Long-Term Risks and Short-Term Regulations: Modeling the Transition from Enhanced Oil Recovery to Geologic Carbon Sequestration

Recent policy debates suggest that geologic carbon sequestration (GS) likely will play an important role in a carbon-constrained future. As GS evolves from the analogous technologies and practices of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations to a long-term, dedicated emissions mitigation option, regulations must evolve simultaneously to manage the risks associated with underground migration and surface tresspass of carbon dioxide (CO2). In this paper, we develop a basic engineering-economic model of four illustrative strategies available to a sophisticated site operator to better understand key deployment pathways in the transition from EOR to GS operations. All of these strategies focus on whether or not a sophisticated site operator would store CO2 in a geologic formation. We evaluate these strategies based on illustrative scenarios of (a) oil and CO2 prices; (b) leakage estimates; and (c) transportation, injection, and monitoring costs, as obtained from our understanding of the literature. Major results reveal that CO2 storage in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs after oil recovery is associated with the greatest net revenues (i.e., the “most-preferred” strategy) under a range of scenarios. This finding ultimately suggests that GS regulatory design should anticipate the use of the potentially leakiest, or “worst,” sites first.carbon sequestration, enhanced oil recovery, leakage, regulatory design, risk management

Determining the Extent of Market and Extent of Resource for Stated Preference Survey Design Using Mapping Methods

Determining the appropriate survey population and the commodity to be valued are among the most fundamental design decisions for stated preference (SP) surveys. However, often little information is available about who in the population holds measurable value for the resource (the extent of the market) and their perceptions regarding the scope of the resource to be valued (the extent of the resource). In this paper, we present a novel approach using cognitive mapping interview techniques to shed light on these design questions. The method also provides ancillary information that assists in the interpretation of information collected during focus groups and through SP survey administration. The approach was developed and tested as part of an ongoing study on environmental degradation associated with acidification in the Southern Appalachian Mountain region. Although damage from acidification in the study region is broad, it is not clear whether residents of this region care, in both a use and nonuse sense, about resources in their states of residence, in neighboring states, on public lands, or more broadly across the region. From a pilot study, we found that participants show a significant home-state preference in the number and size of natural areas that they value within the larger Southern Appalachian Mountain region. However, this preference is not strong enough to suggest that the market for improving these resources is solely constrained to residents of the state in which the resource is located.stated preference, cognitive mapping, extent of market, extent of resource, definition of commodity

EVALUATION OF LIVER FUNCTION MARKERS AMONG WORKERS IN JEWELLERY UNITS

Objectives: Jewellery making unit workers are exposed to potent toxic chemicals and heavy metals during the manufacturing process. Various alloys are used during the manufacturing process of gold in which silver is used in higher concentration. The induction of metallothioneins (MTs) might occur due to the occupational exposure to heavy metals. Hence, the relationship of silver or MTs with liver function markers were investigated. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in the jewellery making units located in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. A total of 211 participants [exposed (n = 158) and control (n = 53)] were included for the study and their liver function markers namely alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total protein, albumin, total/direct bilirubin and total cholesterol were estimated. Levels of serum silver and MTs were also assessed. Results: There were significant (p<0.05) increases of serum silver, MTs, ALT, AST, total cholesterol, total/direct bilirubin and significant (p<0.05) decrease of ALP, total protein and albumin in exposed groups compared to control group. Levels of MTs were positively correlated with ALT, AST, total cholesterol, total/direct bilirubin and were negatively correlated with albumin, total protein and ALP. Conclusion: The significant changes of liver function enzymes were observed due to the prolonged period of exposure to silver. However releases of these markers were in the normal range which might be due to the induction of MTs. The elevated levels of MT in the serum compared to control group pointed out that it might provide a cellular defense strategy against silver

Hankel Rhotrices and Constructions of Maximum Distance Separable Rhotrices over Finite Fields

Many block ciphers in cryptography use Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) matrices to strengthen the diffusion layer. Rhotrices are represented by coupled matrices. Therefore, use of rhotrices in the cryptographic ciphers doubled the security of the cryptosystem. We define Hankel rhotrix and further construct the maximum distance separable rhotrices over finite fields

On Circulant-Like Rhotrices over Finite Fields

Circulant matrices over finite fields are widely used in cryptographic hash functions, Lattice based cryptographic functions and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Maximum distance separable codes over finite field GF2 have vital a role for error control in both digital communication and storage systems whereas maximum distance separable matrices over finite field GF2 are used in block ciphers due to their properties of diffusion. Rhotrices are represented in the form of coupled matrices. In the present paper, we discuss the circulant- like rhotrices and then construct the maximum distance separable rhotrices over finite fields

Genetic relatedness among Trichoderma isolates inhibiting a pathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia solani

The mechanism and mode of action of the Trichoderma against Rhizoctonia solani is through coiling around pathogen hyphae, penetration, and subsequent dissolution of the host cytoplasm. Characterization of 17 biocontrol strains identified as “Trichoderma” and isolated from R. solani was carried out using RAPDs. A certain degree of polymorphism was detected and the cluster analysis grouped the 17 isolates into three groups: T. harzianum, T. viride, and T. aureoviride. Some of the RAPD markers were also useful for identifying strains of T. aureoviride within the complex collections from Raipur and Bilaspur in India.Key words: Antagonism, mycoparasitism, random amplified polymorphic DNA, Rhizoctonia solani, Trichoderm

Surgical outcome of third nerve palsy: A prospective study

AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. To analyze the anatomical outcome of surgery i.e. correction of deviation. 2. To analyze the functional outcome of surgery i.e. gain in binocular vision and stereopsis. 3. To analyze the factors affecting the final surgical outcome. 4. To analyse the Etiology. METHODS: This was a prospective study which included 16 patients who underwent strabismus surgery for third nerve palsy from September 2012 to March 2014. All the patients had a thorough examination including the detailed history, ocular and motility evaluation, systemic and more specifically for other neurological signs. RESULTS: In our study 56.25% of affected patients belong to the age group of 20-40 years.5 patients(31.3%) had congenital third nerve palsy and 11 (68.8%) had traumatic third nerve palsy. In our study anatomical success was defined as good if primary deviation was less than 10PD in the third postoperative month.6 patients (37.5%) had good surgical outcome with deviation < 10 PD and the mean postoperative deviation at the end of 3 months was 13.6 PD. In our study 4 patients with traumatic etiology had diplopia preoperatively, postoperatively 1 patient had residual diplopia. BSV and stereopsis improved postoperatively in 1 patient. CONCLUSION: In our study we found that there was significant reduction in primary deviation post surgery in maximum number of patients. Most common procedure done was MR resection and LR recession and the patients had minimal restriction of ocular motility post surgery