Alien Registration- Dusseault, Eusebe (Auburn, Androscoggin County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/31197/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Dusseault, Joseph (Biddeford, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/1431/thumbnail.jp

Draft only: Not for citation. The structure of Russia’s energy sector: Expectations and challenges in Tomsk Oblast

This paper intends to dig deeper into the Russian energy sector and investigate the relationship between the variable presence of hydrocarbon resources and their influence over policy preferences of regional economic and political elites of Tomsk Oblast in Western Siberia

Investigating variability in marine mollusk carbonates using infrared spectroscopy and radiocarbon analysis

Marine bivalve mollusks are complex hierarchical calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) materials that are frequently used in archaeological studies and in chronologies that are used to study marine environment and climate change. Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) analysis of these materials is central to most of these studies. I study the variability of ¹⁴C signatures within marine bivalve mollusk shells from British Columbia, Canada by considering both the raw, uncalibrated fraction of modern carbon measurements and the calibrated age ranges. I use infrared (IR) spectroscopy as a method to screen for diagenesis - contamination or alteration of the original shell CaCO₃ - prior to radiocarbon analysis, and as a method to investigate the natural variability in the composition and structure of the shell CaCO₃. Using IR spectroscopy, I show that in three archaeological samples of the butter clam (Saxidomus gigantea) from Sechelt, British Columbia, only one shell contained contaminating calcite. However, analysis of the relative IR peak intensities showed a consistent difference between the inner nacreous aragonite layer and the outer crossed lamellar aragonite layer for all three shells. This consistent difference is likely correlated with that natural variability in aragonite microstructures. Three other archaeological shell samples from Deep Bay and Comox, British Columbia, were analyzed for ¹⁴C at three different locations within each of the shells. One sample displayed a variation in fraction of modern carbon within the shell while the others did not. I highlight that ¹⁴C measurements are meaningless without an understanding of date calibration and the choices that must be made when calibrating marine and mixed marine-terrestrial samples. My results are a starting point for developing best practices for ¹⁴C dating marine shell samples and for more focused studies on the links between crystallinity, diagenesis, and ¹⁴C

Elite Bargaining and the Evolution of Centre-Periphery Relations in Post-Soviet Russia : A Comparative Analysis

This work is concerned with presenting a modified theoretical approach to the study of centre-periphery relations in the Russian Federation. In the widely accepted scientific discourse, the Russian federal system under the Yeltsin Administration (1991-2000) was asymmetrical; largely owing to the varying amount of structural autonomy distributed among the federation s 89 constituent units. While providing an improved understanding as to which political and socio-economic structures contributed to federal asymmetry, it is felt that associated large N-studies have underemphasised the role played by actor agency in re-shaping Russian federal institutions. It is the main task of this thesis to reintroduce /re-emphasise the importance of actor agency as a major contributing element of institutional change in the Russian federal system. By focusing on the strategic agency of regional elites simultaneously within regional and federal contexts, the thesis adopts the position that political, ethnic and socio-economic structural factors alone cannot fully determine the extent to which regional leaders were successful in their pursuit of economic and political pay-offs from the institutionally weakened federal centre. Furthermore, this work hypothesises that under conditions of federal institutional uncertainty, it is the ability of regional leaders to simultaneously interpret various mutable structural conditions then translate them into plausible strategies which accounts for the regions ability to extract variable amounts of economic and political pay-offs from the Russian federal system. The thesis finds that while the hypothesis is accurate in its theoretical assumptions, several key conclusions provide paths for further inquiry posed by the initial research question. First, without reliable information or stable institutions to guide their actions, both regional and federal elites were forced into ad-hoc decision-making in order to maintain their core strategic focus: political survival. Second, instead of attributing asymmetry to either actor agency or structural factors exclusively, the empirical data shows that both agency and structures interact symbiotically in the strategic formulation process, thus accounting for the sub-optimal nature of several of the actions taken in the adopted cases. Third, as actor agency and structural factors mutate over time, so, too do the perceived payoffs from elite competition. In the case of the Russian federal system, the stronger the federal centre became, the less likely it was that regional leaders could extract the high degree of economic and political pay-offs that they clamoured for earlier in the Yeltsin period. Finally, traditional approaches to the study of federal systems which focus on institutions as measures of federalism are not fully applicable in the Russian case precisely because the institutions themselves were a secondary point of contention between competing elites. Institutional equilibriums between the regions and Moscow were struck only when highly personalised elite preferences were satisfied. Therefore the Russian federal system is the product of short-term, institutional solutions suited to elite survival strategies developed under conditions of economic, political and social uncertainty.Tutkimus tarkastelee Venäjän federaation keskustan ja periferian välisiä suhteita mukautetun teoreettisen mallin avulla. Yleisesti hyväksytyn tieteellisen diskurssin mukaan Boris Jeltsinin valtakauden (1991 2000) aikainen federaatiojärjestelmä oli epäsymmetrinen paljolti siksi, että federaation 89 osan mahdollisuudet rakenteelliseen autonomiaan vaihtelivat. Tarkastelemalla alueellisten eliittien toimintastrategioita sekä alueellisella että liittovaltiotasolla tutkimuksessa on päädytty siihen lopputulokseen, että poliittiset, etniset tai taloudellis-sosiaaliset tekijät eivät yksin voi selittää alueellisten johtajien institutionaalisesti heikentyneeltä liittovaltiokeskukselta saavuttamia taloudellisia tai poliittisia etuja. Tutkimuksen hypoteesi onkin se, että kun liittovaltion instituutiot ovat epävarmoja, alueellisten johtajien kyky luovia ja hyödyntää erilaisia vaihtelevia rakenteellisia olosuhteita ratkaisee sen, miten nämä muunnetaan toimintastrategioiksi. Tämä ratkaisee alueiden kyvyn hankkia erilaisia taloudellisia ja poliittisia etuja Venäjän liittovaltiojärjestelmässä. Instituutioiden välinen tasapaino aluehallinnon ja Moskovan välillä saavutettiin vasta sitten, kun hyvinkin yksilöityneet eliitin tarpeet tyydytettiin. Näin ollen Venäjän liittovaltiojärjestelmä muodostuu lähinnä sellaisista lyhytaikaisista institutionaalisista ratkaisuista, joiden päämääränä on ollut turvata eliitin asema epävarmassa taloudellisessa, poliittisessa ja sosiaalisessa tilanteessa

Biocompatibilité des microcapsules d'alginate : purification d'alginate, réaction immunitaire de l'hôte et protection du receveur

L’immuno-isolation des îlots de Langerhans est proposée comme moyen d’effectuer des transplantations sans prise d’immunosuppresseurs par le patient. Cette immuno-isolation, par l’entremise d’une microcapsule composée d’alginate et de poly-L-lysine (microcapsule APA), protège le greffon d’une éventuelle attaque du système immunitaire du receveur grâce à sa membrane semi-perméable. Cette membrane empêche le système immunitaire du receveur de pénétrer la microcapsule tout en laissant diffuser librement les nutriments, le glucose et l’insuline. Avant l’application de cette technique chez l’humain, quelques défis doivent encore être relevés, dont la biocompatibilité de ce système. La biocompatibilité fait ici référence à la biocompatibilité du biomatériau utilisé pour la fabrication des microcapsules, l’alginate, mais aussi la biocompatibilité des microcapsules reliée à leur stabilité. En effet, il a été remarqué que, lors d’implantation in vivo de microcapsules fabriquées avec de l’alginate non purifiée, ceci induisait un phénomène nommé Réaction de l’Hôte contre la Microcapsule (RHM). De plus, il est connu que la stabilité des microcapsules APA peut influencer leur biocompatibilité puisqu’une microcapsule endommagée ou brisée pourrait laisser s’échapper les cellules du greffon chez le receveur. Nous croyons qu’une compréhension des processus d’initiation de la RHM en fonction de l’efficacité des procédés de purification d’alginate (et donc des quantités de contaminants présents dans l’alginate) ainsi que l’augmentation de la stabilité des microcapsules APA pourront améliorer la biocompatibilité de ce dispositif, ce que tente de démontrer les résultats présentés dans cette thèse. En effet, les résultats obtenus suggèrent que les protéines qui contaminent l’alginate jouent un rôle clé dans l’initiation de la RHM et qu’en diminuant ces quantités de protéines par l’amélioration des procédés de purification d’alginate, on améliore la biocompatibilité de l’alginate. Afin d’augmenter la stabilité des microcapsules APA, nous décrivons une nouvelle technique de fabrication des microcapsules qui implique la présence de liaisons covalentes. Ces nouvelles microcapsules APA réticulées sont très résistantes, n’affectent pas de façon négative la survie des cellules encapsulées et confinent les cellules du greffon à l’intérieur des microcapsules. Cette dernière caractéristique nous permet donc d’augmenter la biocompatibilité des microcapsules APA en protégeant le receveur contre les cellules du greffon.Islet of Langerhans inmmunoisolation is proposed as a way to avoid the use of immunosuppressive drugs after transplantation. Microcapsules, the immuno-isolating device, are composed of alginate and poly-L-lysine and the protection of the graft is granted by a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane allows small molecules to freely diffuse within the microcapsule, such as nutrients, glucose and insulin while protecting the graft against the host immune system. Biocompatibility is one of the challenges that must be addressed before the successful clinical application of this device. Microcapsules biocompatibility is related, first, to the biocompatibility of alginate, the polymer used to made microcapsules and second, to the in vivo stability of these microcapsules. In facts, it is well know that the use of an unpurified alginate containing many foreign contaminants to make microcapsules induce the host reaction against microcapsule (HRM). Moreover, damaged or broken microcapsules can allow the dissemination of cells from the encapsulated graft, activating the host immune system. We believe that a better understanding of the initiation processes of the HRM in terms of alginate purification efficacy to remove contamination as well as an improve microcapsule stability will increase microcapsules biocompatibility. Results reported in this thesis suggest that foreign proteins found in alginate are playing a key role in the initiation of HRM and that the reduction of these foreign proteins, by the improvement of alginate purification processes, improves microcapsules biocompatibility. In order to increase microcapsules stability, we also described and characterized an innovative type of microcapsules which involve covalent bonds. These covalently cross-linked microcapsules were found to by highly resistant and stable. The novel fabrication process of these microcapsules was not harmful for the encapsulated cell survival and was also found to confine the graft inside the microcapsules. This characteristic enables us to increase microcapsules biocompatibility by the protection of the host from the encapsulated cells

Microseismic Monitoring Developments in Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation

The last decade has seen a significantly increased interest in microseismic monitoring by the hydrocarbon industry due to the recent surge in unconventional resources such as shale-gas and heavy-oil plays. Both hydraulic fracturing and steam injection create changes in local pore pressures and in situ stresses and thereby brittle failure in intact rock plus additional slip/shearing in naturally fractured rock. Local rock failure or slip yields an acoustic emission, which is also known as a microseismic event. The microseismic cloud represents thus a volumetric map of the extent of induced fracture shearing, opening and closing. Microseismic monitoring can provide pertinent information on in situ reservoir deformation due to fluid stimulation, thus ultimately facilitating reservoir drainage. This paper reviews some of the current key questions and research in microseismicity, ranging from acquisition, processing to interpretation

Natural Fractures Characterization and In Situ Stresses Inference in a Carbonate Reservoir—An Integrated Approach

In this paper, we characterized the natural fracture systems and inferred the state of in situ stress field through an integrated study in a very complex and heterogeneous fractured carbonate heavy oil reservoir. Relative magnitudes and orientations of the in-situ principal stresses in a naturally fractured carbonate heavy oil field were estimated with a combination of available data (World Stress Map, geological and geotectonic evidence, outcrop studies) and techniques (core analysis, borehole image logs and Side View Seismic Location). The estimates made here using various tools and data including routine core analysis and image logs are confirmatory to estimates made by theWorld Stress Map and geotectonic facts. NE-SW and NW-SE found to be the dominant orientations for maximum and minimum horizontal stresses in the study area. In addition, three dominant orientations were identified for vertical and sub-vertical fractures atop the crestal region of the anticlinal structure. Image logs found useful in recognition and delineation of natural fractures. The results implemented in a real field development and proved practical in optimal well placement, drilling and production practices. Such integrated studies can be instrumental in any E&P projects and related projects such as geological CO2 sequestration site characterization