East-West Ties: Next Steps for National Oil Companies?

The same cliff edge threatens all national oil companies (NOCs) in the Middle East, Asia and beyond: ensuring energy security amid tighter budgets, green targets, growing populations, and rising energy demand. In the Middle East alone, BP Outlook expects energy consumption to rise by 54% by 2040. Success will be hard-won, especially in a world of US 60/bl oil. As guardians of their economies, NOCs must reach out for strategic helping hands to stay on their toes.   Price volatility is a key pressure point, from which no NOC is immune. Such volatility has seen oil prices reach US 86/bl in early October from US$67/bl at the beginning of this year, then slide again recently by 30$57/bl. But there is a silver lining to this lingering cloud of guesswork. Dated Brent averaged US$72/bl as of the 7 December this year, versus an average of US$ 54/bl in 2017 – a 33% annual increase. Of course, there could be more twists and turns ahead, such as the US' renewed sanctions on Iran. This alone could remove between 1 million barrels a day (b/d) to 1.5m b/d of oil from the market. As more ‘what ifs' dominate NOCs' boardroom conversations, partnerships are pivotal to staying afloat in the sea of ambiguity.&nbsp

Middle East-Asia: Pioneering Low-Carbon Partners

When a rare ray of certainty shines through the mist of guesswork in the energy markets, we must be proactive. We know that the world\u27s energy market faces its most challenging tightrope yet: meet rising energy demand and simultaneously hit the unprecedented low-carbon targets that are detailed in the Paris Agreement. What isn\u27t certain is how to achieve it. So, now we must pinpoint how the historic alliance between the Middle East and Asia can help producers on both sides of the Indian Ocean achieve the holy grail: affordable low-carbon energy security. Collaboration and innovation are vital tools for producers trying to keep their balance as this 21st-century energy transition gains traction

Performance Analysis of Hierarchical Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

This work focusses on analyzing the optimization strategies of routing protocols with respect to energy utilization of sensor nodes in Wireless Sensor Network (WSNs). Different routing mechanisms have been proposed to address energy optimization problem in sensor nodes. Clustering mechanism is one of the popular WSNs routing mechanisms. In this paper, we first address energy limitation constraints with respect to maximizing network life time using linear programming formulation technique. To check the efficiency of different clustering scheme against modeled constraints, we select four cluster based routing protocols; Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), Threshold Sensitive Energy Efficient sensor Network (TEEN), Stable Election Protocol (SEP), and Distributed Energy Efficient Clustering (DEEC). To validate our mathematical framework, we perform analytical simulations in MATLAB by choosing number of alive nodes, number of dead nodes, number of packets and number of CHs, as performance metrics.Comment: NGWMN with 7th IEEE International Conference on Broadband and Wireless Computing, Communication and Applications (BWCCA 2012), Victoria, Canada, 201

A Comparison of Compressed and Uncompressed Transmission Modes

In this paper we address the problem of host to host communication. In particular, we discuss the issue of efficient and adaptive transmission mechanisms over possible physical links. We develop a tool for making decisions regarding the flow of control sequences and data from and to a host. The issue of compression is discussed in details, a decision box and an optimizing tool for finding the appropriate thresholds for a decision are developed. Physical parameters like the data rate, bandwidth of the communication medium, distance between the hosts, baud rate, levels of discretization, signal to noise ratio and propagation speed of the signal are taken into consideration while developing our decision system. Theoretical analysis is performed to develop mathematical models for the optimization algorithm. Simulation models are also developed for testing both the optimization and the decision tool box

Molecular aspects of MERS-CoV

This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a betacoronavirus which can cause acute respiratory distress in humans and is associated with a relatively high mortality rate. Since it was first identified in a patient who died in a Jeddah hospital in 2012, the World Health Organization has been notified of 1735 laboratory-confirmed cases from 27 countries, including 628 deaths. Most cases have occurred in Saudi Arabia. MERS-CoVancestors may be found in OldWorld bats of the Vespertilionidae family. After a proposed bat to camel switching event, transmission of MERS-CoV to humans is likely to have been the result of multiple zoonotic transfers from dromedary camels. Human-to-human transmission appears to require close contact with infected persons, with outbreaks mainly occurring in hospital environments. Outbreaks have been associated with inadequate infection prevention and control implementation, resulting in recommendations on basic and more advanced infection prevention and control measures by the World Health Organization, and issuing of government guidelines based on these recommendations in affected countries including Saudi Arabia. Evolutionary changes in the virus, particularly in the viral spike protein which mediates virus-host cell contact may potentially increase transmission of this virus. Efforts are on-going to identify specific evidence-based therapies or vaccines. The broad-spectrum antiviral nitazoxanide has been shown to have in vitro activity against MERS-CoV. Synthetic peptides and candidate vaccines based on regions of the spike protein have shown promise in rodent and non-human primate models. GLS-5300, a prophylactic DNA-plasmid vaccine encoding S protein, is the first MERS-CoV vaccine to be tested in humans, while monoclonal antibody, m336 has given promising results in animal models and has potential for use in outbreak situations

Capital Flows Management During the Post-2007 Global Financial Crisis: The Experiences of SEACEN Economies

Although global financial stability in late 2010 and early 2011 has, in general, improved when compared to the 2008-2009 period of the sub-prime global financial crisis, vulnerabilities remain high. The recent World Economic Outlook of the IMF (WEO, September 2011) underlines the two speed recovery processes taking place in the world economies. In advanced economies, especially those hit hardest by the crisis, firms, government and household sectors continue to be heavily indebted and are likely to spur relatively weak demand. Although the financial markets of these economies have, in most parts, returned to profitability, the overall frail balance sheets reflect the general subdued state of the local economy. In sharp contrast, the emerging economies, including those of the SEACEN region, are posting robust growth rates until the second half of 2011, meeting new challenges associated with strong demand, rapid credit and excess liquidity. Price pressures, including potential asset price bubbles, have been the common themes of policy challenges for the SEACEN economies. Managing macro-financial risks, namely balancing growth, balance sheet soundness of the financial institutions, particularly the banking sector, and keeping a lid on inflationary pressures, have been and will likely be the primary policy challenges for these emerging markets in 2011 and 2012. This paper takes stock of recent trends and developments with regard to capital flows in the SEACEN economies. It elaborates in detail, the breakdowns and compositions of the flows. In particular, the focus of the analyses is on key flows such as the international bank lending activities to the region. The paper also summarises and analyses some of the basic push and pull factors of these flows to understand some of the domestic and external drivers of these flows. Some of the economic consequences of these capital flows and policy dilemma facing the SEACEN economies are also looked at. The paper also examines the policy responses of the central banks/monetary authorities, in particular, to mitigate the negative consequences and maximise the benefits of capital flows.

Vibrational analysis, ab initio HF and DFT studies of 2,4,6-trimethyl phenol

The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and FT-Raman spectra of 2,4,6-trimethylphenolhave been recorded in the range 4000–400 and 3500–100 cm-1, respectively. The complete vibrational assignment and analysis of the fundamental modes of the compound have been carried out using the observed FTIR and FT-Raman data. The vibrational frequencies determined experimentally have been compared with those obtained theoretically from ab initio HF and DFT-B3LYP gradient calculations employing 6-31+G (d,p) basis sets for the optimized geometries of the compound. The geometries and normal modes of vibration obtained from the HF and DFT methods are in good agreement with the experimental data. The normal coordinate analysis has also been carried out with ab initio force fields utilizing Wilson’s FG matrix method. The interactions of the skeletal vibrational modes have been investigated

Experimental and numerical study on the aerodynamics and stability characteristics of a canard aircraft

Modern day fighter aircrafts are mostly canard configured because of its advantages over conventional configuration. The primary objective of this work is to investigate the low speed aerodynamic and stability characteristics of a canard configured aircraft. Using CFD -ANSYS Fluent package, numerical flow simulations were carried out for a typical canard configuration such as Burt Rutan’s VariEze, a composite homebuilt canard aircraft. To validate the numerical results, wind tunnel testing of a scaled model was carried out. Finally the effect of horizontal location of canard on the aerodynamics and stability characteristics was studied