Effectz of Technology on the Oil and Gas Industry

Today and for the foreseeable future, oil will be the cornerstone of society’s energy needs. Because of this, the oil and gas exploration and production business constantly requires new and more innovative methods to extract petroleum and natural gas. New technologies have evolved over the last 30 years which include 3D seismic imaging, horizontal well drilling, multi stage hydraulic fracturing, and steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) recovery methods. Because of these technological advances, the recovery of oil and gas is becoming more efficient and cost effective. Canada holds the world’s third largest accumulation of petroleum resources, the Athabasca Oil Sands, located in north east Alberta. Up to the start of the 21st century, oil and bitumen recovery from these resources were limited to mining methods. Through the development of progressive cavity pumps and SAGD technology, these resources are now being produced where mining technology is not feasible, providing the United States with a significant portion of their petroleum requirements. RII North America has developed a new, patent pending technology called STRIP which is thermally efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly. Pilot testing of the technology will commence within the next year, and if successful, will result in a significant technological advancement for the oil and gas industry

Nonlethal weapons: Considerations for decision makers

The rapid changes in the political and technological arenas occurring today are fostering significant reexaminations of the role of military forces in the future. The success of high technology weaponry in the Gulf War, the increasingly intense media scrutiny of military operations, and the wide range of missions to which the military must now respond have combined to raise expectations that future wars may be fought with much less destruction and far fewer casualties. In support of such a vision, significant resources are being spent to develop nonlethal weapons that will disable and disrupt an enemy causing them to accede to our will and terminate the conflict. Ideally these weapons would not kill and their effects would be temporary and reversible, although in practice that may not always be true. This paper examines several key issues surrounding nonlethal weapons. A variety of the proposed nonlethal weapons are discussed in the context of their technological maturity and support required, the iroperational utility, and the potential for countermeasures to reduce their impact. More general considerations are also analyzed including important underlying assumptions about future conflicts and the reactions of leaders, the legal ramifications of using certain of the proposed nonlethal weapons, and the potential for increased risk to friendly forces by their employment.The conclusions drawn from this effort are that nonlethal weapons may offer some additional tools for use in crisis situations. However, the technology for several concepts is unproved and plausible countermeasures exist for some as well. The operational employment schemes for many of them are very preliminary and incomplete. Serious legal questions exist for many of the concepts. The impact of the media on the use of these weapons has also not been well explored.Several recommendations are offered for critical reviews of the above issues including a Defense Science Board analysis of the technologies, an operational utility study using soldiers and commanders in the field, and strategic level war games with senior government officials.HQ USAF/XOXPHQ AETC/ED

Current Debate Over Potential Use of Trade Measures

Various international instruments that could play a positive role in the management of fisheries on the high seas, such as the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the FAO Compliance Agreement, have not yet come into force. The reach of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations does not yet extend seamless across the ocean=s surface. Not all coastal and flag States play by the rules in support of sustainable fishing practices. To get at bad actors States and RFMOs and other management bodies are turning to trade measures. This paper reports on the current use of trade measures as well as on a new initiative under debate

Letters from Michigan Herpetology

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/170907/4/Letters_from_Michigan_Herpetology-Text.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/170907/5/Letters_from_Michigan_Herpetology- Cover.pdfSEL

A Uniformly Derived Catalogue of Exoplanets from Radial Velocities

A new catalogue of extrasolar planets is presented by re-analysing a selection of published radial velocity data sets using EXOFIT (Balan & Lahav 2009). All objects are treated on an equal footing within a Bayesian framework, to give orbital parameters for 94 exoplanetary systems. Model selection (between one- and two-planet solutions) is then performed, using both a visual flagging method and a standard chi-square analysis, with agreement between the two methods for 99% of the systems considered. The catalogue is to be made available online, and this 'proof of concept' study may be maintained and extended in the future to incorporate all systems with publicly available radial velocity data, as well as transit and microlensing data.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 6 table

Sagittarius Tidal Debris 90 kpc from the Galactic Center

A new overdensity of A-colored stars in distant parts of the Milky Way's stellar halo, at a dereddened SDSS magnitude of g_0 = 20.3, is presented. Identification of associated variable RR Lyrae candidates supports the claim that these are blue horizontal branch stars. The inferred distance of these stars from the Galactic center is 90 kpc, assuming the absolute magnitude of these stars is M_g_0 = 0.7 and that the Sun is 8.5 kpc from the Galactic center. The new tidal debris is within 10 kpc of same plane as other confirmed tidal debris from the disruption of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, and could be associated with the trailing tidal arm. Distances to the Sagittarius stream estimated from M stars are about 13% smaller than our inferred distances. The tidal debris has a width of at least 10 degrees, and is traced for more than 20 degrees across the sky. The globular cluster NGC 2419 is located within the detected tidal debris, and may also have once been associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.Comment: 4 figures, ApJL in pres