios. Monte Carlo simulation is further used for risk analysis. Results show that under BAU condition, oil demand of China's road transport sector will reach 278.5 million ton of oil equivalents (MTOE) in 2020. Oil saving potential will be 86 MTOE and 131 MTOE under moderate oil-saving scenario and advanced oil-saving scenario, respectively. This paper provides a reference to establishing oil saving policy for China's road transport sector. - Highlights: • We adopt the co-integration model to estimate oil demand and oil saving potential of China's road transport sector. • Monte Carlo simulation is further used for risk analysis. • GDP, ratio of classified highway, labor productivity and oil price are main factors affecting oil consumption. • Scenario analysis approach is applied to calculate oil saving potential under different energy saving scenarios. • Future policy for oil conservation in China's road transport sector is suggested

  5. Fake news of baby booms 9months after major sporting events distorts the public's understanding of early human development science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grech, Victor; Masukume, Gwinyai

    2017-12-01

    In France on 27/6/16, Iceland's men's national football team won 2-1, knocking England out of the UEFA European Championship. Nine months after this momentous Icelandic victory, Ásgeir Pétur Þorvaldsson a medical doctor in Iceland, posted a tweet in jest suggesting that a baby boom had occurred as a result of increased celebratory coital activity following the win. The media covered this widely but statistical analysis shows otherwise and this was confirmed by the original tweet source. Given the increase in fake scientific news, it is especially important for scientists to correct misinformation lest the public loses trust in science or gains a distorted understanding of known facts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Cracking hydrocarbon oils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seigle, A A.F.M.

    1922-12-20

    Hydrocarbon oils such as petroleum, peat, shale, or lignite oils, heavy tars, resin oils, naphthalene oils, etc., are vaporized by being fed from a tank through a preheater to the lower part of a vertical annular retort heated by a flame projected down the central cavity from a burner. The oil vapors rise through annular passages formed by disks, on which are placed chips of copper, iron, aluminum, etc., to act as catalysts.

  7. Efficient way of importing crude oil from oil producing countries - A review on diversification policy of crude oil import

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Dal Sok [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

    1999-03-01

    Since the second oil crisis, the government has operated the import diversification support program to reduce the risk of crude oil import from Middle-East region and to raise the ability of dealing with the risk. This study tried to seek policy trends in future through reviewing the market environment related to the crude oil import diversification policy and the goal, instrument and effect of the policy. The supply and demand of crude oil and the price are influenced by market system in the world oil market and there are various types of crude oil trading available to both sellers and buyers. There is a probability that the suspension of supply in a certain area could be led to the price issue rather than the physical use of crude oil. In addition, the advantage of price with long-term contract of crude oil was abolished since the price of crude oil imported by term contract has been linked to spot prices. As a result, it is shown that the potential benefit from crude oil import diversification policy is reduced although political and social insecurity still exists in Middle-East region. Therefore, it is desirable to maintain the existing support program until the amount of stored oil reaches the optimum level and to help private enterprises determine the import considering economical efficiency and risk. (author). 36 refs., 5 figs., 23 tabs.

  8. Transformer oil maintenance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    White, J. [A.F. White Ltd., Brantford, ON (Canada)

    2002-08-01

    Proactive treatment is required in the case of transformer oil, since the oil degrades over time, which could result in the potential failure of the transformer or costly repairs. A mineral-based oil is used for transformers because of its chemical properties and dielectric strength. Water and particulate are the main contaminants found in transformer oil, affecting the quality of the oil through reduced insulation. Acid that forms in the oil when reacting with oxygen is called oxidization. It reduces the heat dissipation of the transformer as the acid forms sludge which settles on the windings of the transformer. The first step in the preventive maintenance program associated with transformer oil is the testing of the oil. The base line is established through initial testing, and subsequent annual testing identifies any changes. The minimal requirements are: (1) dielectric breakdown, a measure of the voltage conducted by the oil; (2) neutralization/acid number, which detects the level of acid present in the oil; (3) interfacial tension, which identifies the presence of polar compounds; (4) colour, which displays quality, aging and the presence of contaminants; and (5) water, which decreases the dielectric breakdown voltage. The analysis of the gases present in the oil is another useful tool in a maintenance program for the determination of a possible fault such as arcing, corona or overheated connections and is accomplished through Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA). Remediation treatment includes upgrading the oil. Ideally, reclamation should be performed in the early stages of the acid buildup before sludging occurs. Onsite reclamation includes Fuller's earth processing and degasification, a process briefly described by the author.

  9. Oil mixing behavior after an oil spill: identification conflicts of different fingerprints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Shijie; Yu, Hongjun; Luo, Yongming; Wang, Chuanyuan; Li, Xueshuang; Li, Zhongping

    2018-04-01

    Clearing up whether spilled oil is mixed or not can strengthen the accuracy of oil spill identification. In the present study, the biomarkers in spilled oil samples were detected. The weathering modes of different types of diagnostic ratio and carbon isotope values of individual n-alkanes were also analyzed. The results showed that the diagnostic ratios of steroids, terpenes and aromatics, and weathering characteristics of carbon isotope composition (δ 13 C) of individual n-alkanes supported the idea that Dalian oil spill emerged from a single oil source. Furthermore, commonly used diagnostic ratios of n-alkanes indicated that the Dalian oil spill had undergone the oil mixing process. The different identifying outcomes indicate that some kinds of n-alkane-rich substance (such as oil dispersants) were mixed in the Dalian spilled oil and interfered with the routine diagnosis ratios of n-alkanes.

  10. Stabilization of Softwood-Derived Pyrolysis Oils for Continuous Bio-oil Hydroprocessing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olarte, Mariefel V.; Zacher, Alan H.; Padmaperuma, Asanga B.; Burton, Sarah D.; Job, Heather M.; Lemmon, Teresa L.; Swita, Marie S.; Rotness, Leslie J.; Neuenschwander, Gary N.; Frye, John G.; Elliott, Douglas C.

    2015-10-15

    The use of fast pyrolysis as a potential renewable liquid transportation fuel alternative to crude oil depends on successful catalytic upgrading to produce a refinery-ready product with oxygen content and qualities (i.e. specific functional group or compound content) that is compatible with the product’s proposed insertion point. Catalytic upgrading of bio-oil requires high temperature and pressure, while similar to crude oil hydrotreating, is not as straightforward for the thermally unstable pyrolysis oil. For years, a two-temperature zone, downflow trickle bed reactor was the state-of-the art for continuous operation. However, pressure excursion due to plug formation still occurred, typically at the high temperature transition zone, leading to a process shutdown within 140 h. Recently, a bio-oil pre-treatment process, together with a robust commercial catalyst, was found to be enabling the continuous operation of the two-zone hydroprocessing system. Here, we report the results on pre-treating bio-oil at 413 K and 8.4 MPa of flowing H2 (500 L H2/L bio-oil, 0.5 L bio-oil/L catalyst bed) and the attempts to characterize this oil product to understand the chemistry which enabled the long-term processing of bio-oil.

  11. Kolkhoung (Pistacia khinjuk) Hull Oil and Kernel Oil as Antioxidative Vegetable Oils with High Oxidative Stability 
and Nutritional Value.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asnaashari, Maryam; Hashemi, Seyed Mohammad Bagher; Mehr, Hamed Mahdavian; Yousefabad, Seyed Hossein Asadi

    2015-03-01

    In this study, in order to introduce natural antioxidative vegetable oil in food industry, the kolkhoung hull oil and kernel oil were extracted. To evaluate their antioxidant efficiency, gas chromatography analysis of the composition of kolkhoung hull and kernel oil fatty acids and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of tocopherols were done. Also, the oxidative stability of the oil was considered based on the peroxide value and anisidine value during heating at 100, 110 and 120 °C. Gas chromatography analysis showed that oleic acid was the major fatty acid of both types of oil (hull and kernel) and based on a low content of saturated fatty acids, high content of monounsaturated fatty acids, and the ratio of ω-6 and ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, they were nutritionally well--balanced. Moreover, both hull and kernel oil showed high oxidative stability during heating, which can be attributed to high content of tocotrienols. Based on the results, kolkhoung hull oil acted slightly better than its kernel oil. However, both of them can be added to oxidation-sensitive oils to improve their shelf life.

  12. Oil/gas collector/separator for underwater oil leaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henning, C.D.

    1993-01-01

    An oil/gas collector/separator for underwater oil leaks is described comprising: a cylindrical tank; a hollow float member for supporting said tank in a substantially upright position; a skirt assembly secured to said hollow float member and extending in a direction away from said float member opposite said tank; means for removing oil from said tank; and means for removing gas from said tank

  13. Canada's crude oil resources : crude oil in our daily lives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bott, R.

    2001-10-01

    Created in 1975, the Petroleum Communication Foundation is a not-for-profit organization. The objective of the Foundation is to inform Canadians about the petroleum industry in Canada. It produces educational, fact-based publications and programs, employing a multi-stakeholder review process. The first section of this publication is devoted to crude oil and the benefits that are derived from it. It begins by providing a brief definition of crude oil, then moves to the many uses in our daily lives and the environmental impacts like air pollution, spills, and footprint on the land from exploration and production activities. Section 2 details the many uses of crude oil and identifies the major oil producing regions of Canada. A quick mention is made of non-conventional sources of crude oil. The search for crude oil is the topic of section 3 of the document, providing an overview of the exploration activities, the access rights that must be obtained before gaining access to the resource. The drilling of oil is discussed in section 4. Section 5 deals with issues pertaining to reservoirs within rocks, while section 6 covers the feeding of the refineries, discussing topics from the movement of oil to market to the refining of the crude oil, and the pricing issues. In section 7, the uncertain future is examined with a view of balancing the supply and demand, as crude oil is a non-renewable resource. Supplementary information is provided concerning additional publications published by various organizations and agencies. figs

  14. The costs of the diesel boom; Die Kosten des Dieselbooms. Eine Uebersicht

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Helmers, E. [Fachhochschule Trier, Umweltcampus Birkenfeld (Germany)

    2006-02-15

    Background. In many European states the number of cars equipped with diesel engines has dramatically increased since around ten years. This situation is quantified for Germany. Driven by the political motivation to reduce CO{sub 2}-emissions, increase of diesel cars has been stimulated by governmental measures of European as well as state bodies in co-operation with the industry. Results. Reduction of CO{sub 2}-emissions with the help of diesel cars remained relatively small. On contrast, diesel cars are emitting much more of nitric oxides and fine particles compared with gasoline driven cars. Excess emissions by the 'diesel boom' are quantified. Health costs and impact on agricultural crops as well as on forestry are estimated with respect to the order of magnitude. Health costs caused by the inhalation of diesel combustion particles emitted by only the excess diesel cars in Germany are in the order of 200 Mio Euro per year. Knowledge gaps of the impact of ultra fine particles as well as of the action of particle traps are demonstrated. Conclusion and Recommendation. In the public, particle numbers need to be discussed instead of particle emission loads (g km{sup -1}) which have an insufficient correlation to health effects. Much more data are needed as to the toxicologically relevant particle size of <20 nm. Effectiveness and substainability of a CO{sub 2}-reduction strategy by diesel cars are generally questioned. (orig.)

  15. Intrastate conflict in oil producing states: A threat to global oil supply?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toft, Peter

    2011-01-01

    In this paper I investigate how often and how much outbreaks of intrastate conflict in oil producing states translates into oil supply shortfalls. The Libyan conflict that broke out in February 2011 highlighted the fear that intrastate conflict in oil producing states may imply shortfalls and ensuing volatile global oil prices. I argue, however, that it is far from certain that shortfalls following conflict outbreak will occur, since both sides in a conflict face incentives simultaneously to protect and maintain oil installations and to strike and destroy these. Based on a quantitative analysis of 39 intrastate wars in oil producing countries (1965-2007) I conclude that outbreak of conflict does not translate into production decline with any certainty. In fact, likelihoods are less than 50% for reductions to occur. In many cases growing production actually followed conflict outbreak. I conclude by investigating four characteristics of intrastate conflict that may explain when oil production is at risk during conflict: (1) proximity of oil producing fields to key battle zones, (2) duration of conflict, (3) separatism and the location of oil in separatist territory, and (4) the relative size of oil production. While the first three factors did not prove important, oil producer size could be significant. But further research is needed to establish this with greater certainty. - Highlights: → Oil shortfall during intrastate conflict is not a given. → Statistical analysis of 39 intrastate conflicts in oil producing countries since 1965. → Examination of four characteristics of intrastate conflict in oil producing countries. → Marginal significance related to large producers and production shortfall.

  16. Intrastate conflict in oil producing states: A threat to global oil supply?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Toft, Peter, E-mail: peter.toft@ec.europa.eu [Institute for Energy, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Westerduinweg 3, 1755 ZG Petten (Netherlands)

    2011-11-15

    In this paper I investigate how often and how much outbreaks of intrastate conflict in oil producing states translates into oil supply shortfalls. The Libyan conflict that broke out in February 2011 highlighted the fear that intrastate conflict in oil producing states may imply shortfalls and ensuing volatile global oil prices. I argue, however, that it is far from certain that shortfalls following conflict outbreak will occur, since both sides in a conflict face incentives simultaneously to protect and maintain oil installations and to strike and destroy these. Based on a quantitative analysis of 39 intrastate wars in oil producing countries (1965-2007) I conclude that outbreak of conflict does not translate into production decline with any certainty. In fact, likelihoods are less than 50% for reductions to occur. In many cases growing production actually followed conflict outbreak. I conclude by investigating four characteristics of intrastate conflict that may explain when oil production is at risk during conflict: (1) proximity of oil producing fields to key battle zones, (2) duration of conflict, (3) separatism and the location of oil in separatist territory, and (4) the relative size of oil production. While the first three factors did not prove important, oil producer size could be significant. But further research is needed to establish this with greater certainty. - Highlights: > Oil shortfall during intrastate conflict is not a given. > Statistical analysis of 39 intrastate conflicts in oil producing countries since 1965. > Examination of four characteristics of intrastate conflict in oil producing countries. > Marginal significance related to large producers and production shortfall.

  17. Characterization of Oxidative Stability of Fish Oil- and Plant Oil-Enriched Skimmed Milk

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saga, Linda C.; Kristinova, Vera; Kirkhus, Bente

    2013-01-01

    oat oil and camelina oil to protect fish oil in bulk and as fish oil-enriched skimmed milk emulsions was evaluated. Results of oxidative stability of bulk oils and blends assessed by the Schaal oven weight gain test and by the rancimat method showed significant increase in oxidative stability when oat...... oil was added to fish oil in only 5 and 10 %, whereas no protective effect of camelina oil was observed when evaluated by these methods. Moreover, fish oil blended with oat oil conferred the lowest PV and lower amounts of volatile compounds during the storage period of 14 days at 4 °C. Surprisingly......, skimmed milk supplemented with fish-oat oil blend gave the highest scores for off-flavors in the sensory evaluation, demonstrating that several methods, including sensory analysis, should be combined to illustrate the complete picture of lipid oxidation in emulsions....

  18. Comparison between jojoba oil and other vegetable oils as a substitute to petroleum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    El Kinawy, O. [National Research centre, Dokki, Cairo (Egypt)

    2004-06-15

    Jojoba oil and other vegetable oils, such as soybean, sunflower and castor oils, were evaluated to be used as lubricants. Three standard mineral lubricating oils were considered in this study as reference. The essential parameters tested for comparison were the oil viscosity, viscosity index, and viscosity--temperature and shear rate--shear stress relationships. The effect of excessive heating on the vegetable oils' stability was studied and the corresponding parameters were also measured. Jojoba oil was found to be the best among all tested oils, whereas it gave the minimum change in viscosity gradient and hence the highest viscosity index. There was a linear relation between shear rate and shear stress of all oils before and after heat deterioration. Therefore, these oils were considered as Newtonion liquids. However, the oil viscosity, as well as the rate of viscosity variation with temperature, ({delta}{sup '}{eta}/{delta}{tau}) were affected by heat deterioration being lowered in value, in case of jojoba oil, and higher value, in case of castor oil. Jojoba oil was examined for other important properties for its use as a lubricant, such as refractive index, acid value, peroxide value, saponification value, iodine value, flash, fire and pour points. (author)

  19. The Study of the Desulfurization Process of Oil and Oil Products of "Zhanazhol" Oil Field Using the Approaches of Green Chemistry

    OpenAIRE

    Zhaksyntay K. Kairbekov; Zhannur K. Myltykbaeva; Nazym T. Smagulova; Dariya K. Kanseitova

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we studied sono catalytic oxidative desulfurization of oil and diesel fraction from “Zhanazhol” oil deposits. We have established that the combined effect of the ultrasonic field and oxidant (ozone-air mixture) in the presence of the catalyst on the oil is potentially very effective method of desulfurization of oil and oil products. This method allows increasing the degree of desulfurization of oil by 62%.

  20. Shale oil. II. Gases from oil shale

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McKee, R H; Manning, P D.V.

    1927-01-01

    Oil shale (from Colorado) was pyrolyzed, and the gaseous products obtained were studied. The organic material present in oil shale contains carboxyl groups that lose carbon dioxide during pyrolysis before the formation of soluble bitumen. Nitrogen was evolved as ammonia in two stages and was not continuous. The first evolution was from loosely combined nitrogen structures, whereas the second was from more stable forms. No hydrocarbons were present as such in the kerogen. The gaseous products from oil-shale pyrolysis were similar to those obtained by distillation of colophony, amber, coal, and wood. This places the kerogen of the oil shale in the same series of carbonaceous substances as those from which coals are formed. Kerogen appeared to be decomposed in three steps; namely, to insoluble bitumen, to soluble bitumen, and to oil (gas evolution accompanied each step). Its low solubility and the character of its pyrolytic gas indicated that kerogen is largely a resinous residue from vegetation of the past era and may have been formed by the tranportation of coal-forming organic debris to inland salty lakes or carried to the sea by clay-laden waters. The salt water and the natural settling action precipitated the clay and organic matter in an almost homogeneous deposit. Oil shales have existed to the present time because they have not been subjected to high pressures or elevated temperatures that would have changed them to petroleum.

  1. Assessment of an oil palm population from Nigerian Institute for Oil ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), a monocotyledonous plant belonging to the Arecaceae family, is one of the most important oil crops in the world. In Nigeria, oil palm has benefited immensely from conventional breeding efforts resulting in high yields that have been achieved with this breeding material. However, oil palm ...

  2. Quantification of rice bran oil in oil blends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mishra, R.

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Blends consisting of physically refined rice bran oil (PRBO: sunflower oil (SnF and PRBO: safflower oil (SAF in different proportions were analyzed for various physicochemical parameters. The quantification of pure rice bran oil in the blended oils was carried out using different methods including gas chromatographic, HPLC, ultrasonic velocity and methods based on physico-chemical parameters. The physicochemical parameters such as ultrasonic velocity, relative association and acoustic impedance at 2 MHz, iodine value, palmitic acid content and oryzanol content reflected significant changes with increased proportions of PRBO in the blended oils. These parameters were selected as dependent parameters and % PRBO proportion was selected as independent parameters. The study revealed that regression equations based on the oryzanol content, palmitic acid composition, ultrasonic velocity, relative association, acoustic impedance, and iodine value can be used for the quantification of rice bran oil in blended oils. The rice bran oil can easily be quantified in the blended oils based on the oryzanol content by HPLC even at a 1% level. The palmitic acid content in blended oils can also be used as an indicator to quantify rice bran oil at or above the 20% level in blended oils whereas the method based on ultrasonic velocity, acoustic impedance and relative association showed initial promise in the quantification of rice bran oil.

    Se analizaron diversos parámetros físico-químicos para la evaluación de mezclas de aceites en diferentes proporciones que incluyen: aceite de salvado de arroz físícamente refinado (PRBO: aceite de girasol (SNF y las mezclas PRBO: aceite de cártamo (SAF en diferentes proporciones. La cuantificación de la presencia del aceite de salvado de arroz en las mezclas se llevó a cabo por diferentes métodos, como cromatografía de gases (GC, cromatografía líquida (HPLC, ultrasonidos y métodos basados en otros parámetros f

  3. The oil market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amic, E.; Lautard, P.

    1999-01-01

    This chapter examines the structure of the oil industry and the impacts of the oil markets on the hedging strategies of the energy consumers, the oil company, and the energy derivatives' provider. An introduction to market perspectives is presented, and the hedging operations in the jet fuel market in the airline sector are discussed. Trading and risk management within an oil company, the derivatives provider, trading derivatives in a multi-dimensional world, locational risks, and the modelling of term structure and the role of storage are considered. Industrial spreads and the role of refining, future market developments and market strategies for crude oil and oil products, and marketing packages and market risk are addressed

  4. [Laser induced fluorescence spectrum characteristics of common edible oil and fried cooking oil].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mu, Tao-tao; Chen, Si-ying; Zhang, Yin-chao; Chen, He; Guo, Pan; Ge, Xian-ying; Gao, Li-lei

    2013-09-01

    In order to detect the trench oil the authors built a trench oil rapid detection system based on laser induced fluorescence detection technology. This system used 355 nm laser as excitation light source. The authors collected the fluorescence spectrum of a variety of edible oil and fried cooking oil (a kind of trench oil) and then set up a fluorescence spectrum database by taking advantage of the trench oil detection system It was found that the fluorescence characteristics of fried cooking oil and common edible oil were obviously different. Then it could easily realize the oil recognition and trench oil rapid detection by using principal component analysis and BP neural network, and the overall recognition rate could reach as high as 97.5%. Experiments showed that laser induced fluorescence spectrum technology was fast, non-contact, and highly sensitive. Combined with BP neural network, it would become a new technique to detect the trench oil.

  5. Co-processing of standard gas oil and biocrude oil to hydrocarbon fuels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agblevor, Foster A.; Mante, O.; McClung, R.; Oyama, S.T.

    2012-01-01

    The major obstacle in thermochemical biomass conversion to hydrocarbon fuels using pyrolysis has been the high oxygen content and the poor stability of the product oils, which cause them to solidify during secondary processing. We have developed a fractional catalytic pyrolysis process to convert biomass feedstocks into a product termed “biocrude oils” (stable biomass pyrolysis oils) which are distinct from unstable conventional pyrolysis oils. The biocrude oils are stable, low viscosity liquids that are storable at ambient conditions without any significant increases in viscosity; distillable at both atmospheric pressure and under vacuum without char or solid formation. About 15 wt% biocrude oils containing 20–25% oxygen were blended with 85 wt% standard gas oil and co-cracked in an Advanced Catalyst Evaluation (ACE™) unit using fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts to produce hydrocarbon fuels that contain negligible amount of oxygen. For the same conversion of 70% for both the standard gas oil and the biocrude oil/gas oil blends, the product gasoline yield was 44 wt%, light cycle oil (LCO) 17 wt%, heavy cycle oil (HCO) 13 wt%, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) 16 wt%. However, the coke yield for the standard gas oil was 7.06 wt% compared to 6.64–6.81 wt% for the blends. There appeared to be hydrogen transfer from the cracking of the standard gas oil to the biocrude oil which subsequently eliminated the oxygen in the fuel without external hydrogen addition. We have demonstrated for the first time that biomass pyrolysis oils can be successfully converted into hydrocarbons without hydrogenation pretreatment. -- Highlights: ► The co-processed product had less than 1% oxygen content and contained biocarbons determined by 14 C analysis. ► The co-processing did not affect the yields of gasoline, LCO, and HCO. ► First demonstration of direct conversion of pyrolysis oils into drop-in hydrocarbon fuels.

  6. Oil pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mankabady, Samir.

    1994-08-01

    Oil enters the marine environment when it is discharged, or has escaped, during transport, drilling, shipping, accidents, dumping and offshore operations. This book serves as a reference both on the various complex international operational and legal matters of oil pollution using examples such as the Exxon Valdez, the Braer and Lord Donaldson's report. The chapters include the development of international rules on the marine environment, the prevention of marine pollution from shipping activities, liability for oil pollution damage, the conflict of the 1990 Oil Pollution Act and the 1992 protocols and finally the cooperation and response to pollution incidents. (UK)

  7. Do oil dispersants make spilled oil more toxic to fish?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hodson, P.

    2010-01-01

    The Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was the world's largest oil spill in terms of duration and volume spilled. Clean-up operations, which involved the continuous and wide-spread use of oil dispersant at the surface and at the seabed discharge point at 1500 metres depth, gave rise to public concern about dispersant toxicity. Reports from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed little difference in acute toxicity to marine fish and invertebrate species among commonly available dispersants and between dispersed and non-dispersed Louisiana Sweet Crude. Technically, the toxicity of waterborne hydrocarbons does not vary with chemical dispersion. However, the EPA omitted any consideration of loading, and misled the public about the risks of dispersant use in oil clean-up. This study examined the chronic toxicity of dispersed oil to fish embryos. The study revealed that toxicity expressed as oil loading increases by a factor of 10 to 1000 times with dispersion, largely because 10 to 1000 times more oil enters the water column. Since the action of dispersant is on the exposure component of the risk equation, not on the potency of the toxic components of oil, then the risk of oil toxicity to fish increases an equivalent amount.

  8. Influence of Oil Viscosity on Alkaline Flooding for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Du

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Oil viscosity was studied as an important factor for alkaline flooding based on the mechanism of “water drops” flow. Alkaline flooding for two oil samples with different viscosities but similar acid numbers was compared. Besides, series flooding tests for the same oil sample were conducted at different temperatures and permeabilities. The results of flooding tests indicated that a high tertiary oil recovery could be achieved only in the low-permeability (approximately 500 mD sandpacks for the low-viscosity heavy oil (Zhuangxi, 390 mPa·s; however, the high-viscosity heavy oil (Chenzhuang, 3450 mPa·s performed well in both the low- and medium-permeability (approximately 1000 mD sandpacks. In addition, the results of flooding tests for the same oil at different temperatures also indicated that the oil viscosity put a similar effect on alkaline flooding. Therefore, oil with a high-viscosity is favorable for alkaline flooding. The microscopic flooding test indicated that the water drops produced during alkaline flooding for oils with different viscosities differed significantly in their sizes, which might influence the flow behaviors and therefore the sweep efficiencies of alkaline fluids. This study provides an evidence for the feasibility of the development of high-viscosity heavy oil using alkaline flooding.

  9. The Russian oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rucker, Laurent

    2003-01-01

    This article proposes a brief discussion of various assessments of Russian oil reserves, of the evolutions of Russian oil production (Russia is the second world producer after Saudi Arabia), of the distribution of Russian oil exports among various regions, and of the decrease of Russian oil consumption between 1992 and 2002. It describes the evolution of the actor system as the oil sector has been largely privatised since 1992, and indicates the main companies which should control the Russia market on a medium term. It also discusses the obstacles for the development of Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) between these companies. It addresses the issue of modernisation of the oil transport system as its status and its condition are often an obstacle to oil export for Russian companies. The article finally discusses the price issue, the relationship between Russia and other OPEC countries, and the need for huge investments

  10. A Study on the efficient alleviation of domestic oil price at international oil crisis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Young Ku [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

    1999-01-01

    For alleviating domestic oil price when the international oil crisis happens, the government has been reacted directly such as using stored oil or alleviation fund. Although the release of stored oil works for short-term depending on the type of crisis, concerning that most of oil crisis had been resulted in temporary supply reduction rather than long-term supply suspension, utilizing the domestic alleviation fund is regarded more economical than storing oil. However, it has been suggested to compare efficiencies of alleviation fund and a futures market regarding the perspectives that using alleviation fund is more inefficient than utilizing a futures market. Moreover, the direct management by government is less efficient than indirect management. As an efficient way to alleviate domestic oil price at international oil crisis, this study presents an effective utilization of trading in futures of crude oil. There is a high probability of occurrence of this kind of oil crisis by judging from the world political situation and the trend of oil market. In such a case, the government as a crude oil importer should minimize the stored oil and utilize a futures market effectively. The subject of alleviating oil price by trading in futures is an oil supplier, such as oil refining companies or oil importers not the government as a prerequisite. Furthermore, the government should approve to include appropriate cost for preparing oil price alleviation in the oil price and it is required that such a government policy should be consistent. (author). 41 refs., 3 figs., 15 Tabs.

  11. Process for separating and recovering oil from oil-sands, etc

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Preller, H

    1921-02-24

    A process for separating and recovering oil from oil-sands, bitumen from oil-chalk, oil-shale, and coal, according to Patent 400,122, is described. It is characterized in that the mined material falling on account of its weight is exposed to the running hot water in circulation through the wash-chamber and the clarifying chamber arranged separate or built on (circulation) being obtained by pumps or injectors in a regulatable motion.

  12. Nylon 6,6 Nonwoven Fabric Separates Oil Contaminates from Oil-in-Water Emulsions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ryan A Ortega

    Full Text Available Industrial oil spills into aquatic environments can have catastrophic environmental effects. First responders to oil spills along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the southern United States have used spunbond nylon fabric bags and fences to separate spilled oil and oil waste from contaminated water. Low area mass density spunbond nylon is capable of sorbing more than 16 times its mass in low viscosity crude oil and more than 26 times its mass in higher viscosity gear lube oil. Nylon bags separated more than 95% of gear lube oil contaminate from a 4.5% oil-in-water emulsion. Field testing of spunbond nylon fences by oil spill first responders has demonstrated the ability of this material to contain the oily contaminate while allowing water to flow through. We hypothesize that the effectiveness of nylon as an oil filter is due to the fact that it is both more oleophilic and more hydrophilic than other commonly used oil separation materials. The nylon traps oil droplets within the fabric or on the surface, while water droplets are free to flow through the fabric to the water on the opposite side of the fabric.

  13. Spilled oil and infaunal activity - Modification of burrowing behavior and redistribution of oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clifton, H.E.; Kvenvolden, K.A.; Rapp, J.B.

    1984-01-01

    A series of experiments in Willapa Bay, Washington, indicates the degree to which the presence of spilled oil modifies the burrowing behavior of infauna and the extent to which the animals redistribute oil into intertidal sediment. Small amounts of North Slope crude oil introduced at low tide directly into burrow openings (mostly made by the crustacean Callianassa) resulted in a limited and temporary reduction in the number of burrow openings. In contrast, a layer of oil-saturated sand 1 cm thick buried about 5 cm below the sediment surface sharply reduced the number of burrow openings. After a year, the few new burrows penetrated only the margins of the experimental plot, and bioturbation below the buried oil-saturated sand layer declined dramatically. The experiments suggest that small amounts of oil temporarily stranded by tides in themselves have no long-range effect on burrowing behavior. The fauna, however, are capable of introducing measurable amounts of oil into the subsurface, where it is retained long after the rest of the stranded oil had washed away. A buried layer of oil-saturated sand greatly reduces infaunal activity; the oil presents an effective barrier that can persist for years. The oil incorporated into the sediment from burrow openings showed evidence of degradation after 7 months. In contrast the layer of buried oil remained essentially undergraded after a period of two years, even though oil in lower concentrations above the layer was degraded after a period of one year. This variation in degree of degradation of the buried oil, as well as the heterogeneity of oil distribution wherever the oil has been incorporated from the surface, emphasises the importance of careful sampling in any attempt to locate or monitor the presence of spilled oil in the substrate.In a series of experiments in Willapa Bay, Washington, small amounts of North Slope crude oil introduced at low tide directly into burrow openings resulted in a limited and temporary

  14. Supply of the numerical simulation for the evaluation of the sonic boom of meteorites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henneton, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Within the framework of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, infra-sound is one survey technique monitoring nuclear explosions. These ones have to be distinguished from natural sources of infra-sound like atmospheric meteorite entries. With a view to investigate meteorites as an infra-sound source, finite volume simulations of the hypersonic flow are performed at sufficiently far distances to reach the acoustic regime. They are then matched to a nonlinear ray tracing method to propagate the signal within the atmosphere down to the ground. For perfect gases, this approach allows us to validate the theoretical model based on simplifying assumptions. More realistic simulations in real gases at thermochemical equilibrium, show a major modification of the pressure field in the near field but a moderate influence for infra-sound at the ground level. Numerical results are compared to infra-sound and seismic measurements in the case of the well-documented meteorite of Carancas (Peru, 2007). This confrontation highlights a good agreement for the spectrum of the waveform but a large overestimation of the overpressure at receptors located near the impact crater. This study also allowed us to propose a new entry trajectory for the meteorite, and to identify one of the recorded signals as a sonic boom. (author) [fr

  15. Clean and Secure Energy from Domestic Oil Shale and Oil Sands Resources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spinti, Jennifer [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Birgenheier, Lauren [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Deo, Milind [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Facelli, Julio [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Hradisky, Michal [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Kelly, Kerry [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Miller, Jan [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); McLennan, John [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Ring, Terry [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Ruple, John [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Uchitel, Kirsten [Inst. for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

    2015-09-30

    This report summarizes the significant findings from the Clean and Secure Energy from Domestic Oil Shale and Oil Sands Resources program sponsored by the Department of Energy through the National Energy Technology Laboratory. There were four principle areas of research; Environmental, legal, and policy issues related to development of oil shale and oil sands resources; Economic and environmental assessment of domestic unconventional fuels industry; Basin-scale assessment of conventional and unconventional fuel development impacts; and Liquid fuel production by in situ thermal processing of oil shale Multiple research projects were conducted in each area and the results have been communicated via sponsored conferences, conference presentations, invited talks, interviews with the media, numerous topical reports, journal publications, and a book that summarizes much of the oil shale research relating to Utah’s Uinta Basin. In addition, a repository of materials related to oil shale and oil sands has been created within the University of Utah’s Institutional Repository, including the materials generated during this research program. Below is a listing of all topical and progress reports generated by this project and submitted to the Office of Science and Technical Information (OSTI). A listing of all peer-reviewed publications generated as a result of this project is included at the end of this report; Geomechanical and Fluid Transport Properties 1 (December, 2015); Validation Results for Core-Scale Oil Shale Pyrolysis (February, 2015); and Rates and Mechanisms of Oil Shale Pyrolysis: A Chemical Structure Approach (November, 2014); Policy Issues Associated With Using Simulation to Assess Environmental Impacts (November, 2014); Policy Analysis of the Canadian Oil Sands Experience (September, 2013); V-UQ of Generation 1 Simulator with AMSO Experimental Data (August, 2013); Lands with Wilderness Characteristics, Resource Management Plan Constraints, and Land Exchanges

  16. Quality control of mixtures consisting of engine oil and rapeseed oil by means of online oil sensors; Qualitaetsueberwachung von Motoroel-Rapsoelmischungen mit Online-Oelsensoren. Labortests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thuneke, Klaus; Schreiber, Katja [Technologie- und Foerderzentrum, Straubing (Germany)

    2013-10-01

    It was the goal of the work to investigate interactions between motor oils and rapeseed oil fuel and to test oil sensors for monitoring the quality of aged mixtures of motor oil and rapeseed oil. At first oil samples were aged in the laboratory, whereby motor oil type, share of rapeseed oil and aeration was varied. Depending on type of engine oil different ageing effects were noticed. Higher shares of rapeseed and aeration stimulate increase of viscosity and acid value. In a further step online oil sensors were tested in both, a model of a lubrication system and a test engine. The signals of the sensors plausibly described the oil ageing process by the indicators dynamic or acoustic viscosity, permittivity number, specific electric conductivity. In particular viscosity and permittivity are suitable for showing changes in different motor oil rapeseed oil mixtures during oil ageing. However, for a reliable control system detecting critical rapeseed oil enrichment in the motor oil onboard, further work has to be done. (orig.)

  17. Electricity/oil substitution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Melvin, J.G.

    1980-09-01

    The extent to which electricity could substitute for imported oil in Canada is assessed and it is concluded that the bulk of projected oil imports could be displaced. This substitution of electricity for oil could be largely completed within two decades, with existing technology, using Canadian resources. The substitution of electricity for imported oil would result in relatively low energy costs and would stimulate economic growth. Energy self-sufficiency through the substitution of electricity for oil is uniquely a Canadian option; it is not open to other industrial countries. The option exists because of Canada's resources of oil sands for essential liquid fuels, hydraulic and nuclear electrical potential, and natural gas as an interim source of energy. While other countries face an energy crisis due to declining supplies of oil, Canada faces opportunities. The policies of Federal and Provincial governments, as perceived by individual decision makers, will have a major influence on Canada's ability to realize opportunities. (auth)

  18. An Estimate of Recoverable Heavy Oil Resources of the Orinoco Oil Belt, Venezuela

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schenk, Christopher J.; Cook, Troy A.; Charpentier, Ronald R.; Pollastro, Richard M.; Klett, Timothy R.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Kirschbaum, Mark A.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Pitman, Janet K.

    2009-01-01

    The Orinoco Oil Belt Assessment Unit of the La Luna-Quercual Total Petroleum System encompasses approximately 50,000 km2 of the East Venezuela Basin Province that is underlain by more than 1 trillion barrels of heavy oil-in-place. As part of a program directed at estimating the technically recoverable oil and gas resources of priority petroleum basins worldwide, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the recoverable oil resources of the Orinoco Oil Belt Assessment Unit. This estimate relied mainly on published geologic and engineering data for reservoirs (net oil-saturated sandstone thickness and extent), petrophysical properties (porosity, water saturation, and formation volume factors), recovery factors determined by pilot projects, and estimates of volumes of oil-in-place. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean volume of 513 billion barrels of technically recoverable heavy oil in the Orinoco Oil Belt Assessment Unit of the East Venezuela Basin Province; the range is 380 to 652 billion barrels. The Orinoco Oil Belt Assessment Unit thus contains one of the largest recoverable oil accumulations in the world.

  19. A photometric method for the estimation of the oil yield of oil shale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuttitta, Frank

    1951-01-01

    A method is presented for the distillation and photometric estimation of the oil yield of oil-bearing shales. The oil shale is distilled in a closed test tube and the oil extracted with toluene. The optical density of the toluene extract is used in the estimation of oil content and is converted to percentage of oil by reference to a standard curve. This curve is obtained by relating the oil yields determined by the Fischer assay method to the optical density of the toluene extract of the oil evolved by the new procedure. The new method gives results similar to those obtained by the Fischer assay method in a much shorter time. The applicability of the new method to oil-bearing shale and phosphatic shale has been tested.

  20. Effects of oil and oil burn residues on seabird feathers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fritt-Rasmussen, Janne; Linnebjerg, Jannie Fries; Sørensen, Martin X.

    2016-01-01

    It is well known, that in case of oil spill, seabirds are among the groups of animals most vulnerable. Even small amounts of oil can have lethal effects by destroying the waterproofing of their plumage, leading to loss of insulation and buoyancy. In the Arctic these impacts are intensified....... To protect seabirds, a rapid removal of oil is crucial and in situ burning could be an efficient method. In the present work exposure effects of oil and burn residue in different doses was studied on seabird feathers from legally hunted Common eider (Somateria mollissima) by examining changes in total weight...... of the feather and damages on the microstructure (Amalgamation Index) of the feathers before and after exposure. The results of the experiments indicate that burn residues from in situ burning of an oil spill have similar or larger fouling and damaging effects on seabird feathers, as compared to fresh oil....