Supporting Good Governance of Extractive Industries in Politically Hostile Settings: Rethinking Approaches and Strategies

This discussion paper is the product of a workshop entitled “Supporting Good Governance of Extractive Industries in Politically Hostile Settings: A View from Sub-Saharan Africa,” organized by the Oxford Martin School (OMS) Programme on African Governance and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) and supporting research. The workshop brought together global and local researchers and practitioners with a wide range of experience with extractives governance, particularly, though not exclusively, in the sub-Saharan African region. The meeting built on prior research and discussions held as part of CCSI’s project on the Politics of Extractive Industries, dedicated to supporting the field of actors working to improve the governance of extractive industries (henceforth, the “GEI field”) in their efforts to think and work in more politically savvy ways. By sharing some initial insights from this work, we hope to contribute to broader conversations on how to improve practical approaches to supporting good governance and development in a range of political settings, including some of the most repressive and challenging

China Returns to Africa: Anatomy of an Expansive Engagement

This paper presents a scoping analysis of the main contours of relations, offering an anatomy of key dimensions of an expansive Chinese engagement in the continent that remains dynamic

Transnational uncivil society networks: kleptocracy’s global fightback against liberal activism

What is the global social context for the insertion of kleptocratic elites into the putatively liberal international order? Drawing on cases from our work on Eurasia and Africa, we sketch a concept of ‘transnational uncivil society’ which we contrast to ‘transnational activist networks’ (Keck and Sikkink, 1998). While the latter denotes the liberalising practices of global civil society, the former suggests a specific series of clientelistic relations across borders which open space for uncivil elites. This distinction animates a growing line of conflict in global politics. These kleptocrats eject liberal activists from their own territories and create new spaces to whitewash their own reputations and build their own transnational networks. To do so they hire political consultants and reputation managers, engage in public philanthropy, and forge new relationships with major global institutions. We show how these strategies of reputation-laundering are neither illicit nor marginal, but very much a product of the actors, institutions and markets generated by the liberal international order. We compare and contrast the scope and purpose of civil and uncivil society networks, we explore the increasing globalization of Eurasian and African elites as a concerted strategy to distance themselves from associations with their political oppression and kleptocracy in their home countries, and recast themselves as productive and respected cosmopolitans

Flow-based formulation for vehicle routing problems : an application at the transport in the city of Itumbiara-GO

Orientador: Washington Alves de OliveiraDissertação (mestrado profissional) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Matemática Estatística e Computação CientíficaResumo: O planejamento adequado do transporte de passageiros nas grandes e pequenas cidades é de suma importância para garantir o deslocamento adequado e organizado das pessoas pelas diversas vias. Este planejamento baseia-se fortemente no desenho de rotas eficientes para os veículos de transporte e na adequada localização de pontos de embarque e desembarque de passageiros ao longo dessas rotas. É comum encontrar planejamentos feitos a partir da experiência empírica dos tomadores de decisão, no entanto encontramos na literatura possibilidades modernas de tratar o desenho de rotas como opção de transporte de passageiros a partir da modelagem e otimização de problemas de roteamento de veículos. Esta dissertação apresenta, a partir de uma sucinta revisão bibliográfica, várias classes de problemas de roteamento de veículos, os quais podem ser corretamente adaptados e utilizadas para fornecer novas possibilidades de planejamento do serviço de transporte. De fato, eles apontam para alternativas que podem contribuir além da experiência empírica. Entre alguns tipos de transporte de passageiros, esta pesquisa contribuiu para investigar a logística atual do transporte de funcionários de uma grande empresa alimentícia da cidade de Itumbiara-GO, a qual é realizada por uma empresa de ônibus fretado. Tomando como base uma formulação matemática para o problema de roteamento de veículos baseado em fluxo de redes, foi modelado o desenho de rotas capacitadas para coletar com o uso de alternados tipos de veículos e, a partir de diversos pontos de ônibus, o embarque e desembarque da demanda de funcionários nos pontos que trabalham em três turnos diuturnamente nesta empresa alimentícia. A possibilidade de planejar o deslocamento dos funcionários ao alternar o tipo de veículo utilizado, a minimização do tamanho total das rotas e a obtenção de rotas equilibradas em relação ao tamanho e número de pontos visitados foram alvos desta pesquisa. Com o objetivo de tornar a aplicação mais próxima da situação real vivida pela empresa de ônibus fretado e passageiros, todos os dados de entrada para a formulação matemática utilizada foram coletados pelo autor em campo: as coordenadas geográficas; a demanda de passageiros em cada ponto de ônibus; e a determinação da matriz das distâncias reais das ruas via informações ''{\it google maps}''. Os dados coletados apresentam seis linhas de ônibus que atendem sessenta e dois bairros da cidade Itumbiara, e as cidades de Minas Gerias, Centralina e Araporã, totalizando cento e doze pontos de ônibus. Adicionalmente à revisão de problemas de roteamento de veículos, foi apresentado os principais modelos matemáticos e suas variações, além dos métodos de resolução propostos na literatura: exatos; heurísticos; e meta-heurísticos. Os experimentos computacionais foram conduzidos na linguagem Julia e os modelos matemáticos de programação linear inteira mista foram resolvidos a partir do Solver CplexAbstract: The suitable passenger transport for large and small cities has vital importance to ensure the adequate and organized displacement of people through different streets. This planning is solidly based on the design of efficient routes for the transport vehicles and the proper location of points of loading and unloading of passengers along these routes. It is common to find plans made from the empirical experience of decision makers. However, in the literature, there are possibilities to treat the design of routes as an option to transport passengers from the modeling and optimization of vehicle routing problems. This dissertation presents, from a brief bibliographical review, several classes of vehicle routing problems, which can be correctly adapted and used to provide new possibilities for transport service planning. They point to alternatives that may contribute beyond empirical experience. Among some types of passenger transportation, this research contributed to investigating the current logistics of transporting employees of a large food company in the city of Itumbiara-GO, which is carried out by a chartered bus company. A mathematical formulation for the vehicle routing problem based on network flow was modeled to design of routes capable of collecting by using alternating types of vehicles, and from several bus stops, the loading and unloading of the demand of employees in the points that work in three daily shifts in this food company. The possibility of planning the displacement of employees by alternating type of vehicles, minimizing the total size of the routes and obtaining balanced routes concerning the size and number of points visited were the targets of this research. With the aim of making the application closer to the real situation lived by the chartered bus company and passengers, all input data for the mathematical formulation used were collected by the author in the field: the geographical coordinates; the demand for passengers at each bus stop; and determining the array of actual street distances via google maps informations. The collected data contain six bus lines that serve sixty-two districts of Itumbiara, and the two cities Centralina and Araporã of Minas Gerias, totaling a hundred and twelve bus stops. In addition to the revision of vehicle routing problems, the main mathematical models and their variations were presented, as well as the solution methods proposed in the literature: exact; heuristics; and meta-heuristics. The computational experiments were conducted in the Julia language and the mathematical models of mixed integer linear programming were solved from the Solver CplexMestradoMatematica Aplicada e ComputacionalMestre em Matemática Aplicada e Computaciona

Baterias: a “alma” dos veículos elétricos não para de somar vantagens

Existem cada vez menos desculpas para não aderir às novas soluções de mobilidade, em particular aos veículos elétricos movidos a bateria. Considerada a “alma” das viaturas movidas a eletricidade, as baterias modernas apresentam hoje uma capacidade reforçada e uma vida útil cada vez mais longa, capaz de influenciar todos os sistemas integrados no automóvel. À semelhança das baterias dos smartphones, “moderação“ é a palavra chave. Cabe, por isso, ao utilizador zelar pela preservação do ciclo de vida da bateria incorporada no seu veículo elétrico, predominando, sempre que possível, uma lógica de privilégio de carregamentos lentos, em detrimento das cargas rápidas. Concebidas para milhares de ciclos de carga/descarga, as baterias dos veículos elétricos oferecem, em regra, uma garantia de oito anos. Contudo, através de uma cuidada utilização é possível prolongar a duração estimada deste componente até aos 10 anos de vida útil.N/

النموذج الاقتصادي في مرحلة ما بعد الحرب في أنغولا: هل يمكن استقاء الدروس منه لليبيا؟

تناقش هذه الورقة البحثية تجربة أنغولا مع إعادة الإعمار بعد الحرب، وتحديدًا نموذج الاقتصاد السياسي الذي اتّبعه الحزب الحاكم، أي الحركة الشعبية لتحرير أنغولا، في عهد الرئيس خوسيه إدواردو دوس سانتوس. فتستعرض السياق الذي قام مباشرةً بعد الحرب والظروف التي أتاحت للحكومة اتّباع نهجها الخاص، بما في ذلك الطفرة النفطية والانتصار العسكري على المتمردين في عام 2002 والشراكة الاستراتيجية مع الصين. بعد ذلك، يلقي البحث نظرةً على السياسات المتّبعة في حقبة الازدهار، بما فيها محاولات التنويع الاقتصادي وطريقة حصول النخبة الأوليغارشية على مكافآت غير متكافئة خلال هذه الفترة. ثم يخلص إلى أن معظم الفوائد الشعبية لحقبة الازدهار كانت فعليًا عابرة وأن أنغولا واجهت بعد عام 2014 الكثير من التحديات التاريخية، السياسية والاقتصادية على حدٍّ سواء، التي عانت منها البلاد لعقود طويلة. وفي حين بقي السلام سائدًا في أنغولا منذ مطلع القرن الحالي، إلا أن نموذجها السياسي والاقتصادي لم ينجح في تحقيق الرخاء العام، لا بل يتعرّض اليوم للضغط نتيحة السخط الاجتماعي واستنفار حركة المعارضة

Análise de Integridade Estrutural de uma Flare Industrial

Para garantir que um equipamento opere com segurança e fiabilidade durante o seu ciclo de vida, desde a sua instalação ao desmantelamento, devem ser realizadas inspeções e/ou monitorizações que, dependendo dos dados recolhidos, podem implicar avaliações Fitness- For-Service (FFS) que definirão a necessidade de reparação ou alteração do equipamento ou das condições processuais. A combinação de inspeção ou monitorização com os melhores procedimentos e técnicas de avaliação atuais fazem sobressair insuficiências dos procedimentos mais antigos. Usando métodos mais avançados de avaliação, validados e suportados através de uma vasta experiência de campo, pode-se agora avaliar defeitos nos ativos (equipamentos) e determinar a adequação ao serviço com uma análise FFS. As análises FFS tornaram-se cada vez mais aceites em toda a indústria ao longo dos últimos anos. A norma API 579 - 1/ASME FFS-1: 2007 fornece diretrizes para avaliar os tipos de danos que afetam os equipamentos processuais e a norma API RP 571: 2011 descreve os mecanismos de degradação que afetam os equipamentos nas petroquímicas e refinarias, que incluem os danos por corrosão, desalinhamentos, deformações plásticas, laminações, fissuras, entre outros. Este trabalho consiste na análise de Integridade Estrutural de uma Flare Industrial que surgiu da necessidade real de análise do equipamento no âmbito da atividade profissional do candidato. O estudo realizado a nível profissional é de grande abrangência, incluindo a inspeção do equipamento, identificação da falha ou dano, recolha e registo de dados, definição de estratégia de atuação e seleção de técnicas de avaliação da condição para posterior alteração, reparação ou desmantelamento. Na presente dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Mecânica, Ramo Construções Mecânicas, pretende-se efetuar o estudo aprofundado de uma das etapas de projeto, nomeadamente estudar a causa, avaliar a falha e implicações estruturais ou processuais devido à degradação interior do riser de uma flare, com base numa análise FFS, assumindo a operabilidade em segurança e garantindo resolutas condições de funcionamento. A presente análise FFS tem como finalidade validar ou não a integridade atual (avaliação técnica quantitativa) de modo a conhecer se o item em questão é seguro e confiável para continuar a operar em condições específicas durante um período de tempo determinado, tendo em consideração as condições verificadas no ato de inspeção e especificações de projeto, segundo os itens de verificação de segurança estabelecidos na norma EN 1990:2002/A1:2005/AC:2010 e com base na norma API 579-1/ASME FFS-1: 2007. No âmbito do presente trabalho foram realizadas as seguintes tarefas: - Identificar e analisar os mecanismos de degradação com base na norma API RP 571: 2011, face às condições processuais e geométricas que o equipamento em análise está sujeito de modo a perceber a evolução da degradação estrutural e quais as implicações na sua longevidade. - Avaliar e propor soluções de reparação e ou alterações processuais e ou geométricas do equipamento em análise de modo a permitir a continuidade em funcionamento sem afetar as condições de segurança e por conseguinte minimizar ou evitar o elevado custo económico associado a um novo equipamento e tempo de paragem processual. - Assumir limites estruturais face às condições processuais e ações externas ou adjacentes. - Garantir a segurança e qualidade da vida humana ou meio que o rodeia, do equipamento, das instalações, das infraestruturas envolventes e evitar o colapso económico, quer por motivos processuais, quer indeminizações ou agravamento do prémio do seguro. Verificou-se que os resultados serão a base para as alterações inerentes, tais como reforço estrutural, alteração da geometria do defletor, ajuste no tensionamento dos cabos e controlo da espessura mínima, de modo a alargar o período de vida útil da flare com segurança.To ensure that an equipment operates safely and reliably during its lifecycle, from installation to decommission, inspection and/or monitoring operations must be performed that, depending on the data collected, may involve Fitness-For-Service (FFS) evaluations to define the need for repair or changes of the equipment or in the process conditions. The combination of inspection or monitoring procedures with the best state of art assessment techniques stand out limitations of the older procedures. Using more advanced evaluation methods, validated and supported by a wide field experience, it is now possible to evaluate defects in the assets (equipments) and to determine the suitability for service by an FFS analysis swiftly and with confidence. FFS analyzes have become increasingly more accepted across the industry over the past few years. The standard API 579 - 1/ASME FFS-1: 2007 provides guidelines for assessing the types of damages that affect the process equipment and the standard API RP 571: 2011 describes the degradation mechanisms that affect the equipment in petrochemical plants and refineries, which include damage due to corrosion, misalignments, plastic deformations, laminations, cracks, among others. This work consists in a Structural Integrity Analysis of an Industrial Flare that comes from the real need for analysis of an equipment under the scope of the professional activity of the candidate. The study was carried out at the professional level and it has a wide scope, including the inspection of the equipment, identification of failure or damage, data collection and recording, definition of acting strategy and selection of techniques for assessing the condition for further modification, repair or decommissioning. In this Mechanical Engineering dissertation in Mechanical Constructions, we intend to make an in-depth study of one of the stages of design, particularly studying the source, evaluate the failure and structural or process implications due to degradation inside the flare riser, based on a FFS analysis, to achieve safe operability and ensuring certain operation conditions. This FFS analysis aims to validate or not the current integrity (technical quantitative assessment) in order to know if the asset is safe and reliable to continue to operate under specified conditions for a for a certain period of time, taking into account the conditions verified at the time of inspection and design specifications, according to the security check items present in the standard EN 1990:2002 / A1: 2005/AC: 2010 and based on the standard API 579-1/ASME FFS-1: 2007. The following tasks were performed: - Identify and analyze the degradation mechanisms based on the standard API RP 571: 2011, with the process and geometric conditions that the studied equipment is subjected to, in order to understand the evolution of structural degradation and which are the implications on its longevity. - Evaluate and propose repair solutions and/or procedural and/or geometric changes and the equipment in demand to allow continuity in operation without affecting the safety conditions and therefore minimize or avoid the high economic cost associated with new equipment and process downtime. - Impose structural limits with the process conditions and external or adjacent actions. - Ensure the safety and quality of human life or the surrounding, equipment, facilities, the surrounding infrastructure and avoid economic collapse, either on process reasons or by compensation or worsening of the insurance premium. The obtained results are the basis for inherent modifications such as structural reinforcement, amendment of the deflector geometry, adjusting the tensioning of the cables and control the minimum thickness in order to extend the safely life of the flare

Long-term stability of the oxygen pulse curve during maximal exercise

INTRODUCTION: Exercise oxygen pulse (O2 pulse), a surrogate for stroke volume and arteriovenous oxygen difference, has emerged as an important variable obtained during cardiopulmonary exercise testing. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that the O2 pulse curve pattern response to a maximal cycling ramp protocol exhibits a stable linear pattern in subjects reevaluated under the same clinical conditions. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 100 adults (80 males), mean age at baseline of 59 + 12 years, who performed two cardiopulmonary exercise testings (median interval was 15 months), for clinical and/or exercise prescription reasons. The relative O2 pulse was calculated by dividing its absolute value by body weight. Subjects were classified into quintiles of relative O2 pulse. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing results and the O2 pulse curve pattern, expressed by its slope and intercept, were compared among quintiles of relative O2 pulse at both cardiopulmonary exercise testings. RESULTS: After excluding the first minute of CPX (rest-exercise transition), the relative O2 pulse curve exhibited a linear increase, as demonstrated by high coefficients of determination (R² from 0.75 to 0.90; p<0.05 for all quintiles). Even though maximum oxygen uptake and relative O2 pulse were significantly higher in the second cardiopulmonary exercise testing for each quintile of relative O2 pulse (p<0.05 for all comparisons), no differences were found when slopes and intercepts were compared between the first and second cardiopulmonary exercise testings (p>0.05 for all comparisons; except for intercept in the 5th quintile). CONCLUSION: Excluding the rest-exercise transition, the relative O2 pulse exhibited a stable linear increase throughout maximal exercise in adults that were retested under same clinical conditions

QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT (QFD) APPLIED TO THE VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE QUALITY COSTS IN MECHANIZED FOREST HARVEST OPERATIONS

Globalization and client demands result in the need for investments for the survival of the companies. Forest harvest represents the highest costs and losses of wood production. Quality function deployment (QFD) is recommended to achieve quality by detecting customer needs. Thus, this study aimed to determine the variables that influence quality costs in the mechanized harvest to reach the quality control of forest activity. The research was developed in a company located in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The variables that influence quality costs in four categories (evaluation, prevention, internal and external flaws) were identified. The QFD method was used to translate the needs of internal and external customers (critical success factors) of mechanized harvesting activities into measurable technical characteristics (variables that influence quality costs), determining the weight for each relationship and, consequently, the balance of the categories, besides the correlations of the variables evaluated as strong, medium, weak, and non-existent. Among the 29 variables identified, 18 consisted of evaluation and prevention, representing the relative weights of 37.17% and 26.49%, respectively, and 11 represented internal and external flaws, with values of 26.57% and 9.73%, respectively. The correlation matrix found 334 correlation of the 406 cells: 195 (58%) strong, 86 (26%) medium, and 53 (16%) weak. In conclusion, the company must improve process quality by investing in evaluation and prevention aimed at reducing non-conformities and expansion of revenues