opec: Topics by Science.gov

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Oil supply between OPEC and non-OPEC based on game theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Yuwen; Yi, Jiexin; Yan, Wei; Yang, Xinshe; Zhang, Song; Gao, Yifan; Wang, Xi

2014-10-01

The competing strategies between OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC producers make the oil supply market a complex system, and thus, it is very difficult to model and to make predictions. In this paper, we combine the macro-model based on game theory and micro-model to propose a new approach for forecasting oil supply. We take into account the microscopic behaviour in the clearing market and also use the game relationships to adjust oil supplies in our approach. For the supply model, we analyse and consider the different behaviour of non-OPEC and OPEC producers. According to our analysis, limiting the oil supply, and thus maintaining oil price, is the best strategy for OPEC in the low-price scenario, while the rising supply is the best strategy in the high-price scenario. No matter what the oil price is, the dominant strategy for non-OPEC producers is to increase their oil supply. In the high-price scenario, OPEC will try to deplete non-OPEC's share in the oil supply market, which is to OPEC's advantage.
Exclusive: OPEC's story - denies it is a cartel (in English and Spanish)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1983-03-23

Coverage of OPEC news in the Western press exploded in 1973 during the Arab Oil Embargo and blossomed during the 1979 oil price hike. Since then, however, coverage wanes when OPEC's problems are its own and not widely impacting consuming nations. OPECNA, the OPEC News Agency, was established in 1980 to improve the quantity and quality of world press coverage of OPEC activities. Since then, OPECNA has also been OPEC's historian. It is felt that OPECNA has achieved its principal goal, that of providing reliable and frequent information about OPEC and the activities of its member countries; however, it appearsmore » to have little success in restructuring world opinion. Included here is an exclusive interview by Energy Detente with Mr. Gonzalo Plaza, Director of OPECNA. The Energy Detente fuel price/tax series and industrial fuel prices for March 1983 are presented for countries of the Western Hemisphere.« less
An alternative model for OPEC stability: The carrot and stick approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Akacem, M.; Fleisher, A.A. III

1994-12-31

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has gone through turbulent times since its inception in 1960. The decade of the 1970s represented the peak of its power; however, the 1980s and 1990s are characterized by the erosion of OPECs position. After a brief exposition of the principles of resource economics and their relevance to OPEC, we review oligopoly theory and its specific application to OPEC. A model of cartel behavior will then be presented and its relevance to OPEC will be emphasized. Our theory is that OPEC can use a trigger price strategy (a punishment phase when overproductionmore » occurs, followed by a resumption phase of full compliance of the quota agreement) to stabilize output. An insurance policy scheme will be presented in combination with the trigger price strategy, the goal of which may improve the stability of OPEC. Finally, we shall show how the present organization may evolve over time into a much smaller entity by the late 1990s composed of the Gulf producers.« less
Advanced neuroblastoma: improved response rate using a multiagent regimen (OPEC) including sequential cisplatin and VM-26.

PubMed

Shafford, E A; Rogers, D W; Pritchard, J

1984-07-01

Forty-two children, all over one year of age, were given vincristine, cyclophosphamide, and sequentially timed cisplatin and VM-26 (OPEC) or OPEC and doxorubicin (OPEC-D) as initial treatment for newly diagnosed stage III or IV neuroblastoma. Good partial response was achieved in 31 patients (74%) overall and in 28 (78%) of 36 patients whose treatment adhered to the chemotherapy protocol, compared with a 65% response rate achieved in a previous series of children treated with pulsed cyclophosphamide and vincristine with or without doxorubicin. Only six patients, including two of the six children whose treatment did not adhere to protocol, failed to respond, but there were five early deaths from treatment-related complications. Tumor response to OPEC, which was the less toxic of the two regimens, was at least as good as tumor response to OPEC-D. Cisplatin-induced morbidity was clinically significant in only one patient and was avoided in others by careful monitoring of glomerular filtration rate and hearing. Other centers should test the efficacy of OPEC or equivalent regimens in the treatment of advanced neuroblastoma.
OPEC Revenues Fact Sheet

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

For 2015, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earned about $404 billion in net oil export revenues (unadjusted for inflation). This represents a 46% decline from the $753 billion earned in 2014, mainly as a result of a precipitous fall in average annual crude oil prices during the year, and to a lesser extent to decreases in the level of OPEC net oil exports. The 2015 revenue total was the lowest earnings for OPEC since 2004.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shaaf, M.B.

The primary purpose of this dissertation was to explore the nature, purposes, benefits, and barriers of establishing a currency basket for OPEC as an alternative to the use the dollar for international trade in oil. The study included the construction and evaluation of three alternative currency baskets and the evaluation of two other baskets for the protection of the real price of OPEC oil from foreign-exchange fluctuations between 1971 and 1980. A secondary objective was to assess the inflationary impact on the real price of oil. Finally, the purpose was to evaluate the changes of the terms of trade ofmore » OPEC during the same period. The findings of the research are as follows: During 1971-1980, inflation and the relative weakness of the dollar have reduced the real price of oil to OPEC. In spite of this, the terms of trade of OPEC have substantially improved. This was because OPEC increased its oil prices much more than sufficient to compensate for inflation and the fluctuation of foreign-exchange rates.« less
Effects of spermatozoa-oviductal cell coincubation time and oviductal cell age on spermatozoa-oviduct interactions.

PubMed

Aldarmahi, Ahmed; Elliott, Sarah; Russell, Jean; Fazeli, Alireza

2014-01-01

The oviduct plays a crucial role in sperm storage, maintenance of sperm viability and sperm transport to the site of fertilisation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of oviductal cell culture passage number, oviductal cell age and spermatozoa-oviduct coincubation times on gene expression in oviductal cells. Immortalised oviductal epithelial cells (OPEC) obtained from two different cell passages (36 and 57) were subcultured three times with and without spermatozoa for 24 h (control group). In a second study, OPEC were cocultured with spermatozoa for different time intervals (0, 4, 12 and 24 h). Expression of adrenomedullin (ADM), heat shock 70 kDa protein 8 (HSPA8) and prostaglandin E synthase (PGES) in OPEC was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The expression of ADM and HSPA8 was decreased significantly in OPEC cells from Passage 57, particularly in the later subculture group. These effects on HSPA8, but not ADM, expression in OPEC were further altered after coculture with spermatozoa for 24 h. We also demonstrated that spermatozoa-oviduct coculture for 12 and 24 h resulted in significantly higher expression of ADM, HSPA8 and PGES in OPEC. Overall, the data suggest that the OPEC lose some of their properties as a result of oviductal cell aging and that there are spermatozoa-oviduct interactions leading to increased oviductal cell gene expression.
OPEC behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Bo

This thesis aims to contribute to a further understanding of the real dynamics of OPEC production behavior and its impacts on the world oil market. A literature review in this area shows that the existing studies on OPEC still have some major deficiencies in theoretical interpretation and empirical estimation technique. After a brief background review in chapter 1, chapter 2 tests Griffin's market-sharing cartel model on the post-Griffin time horizon with a simultaneous system of equations, and an innovative hypothesis of OPEC's behavior (Saudi Arabia in particular) is then proposed based on the estimation results. Chapter 3 first provides a conceptual analysis of OPEC behavior under the framework of non-cooperative collusion with imperfect information. An empirical model is then constructed and estimated. The results of the empirical studies in this thesis strongly support the hypothesis that OPEC has operated as a market-sharing cartel since the early 1980s. In addition, the results also provide some support of the theory of non-cooperative collusion under imperfect information. OPEC members collude under normal circumstances and behave competitively at times in response to imperfect market signals of cartel compliance and some internal attributes. Periodic joint competition conduct plays an important role in sustaining the collusion in the long run. Saudi Arabia acts as the leader of the cartel, accommodating intermediate unfavorable market development and punishing others with a tit-for-tat strategy in extreme circumstances.
Outlook for Non-OPEC Oil Supply in 2010-2011 (Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement January 2010)

EIA Publications

2010-01-01

Two large categories define the world's producing countries of crude oil and other liquid fuels (hereafter liquids): those that are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and those that are outside that group (non-OPEC). This article takes a closer look at the latter category.
Reserve growth of the world's giant oil fields

USGS Publications Warehouse

Klett, T.R.; Schmoker, J.W.

2005-01-01

Analysis of estimated total recoverable oil volume (field size) of 186 well-known giant oil fields of the world (>0.5 billion bbl of oil, discovered prior to 1981), exclusive of the United States and Canada, demonstrates general increases in field sizes through time. Field sizes were analyzed as a group and within subgroups of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries. From 1981 through 1996, the estimated volume of oil in the 186 fields for which adequate data were available increased from 617 billion to 777 billion bbl of oil (26%). Processes other than new field discoveries added an estimated 160 billion bbl of oil to known reserves in this subset of the world's oil fields. Although methods for estimating field sizes vary among countries, estimated sizes of the giant oil fields of the world increased, probably for many of the same reasons that estimated sizes of oil fields in the United States increased over the same time period. Estimated volumes in OPEC fields increased from a total of 550 billion to 668 billion bbl of oil and volumes in non-OPEC fields increased from 67 billion to 109 billion bbl of oil. In terms of percent change, non-OPEC field sizes increased more than OPEC field sizes (63% versus 22%). The changes in estimated total recoverable oil volumes that occurred within three 5-year increments between 1981 and 1996 were all positive. Between 1981 and 1986, the increase in estimated total recoverable oil volume within the 186 giant oil fields was 11 billion bbl of oil; between 1986 and 1991, the increase was 120 billion bbl of oil; and between 1991 and 1996, the increase was 29 billion bbl of oil. Fields in both OPEC and non-OPEC countries followed trends of substantial reserve growth.
Learning to live with OPEC oil: the Arab view

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1983-01-01

Either OPEC or a similar Middle East organizaiton will recapture the dominant role in oil market as non-OPEC oil sources are depleted. An interview with Ali Ahmed Attiga of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) suggests the possibility of another embargo, but emphasizes the common bond that both oil-importing and oil-exporting countries have if they become over-dependent on oil. Attiga points out that OAPEC will produce 40% of the energy consumed at the end of 10 years. He credits the 1973 embargo with reminding the US of its vital interest in the Arab world, but admits it didmore » not accomplish the withdrawal of Israel from occupied territory. In response to other questions Attiga doubts other producers will join OPEC, explains OPEC pricing and production policies, and describes its development programs. 1 figure.« less
Global Warming: Predicting OPEC Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Petroleum Consumption Using Neural Network and Hybrid Cuckoo Search Algorithm.

PubMed

Chiroma, Haruna; Abdul-kareem, Sameem; Khan, Abdullah; Nawi, Nazri Mohd; Gital, Abdulsalam Ya'u; Shuib, Liyana; Abubakar, Adamu I; Rahman, Muhammad Zubair; Herawan, Tutut

2015-01-01

Global warming is attracting attention from policy makers due to its impacts such as floods, extreme weather, increases in temperature by 0.7°C, heat waves, storms, etc. These disasters result in loss of human life and billions of dollars in property. Global warming is believed to be caused by the emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities including the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from petroleum consumption. Limitations of the previous methods of predicting CO2 emissions and lack of work on the prediction of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) CO2 emissions from petroleum consumption have motivated this research. The OPEC CO2 emissions data were collected from the Energy Information Administration. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) adaptability and performance motivated its choice for this study. To improve effectiveness of the ANN, the cuckoo search algorithm was hybridised with accelerated particle swarm optimisation for training the ANN to build a model for the prediction of OPEC CO2 emissions. The proposed model predicts OPEC CO2 emissions for 3, 6, 9, 12 and 16 years with an improved accuracy and speed over the state-of-the-art methods. An accurate prediction of OPEC CO2 emissions can serve as a reference point for propagating the reorganisation of economic development in OPEC member countries with the view of reducing CO2 emissions to Kyoto benchmarks--hence, reducing global warming. The policy implications are discussed in the paper.
Global Warming: Predicting OPEC Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Petroleum Consumption Using Neural Network and Hybrid Cuckoo Search Algorithm

PubMed Central

Chiroma, Haruna; Abdul-kareem, Sameem; Khan, Abdullah; Nawi, Nazri Mohd.; Gital, Abdulsalam Ya’u; Shuib, Liyana; Abubakar, Adamu I.; Rahman, Muhammad Zubair; Herawan, Tutut

2015-01-01

Background Global warming is attracting attention from policy makers due to its impacts such as floods, extreme weather, increases in temperature by 0.7°C, heat waves, storms, etc. These disasters result in loss of human life and billions of dollars in property. Global warming is believed to be caused by the emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities including the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from petroleum consumption. Limitations of the previous methods of predicting CO2 emissions and lack of work on the prediction of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) CO2 emissions from petroleum consumption have motivated this research. Methods/Findings The OPEC CO2 emissions data were collected from the Energy Information Administration. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) adaptability and performance motivated its choice for this study. To improve effectiveness of the ANN, the cuckoo search algorithm was hybridised with accelerated particle swarm optimisation for training the ANN to build a model for the prediction of OPEC CO2 emissions. The proposed model predicts OPEC CO2 emissions for 3, 6, 9, 12 and 16 years with an improved accuracy and speed over the state-of-the-art methods. Conclusion An accurate prediction of OPEC CO2 emissions can serve as a reference point for propagating the reorganisation of economic development in OPEC member countries with the view of reducing CO2 emissions to Kyoto benchmarks—hence, reducing global warming. The policy implications are discussed in the paper. PMID:26305483
Dioxin exerts anti-estrogenic actions in a novel dioxin-responsive telomerase-immortalized epithelial cell line of the porcine oviduct (TERT-OPEC).

PubMed

Hombach-Klonisch, Sabine; Pocar, Paola; Kauffold, Johannes; Klonisch, Thomas

2006-04-01

Oviduct epithelial cells are important for the nourishment and survival of ovulated oocytes and early embryos, and they respond to the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone. Endocrine-disrupting polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAH) are environmental toxins that act in part through the ligand-activated transcription factor arylhydrocarbon receptor (AhR; dioxin receptor), and exposure to PHAH has been shown to decrease fertility. To investigate effects of PHAHs on the oviduct epithelium as a potential target tissue of dioxin-type endocrine disruptors, we have established a novel telomerase-immortalized oviduct porcine epithelial cell line (TERT-OPEC). TERT-OPEC exhibited active telomerase and the immunoreactive epithelial marker cytokeratin but lacked the stromal marker vimentin. TERT-OPEC contained functional estrogen receptor (ER)-alpha and AhR, as determined by the detection of ER-alpha- and AhR-specific target molecules. Treatment of TERT-OPEC with the AhR ligand 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) resulted in a significant increase in the production of the cytochrome P-450 microsomal enzyme CYP1A1. Activated AhR caused a downregulation of ER nuclear protein fraction and significantly decreased ER-signaling in TERT-OPEC as determined by ERE-luciferase transient transfection assays. In summary, the TCDD-induced and AhR-mediated anti-estrogenic responses by TERT-OPEC suggest that PHAH affect the predominantly estrogen-dependent differentiation of the oviduct epithelium within the fallopian tube. This action then alters the local endocrine milieu, potentially resulting in a largely unexplored cause of impaired embryonic development and female infertility.
OPEC chemotherapy (vincristine, prednisolone, etoposide and chlorambucil) for refractory and recurrent Hodgkin's disease.

PubMed

Barnett, M J; Man, A M; Richards, M A; Waxman, J H; Wrigley, P F; Lister, T A

1987-01-01

Fifteen adults with refractory or recurrent Hodgkin's disease were treated with a combination of: vincristine, prednisolone, etoposide and chlorambucil (OPEC). All had previously received mustine, vinblastine, procarbazine and prednisolone (MVPP) and seven had subsequently been treated with alternative regimens. Responses were achieved in four, but complete remission in only one. Toxicity was considerable and five died of treatment related complications. Only two are alive (one in complete remission) more than three years after therapy. The toxicity of the OPEC regimen outweighed its benefit in this group of poor prognosis patients.
OPEC Aid to the Developing Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

OECD Observer, 1978

1978-01-01

For the third consecutive year, OPEC aid amounted to more than $5.5 billion, representing more than two percent of the gross national product. This is compared to 0.31 percent for members of OECD's Development Assistance Committee. (Author/BB)
The cause and effect of exclusionary zoning within a jurisdiction, and, The stockpile of petroleum needed to contain OPEC's price shocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vatter, Marc H.

In Part I, I model a jurisdiction where residents differ by income, and housing confers benefits on neighbors. By majority vote, residents choose minima on consumption of housing that differ by neighborhood, and they separate into neighborhoods by income. In practice, such laws take the form of minimum lot sizes, bans on multi-family units, building codes, and other restrictions. This policy maximizes a benefit-cost welfare criterion. Alternative policies include no minima and a uniform minimum citywide, based on libertarian and utilitarian welfare criteria, respectively. I compare the policies in terms of efficiency, implementability, and distributional consequences, and give numerical examples based on U.S. data. Willingness to pay for the benefit-cost optimum is convex in income. This helps to explain why neighborhood stratification by income has outpaced stratification of income itself in U.S metropolitan areas since 1970. In the examples, gains to a rich household are in the thousands and losses to the poor in the hundreds of dollars annually. In Part II, I estimate the stockpile of petroleum sufficient to contain a price shock perpetrated by the OPEC. I estimate world demand for petroleum such that the long run price elasticity exceeds that in the short run, and supply from non-OPEC producers with a similar kind of lagged response. Given this structure for elasticities, OPEC profits from sudden increases in price. I simulate interaction among consumers, non-OPEC producers, OPEC, and an International Energy Agency (IEA) that punishes OPEC by releasing oil onto the market. I endow the IEA with increasingly large stockpiles until they suffice to limit price shocks to specified levels. Every 5 reduction in the shock raises present-valued world GDP by about 650 billion. The IEA now has 1.4 billion barrels of petroleum, including 700 million in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. A 3 billion barrel stockpile would suffice to reduce a 35 price shock to 20, raising world GDP by about 2 trillion. A 5 billion barrel stockpile would cut the shock to 5. The benefits of doing so are in the trillions of dollars, while lost profits to OPEC are in the hundreds of billions.
Project analysis procedures for an OPEC country: case study of Qatar's Northwest Dome Gas Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ali, A.B.; Khalifah, H.

1986-01-01

The discovery of oil in most OPEC countries in the 1940s changed the economies of these countries from a state of capital shortage and stagnation to a state of capital surplus and economic growth. This growth, however, is lopsided. Oil production and export dominate the gross domestic products (GDPs) of those economies. Concern arising during the 1970s about overdependence on crude oil export as the main source of national income has resulted in the initiation of various industrial development programs in OPEC states aiming to diversify their economies. This study was conducted with two primary objectives: (1) to identify andmore » understand the features of selected OPEC countries' development problems, strategies and plans, focusing on the role of oil and gas resources and opportunities for diversification, and (2) to suggest an appropriate development strategy, with project evaluation implications, for capital-abundant, labor-scarce OPEC countries in the Gulf region such as Qatar. This proposed approach is designed to evaluate the project from its contribution to the national income, people's welfare, the expansion of the economy's absorptive capacity, and relief of the economy's dependence on nonrenewable resources. The Northwest Dome Gas Project in Qatar was selected as an illustrative case study for this approach.« less
OPEC/OJEC for stage 4 neuroblastoma in children over 1 year of age.

PubMed

Tweddle, D A; Pinkerton, C R; Lewis, I J; Ellershaw, C; Cole, M; Pearson, A D

2001-01-01

This paper reports the toxicity of OPEC/OJEC chemotherapy in stage 4 neuroblastoma patients over 1 year of age. Ninety-five patients with stage 4 neuroblastoma received alternating courses of OPEC/OJEC--vincristine 1.5 mg/m2 (O), cisplatin 80 mg/m2 (P), etoposide 200 mg/m2 (E), cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 (C), and carboplatin 500 mg/m2 (J), every 21 days if there was haematological recovery. Seventy out of ninety-five (74%) patients completed seven or more courses and were evaluable for toxicity. Of these 70 patients, 33% had more than three episodes of fever and sepsis, 35% required more than five blood or platelet transfusions, 36% had grade 2 or more gastrointestinal toxicity and 9% had neurotoxicity. There was a median reduction in GFR of 32 ml/min/1.73 m2 (-46 to 134) and there was one toxic death. OPEC/OJEC is a well-tolerated therapy for stage 4 neuroblastoma over 1 year of age.
Correlation between In Vitro and In Vivo Antifungal Activities in Experimental Fluconazole-Resistant Oropharyngeal and Esophageal Candidiasis

PubMed Central

Walsh, Thomas J.; Gonzalez, Corina E.; Piscitelli, Steven; Bacher, John D.; Peter, Joanne; Torres, Richard; Shetti, Daiva; Katsov, Victoria; Kligys, Kristina; Lyman, Caron A.

2000-01-01

Oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis (OPEC) is a frequent opportunistic mycosis in immunocompromised patients. Azole-resistant OPEC is a refractory form of this infection occurring particularly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. The procedures developed by the Antifungal Subcommittee of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) are an important advance in standardization of in vitro antifungal susceptibility methodology. In order to further understand the relationship between NCCLS methodology and antifungal therapeutic response, we studied the potential correlation between in vitro susceptibility to fluconazole and in vivo response in a rabbit model of fluconazole-resistant OPEC. MICs of fluconazole were determined by NCCLS methods. Three fluconazole-susceptible (FS) (MIC, ≤0.125 μg/ml) and three fluconazole-resistant (FR) (MIC, ≥64 μg/ml) isolates of Candida albicans from prospectively monitored HIV-infected children with OPEC were studied. FR isolates were recovered from children with severe OPEC refractory to fluconazole, and FS isolates were recovered from those with mucosal candidiasis responsive to fluconazole. Fluconazole at 2 mg/kg of body weight/day was administered to infected animals for 7 days. The concentrations of fluconazole in plasma were maintained above the MICs for FS isolates throughout the dosing interval. Fluconazole concentrations in the esophagus were greater than or equal to those in plasma. Rabbits infected with FS isolates and treated with fluconazole had significant reductions in oral mucosal quantitative cultures (P < 0.001) and tissue burden of C. albicans in tongue, soft palate, and esophagus (P < 0.001). In comparison, rabbits infected with FR isolates were unresponsive to fluconazole and had no reduction in oral mucosal quantitative cultures or tissue burden of C. albicans versus untreated controls. We conclude that there is a strong correlation between in vitro fluconazole susceptibility by NCCLS methods and in vivo response to fluconazole therapy of OPEC due to C. albicans. PMID:10835005

Correlation between in vitro and in vivo antifungal activities in experimental fluconazole-resistant oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis.

PubMed

Walsh, T J; Gonzalez, C E; Piscitelli, S; Bacher, J D; Peter, J; Torres, R; Shetti, D; Katsov, V; Kligys, K; Lyman, C A

2000-06-01

Oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis (OPEC) is a frequent opportunistic mycosis in immunocompromised patients. Azole-resistant OPEC is a refractory form of this infection occurring particularly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. The procedures developed by the Antifungal Subcommittee of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) are an important advance in standardization of in vitro antifungal susceptibility methodology. In order to further understand the relationship between NCCLS methodology and antifungal therapeutic response, we studied the potential correlation between in vitro susceptibility to fluconazole and in vivo response in a rabbit model of fluconazole-resistant OPEC. MICs of fluconazole were determined by NCCLS methods. Three fluconazole-susceptible (FS) (MIC, /=64 microgram/ml) isolates of Candida albicans from prospectively monitored HIV-infected children with OPEC were studied. FR isolates were recovered from children with severe OPEC refractory to fluconazole, and FS isolates were recovered from those with mucosal candidiasis responsive to fluconazole. Fluconazole at 2 mg/kg of body weight/day was administered to infected animals for 7 days. The concentrations of fluconazole in plasma were maintained above the MICs for FS isolates throughout the dosing interval. Fluconazole concentrations in the esophagus were greater than or equal to those in plasma. Rabbits infected with FS isolates and treated with fluconazole had significant reductions in oral mucosal quantitative cultures (P < 0.001) and tissue burden of C. albicans in tongue, soft palate, and esophagus (P < 0.001). In comparison, rabbits infected with FR isolates were unresponsive to fluconazole and had no reduction in oral mucosal quantitative cultures or tissue burden of C. albicans versus untreated controls. We conclude that there is a strong correlation between in vitro fluconazole susceptibility by NCCLS methods and in vivo response to fluconazole therapy of OPEC due to C. albicans.
Essays on the behavior of the oil market and OPEC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Algudhea, Salim

This dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay is mainly concerned with investigating the risk-responsive behavior of OPEC members. Economic theory suggests that producers respond to the risk of volatile price by lowering production level. In the case of OPEC, the risk of the volatility in the price of crude oil does not seem to be a key determinant in the production decision-making process. Engineering constraints, data frequency, and political consideration may be the main causes of such a result. In the second essay, we tested the presence of the asymmetric adjustment in the cheating behavior as a result of crude oil price shocks. We utilize a set of cointegration and error correction methods that do not assume a linear adjustment to test whether cheaters within OPEC respond more to positive or negative crude oil price shocks. We conclude that cheaters respond more to negative shocks than positive shocks in oil price. The inelastic nature of demand for oil seems to play a crucial role in such asymmetric behavior. When there is a negative price shock, OPEC producers compensate for the loss in revenue by overproducing (i.e. cheat). Yet, if there is a positive shock in the price of crude oil, OPEC producers have less incentive to overproduce because of the inelastic demand for oil. The third essay is concerned with testing for the asymmetric adjustment in gasoline prices in the U.S. We consider a Momentum Threshold Autoregressive (MTAR) process to test for the asymmetric adjustment in all of the possible stages that a gallon of gasoline goes through in order to find the source of asymmetry. Then, we examine the dynamics of gasoline prices using asymmetric error correction models based on the MTAR specifications. We find the asymmetric adjustment present in all stages. The asymmetry in the retail stage seems to be the result of insufficient demand faced by retailers.
Health Care Expenditure and GDP in Oil Exporting Countries: Evidence From OPEC Data, 1995-2012.

PubMed

Fazaeli, Ali Akbar; Ghaderi, Hossein; Salehi, Masoud; Fazaeli, Ali Reza

2015-06-11

There is a large body of literature examining income in relation to health expenditures. The share of expenditures in health sector from GDP in developed countries is often larger than in non-developed countries, suggesting that as the level of economic growth increases, health spending increase, too. This paper estimates long-run relationships between health expenditures and GDP based on panel data of a sample of 12 countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), using data for the period 1995-2012. We use panel data unit root tests, cointegration analysis and ECM model to find long-run and short-run relation. This study examines whether health is a luxury or a necessity for OPEC countries within a unit root and cointegration framework. Panel data analysis indicates that health expenditures and GDP are co-integrated and have Engle and Granger causality. In addition, in oil countries that have oil export income, the share of government expenditures in the health sector is often greater than in private health expenditures similar developed countries. The findings verify that health care is not a luxury good and income has a robust relationship to health expenditures in OPEC countries.
Health Care Expenditure and GDP in Oil Exporting Countries: Evidence from OPEC Data, 1995-2012

PubMed Central

Fazaeli, Ali Akbar; Ghaderi, Hossein; Salehi, Masoud; Fazaeli, Ali Reza

2016-01-01

Background: There is a large body of literature examining income in relation to health expenditures. The share of expenditures in health sector from GDP in developed countries is often larger than in non-developed countries, suggesting that as the level of economic growth increases, health spending increase, too. Objectives: This paper estimates long-run relationships between health expenditures and GDP based on panel data of a sample of 12 countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), using data for the period 1995-2012. Patients & Methods: We use panel data unit root tests, cointegration analysis and ECM model to find long-run and short-run relation. This study examines whether health is a luxury or a necessity for OPEC countries within a unit root and cointegration framework. Results: Panel data analysis indicates that health expenditures and GDP are co-integrated and have Engle and Granger causality. In addition, in oil countries that have oil export income, the share of government expenditures in the health sector is often greater than in private health expenditures similar developed countries. Conclusions: The findings verify that health care is not a luxury good and income has a robust relationship to health expenditures in OPEC countries. PMID:26383195
Kuwait Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

As a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Kuwait was the world's 10th-largest producer of petroleum and other liquids in 2015, and it was the fifth-largest producer of crude oil among the 14 OPEC members. Despite its relatively small geographic size (about 6,900 square miles), in terms of production, it only trailed Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates in production of petroleum and other liquids in 2015.
Oil crises and African economies: oil wave on a tidal flood of industrial price inflation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, W.R.; Wilson, E.J. III

Escalating oil-import prices have left the developing African economies with high debts, unfinished projects, and bitterness over what they see as economic assassination by OPEC. Much of the blame for their suffering, however, can be placed on African leaders who failed to control internal factors. The authors review the impact of OPEC's pricing changes in terms of its relation to internal financial and energy characteristics and the purchasing and policy choices made by African nations in response to the price increases. They describe the African nations' ability to solve their energy and economic problems as less favorable than other less-developedmore » countries. The richer OPEC and industrial countries can do more than they are to help relieve the economic strain and to diversify African energy sources. 53 references, 7 tables. (DCK)« less
United Arab Emirates expansion curtailed but production still exceeds quota

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vielvoye, R.

1987-08-24

This article reports that oil and gas activity in the United Arab Emirates has been hit be declining exploration, curtailed development schedules, and the shutdown of production facilities. But despite a mothballing program, production is still running way ahead of the quota set by OPEC for the UAE. According to OPEC's schedule, first half 1987 production should not have exceeded 902,000 b/d. And the increased quotas for the second half of the year would permit output to average 948,000 b/d. But production averaged 1.2 million b/d during the first half of the year, and there is no sign of amore » significant reduction. Rising output when most other OPEC members are attempting to discipline themselves stems from the failure of Abu Dhabi and Dubai to agree on how the quota should be split. Details are provided on the regions of production activity.« less
Flux agreement above a Scots pine plantation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gay, L. W.; Vogt, R.; Bernhofer, Ch.; Blanford, J. H.

1996-03-01

The surface energy exchange of 12m high Scots pine plantation at Hartheim, Germany, was measured with a variety of methods during a 11-day period of fine weather in mid-May 1992. Net radiation and rate of thermal storage were measured with conventional net radiometers, soil heat flux discs and temperature-based storage models. The turbulent fluxes discussed in this report were obtained with an interchanging Bowen ratio energy budget system (BREB, at 14 m), two one-propeller eddy correlation systems (OPEC systems 1 and 2 at 17m), a 1-dimensional sonic eddy correlation system (SEC system 3) at 15 m, all on one “low” tower, and a 3-dimensional sonic eddy correlation system (SEC system 22) at 22 m on the “high” tower that was about 46 m distant. All systems measured sensible and latent heat (H and LE) directly, except for OPEC systems 1 and 2 which estimated LE as a residual term in the surface energy balance. Closure of turbulent fluxes from the two SEC systems was around 80% for daytime and 30% for night, with closure of 1-dimensional SEC system 3 exceeding that of 3-dimensional SEC system 22. The night measurements of turbulent fluxes contained considerable uncertainty, especially with the BREB system where measured gradients often yielded erroneous fluxes due to problems inherent in the method (i.e., computational instability as Bowen's ratio approaches -1). Also, both eddy correlation system designs (OPEC and SEC) appeared to underestimate |H| during stable conditions at night. In addition, both sonic systems (1- and 3-dimensional) underestimated |LE| during stable conditions. The underestimate of |H| at night generated residual estimates of OPEC LE containing a “phantom dew” error that erroneously decreased daily LE totals by about 10 percent. These special night problems are circumvented here by comparing results for daytime periods only, rather than for full days. To summarize, turbulent fluxes on the low tower from OPEC system 2 and the adjacent SEC system 3 were in reasonable agreement, while the BREB system appeared to overestimate H and underestimate LE; H and LE measured by SEC system 22 on the high tower were lower than from OPEC and SEC3 on the low tower. The turbulent flux measurements tended to converge, but the data exhibit unexplained differences between days, between systems, and between locations.
The oil policies of the Gulf Arab Nations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ripple, R.D.; Hagen, R.E.

1995-03-01

At its heart, Arab oil policy is inseparable from Arab economic and social policy. This holds whether we are talking about the Arab nations as a group or each separately. The seven Arab nations covered in this report-Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates--participate in several organizations focusing on regional cooperation regarding economic development, social programs, and Islamic unity, as well as organizations concerned with oil policies. This report focuses on the oil-related activities of the countries that may reveal the de facto oil policies of the seven Persian Gulf nations. Nevertheless it should bemore » kept in mind that the decision makers participating in the oil policy organizations are also involved with the collaborative efforts of these other organizations. Oil policies of five of the seven Arab nations are expressed within the forums of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). Only Oman, among the seven, is not a member of either OAPEC or OPEC; Bahrain is a member of OAPEC but not of OPEC. OPEC and OAPEC provide forums for compromise and cooperation among their members. Nevertheless, each member state maintains its own sovereignty and follows its own policies. Each country deviates from the group prescription from time to time, depending upon individual circumstances.« less
Arab oil weapon. [documents, treaties, commentaries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paust, J.J.; Blaustein, A.P.

1977-01-01

This compilation of publications dealing with the Arab oil weapon presents documents and commentaries. In Part I, the Embargo, fhe documents include: Historical Chronologies; The United States Oil Shortage and the Arab-Israelic Conflict; OPEC: Oil Negotations, OPEC, and the Stability of Supply; and OPEC Resolutions and Other Documents. Commentaries include: The Arab Oil Weapon--A Threat to International Peace, by Jordon J. Paust and Albert P. Blaustein; Destination Embargo of Arab Oil: Its Legality Under International Law, by Ibrahim F. I. Shihata; The Arab Oil Weapon: A Reply and Re-Affirmation of Illegality, by Jordan J. Paust and Albert P. Blaustein; Economicmore » Coercion and the International Legal Order, by Richard B. Lillich; Some Politico-Legal Aspects of Resource Scarcity, by Timothy Stanley; and OPEC in the Context of the Global Power Equation, by Jahangir Amuzegar. Part II, The Response, includes the following documents: Presidential Statements: Carter and Ford; The Energy Crisis: Strategy for Cooperative Action, by Henry A. Kissinger; Oil Fields as Military Objectives; and Data and Analysis: Concerning the Possibility of a U.S. Food Embargo as a Response to the present Arab Oil Boycott. The commentaries in Part II are: Oil: The Issue of American Intervention, by Robert W. Tucker; War--The Ultimate Antitrust Actions, by Andrew Tobias; and The Need for Negotiated Reforms, by John H. Jackson. Part III, Legal Framework, contains 10 United Nations documents and 4 treaties. (MCW)« less
Estimating the actual ET from a pecan farm using the OPEC energy-balance and Penman- Monteith methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Debele, B.; Bawazir, S. A.

2006-12-01

Accurate estimation of ET from field crops/orchards is the basis for better irrigation water management. In areas like Mesilla Valley, NM, where water is scarce, it is even more important to precisely determine the crop ET. An OPEC energy balance system was run for 117 days (June 22 October 14, 2001) in a matured pecan farm at Mesilla Valley, NM. The actual evapotranspiration (ET) from pecan orchards was determined from the surface energy balance as a residual, having measured the net radiation, soil heat flux, and sensible heat components using the OPEC method. Since pecans are large trees, we have also examined the effect of including thermal energies stored in the air (Ga) and plant canopy (Gc), on top of the commonly used thermal energy stored in the soil (Gs), on surface energy balance, and hence ET. The results indicate that incorporating thermal energies stored in the air and canopy has a significant effect on total energy storage for shorter temporal resolutions, such as 30-minutes and an hour. Conversely, for longer temporal resolutions (e.g., diurnal and monthly averages), the effect of including thermal energies stored in the air and vegetation on total thermal energy storage is negligible. Our results also showed that the bulk of the total thermal energy storage (G = Gs + Ga + Gc) in the surface energy balance was stored in the soil (Gs). In addition, we have also determined the crop coefficient (Kc) of pecan by combining the actual ET obtained from the OPEC method and potential ET (ET0) calculated using weather data in the surrounding area. Our average pecan Kc values were comparable with the ones reported by other researchers using different methods. We conclude that the OPEC energy balance method can be used to calculate Kc values for pecan whereby farmers and extension agents use the calculated Kc values in combination with ET0 to determine the consumptive use of pecan trees.
Phagocytosis of gram-negative bacteria by a unique CD14-dependent mechanism.

PubMed

Schiff, D E; Kline, L; Soldau, K; Lee, J D; Pugin, J; Tobias, P S; Ulevitch, R J

1997-12-01

THP-1-derived cell lines were stably transfected with constructs encoding glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored or transmembrane forms of human CD14. CD14 expression was associated with enhanced phagocytosis of serum (heat-inactivated)-opsonized Escherichia coli (opEc). Both the GPI-anchored and transmembrane forms of CD14 supported phagocytosis of opEc equally well. Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) played a role in CD14-dependent phagocytosis as evidenced by inhibition of CD14-dependent phagocytosis of opEc with anti-LBP monoclonal antibody (mAb) and by enhanced phagocytosis of E. coli opsonized with purified LBP. CD14-dependent phagocytosis was inhibited by a phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase inhibitor (wortmannin) and a protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor (tyrphostin 23) but not a protein kinase C inhibitor (bisindolyl-maleimide) or a divalent cation chelator (ethylenediaminetetraacetate). Anti-LBP mAb 18G4 and anti-CD14 mAb 18E12 were used to differentiate between the pathways involved in CD14-dependent phagocytosis and CD14-dependent cell activation. F(ab')2 fragments of 18G4, a mAb to LBP that does not block cell activation, inhibited ingestion of opEc by THP1-wtCD14 cells. 18E12 (an anti-CD14 mAb that does not block LPS binding to CD14 but does inhibit CD14-dependent cell activation) did not inhibit phagocytosis of LBP-opEc by THP1-wtCD14 cells. Furthermore, CD14-dependent phagocytosis was not inhibited by anti-CD18 (CR3 and CR4 beta-chain) or anti-Fcgamma receptor mAb.
The May October energy budget of a Scots pine plantation at Hartheim, Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gay, L. W.; Vogt, R.; Kessler, A.

1996-03-01

This paper describes measurements of the Hartheim forest energy budget for the 157-day period of May 11 Oct. 14, 1992. Data were collected as 30-min means. Energy available to the forest was measured with net radiometers and soil heat flux discs; sensible heat exchange between the canopy and atmosphere was measured with two “One-Propeller Eddy Correlation” (OPEC) systems, and latent energy (evapotranspiration or ET) was determined as a residual in the surface energy balance equation. Net rediation, change in thermal storage, and sensible heat flux were verified by independent measurements during the Hartheim Experiment (HartX, May 11 12), and again during the “HartX2” experiment over 20 days late in the summer (Sep. 10 29). Specifically, sensible heat estimates from the two adjacent OPEC sensor sets were in close agreement throughout the summer, and in excellent agreement with measurements of sonic eddy correlation systems in May and September. The eddy correlation/energy balance technique was observed to overestimate occurrence of dew, leading to an underestimate of daily ET of about 5%. After taking dew into account, estimates of OPEC ET totaled 358 mm over the 5.1-month period, which is in quite good agreement with an ET estimate of 328 mm from a hydrologic water balance. An observed decrease in forest ET in July and August was clearly associated with low rainfall and increased soil water deficit. The OPEC system required only modest technical supervision, and generated a data yield of 99.5% over the period DOY 144 288. The documented verification and precision of this energy budget appears to be unmatched by any other long-term forest study reported to date.
Vincristine, cisplatin, teniposide, and cyclophosphamide combination in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic adrenocortical cancer.

PubMed

Khan, Tanweera S; Sundin, Anders; Juhlin, Claes; Wilander, Erik; Oberg, Kjell; Eriksson, Barbro

2004-01-01

The efficacy and tolerability of a combination of vincristine, cisplatin, teniposide, and cyclophosphamide (OPEC) in 11 patients (median age, 45 yr) with recurrent and/or metastatic adrenocortical cancer (ACC) (seven functional and four nonfunctional) were evaluated. All patients received this regimen after the failure of streptozocin and o,p'-DDD (SO) combination therapy. The regimen comprised cyclophosphamide, 600 mg/m2, and vincristine, 1.5 mg/m2, maximum dose 2.0 mg (d 1); cisplatin, 100 mg/m2 (d 2) and teniposide, 150 mg/m2 (d 4). Cycles were repeated every 4 wk. One to eight cycles (median, six cycles) of OPEC were administered to each patient. The median duration of treatment was 6 mo. The overall 2-yr survival rate was 82% and the median survival since diagnosis was 44 mo while it was 21 mo since start of OPEC therapy. Responses were obtained in nine patients: partial response in two patients, and stable disease in seven patients. The median duration of response was 6.75 mo. A total of 60 cycles of chemotherapy were given to all patients; grade 1-2 toxicity occurred in 57 cycles, while grade 3 toxicity was observed only in two cycles, according to NCI's Common Toxicity Criteria. We conclude that the OPEC regimen may be considered in recurrent or metastatic ACC as a second-line medical treatment. However, the combination is accompanied by considerable side effects and dose modifications are necessary in order to be able to recommend the treatment. This regimen needs further evaluation compared with SO therapy preferably in a randomized multicenter trial.
Life is getting scary in the oil markets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Uttal, B.

1980-01-28

In the four years prior to 1978, crude was plentiful and often sold on the spot market for less than official OPEC prices. Then in late 1978, Iran quit exporting, and a severe winter in Europe drove stocks of heating oil far below their usual levels. Fear of shortages sent spot prices for heating oil up 112%, and crude prices followed. Many OPEC members realized that sticking to the cartel's official selling price was no longer in their interests. Some OPEC members are now pulling contracts out from under the majors and are selling directly to consuming nations. The movemore » away from the majors has increased the chances that an end user will have its supplies disrupted, causing it to buy and stockpile supplies beyond storage capacity. The producing states' new dominance has had its greatest impact not on the majors but on a special class of customers who rely on the majors for much of their crude. These are the third-party buyers, a category that includes independent refiners, governments, and any other customer not directly associated with the majors' captive distribution networks. DOE estimates that some independent refiners have lost 40% of their third-party supplies; Japan has been informed that, as of March 1980, it will lose all of the oil it receives under third-party contracts. It now seems that none of the majors has enough crude to run its own refineries and to keep up supplies to its established third-party customers. And, when supplies are loose, cartel members are likely to cut production. One analyst has said that OPEC could fulfill all of their revenue needs and still slash production by about 70%. (MCW)« less
Yamani

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robinson, J.

1988-01-01

In 1962, when oil was $2/bbl (*12.50/m/sup 3/), King Faisal appointed a lawyer as minister of petroleum. According to the author, he wrestled control of Saudi Arabia's oil away from the U.S. during the next 11 years and turned the OPEC cartel into a major world force. In Oct. 1973, when war broke out in the Middle East, this man held the world to ransom. Yet in 1989, a one-sentence edict brought his political career to an end. This book traces these events in a biographical account of the former Saudi Arabian oil minister and leading force behind OPEC, Sheikmore » Ahmed Zaki Yamani.« less
Tests of a robust eddy correlation system for sensible heat flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blanford, J. H.; Gay, L. W.

1992-03-01

Sensible heat flux estimates from a simple, one-propeller eddy correlation system (OPEC) were compared with those from a sonic anemometer eddy correlation system (SEC). In accordance with similarity theory, the performance of the OPEC system improved with increasing height of the sensor above the surface. Flux totals from the two systems at sites with adequate fetch were in excellent agreement after frequency response corrections were applied. The propeller system appears suitable for long periods of unattended measurement. The sensible heat flux measurements can be combined with net radiation and soil heat flux measurements to estimate latent heat as a residual in the surface energy balance.
Ecotoxicity by the biodegradation of alkylphenol polyethoxylates depends on the effect of trace elements.

PubMed

Hotta, Yudai; Hosoda, Akifumi; Sano, Fumihiko; Wakayama, Manabu; Niwa, Katsuki; Yoshikawa, Hiromichi; Tamura, Hiroto

2010-01-27

The bacteria Sphingomonas sp. strain BSN22, isolated from bean fields, degraded octylphenol polyethoxylates (OPEO(n)) to octylphenol (OP) under aerobic conditions. This biodegradation mechanism proceeded by the following two-step degradation process: (1) degradation of OPEO(n) to octylphenol triethoxylate (OPEO(3)), (2) degradation from OPEO(3) to OP via octylphenoxy acetic acid (OPEC(1)). The chemical structure of OPEC(1) was confirmed by analysis using (18)O-labeled water. Quantitative studies revealed that magnesium (Mg(2+)) and calcium (Ca(2+)) ions were essential for the biodegradation of OPEO(n). Furthermore, the rate of biodegradation was especially accelerated by ferric ions (Fe(3+)), and the accumulated amounts of endocrine active chemicals, such as OP, OPEO(1), and OPEC(1), significantly increased to the concentration of 22.8, 221.7, and 961.1 microM in the presence of 37.0 microM Fe(3+), respectively. This suggests that environmental elements significantly influence the resultant ecotoxicity as well as the rate of their biodegradation in the environment. This study on the mechanism of OPEO(n) biodegradation may play an important role in understanding and managing environmental safety, including drinking water safety.
Selling energy conservation.

PubMed

Hinrichsen, D

1995-01-01

This article concerns the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crisis and its impact on energy efficiency measures in the US. In 1985, when the OPEC collapsed, the US government had avoided the need to construct 350 gigawatts of new electric capacity. The most successful efficiency improvements, especially in household appliances and equipment, lighting and tightened energy efficiency standards in new buildings, resulted from the OPEC event. The real innovation of that time was the change in profit rules for utilities. This revolution and the way some US utilities view energy have not caught on elsewhere. Despite the initiative toward improving energy efficiency in homes, offices and industries, the change has been slow. Partly to blame are the big development banks, which pointed out that short-term conservation and efficiency measures could save at least 15% of the total energy demand without the need for major investment. The benefits of energy conservation was shown during the oil shock when per capita energy consumption fell by 5% in the member states of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, while the per capita gross domestic product grew by a third. There has been a decrease in energy expenditure worldwide, and the scope for further energy savings is enormous, but governments need to recognize and seize the opportunity.
Ifosfamide in previously untreated disseminated neuroblastoma. Results of Study 3A of the European Neuroblastoma Study Group.

PubMed

Kellie, S J; De Kraker, J; Lilleyman, J S; Bowman, A; Pritchard, J

1988-05-01

A prospective study of the effectiveness of ifosfamide as a single agent in the management of previously untreated patients with Evans stage IV neuroblastoma was undertaken. Eighteen children aged more than 1 year were treated with ifosfamide (IFX) 3 g/m2 daily for 2 days immediately after diagnosis and 3 weeks later. Treatment was continued with combination chemotherapy using vincristine, cyclophosphamide, cisplatinum and etoposide (OPEC) or a variant. Mesna (2-mercaptoethane sulphonate) was given to all patients during IFX treatment to prevent urotoxicity. Eight of the 18 patients (44%) responded to IFX. Nine had greater than 66% reduction in baseline tumor volume. Of 15 evaluable patients with raised pre-treatment urinary catecholamine excretion, six (40%) achieved greater than 50% reduction in pretreatment levels. Two of 10 patients evaluable for bone marrow response had complete clearance. Toxicity was mild in all patients. Upon completing 'first line' therapy, only four patients (22%) achieved a good partial remission (GPR) or complete response (CR). Median survival was 11 months. There was a lower rate of attaining GPR and shortened median survival in patients receiving phase II IFX before OPEC or variant, compared to patients with similar pre-treatment characteristics treated with OPEC from diagnosis in an earlier study.

Measuring efficiency of international crude oil markets: A multifractality approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niere, H. M.

2015-01-01

The three major international crude oil markets are treated as complex systems and their multifractal properties are explored. The study covers daily prices of Brent crude, OPEC reference basket and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude from January 2, 2003 to January 2, 2014. A multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) is employed to extract the generalized Hurst exponents in each of the time series. The generalized Hurst exponent is used to measure the degree of multifractality which in turn is used to quantify the efficiency of the three international crude oil markets. To identify whether the source of multifractality is long-range correlations or broad fat-tail distributions, shuffled data and surrogated data corresponding to each of the time series are generated. Shuffled data are obtained by randomizing the order of the price returns data. This will destroy any long-range correlation of the time series. Surrogated data is produced using the Fourier-Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (F-DFA). This is done by randomizing the phases of the price returns data in Fourier space. This will normalize the distribution of the time series. The study found that for the three crude oil markets, there is a strong dependence of the generalized Hurst exponents with respect to the order of fluctuations. This shows that the daily price time series of the markets under study have signs of multifractality. Using the degree of multifractality as a measure of efficiency, the results show that WTI is the most efficient while OPEC is the least efficient market. This implies that OPEC has the highest likelihood to be manipulated among the three markets. This reflects the fact that Brent and WTI is a very competitive market hence, it has a higher level of complexity compared against OPEC, which has a large monopoly power. Comparing with shuffled data and surrogated data, the findings suggest that for all the three crude oil markets, the multifractality is mainly due to long-range correlations.
Effect of a pre-freezing treatment with cholesterol-loaded cyclodextrins on boar sperm longevity, capacitation dynamics, ability to adhere to porcine oviductal epithelial cells in vitro and DNA fragmentation dynamics.

PubMed

Tomás, C; Blanch, E; Fazeli, A; Mocé, E

2013-01-01

The aim of this work was to examine how a pre-freezing treatment with cholesterol-loaded cyclodextrins (CLC) affects boar sperm longevity, capacitation dynamics, ability to bind to a porcine telomerase-immortalised oviductal epithelial cell line (TERT-OPEC) in vitro and DNA integrity dynamics after freeze-thawing. Although the samples treated with CLC exhibited lower sperm quality than the control samples (P<0.05) immediately after thawing, these differences disappeared (P>0.05) after long-term incubation (26h at 37 or 16°C). Additionally, the CLC-treated spermatozoa underwent similar capacitation and DNA fragmentation dynamics as the control spermatozoa (P>0.05). However, CLC-treated spermatozoa were better able to bind to TERT-OPEC in vitro (P<0.0001). In conclusion, the pre-freezing treatment of boar spermatozoa with CLC enhanced the ability of the spermatozoa to bind to TERT-OPEC in vitro, which could have an effect on the establishment of the sperm reservoir in the ampullary--isthmic junction in vivo. Additionally, frozen-thawed spermatozoa can be stored at 16°C for at least 6h without a significant observable decline in sperm quality, which could be beneficial for the transport of thawed diluted doses of spermatozoa from the laboratory to the farm.
Arab tankers move downstream

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oppenheim, V.H.

A second oil embargo is expected to be even more effective than the one of 1973 because heavy Arab investment in tankers gives them greater control over the transportation as well as the supply and price of crude oil. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations, having used their surplus capital to buy a tanker fleet, can route oil onto their own ships rather than those of competing companies. Faced with increasing vertical integration of the OPEC nations, the International Energy Authority (IEA) finds its emergency plans for oil sharing threatened. Actual size of the Arab tanker fleet ismore » unknown because of joint ventures and the practice of sailing under flags of convenience, but Saudi Arabia is estimated to have enough ships to carry 50 percent of her oil and Arab control to be about 10 percent of the world tanker capacity. Military action in the event of another embargo is more likely if Arab tankers are present in world sea lanes. Involvement of the major international companies with OPEC allocations divides company loyalties between their suppliers and customers. Joint ventures between Arab oil companies and financial lending institutions are increasing, but could be somewhat balanced if legislation were passed requiring that oil for U.S. markets be transported by secure carriers. The use of surplus tankers as mobile storage units has been proposed as a means of stock-piling oil supplies against a future cutback. (DCK)« less
Future global crude oil supply

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ivanhoe, L.F.

Inexpensive crude oil fuels the world's economies and armies. In 1986, for the first time, the global production of crude oil and natural liquids exceeded new reserves added. Proved oil reserves at the end of 1985 stood 707.6 billion bbl (BBO), but declined to 703.1 BBO by the end of 1986. The 1986 reserve decrease, 4.5 BBO, was 20.4% of total global production of 22.0 BBO. This handwriting on the wall is very bad news. The world's recoverable crude oil and natural gas liquids discovered through 1985 totaled 1258 BBO, including cumulative production of 551 BBO and 707 BBO ofmore » reserves. At current production rates, half of all discovered oil will have been burned up by 1989. Timing of the end of our oil age can be extrapolated from a modified Hubbert curve, with future production resembling a mirror image of past production. The watershed beginning of the inevitable decline in global crude oil supplies can be expected in the late 1990s, although the date may be over 30 years later in some super-oily Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Clearly the day of reckoning will be postponed by any new oil discoveries. These will probably be distributed much as are the present global reserves (e.g., 68% OPEC; 11% USSR and China; 21% rest of world). Of this 56% will be in the Persian Gulf area. Giant fields (more than 0.5 BBO reserves) contain 75% of the world's reserves. Discoveries of oil in the globe's 320 known giant fields peaked at 125 BBO during the period 1961-1965, after which giant field discoveries plunged to only 10 BBO during 1981-1985. Henceforth, they should expect to find few giant whales (but many minnows) in the non-OPEC world's fished-out basins. Every new field will help as global crude oil supplies dwindle. Therefore, it is essential that all large prospects outside the Persian Gulf be tested promptly, so the oil-importing nations will known what size of non-OPEC reserves are available.« less
NBER working paper series: oil and the dollar. Working Paper No. 554

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Krugman, P.

1980-01-01

This paper develops a simple theoretical model of the effect of an oil price increase on exchange rates. The model shows that the direction of this effect depends on a comparison of the direct balance of payments burden of the higher oil price with the indirect balance of payments benefits of OPEC spending and investment. In the short run, what matters is whether the US share of world oil imports is more or less than its share of OPEC asset holdings; in the long run, whether its share of oil imports is more or less than its share of OPECmore » imports. Casual empiricism suggests that the initial effect and the long run effect will run in opposite directions; an oil price increase will initially lead to dollar appreciation, but eventually leads to dollar depreciation.« less
Energy and remote sensing applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Summers, R. A.; Smith, W. L.; Short, N. M.

1978-01-01

The nature of the U.S. energy problem is examined. Based upon the best available estimates, it appears that demand for OPEC oil will exceed OPEC productive capacity in the early to mid-eighties. The upward pressure on world oil prices resulting from this supply/demand gap could have serious international consequences, both financial and in terms of foreign policy implementation. National Energy Plan objectives in response to this situation are discussed. Major strategies for achieving these objectives include a conversion of industry and utilities from oil and gas to coal and other abundant fuels. Remote sensing from aircraft and spacecraft could make significant contributions to the solution of energy problems in a number of ways, related to exploration of energy-related resources, the efficiency and safety of exploitation procedures, power plant siting, environmental monitoring and assessment, and the transportation infrastructure.
OPEC is springing another trap. [Bring on refineries to control petroleum-product market

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cook, J.

1979-10-29

Self-appointed authorities assure the American people that there is no oil crisis: just greed on the part of the big oil companies. But the turmoil in the gold market and the continual sinking of the US dollar make mockery of such facile demagoguery. The truth is simple: The US insists on importing more oil than it can pay for with exports, and so the world is flooded with dollars; meanwhile Congress, afraid to face the truth, fails to do anything either to provide alternative sources of energy or to enforce cutbacks on the American people. Consultant George Henry M. Schuler,more » former diplomat and oil company executive, says we are blundering into yet another OPEC trap because we are discouraging the oil industry from expanding refinery capacity in the US. The problem is a combination of import policy and environmental restrictions, he says, in a study recently completed for the consulting firm of Conant and Associates Ltd., Washington, DC. The prospect is that within a few years we will be dependent on OPEC countries for refined products as well as for crude oil - and that dependency will have dire consequences for the US. Congress cannot create oil reserves in this country, but is has total control over creating refineries, through incentives, consultant Schuler says. The situation is leading us straight to war while a whole chorus of voices assures Americans that it's all the oil companies fault. (MCW)« less
Chemotherapy for neuroendocrine tumors: the Beatson Oncology Centre experience.

PubMed

Hatton, M Q; Reed, N S

1997-01-01

The role of chemotherapy in malignant neuroendocrine tumours is difficult to assess because of their rarity and variation in biological behaviour. We present a retrospective review of chemotherapy given to 18 patients with metastatic and one with locally advanced neuroendocrine tumours. There were eight poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumours, six thyroid medullary carcinomas, two phaeochromocytomas, two pancreatic islet cell tumours and one undifferentiated neuroblastoma. Four patients were given 3-weekly dacarbazine, vincristine and cyclophosphamide (DOC) chemotherapy. In eight patients, this regimen was modified by substituting the dacarbazine and cisplatin and etoposide (OPEC). A further six patients were treated with dacarbazine reintroduced into the 3-weekly regimen (DOPEC). The remaining patient received cisplatin and etoposide. There were two complete responses (both with OPEC) and eight partial responses (two with DOC, three with OPEC and three with DOPEC). Five patients had stable disease and four progressed. Four received further chemotherapy on relapse, producing one complete and one partial response. The median response duration to initial chemotherapy was 10 months (range 3-34). The median survival was 12 months (range 1-42). The main toxicity was haematological, with grade 3-4 neutropenia in 12 patients; eight suffered episodes of sepsis. One death was treatment related. Other toxicity was mild although three patients discontinued vincristine with grade 2 neurotoxicity. The response rate and side effects of these three regimens appear comparable. We conclude that, although these patient numbers are small, combination chemotherapy produces an encouraging response rate (53%; 95% CI 30-75) in malignant neuroendocrine tumours, with acceptable toxicity.
Bahrain Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

The Kingdom of Bahrain is the smallest oil producer among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. Bahrain and Oman are the only two countries bordering the Persian Gulf which are not members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Saudi Arabia Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2014-01-01

Saudi Arabia is the world's largest holder of crude oil proved reserves and was the largest exporter of total petroleum liquids in 2013. In 2013, Saudi Arabia was the world's second-largest petroleum liquids producer behind the United States and was the world's second-largest crude oil producer behind Russia. Saudi Arabia's economy remains heavily dependent on petroleum. Petroleum exports accounted for 85% of total Saudi export revenues in 2013, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)'s Annual Statistical Bulletin 2014. With the largest oil projects nearing completion, Saudi Arabia is expanding its natural gas, refining, petrochemicals, and electric power industries. Saudi Arabia's oil and natural gas operations are dominated by Saudi Aramco, the national oil and gas company and the world's largest oil company in terms of production. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals have oversight of the oil and natural gas sector and Saudi Aramco.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Developing nations that are not members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are not expected to suffer as much economic disruption from oil price increases and a US recession as happened during the 1973--1975 period. The latest price increase represents about 0.7 percent of their gross national product (GNP) compared to 2.5 percent in the earlier period. More non-OPEC developing countries are producing commercial quantities of oil and at least 14 are now net exporters. The effects of a US recession may not be as severe this time because it will not be synchronized with the business cyclesmore » of the major industrial countries. Developing countries can counteract a US recession by tightening their monetary policies, imposing import control, and other measures. Most of these countries have improved their balance of payments since 1975 and are in a position to handle disruptions.« less
United States geological survey's reserve-growth models and their implementation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Klett, T.R.

2005-01-01

The USGS has developed several mathematical models to forecast reserve growth of fields both in the United States (U.S.) and the world. The models are based on historical reserve growth patterns of fields in the U.S. The patterns of past reserve growth are extrapolated to forecast future reserve growth. Changes of individual field sizes through time are extremely variable, therefore, the reserve growth models take on a statistical approach whereby volumetric changes for populations of fields are used in the models. Field age serves as a measure of the field-development effort that is applied to promote reserve growth. At the time of the USGS World Petroleum Assessment 2000, a reserve growth model for discovered fields of the world was not available. Reserve growth forecasts, therefore, were made based on a model of historical reserve growth of fields of the U.S. To test the feasibility of such an application, reserve growth forecasts were made of 186 giant oil fields of the world (excluding the U.S. and Canada). In addition, forecasts were made for these giant oil fields subdivided into those located in and outside of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The model provided a reserve-growth forecast that closely matched the actual reserve growth that occurred from 1981 through 1996 for the 186 fields as a whole, as well as for both OPEC and non-OPEC subdivisions, despite the differences in reserves definition among the fields of the U.S. and the rest of the world. ?? 2005 International Association for Mathematical Geology.
From Toledo to Trieste--Renewing Our Commitment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salam, Abdus

1980-01-01

Briefly reviews past endeavors at achieving international communication among scientists. Describes present accomplishments of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Makes appeals for scientific and technological development to the development countries, to the international community, and to representations of the OPEC countries. (CS)
Oil prices in a new light

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fesharaki, F.

1994-05-01

For a clear picture of how oil prices develop, the author steps away from the price levels to which the world is accustomed, and evaluates scientifically. What makes prices jump from one notch to another The move results from a political or economic shock or the perception of a particular position by the futures market and the media. The shock could range from a war or an assassination to a promise of cooperation among OPEC members (when believed by the market) or to speculation about another failure at an OPEC meeting. In the oil market, only a couple of factualmore » figures can provide a floor to the price of oil. The cost of production of oil in the Gulf is around $2 to $3/bbl, and the cost of production of oil (capital and operating costs) in key non-OPEC areas is well under $10/bbl. With some adjustments for transport and quality, a price range of $13/bbl to $16/bbl would correspond to a reasonable sustainable floor price. The reason for prices above the floor price has been a continuous fear of oil supply interruptions. That fear kept prices above the floor price for many years. The fear factor has now almost fully disappeared. The market has gone through the drama of the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, the tanker war, the invasion of Kuwait, and the expulsions of the Iraqis. And still the oil flowed -- all the time. It has become abundantly clear that fears above the oil market were unjustified. Everyone needs to export oil, and oil will flow under the worst circumstances. The demise of the fear factor means that oil prices tend toward the floor price for a prolonged period.« less
Irradiation with X-rays phase-advances the molecular clockwork in liver, adrenal gland and pancreas.

PubMed

Müller, Mareike Hildegard; Rödel, Franz; Rüb, Udo; Korf, Horst-Werner

2015-02-01

The circadian clock of man and mammals shows a hierarchic organization. The master clock, located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), controls peripheral oscillators distributed throughout the body. Rhythm generation depends on molecular clockworks based on transcriptional/translational interaction of clock genes. Numerous studies have shown that the clockwork in peripheral oscillators is capable to maintain circadian rhythms for several cycles in vitro, i.e. in the absence of signals from the SCN. The aim of the present study is to analyze the effects of irradiation with X-rays on the clockwork of liver, adrenal and pancreas. To this end organotypic slice cultures of liver (OLSC) and organotypic explant cultures of adrenal glands (OAEC) and pancreas (OPEC) were prepared from transgenic mPer2(luc) mice which express luciferase under the control of the promoter of an important clock gene, Per2, and allow to study the dynamics of the molecular clockwork by bioluminometry. The preparations were cultured in a membrane-based liquid-air interface culturing system and irradiated with X-rays at doses of 10 Gy and 50 Gy or left untreated. Bioluminometric real-time recordings show a stable oscillation of all OLSC, OAEC and OPEC for up to 12 days in vitro. Oscillations persist after irradiation with X-rays. However, a dose of 50 Gy caused a phase advance in the rhythm of the OLSC by 5 h, in the OPEC by 7 h and in the OAEC by 6 h. Our study shows that X-rays affect the molecular clockwork in liver, pancreas and adrenal leading to phase advances. Our results confirm and extend previous studies showing a phase-advancing effect of X-rays at the level of the whole animal and single cells.
OPEC Review, 1996.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elksnin, Nick, Ed.; Elksnin, Linda, Ed.

1996-01-01

These four newsletters from the South Carolina Department of Education focus on teaching and serving students with disabilities. The first newsletter includes articles addressing ways that special education professionals can be good to themselves so they can meet the needs of exceptional children; strategies for instructing children with attention…
Energy: the impact of availability and prices on future business prospects. [Collection of 12 papers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peelle, D.M.

1975-01-01

This collection includes twelve papers, all but one being presented at an August 1974 seminar. These are entitled Energy: Policy, Availability and Prices, Harry R. Hall; Public Policy and the Energy Crisis, Edward J. Mitchell; How Federal Price and Allocation Controls on Oil Have Worsened the Energy Crisis, William A. Johnson; Energy Availability in the Near and Long-Range Future, R.R. Wright; Consideration of Natural Gas Supply for Michigan, Donald L. Katz; The Outlook for Coal, Robert V. Price; Electricity: Future Availability and Cost, G. L. Heins; Solar Energy Research and Development, F. Tom Sparrow; Energy in the Automobile, Doron K.more » Samples; Energy and Future Business Prospects: Implication for Feedstocks-Using Industries, William H. Shaker; Energy Conservation in the Processing Industries, Alfred F. Waterland; and Energy Management: Guidelines and Case Histories, G. N. Tiberio. Letter from OPEC is a dissertation by Joseph Kraft on a visit to OPEC headquarters in Vienna. (MCW)« less
More attention should be paid to making the U. S. less vulnerable to foreign oil price and supply decisions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Staats, E.B.

1978-01-03

A report is presented in which GAO recommends that the secretaries of State and Energy present to the Congress by July 1, 1978, a plan for improving security of U.S. imported oil supplies at reasonable prices by U.S. policy initiatives directed toward changes in access terms, incentives for production in other than OPEC countries, and bilateral and multilateral approaches to OPEC and other nations. Ultimately, this country, as well as the rest of the world, will become independent of oil. This is necessarily true because oil is a finite commodity and will run out someday. Accordingly, national attention ought tomore » be directed to truly responsible concerns about how to achieve an orderly transition to an economy based upon alternative resources of energy. Today's policies must buy time and provide the petroleum supplies needed while other energy sources are developed and put in operation to replace them.« less
Outdoor environmental assessment of attention promoting settings for preschool children.

PubMed

Mårtensson, F; Boldemann, C; Söderström, M; Blennow, M; Englund, J-E; Grahn, P

2009-12-01

The restorative potential of green outdoor environments for children in preschool settings was investigated by measuring the attention of children playing in settings with different environmental features. Eleven preschools with outdoor environments typical for the Stockholm area were assessed using the outdoor play environment categories (OPEC) and the fraction of visible sky from play structures (sky view factor), and 198 children, aged 4.5-6.5 years, were rated by the staff for inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive behaviors with the ECADDES tool. Children playing in large and integrated outdoor areas containing large areas of trees, shrubbery and a hilly terrain showed less often behaviors of inattention (p<.05). The choice of tool for assessment of attention is discussed in relation to outdoor stay and play characteristics in Swedish preschool settings. The results indicate that the restorative potential of green outdoor environments applies also to preschool children and that environmental assessment tools as OPEC can be useful when to locate and develop health-promoting land adjacent to preschools.
International energy indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, E. K.

1980-08-01

Data are compiled in tables and graphs on Iran and Saudi Arabia: crude oil capacity, production, and shut-in, June 1974 to July 1980; OPEC (Ex-Iran and Saudi Arabia); capacity, production, and shut-in, June 1974 to June 1980; non-OPEC Free World and US production of crude oil, January 1973 to May 1980; oil stocks: Free World, US, Japan, and Europe (landed), 1973 - 1st quarter 1980; petroleum consumption by industrial countries, January 1973 to February 1980; USSR crude oil production, January 1974 to July 1980; Free World and US nuclear generation capacity, January 1973 to June 1980; US import of crude oil and products, January 1973 to July 1980; landed cost of Saudi crude in current and 1974 dollars, April 1974 to May 1980; US trade in coal, January 1973 to June 1980; summary of US merchandise trade, 1976 to June 1980; and energy/GNP ratio, 1974-1st quarter 1980. The highlight of each is summarized in the table of contents.

International Demand for American Higher Education: An Extension.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mixon, J. Wilson, Jr.; Wan, Weidong

1990-01-01

A study of the relationship of population and income in Asian countries and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members to their demand for American higher education found that both population and income significantly affect demand, but not proportionally. Findings suggest countries meet most change in citizens' demand with…
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bernstein, J.

Last month Saddam Hussein charged that oil overproduction by his neighbors was costing Iraq dearly. When an OPEC meeting collapsed last week, he sent 100,000 troops to seize Kuwait, which he had accused of stealing oil. The US is scrambling to organize a Western boycott, but some analysts question just how effective such a more would be.
Acquisition Strategies for Purchasing Bulk Petroleum in DoD.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-01

Oligopoly . . . . . . . . 41 2. Pricing Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 a. Crude Oil Price Controls . . . . . . 43 b...Petroleum Product Price Controls 4. . . c. OPEC Price Controls . . .. . 4 6l 3. Product Policy ...... ....... 45 4. Policy Toward Rivals...Market conduct in the petroleum industry will be divided into three areas: pricing policies , product quality policies , and policies toward
Discussion and Conclusion: A Global Perspective on the World Economy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hague, Douglas

1983-01-01

Important changes are taking place in the world economy which are not adequately dealt with by either Keynesian or monetarist theories. Too much emphasis placed on what is happening in the American and western European economies can blind us to important developments in such nonwestern economies as the OPEC nations. (IS)
Personal View

PubMed Central

Anderson, D. C.

1975-01-01

The first recorded case of iatrogenic Cushing's syndrome of a whole country is described. For no good reason the patient, an elderly insular country of limited endocrine resources, is receiving, among other things, enormous doses of opec ACTH in crude Arab oil (“givitbACTHen depot”). Since the patient is not under my care she will probably continue to deteriorate.
International energy indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, E. K.

1980-03-01

For the international sector, a table of data is first presented followed by corresponding graphs of the data for the following: (1) Iran: crude oil capacity, production, and shut in, 1974 to February 1980; (2) Saudi Arabia (same as Iran); (3) OPEC (ex-Iran and Saudi Arabia); capacity, production, and shutin, 1974 to January 1980; (4) non-OPEC Free World and US production of crude oil, 1973 to January 1980; (5) oil stocks: Free World, US, Japan, and Europe (landed), 1973 to 1979; (6) petroleum consumption by industrial countries, 1973 to October 1979; (7) USSR crude oil production, 1974 to February 1980; (8) Free World and US nuclear generation capacity, 1973 to January 1980. For the United States, the same data format is used for the following: US imports of crude oil and products 1973 to January 1980; landed cost of Saudi Arabia crude oil in current and 1974 dollars, 1974 to October 1979; US trade in coal, 1973 to 1979; summary of US merchandise trade, 1976 to January 1980; and US energy/GNP ratio (in 1972 dollars), 1947 to 1979.
Growth of Pseudomonas sp. TX1 on a wide range of octylphenol polyethoxylate concentrations and the formation of dicarboxylated metabolites.

PubMed

Lin, Yi-Wen; Guo, Gia-Luen; Hsieh, Hsiao-Cheng; Huang, Shir-Ly

2010-04-01

Pseudomonas sp. TX1, is able to use octylphenol polyethoxylates (OPEO(n), or Triton X-100; average n = 9.5) as a sole carbon source. It can grow on 0.05-20% of OPEO(n) with a specific growth rate of 0.34-0.44 h(-1). High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer analysis of OPEO(n) degraded metabolites revealed that strain TX1 was able to shorten the ethoxylate chain and produce octylphenol (OP). Furthermore, formation of the short carboxylate metabolites, such as carboxyoctylphenol polyethoxylates (COPEO(n), n = 2, 3) and carboxyoctylphenol polyethoxycarboxylates (COPEC(n), n = 2, 3) began at the log stage, while octylphenol polyethoxycarboxylates (OPEC(n), n = 1-3) was formed at the stationary phase. All the short-ethoxylated metabolites, OPEO(n), OPEC(n), COPEO(n), and COPEC(n), accumulated when the cells were in the stationary phase. This study is the first to demonstrate the formation of COPEO(n) and COPEC(n) from OPEO(n) by an aerobic bacterium. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Long-term maintenance combination chemotherapy with OPEC/MPEC (vincristine or methotrexate, prednisolone, etoposide and cyclophosphamide) or with daily oral etoposide and prednisolone can improve survival and quality of life in adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma.

PubMed

Matsushita, K; Matsumoto, T; Ohtsubo, H; Fujiwara, H; Imamura, N; Hidaka, S; Kukita, T; Tei, C; Matsumoto, M; Arima, N

1999-12-01

Acute leukemia and lymphoma varieties of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) usually carry a poor prognosis. While etoposide is generally useful for treating ATL, especially as a daily oral maintenance regimen, etoposide has not proven effective in severe types of ATL efficient in some patients. Of 87 ATL patients whom we have treated, 51 had acute leukemia, 22 lymphoma and 14 progressive chronic leukemia. Seventy-nine patients were treated with a long term maintenance combination protocol, OPEC/MPEC (weekly doses of vincristine, 0.7 mg/m2 or methotrexate, 14 mg/m2; prednisolone, 20 mg/m2; etoposide, 70 mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide, 200 mg/m2). The other 8 patients, 3 with acute leukemia, 2 with lymphoma and 3 with progressive chronic leukemia, were treated with daily oral administration of 25 mg of etoposide and 10 mg of prednisolone (DOEP). The dose administered was modified in individual cases to maintain the granulocyte count and reduce the number of ATL cells. Considering both protocols, a complete response and a partial response were achieved in 31.0% and 58.6% patients, respectively. Median survival times (MST) of all patients and, acute leukemia, lymphoma and progressive chronic leukemia types were 7.5, 6.7, 9.6 and 12.4 months, respectively. Respective MST of patients treated with OPEC/MPEC or DOEP protocols were 7.1 and 18.0 months. Relatively normal WBC counts, lower lactate dehydrogenase concentration and normal calcium concentration, limited numbers of anatomic sites involved, good performance status and good response to chemotherapy were significantly associated with long survival time. Drug toxicity was not apparent, and about half of patients were treated in an outpatient setting.
Nonlinear analysis and dynamic structure in the energy market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghababa, Hajar

This research assesses the dynamic structure of the energy sector of the aggregate economy in the context of nonlinear mechanisms. Earlier studies have focused mainly on the price of the energy products when detecting nonlinearities in time series data of the energy market, and there is little mention of the production side of the market. Moreover, there is a lack of exploration about the implication of high dimensionality and time aggregation when analyzing the market's fundamentals. This research will address these gaps by including the quantity side of the market in addition to the price and by systematically incorporating various frequencies for sample sizes in three essays. The goal of this research is to provide an inclusive and exhaustive examination of the dynamics in the energy markets. The first essay begins with the application of statistical techniques, and it incorporates the most well-known univariate tests for nonlinearity with distinct power functions over alternatives and tests different null hypotheses. It utilizes the daily spot price observations on five major products in the energy market. The results suggest that the time series daily spot prices of the energy products are highly nonlinear in their nature. They demonstrate apparent evidence of general nonlinear serial dependence in each individual series, as well as nonlinearity in the first, second, and third moments of the series. The second essay examines the underlying mechanism of crude oil production and identifies the nonlinear structure of the production market by utilizing various monthly time series observations of crude oil production: the U.S. field, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), non-OPEC, and the world production of crude oil. The finding implies that the time series data of the U.S. field, OPEC, and the world production of crude oil exhibit deep nonlinearity in their structure and are generated by nonlinear mechanisms. However, the dynamics of the non-OPEC production time series data does not reveal signs of nonlinearity. The third essay explores nonlinear structure in the case of high dimensionality of the observations, different frequencies of sample sizes, and division of the samples into sub-samples. It systematically examines the robustness of the inference methods at various levels of time aggregation by employing daily spot prices on crude oil for 26 years as well as monthly spot price index on crude oil for 41 years. The daily and monthly samples are divided into sub-samples as well. All the tests detect strong evidence of nonlinear structure in the daily spot price of crude oil; whereas in monthly observations the evidence of nonlinear dependence is less dramatic, indicating that the nonlinear serial dependence will not be as intense when the time aggregation increase in time series observations.
Myths & Realities of the Coming Decade.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazer, William

Since the late 1970s Americans have adopted a more pessimistic outlook of the future than at any time since World War II. Reasons for this include inflation, unemployment, a low rate of productivity, the flow of U.S. funds to OPEC nations, an unfavorable balance of trade, and the unstable international environment. In view of these factors, some…
New energy Era: Short Term and Long Term.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beckwith, Robert

This paper examines the causes and effects of the 1973 oil embargo imposed by OPEC. The author notes that since the embargo, little positive action has been taken to reduce American dependence upon a very limited and very expensive energy source. In order to achieve any degree of independence, it will be necessary to repidly expand coal and…
Middle East and North African Oil.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Quazzaz, Ayad

1981-01-01

Traces the history of oil and natural gas in the Middle East and relates the importance of the Middle East's current stores of oil to economic development. Information is presented on the relationship of major oil companies and local governments, OPEC, rate of production, and the impact of oil on the societies of the Middle East and North Africa.…
History of United States Energy. A Basic Teaching Unit on Energy. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDermott, Hugh, Ed.; Scharmann, Larry, Ed.

Intended as a supplement to the units "Oil: Fuel of the Past" and "Coal: Fuel of the Past, Hope of the Future," this 3-4 day unit contains three activities which briefly explain the chronological development of energy resources and the formation and development of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The…
World Hunger Crisis Kit. Hope for the Hungry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woito, Robert, Ed.

This booklet introduces the problem of world hunger and provides information, facts, and perspectives about the crisis. Section one presents the reader with the basic facts of the hunger crisis through a self-survey, a statistical study of the developed Oil Producing Export Countries (OPEC), and a one-page indication of what one would have to give…
Crude Oil Price Modeling...A Macro- Economic Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-01-01

tire industry of hotels , restaurants and service stations exploded across the landscape to support an increasingly mobile population.22 A Shifting...Refining Capacity Ratio(PRCR) eßmlim^Sß^ SmmS /iß^Mmn- LNofPRCR .< , iir’l ■:■’■■ -. Ill’ U". Square of PRCR OPEC Market Share NA NA
Oman shows vision in leading Middle Eastern drilling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ahmed-al Shanfari, S.B.

1989-12-01

Oman produced more than 600,000 bopd for the first time in 1988. The country led the Middle East in total wells drilled for the third consecutive year. This article presents an interview with H.E. Said bin Ahmed al-Shanfari, Oman's Minister of Petroleum and Minerals. Topics discussed include Oman's future production plans, Opec, future exploratory areas, and petroleum export levels.
Digging Deep for Meaning: A Critical Hermeneutic Analysis of CEO Letters to Shareholders in the Oil Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prasad, Anshuman; Mir, Raza

2002-01-01

Uses the methodology of critical hermeneutics to analyze Chief Executive Officers' letters to shareholders in the United States petroleum industry during the 1970s and 1980s. Suggests these letters were deployed to produce a certain attitude toward OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) among their readers that deflected attention of…
Arab oil and gas directory 1985

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1985-01-01

The directory provides detailed statistics and information on aspects of oil and gas production, exploration and developments in the 24 Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa and in Iran. It includes the texts of relevant new laws and official documents, official surveys, current projects and developments, up-to-date statistics covering OPEC and OAPEC member countries, and has 26 maps.
Strengths of OPEC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Adelman, M.A.

The major distinction of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is obvious even to the casual observer: the nations composing it constitute the greatest monopoly in history; its tribute now is over $100 billion a year. For the immediate future, OPEC's elements of strength look more important than its elements of weakness. The cartel will not soon disappear. The forces acting against the cartel are subsumed in the fact of excess capacity. This is the traditional nemesis of cartels, since it puts in motion the sequence of small price reductions by some sellers to gain additional sales volume, then competitivemore » or matching reductions. To preserve the cartel, each member must avoid acting for his own independent good, and must do what is best for the group as a whole. The greater the temptation to act independently the greater the fear of others' independent action, and the higher the probability of severe erosion or breakdown. So the fate of the cartel depends essentially on the strength of exogenous factors, demand and uncontrolled supply, versus the strength of an endogenous factor, the cohesion of the group. All too often either one of these factors is treated in isolation as though the other were not there.« less
Oil and the American Way of Life: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

ScienceCinema

Kaufmann, Robert [Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

2018-04-19

In the coming decades, US consumers will face a series of important decisions about oil. To make effective decisions, consumers must confront some disturbing answers to questions they would rather not ask. These questions include: is the US running out of oil, is the world running out of oil, is OPEC increasing its grip on prices, is the US economy reducing its dependence on energy, and will the competitive market address these issues in a timely fashion? Answers to these questions indicate that the market will not address these issues: the US has already run out of inexpensive sources of oil such that rising prices no longer elicit significant increases in supply. The US experience implies that within a couple of decades, the world oil market will change from increasing supply at low prices to decreasing supply at higher prices. As the world approaches this important turning point, OPEC will strengthen its grip on world oil prices. Contrary to popular belief, the US economy continues to be highly dependent on energy, especially inexpensive sources of energy. Together, these trends threaten to undermine the basic way in which the US economy generates a high standard of living.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hartman, J.B.; Walker, T.L.

Significant rightholding changes took place in central and southern Africa during 1987. Angola, Benin, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Seychelles, Somali Republic, Tanzania, Zaire, and Zambia announced awards or acreage open for bidding. Decreases in exploratory rightholdings occurred in Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, and Tanzania. More wells and greater footage were drilled in 1987 than in 1986. Total wells increased by 18% as 254 wells were completed compared to 217 in 1986. Footage drilled during the year increased by 46% as about 1.9 million ft were drilled compared to about 1.3more » million ft in 1986. The success rate for exploration wells in 1987 improved slightly to 36% compared to 34% in 1986. Significant discoveries were made in Nigeria, Angola, Congo, and Gabon. Seismic acquisition in 1987 was the major geophysical activity during the year. Total oil production in 1987 was 773 million bbl (about 2.1 million b/d), a decrease of 7%. The decrease is mostly due to a 14% drop in Nigerian production, which comprises 60% of total regional production. The production share of OPEC countries (Nigeria and Gabon) versus non-OPEC countries of 67% remained unchanged from 1986. 24 figs., 5 tabs.« less
Libya Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2015-01-01

Libya joined the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1962, a year after Libya began exporting oil. Libya holds the largest amount of proved crude oil reserves in Africa, the fifth-largest amount of proved natural gas reserves on the continent, and in past years was an important contributor to the global supply of light, sweet (low sulfur) crude oil, which Libya mostly exports to European markets.
Petroleum Prices: Past, Present, and Prospective,

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-01

other oil-exporting developing nations such as Mexico and Malaysia ) enjoyed relatively high export revenues and quickly adjusted their spending habits to... challenge Soviet oil production for first place in fuel-equivalent terms. Natural gas currently provides about 95 percent ansmuch energy as oil pro- duction...been expressed without challenge in many recent forecasts. By now, OPEC nations in general, and Persian Gulf producers in particular, appear to have
West African Oil: Will It Make a Difference?

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

West Africa: Estimated Proved Reserves, 1 January 1982 -i-----------------------------------i1 10. West Africa: Crude Oil Export Potential... Exporting Countries sq. km. Square kilometers 12 I. INTRODUCTION In the 1950s, petroleum became the world’s dominant source of commercial energy, and in the...in 1973 the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) abruptly and permanently ended the era of inexpensive petroleum, and in the process
Crude oil prices: Speculation versus fundamentals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolodziej, Marek Krzysztof

Beginning in 2004, the price of crude oil fluctuates rapidly over a wide range. Large and rapid price increases have recessionary consequences and dampen long-term infrastructural investment. I investigate whether price changes are driven by market fundamentals or speculation. With regard to market fundamentals, I revisit econometric evidence for the importance of demand shocks, as proxied by dry maritime cargo rates, on oil prices. When I eliminate transportation costs from both sides of the equation, disaggregate OPEC and non-OPEC production, and allow for more than one cointegrating relation, I find that previous specifications are inconsistent with arguments that demand shocks play an important role. Instead, results confirm the importance of OPEC supply shocks. I investigate two channels by which speculation may affect oil prices; the direct effect of trader behavior and changes in oil from a commodity to a financial asset. With regard to trader behavior, I find evidence that trader positions are required to explain the spread between spot and futures prices of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The inclusion of trader positions clarifies the process of equilibrium error correction, such that there is bidirectional causality between prices and trader positions. This creates the possibility of speculative bubbles. With regard to oil as a commodity and/or financial asset, I use a Kalman Filter model to estimate the time-varying partial correlation between returns to investments in equity and oil markets. This correlation changes from negative to positive at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. The low interest rates used to rescue the economy depress convenience yields, which reduces the benefits of holding oil as a commodity. Instead, oil becomes a financial asset (on net) as the oil market changed from contango to backwardation. Contradicting simple political narratives, my research suggests that both market fundamentals and speculation drive large oil prices. Chinese oil demand is not responsible for large increases in oil prices; nor are they caused by behavioral idiosyncrasies by oil traders. Finally, oil will be treated largely as a financial asset so long as interest rates are held near their all-time lows.
Sub-Saharan Africa Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-03-04

GUINEA GHANA President Obiang Arrives in Nigeria for Talks (Lagos Domestic Service, 29-31 Jan 87; PANA, 1 Feb 87) 32 Babangida Praises...Minister 70 Grant From Japan 70 NIGERIA NNPC Supports OPEC Policy; Issues New Quotas (AFRICA ECONOMIC DIGEST, 3-9 Jan 87) 71 Naira Slips, Central...Domestic Service in Amharic 0900 GMT 15 Jan 87 EA] /12913 CS0: 3400/894 31 EQUATORIAL GUINEA PRESIDENT OBIANG ARRIVES IN NIGERIA FOR TALKS Babangida
Arab petropolitics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Al Sowayegh, A.

1984-01-01

An examination is given of the role and significance of oil power as used by the Arab producing countries to achieve political aims. The author, a Saudi official, describes the history of petropolitics, OPEC, and the Arab-Israeli conflict; explores the triangular relationship of oil companies, consuming countries, and producing countries; evaluates the policy considerations influencing Arab oil decisions and actions; and focuses in depth on the oil relationship between the Arab nations and the United States.
World energy projection system: Model documentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1992-06-01

The World Energy Project System (WEPS) is an accounting framework that incorporates projects from independently documented models and assumptions about the future energy intensity of economic activity (ratios of total energy consumption divided by gross domestic product) and about the rate of incremental energy requirements met by hydropower, geothermal, coal, and natural gas to produce projections of world energy consumption published annually by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the International Energy Outlook (IEO). Two independently documented models presented in Figure 1, the Oil Market Simulation (OMS) model and the World Integrated Nuclear Evaluation System (WINES), provide projections of oil and nuclear power consumption published in the IEO. Output from a third independently documented model, and the International Coal Trade Model (ICTM), is not published in the IEO but is used in WEPS as a supply check on projections of world coal consumption produced by WEPS and published in the IEO. A WEPS model of natural gas production documented in this report provides the same type of implicit supply check on the WEPS projections of world natural gas consumption published in the IEO. Two additional models are included in Figure 1, the OPEC Capacity model and the Non-OPEC Oil Production model. These WEPS models provide inputs to the OMS model and are documented in this report.
Mass spectrometric behaviour of carboxylated polyethylene glycols and carboxylated octylphenol ethoxylates.

PubMed

Frańska, Magdalena; Zgoła, Agnieszka; Rychłowska, Joanna; Szymański, Andrzej; Łukaszewski, Zenon; Frański, Rafał

2003-01-01

Mass spectrometric behaviour of mono- and di-carboxylated polyethylene glycols (PEGCs and CPEGCs) and carboxylated octylphenol ethoxylates (OPECs) are discussed. The tendency for ionisation (deprotonation, protonation and cationisation by alkali metal cations) of carboxylated PEGs was compared with that of non-carboxylated correspondents by using both secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and electrospray ionisation (ESI). The fragmentation of the PEGCs and CPEGCs is discussed and also compared with their neutral correspondents, PEGs. The B/E mass spectra were recorded, using secondary ion mass spectrometry as a method for generation, for deprotonated and protonated molecules and molecules cationised by alkali metal cations. The fragmentation behaviour of PEGs is found to be different from that of CPEGCs, The presence of carboxylic groups may be confirmed not only by the determination of molecular weights of the ethoxylates studied, but also on the basis of the fragment ions formed. The metastable decomposition of the [OPEC-H](-) ions proceed through the cleavage of the bond between the octylphenol moiety and the ethoxylene chain leading to the octylphenoxy anions. It permits determination of the mass of the hydrophobic moiety of the studied carboxylated alkylphenol ethoxylate. ESI mass spectra recorded in the negative ion mode were found to be more suitable for the determination of the average molecular weight of carboxylated ethoxylates than SI mass spectra.
Petroleum Independence: A Business Case and Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-04-14

examples of this are the OPEC increases in 1973-74, Iranian Revolution of 1979, 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and the Katrina hurricane disaster in 2005...retreat of glaciers.88 More hurricanes , droughts, and tropical diseases are likely caused by the fact that our last decade was reported as the hottest in...filelibrary/ Katrin aSlides.pdf ; Internet; accessed on December 7, 2005. Economic 37 lower-priced energy, and improved energy efficiencies. Regardless of
Energy Costs and Energy Conservation Programs in Colleges and Universities: 1972-73, 1974-75. Higher Education Panel Reports, Number 31.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atelsek, Frank J.; Gomberg, Irene L.

A survey was initiated at the request of the U.S. Office of Education and the Energy Task Force to: (1) measure the increase in energy expenditures since the OPEC oil embargo of 1973-74; (2) assess changes in energy consumption over a two-year period; and (3) examine some of the specific conservation practices of higher education institutions.…
Guns and Butter: Security and the New Global Agenda

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-01-01

relationship. Admittedly, the entire Third World was unified and inspired by OPEC’s success in rearranging the terms of trade for a Third World export . Still... exports at high levels, debt rescheduling or moratorium, greater access to Western technology and Western markets, indexation to maintain parity between...the prices they get for their exports and the prices they pay for imports from the First World, greater flows of development aid, or changes in
Country analysis briefs: 1994. Profiles of major world energy producers, consumers, and transport centers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1995-05-01

Country Analysis Briefs: 1994 is a compilation of country profiles prepared by the Energy Markets and Contingency Information Division (EMCID) of the Office of Energy Markets and End Use. EMCID maintains Country Analysis Briefs (CABs) for specific countries or geographical areas that are important to world energy markets. As a general rule, CABs are prepared for all members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), major non-OPEC oil producers (i.e., the North Sea, Russia), major energy transit areas (i.e., Ukraine), and other areas of current interest to energy analysts and policy makers. As of January 1995, EMCID maintained overmore » 40 CABs, updated on an annual schedule and subject to revision as events warrant. This report includes 25 CABs updated during 1994. All CABs contain a profile section, a map showing the country`s location, and a narrative section. The profile section includes outlines of the country`s economy, energy sector, and environment. The narrative provides further information and discussion of these topics. Some CABs also include a detailed map displaying locations of major oil and gas fields, pipelines, ports, etc. These maps were created as a result of special individual requests and so are not typically a standard feature of the CABs. They are presented here wherever available as a supplement to the information contained in the CABs.« less
Institutional arrangements for the reduction of proliferation risks formulation, evaluation, and implementation of institutional concepts. Appendices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The purpose of this supporting analysis is to provide a foundation for developing a model, an international or multinational institution capable of accomodating the back end of the fuel cycle, while meeting US nonproliferation goals. The analysis is based on a review of selected, defunct and extant institutions which, although not necessarily concerned with nonproliferation, have faced a trade-off between acceptability and effectiveness in meeting their objectives. Discussion of the various institutions is divided into three categories: international organizations, multinational consortia, and cartels or producer associations. Examples of international organizations include the International Seabed Authority, Intelsat, the United Nations andmore » the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The International Seabed Authority is discussed. Multinational consortia are organizations that have been developed primarily to meet common commercial objectives. Membership includes at least three member nations. Examples include the Scandinavian Airline System (SAS), URENCO, Unilever, Royal Dutch Shell, Eurochemic, Eurodif, Euratom, European Coal and Steel Community, and Serena. Cartels or producer associations are multinational agreements that restrict market forces; viz, production, market share, customers or prices. Examples include the Intergovernmental Council of Copper Exporting Countries (CIPEC), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Fifth International Tin Agreement (ITA), as well as agreements governing diamonds and uranium, bauxite and coffee. OPEC, CIPEC and ITA are discussed.« less
International energy indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosoi, E., Jr.

1982-01-01

Data are presented under the following headings: world crude oil production, OPEC crude oil productive capacity; world crude oil and refined product inventory levels; and oil consumption in the OECD countries. The USSR crude oil production and exports; free world and US nuclear electricity generation; US domestic oil supply; US gross imports of crude oil and products; landed cost of Saudi crude, current and 1974 dollars; US coal trade; US natural gas trade; summary of US merchandise trade; and energy/GNP ratio data are also included.
Toward an energy efficient community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horn, M.

1980-10-01

The current oil policy of the OPEC countries means that a substantial oil shortage may be expected in the future. Conservative estimates indicate an oil shortage of 65 billion tons in the year 2000. The results of numerous new studies show that (from the technological point of view) the savings potential is high enough to achieve an absolute decrease in total energy consumption by the year 2000, provided better use is made of secondary energy sources in the form of electric power, gas, and solar heat.
Oil and economic development in OPEC countries, with case studies about Iraq and Algeria

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Al-Khalil, M.A.

1984-01-01

This dissertation examines the impact of the increase in oil prices in 1973 and thereafter on economic development in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in general, and in Iraq and Algeria in particular. It attempts to investigate the extent to which these countries have succeeded in utilizing oil revenues to achieve their projected goals: diversification of their economies in order to reduce dependence on exporting crude oil which is an exhaustible resource; and acceleration of the rate of growth of the non-oil sector in order to increase its contribution to GDP and foreign-exchange earnings as well as tomore » maintain the growth of the economy in the post-oil age. While the increase in oil revenues greatly reduced the capital constraint to growth, it did not remove all other constraints at the same time. Thus, bottlenecks in transportation, institutions, skilled labor, raw and construction materials remained important obstacles. According to the criteria used by this study to judge the performance of the Iraqi and the Algerian economies after 1973, both countries did quite well. However, one of the findings about Iraq is that while the rate of growth of real per capita GDP accelerated after 1973, the rate of growth of real per capita non-oil GDP did not. Algeria succeeded in diversifying her economy, since the rate of growth of non-oil GDP accelerated after 1973, compared to the earlier period.« less
Outcome of children older than one year with neuroblastoma.

PubMed

Fayea, Najwa Y; Atra, Ayad A; Khattab, Taha; Elimam, Najla A; Felimban, Sami; Yousef, Abdelmoutaleb; Basheer, Ahmed; Zayed, Abdullah; Baothman, Abdullah; Al-Sheikh, Nada; Hussen, Wafa

2008-01-01

To assess the outcome of children older than one year with neuroblastoma treated at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We retrospectively reviewed the files of 52 children older than one year with neuroblastoma (NBL) treated at our center between September 1987 and May 2003. Treatment consisted of OPEC chemotherapy regimen (vincristine, cisplatin, etoposide, and cyclophosphamide) or alternating OPEC/OJEC (carboplatin in place of cisplatin), surgical resection +/- radiotherapy (RT). No patient received high dose therapy (HDT). Thirty-four patients (65%) were stage 4, 12 (23%) stage 3, and 6 (11%) stage 2. Three stage 2 patients were treated with surgery only, all are alive in complete remission (CR). All stage 3 and 4 patients were treated with chemotherapy and surgery +/- RT. After induction chemotherapy, CR was achieved in 17 patients (32%) and partial remission in 10 (19%). Complete surgical resection was possible in 11 patients (22%). Disease recurrence or progression occurred in 27 patients (51%). With a median follow-up of 24 months (range 4-120), the 2-year event free survival was 10%, 82%, and 87% and the overall survival was 12%, 83%, and 100% for stage 4, 3, and 2. Children older than one year with localized NBL have good prognosis compared to those with stage 4. The use of HDT may improve the outcome in the latter group. Toxicity was significant, and adoption of risk-stratified treatment may help to reduce treatment complications.
Arab oil: a bibliography of materials in the Library of Congress

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Selim, G.M.

1982-01-01

This bibliography draws attention to materials on Arab oil in the collections of the Library of Congress that were available through 1980. It cites articles, books, dissertations, maps, papers, periodicals, reports, and audiovisual materials in Western languages that use the Roman alphabet. The bibliography is divided into four parts: Part I covers the Arab world and the Middle East as a whole; Part II covers political and geographical entities; Part III deals with OPEC; and Part IV lists dictionaries which relate to the Arab oil industry.
Near East/North Africa Report No. 2642.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-10-19

JPRS 82023 19 October 1982 Near East/North Africa Report No. 2642 0 0’- FBISl FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE NATIONAl TECHNICALINFORMATION...itI ’s Iz ioo. i ’ tI. xfr .1k3 r A V’ JPRS 82023. 19 October 1982 NEAR EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORT No. 2642 CONTENTS OPEC AFFAIRS Arab Investment...and tri-.e-6~ve urzgrarme Uricer Pit lattef, Awl-Babta’i of Kjv.a’:. Ai Suda’ry. UALenk C’i-vee! %w te givqn "ho Chance Sliotokshyaond Siia-0a1y of

Percentage tumor necrosis following chemotherapy in neuroblastoma correlates with MYCN status but not survival.

PubMed

Bomken, Simon; Davies, Beverley; Chong, Leeai; Cole, Michael; Wood, Katrina M; McDermott, Michael; Tweddle, Deborah A

2011-03-01

The percentage of chemotherapy-induced necrosis in primary tumors corresponds with outcome in several childhood malignancies, including high-risk metastatic diseases. In this retrospective pilot study, the authors assessed the importance of postchemotherapy necrosis in high-risk neuroblastoma with a histological and case notes review of surgically resected specimens. The authors reviewed all available histology of 31 high-risk neuroblastoma cases treated with COJEC (dose intensive etoposide and vincristine with either cyclophosphamide, cisplatin or carboplatin) or OPEC/OJEC (etoposide, vincristine and cyclophosphamide with alternating cisplatin [OPEC] or carboplatin [OJEC]) induction chemotherapy in 2 Children's Cancer & Leukaemia Group (CCLG) pediatric oncology centers. The percentage of postchemotherapy necrosis was assessed and compared with MYCN amplification status and overall survival. The median percentage of postchemotherapy tumor necrosis was 60%. MYCN status was available for 28 cases, of which 12 were amplified (43%). Survival in cases with ≥ 60% necrosis or ≥ 90% necrosis was not better than those with less necrosis, nor was percentage necrosis associated with survival using Cox regression. However, MYCN-amplified tumors showed a higher percentage of necrosis than non-MYCN-amplified tumors, 71.3% versus 37.2% (P = .006). This effect was not related to prechemotherapy necrosis and did not confer improved overall survival. Postchemotherapy tumor necrosis is higher in patients with MYCN amplification. In this study, postchemotherapy necrosis did not correlate with overall survival and should not lead to modification of postoperative treatment. However, these findings need to be confirmed in a larger prospective study of children with high-risk neuroblastoma.
An overview of the energy situation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, D. R.

1978-01-01

Beginning with a historical review of the domestic pattern of energy usage, the current dependence of the United States upon dwindling petroleum resources is examined. The possible limit of petroleum usage is discussed, and recent oil production trends are presented. Coupling these with projected analyses of OPEC oil productive capability in the early 1980's indicates a serious worldwide as well as American energy problem in the next decade. The need for conservation and rapid development of application of alternative energy resources is discussed including quantitative projections of significant conservation efforts as well as estimates of domestic alternative energy resource capabilities.
Iraq Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2016-01-01

Iraq is the second-largest crude oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia, and it holds the world's fifth-largest proved crude oil reserves after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Iran. Most of Iraq's major known fields are producing or in development, although much of its known hydrocarbon resources have not been fully exploited. All of Iraq's known oil fields are onshore. The largest fields in the south have relatively low extraction costs owing to uncomplicated geology, multiple supergiant fields, fields located in relatively unpopulated areas with flat terrain, and the close proximity of fields to coastal ports.
United Arab Emirates Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2017-01-01

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is among the world's 10 largest oil producers and is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). The UAE is currently the seventh-largest petroleum producer in the world, and hydrocarbon export revenues are projected to account for $65 billion in 2017, roughly 20% of all export revenue. The share of hydrocarbon export revenues, which amounted to $129 billion (35% of total export revenue), has fallen since 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a result of the decline in oil prices
Ecuador Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2015-01-01

In Ecuador, the oil sector accounts for more than half of the country's export earnings and approximately two-fifths of public sector revenues. Resource nationalism and debates about the economic, strategic, and environmental implications of oil sector development are prominent issues in the politics of Ecuador and the policies of its government. Ecuador is the smallest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and it produced 556,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of petroleum and other liquids in 2014, of which crude oil production was 555,000 bbl/d. A lack of sufficient domestic refining capacity to meet local demand has forced Ecuador to import refined products, limiting net oil revenue.
International energy indicators, February - March 1982

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, E., Jr.

Data are compiled and graphs are presented for: world crude oil production, 1974 to 1981; OPEC crude oil productive capacity; world crude oil and refined product inventory levels; 1975 to 1981; oil consumption in OECD countries, 1975 to 1981; USSR crude oil production and exports, 1975 to 1981; free world and US nuclear electricity generation, 1973-currrent capacity; US domestic oil supply, 1977 to 1981; US gross imports of crude oil and products, 1973 to 1981; landed cost of Saudi crude current and 1974 dollars; US coal trade, 1975 to 1981; US natural gas trade, 1975 to 1981; summary of US merchandise trade, 1977 to 1981; and energy/gross national product ratio.
Peak Oil, Peak Coal and Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, J. W.

2009-05-01

Research on future climate change is driven by the family of scenarios developed for the IPCC assessment reports. These scenarios create projections of future energy demand using different story lines consisting of government policies, population projections, and economic models. None of these scenarios consider resources to be limiting. In many of these scenarios oil production is still increasing to 2100. Resource limitation (in a geological sense) is a real possibility that needs more serious consideration. The concept of 'Peak Oil' has been discussed since M. King Hubbert proposed in 1956 that US oil production would peak in 1970. His prediction was accurate. This concept is about production rate not reserves. For many oil producing countries (and all OPEC countries) reserves are closely guarded state secrets and appear to be overstated. Claims that the reserves are 'proven' cannot be independently verified. Hubbert's Linearization Model can be used to predict when half the ultimate oil will be produced and what the ultimate total cumulative production (Qt) will be. US oil production can be used as an example. This conceptual model shows that 90% of the ultimate US oil production (Qt = 225 billion barrels) will have occurred by 2011. This approach can then be used to suggest that total global production will be about 2200 billion barrels and that the half way point will be reached by about 2010. This amount is about 5 to 7 times less than assumed by the IPCC scenarios. The decline of Non-OPEC oil production appears to have started in 2004. Of the OPEC countries, only Saudi Arabia may have spare capacity, but even that is uncertain, because of lack of data transparency. The concept of 'Peak Coal' is more controversial, but even the US National Academy Report in 2007 concluded only a small fraction of previously estimated reserves in the US are actually minable reserves and that US reserves should be reassessed using modern methods. British coal production can be used as a case study for testing the applicability the Linearization Model approach. This model has been applied to the various world regions by D. Rutledge (Cal Tech). The regions are summed to estimate global production. The conclusion is that the world's coal resources may be much less (maybe by 10 times) than assumed by the IPCC scenarios. Several research groups, including K. Aleklett (Uppsala), the Energy Watch Group and the Institute of Energy (IFE) and have independently reached the same conclusion. Simulations by D. Rutledge of atmospheric CO2 levels, using these values of ultimate oil and coal production as an input, suggest that atmospheric CO2 could reach maximum concentrations as low as 450 ppm. While some of these conclusions are controversial, available data clearly suggest that resource limitation should be given serious consideration in future climate change scenarios. There are also serious implications for economic recovery and energy security as well.
Petroleum - politics and power

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brossard, E.B.

1983-01-01

Governments all over the world are politically maneuvering themselves into positions where they can use this precious resource as a tool to gain power. Notes the author, ''Even the largest oil company can be powerless against the smallest government.'' This thesis is the foundation of Brossard's investigation of the international oil industry and the power and politics that are involved in the struggle for dominance. Contents: The petroleum age; The Russian nobles and the Soviet Union; The Majors - big oil; The complex operations of the oil industry; U.S. government controls; Natural gas - the most efficient fuel; The Organizationmore » of Petroleum Exporting Countries; OPEC and the international market; Canadian petroleum; Alaska - the hope of the Lower 48.« less
Algeria: World Oil Report 1991

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1991-08-01

This paper reports that Algeria is positioned to achieve important, new natural gas markets. Over half of its hydrocarbon income is from exports of gas and derived products, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and condensates, which are not subject to Opec quotas. Officials are moving away from inflexible past policies and are becoming vastly more realistic now that foreign investment laws have been liberalized and there is a need to attract foreign investors. Sonatrach must address three key issues to consolidate recent progress. Sales to existing customers in Europe, like Italy, must be expanded; new customers and markets need to found:more » and U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) markets must be revived.« less
International energy indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, E., Jr.

1981-12-01

Data on international energy indicators were tabulated and graphically represented. The following data are presented: world crude oil production, 1974 to October 1981; OPEC crude oil productive capacity; world crude oil and refined product inventory levels, 1975 to October, 1981; oil consumption in OECD countries, 1975 to October 1981; USSR crude oil production and exports, 1975 to October 1981; free world and US nuclear electricity generation, 1973 to December, 1981 and current capacity. Specific US data presented are: US domestic oil supply, 1977 to June, 1981; US gross imports of crude oil and products, 1973 to October, 1981; landed cost of Saudi crude current and 1974 dollars; US coal trade, 1975 to September, 1981; US natural gas trade, 1981; and energy/GNP ratio.
4-[2-(4-cyanophenyl)ethenyl]-N-methylpyridinium tetraphenylborate.

PubMed

Jin, Dan; Zhang, De Chun

2005-11-01

In the title compound, C(15)H(13)N(2)(+).C(24)H(20)B(-), the pyridyl ring of the cation makes a dihedral angle of 1.6 degrees with the benzene ring. Each is rotated in the same direction with respect to the central -C-CH=CH-C- linkage, by 3.8 and 5.3 degrees, respectively. The anions have a slightly distorted tetrahedral geometry. Molecular packing analysis was carried out using the packing energy portioning scheme in the program OPEC. Around each anion in the crystal structure there are eight anions, which interact with the central anion through C-H...pi interactions. The cations are hydrogen bonded in a head-to-tail fashion, forming chains along [101].
[Personal experience with VP-16 in the treatment of malignant lymphomas at the Chemotherapy Clinic of the Oncology Center--M. Skłodowskiej-Curie Institute in Warsaw].

PubMed

Pałucka, A; Walewski, J; Siedlecki, P; Zborzil, J

1990-01-01

Eighteen patients with advanced malignant lymphomas who had progressed with previous chemotherapy were treated with LEPP (chlorambucil, VP-16, procarbazine, prednisone). One complete response and 5 partial remissions were observed, yielding an overall response rate of 33%, with median response duration of about 2 months. Twenty three patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease all who had progressed with previous chemotherapy (MOPP and ABVD) and 19 of them also after radiation therapy were treated with third line salvage chemotherapy consisting of OPEC (VP- 16, chlorambucil, vincristine and prednisone). Two complete response and 3 partial remissions were obtained for overall response rate of 21% with median duration of about 9 months.
Validation Test Results for Orthogonal Probe Eddy Current Thruster Inspection System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wincheski, Russell A.

2007-01-01

Recent nondestructive evaluation efforts within NASA have focused on an inspection system for the detection of intergranular cracking originating in the relief radius of Primary Reaction Control System (PCRS) Thrusters. Of particular concern is deep cracking in this area which could lead to combustion leakage in the event of through wall cracking from the relief radius into an acoustic cavity of the combustion chamber. In order to reliably detect such defects while ensuring minimal false positives during inspection, the Orthogonal Probe Eddy Current (OPEC) system has been developed and an extensive validation study performed. This report describes the validation procedure, sample set, and inspection results as well as comparing validation flaws with the response from naturally occuring damage.
Precision Modeling Of Targets Using The VALUE Computer Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffman, George A.; Patton, Ronald; Akerman, Alexander

1989-08-01

The 1976-vintage LASERX computer code has been augmented to produce realistic electro-optical images of targets. Capabilities lacking in LASERX but recently incorporated into its VALUE successor include: •Shadows cast onto the ground •Shadows cast onto parts of the target •See-through transparencies (e.g.,canopies) •Apparent images due both to atmospheric scattering and turbulence •Surfaces characterized by multiple bi-directional reflectance functions VALUE provides not only realistic target modeling by its precise and comprehensive representation of all target attributes, but additionally VALUE is very user friendly. Specifically, setup of runs is accomplished by screen prompting menus in a sequence of queries that is logical to the user. VALUE also incorporates the Optical Encounter (OPEC) software developed by Tricor Systems,Inc., Elgin, IL.
Arab petrodollars: dashed hope for a new economic order

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gauhar, A.

The North-South debate is currently quiescent, partly because Arab oil producers have failed to provide long-term support for Third World concerns. The author examines why the oil producers have abandoned the call for a New International Economic Order, and concludes that the key to understanding this missed opportunity is in the manner in which the oil-producing countries, particularly the Arab OPEC nations, deployed their income during the years of abundance. The Arab governments adopted a pattern of expenditure and investment that was clearly opposed to the interests and welfare of their own people for a variety of social and politicalmore » reasons. An important fact, which precluded cooperation among Third World countries, was the integrated nature of Arab financial capital within world capitalism.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hodel, D.P.

Energy Secretary Donald P. Hodel told participants at the 4th International Oil conference in London that no one really knows the future demand for oil or whether oil prices will be $29 or $80 per barrel. DOE and consumption-based forecasts do little more than indicate trends, such as the effort by industrial countries to reduce their dependence on oil and achieve a more balanced energy supply. The current OPEC prices indicate that market forces do seek equilibrium, but there is no guarantee that producing nations will not overproduce or seek new markets through price competition. Hodel projects that oil usemore » will go down in industrial countries and increase in developing countries. He anticipates few new supplies of low-cost oil, but expects new developments in renewable energy sources by the year 2000.« less
High dose melphalan in the treatment of advanced neuroblastoma: results of a randomised trial (ENSG-1) by the European Neuroblastoma Study Group.

PubMed

Pritchard, Jon; Cotterill, Simon J; Germond, Shirley M; Imeson, John; de Kraker, Jan; Jones, David R

2005-04-01

High dose myeloablative chemotherapy ("megatherapy"), with haematopoietic stem cell support, is now widely used to consolidate response to induction chemotherapy in patients with advanced neuroblastoma. In this study (European Neuroblastoma Study Group, ENSG1), the value of melphalan myeloablative "megatherapy" was evaluated in a randomised, multi-centre trial. Between 1982 and 1985, 167 children with stages IV and III neuroblastoma (123 stage IV > 1 year old at diagnosis and 44 stage III and stage IV from 6 to 12 months old at diagnosis) were treated with oncovin, cisplatin, epipodophyllotoxin, and cyclophosphamide (OPEC) induction chemotherapy every 3 weeks. After surgical excision of primary tumour, the 90 patients (69% of the total) who achieved complete response (CR) or good partial response (GPR) were eligible for randomisation either to high dose melphalan (180 mg per square meter) with autologous bone marrow support or to no further treatment. Sixty-five (72%) of eligible children were actually randomised and 21 of these patients were surviving at time of this analysis, with median follow-up from randomisation of 14.3 years. Five year event-free survival (EFS) was 38% (95% confidence interval (CI) 21-54%) in the melphalan-treated group and 27% (95% CI 12-42%) in the "no-melphalan" group. This difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.08, log rank test) but for the 48 randomised stage IV patients aged >1 year at diagnosis outcome was significantly better in the melphalan-treated group-5 year EFS 33% versus 17% (P = 0.01, log rank test). In this trial, high dose melphalan improved the length of EFS and overall survival of children with stage IV neuroblastoma >1 year of age who achieved CR or GPR after OPEC induction therapy and surgery. Multi-agent myeloablative regimens are now widely used as consolidation therapy for children with stage IV disease and in those with other disease stages when the MYCN gene copy number in tumour cells is amplified. Because they are more toxic, complex, and costly these combination megatherapy regimens should be compared with single agent melphalan in randomised clinical trials.
Politics has strong say in who benefits from oil

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tippee, B.; Beck, R.J.

1995-04-03

Oil`s many values are more visible now than ever. Price information streams from financial and physical commodity markets around the world. A sophisticated array of analytical tools turns price data into nearly real-time indications of what a particular crude or petroleum product is worth to a particular type of trader in a particular market. Value, though, means something beyond price. Economic values ultimately must benefit someone. In a market that gushes price data, it`s much easier to measure oil values than it is to determine who benefits from them. The paper discusses new value gauges, where values flow, the trendmore » toward lower government take upstream, the decade-long trend in the decline of state takes, suppressing prices, political dimensions, the squeeze OPEC feels, taxing products, claim on values, and values in perspective.« less
Exploration limited since '70s in Libya's Sirte basin

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomas, D.

1995-03-13

Esso Standard made the first Libyan oil discovery in the western Ghadames basin in 1957. The Atshan-2 well tested oil from Devonian sandstones, and the play was a continuation of the Paleozoic trend found productive in the neighboring Edjeleh region of eastern Algeria. Exploration in the Sirte basin began in earnest in 1958. Within the next 10 years, 16 major oil fields had been discovered, each with recoverable reserves greater than 500 million bbl of oil. Libya currently produces under OPEC quota approximately 1.4 million b/d of oil, with discovered in-place reserves of 130 billion bbl of oil. The papermore » describes the structural framework, sedimentary basins of Libya, the Sirte basin, petroleum geology, play types, source rocks, generation and migration of hydrocarbons, oil reserves, potential, and acreage availability.« less
Heterogeneity and differentiation: the end for the Third World??

PubMed

Abdalla, I

1978-01-01

Dependence, with all its corollaries, is the common denominator of Third World countries. Comprehensive decolonization is the only way out. New categories and classifications, i.e., OPEC countries and NICs (Newly Industrialized Countries), fall short of destroying the fundamental community of condition and goal. China is not a Third World country. The case for heterogeneity of Third World countries is a faulty one. The average per capita GNP of the higher income group in 1975 was $1,270.00 against $142.70 for the lower income group, 8.9 times lower. Among OECD countries, Switzerland's per capita is 9.3 times Turkey's, yet no one speaks of heterogeneity within OECD. Development can, and should, proceed according to the conditions of each nation, but differences cannot and should not overshadow the commonality of interests in the Third World.

International energy indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiss, R. M.

1981-05-01

Tabulated data and graphic displays are presented for: world crude oil production for each year since 1974; OPEC crude oil production capacity; world crude oil and refined product inventory level for each year since 1975; oil consumption in CECD Countries for each year since 1975; USSR crude oil production for each year since 1975; and the free World and US nuclear electricity generation for 1973 and the current capacity. Also, tabulated data and graphic displays are included on: US domestic oil supply for each year since 1977; US gross imports of crude oil and products for each year since 1973; landed cost of Saudi crude in current and 1974 dollars; US coal trade for each year since 1975; US natural gas trade for each year since 1975; a summary of US merchandise trade for each year since 1977; and the US energy/GNP ratio in 1972 dollars.
International energy indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, E. K.

1981-02-01

Extensive data are compiled for energy on the international scene and for the US. Data included are: world crude oil production, 1975 to date; Iran: crude oil capacity, production, and shut-in, 1974 to date; Saudi Arabia: crude oil capacity, production, and shut-in, 1974 to date; OPEC (Ex-Iran and Saudi Arabia): capacity, production, and shut-in, 1974 to date; oil stocks: Free World, US, Japan, and Europe (landed), 1973 to date; petroleum consumption by industrial countries, 1973 to date; USSR crude oil production, 1974 to date; Free World and US nuclear generation capacity, 1973 to date. Data are supplied specifically for the US on US gross imports of crude oil and products, 1973 to date; landed cost of Saudi crude in current and 1974 dollars; US trade in bituminous coal, 1973 to date; summary of US merchandise trade, 1976 to date; and energy/GNP ratio.
A disseminated alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in a 9-year-old boy disclosed by chromosomal translocation (2;13) (q35;q14)

PubMed

Brichard, B; Ninane, J; Gosseye, S; Verellen-Dumoulin, C; Vermylen, C; Rodhain, J; Cornu, G

1991-01-01

A 9-year-old boy presented with a small subcutaneous tumor of the trunk and diffuse bone marrow involvement. The first histological diagnosis given was undifferentiated malignancy possibly of neural crest origin and chemotherapy was started immediately using vincristine, cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, and teniposide (OPEC). Complete response was achieved after four courses of chemotherapy. Histological slides were then reviewed and the final diagnosis of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) was retained. Moreover, chromosome analysis of malignant cells in the bone marrow revealed a translocation involving chromosomes 2 and 13:t(2;13) (q35;q14). This specific karyotype finding has been recently reported in a few cases and could be specific for alveolar RMS. The patient had a relapse 7 months after diagnosis and died 4 months later.
An Analysis of the Impact of Sport Utility Vehicles in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davis, S.C.; Truett, L.F.

2000-08-01

It may be labeled sport utility vehicle, SUV, sport-ute, suburban assault vehicle, or a friend of OPEC (Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries). It has been the subject of comics, the object of high-finance marketing ploys, and the theme of Dateline. Whatever the label or the occasion, this vehicle is in great demand. The popularity of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) has increased dramatically since the late 1970s, and SUVs are currently the fastest growing segment of the motor vehicle industry. Hoping to gain market share due to the popularity of the expanding SUV market, more and more manufacturers are adding SUVsmore » to their vehicle lineup. One purpose of this study is to analyze the world of the SUV to determine why this vehicle has seen such a rapid increase in popularity. Another purpose is to examine the impact of SUVs on energy consumption, emissions, and highway safety.« less
US refining sector still a whipping-boy: what will it take

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1988-01-27

The fast moving US product markets are exerting a powerful pull on crude oil prices. This has meant unalleviated downward pressure on refining margins for most of the past year. Downstream of refining, product marketers want the lower rack and spot prices from refineries. Upstream, independent and major-integrated producers want the highest crude prices they can obtain, with the latter producers also wanting the highest product value realizations. Refiners, especially the major-integrated ones, are rooting for OPEC discipline louder than anybody else. This issue also contains the following: (1) weighted dollar values by product for total product barrel at variousmore » sites around the globe; (2) ED refining netback data for the US Gulf and West Coasts, Rotterdam, and Singapore for late January 1988; and (3) ED fuel price/tax series for both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres, Jan. 1988 edition. 5 figures, 18 tables.« less
Qatar: Energy and development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

El Mallakh, R.

Despite the traumas that have been experienced in the Arabian Gulf over the past five years, Qatar has been remarkably successful in smoothing the transition of its economy from recession and oil glut to recovery and stabilization. This book examines the characteristics of Qatar's economic and social development that have assisted this process. These characteristics include; moderation in the development policy and the avoidance of excessive haste; a cohesive sense of political identity; and a relatively well educated labor force derived from an educational program that was in place prior to the oil boom. Qatar has also maintained a moderatemore » policy within OPEC. During the price hikes of 1979-80, caused by cutbacks in Iranian exports, Qatar maintained its policy of restraint; this was an important factor in permitting Qatar to confront the substantial drop in oil-generated revenues faced by all the oil exporters in 1982-84.« less
Oil, turmoil, and Islam in the Middle East

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sheikh, A.R.

1986-01-01

The turmoil and strife of the Middle East raises serious questions about the security of the world's oil supply. The author argues that OPEC and OAPEC can no longer afford to impose indiscriminate price increases on the marketplace because they hurt not only themselves but oil poor Third World nations as well. The author analyzes the importance of Middle Eastern oil in world politics. He emphasizes that any consideration of the forces influencing development in the Middle East should take Islamic tradition into account. Each chapter is organized around a current Middle Eastern problem: oil politics in relation to internationalmore » energy needs; the ramifications of the new oil wealth and power of the Middle East; The Iran-Iraq War; Muslim insurgency in Afghanistan; The Arab-Israel conflict; turmoil in Lebanon; Palestinian nationalism; and the Middle East as a superpower.« less
Fitting of Hadron Mass Spectra and Contributions to Perturbation Theory of Conformal Quantum Field Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luna Acosta, German Aurelio

The masses of observed hadrons are fitted according to the kinematic predictions of Conformal Relativity. The hypothesis gives a remarkably good fit. The isospin SU(2) gauge invariant Lagrangian L(,(pi)NN)(x,(lamda)) is used in the calculation of d(sigma)/d(OMEGA) to 2nd-order Feynman graphs for simplified models of (pi)N(--->)(pi)N. The resulting infinite mass sums over the nucleon (Conformal) families are done via the Generalized-Sommerfeld-Watson Transform Theorem. Even though the models are too simple to be realistic, they indicate that if (DELTA)-internal lines were to be included, 2nd-order Feynman graphs may reproduce the experimental data qualitatively. The energy -dependence of the propagator and couplings in Conformal QFT is different from that of ordinary QFT. Suggestions for further work are made in the areas of ultra-violet divergences and OPEC calculations.
Profile and outcome of neuroblastoma with convertional chemotherapy in children older than one year: a 15-years experience.

PubMed

Bansal, Deepak; Marwaha, R K; Trehan, Amita; Rao, K L N; Gupta, Vishal

2008-02-01

The clinical profile and outcome of neuroblastoma in 103 children, older than one-year is presented. 74 had Stage IV, 27 Stage III and one patient each had Stage I or II disease. Treatment included chemotherapy followed by surgical resection/debulking. Radiotherapy was administered to those with residual tumor. Chemotherapy consisted of OPEC (vincristine, cyclophosphamide, cisplatin and etoposide). The caretakers of 54 (52.4%) children either did not opt for or defaulted therapy, whilst 3 patients died before chemotherapy could be initiated. Of the remaining 46 patients, the tumor progressed during therapy in 19 (41.3%). Relapse of disease was documented in 22 (47.8%) cases. Merely 4 (8.7%) children are disease free for a period of 16.5+/-6.7 months. Majority of children presented with advanced disease and the outcome was dismal with conventional non-myloablative chemotherapy.
Science and society test VI: Energy economics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hafemeister, David W.

1982-01-01

Simple numerical estimates are developed in order to quantify a variety of energy economics issues. The Verhulst equation, which considers the effect of finite resources on petroleum production, is modified to take into account supply and demand economics. Numerical and analytical solutions to these differential equations are presented in terms of supply and demand elasticity functions, various finite resources, and the rate of increase in fuel costs. The indirect cost per barrel of imported oil from OPEC is shown to be about the same as the direct cost. These effects, as well as those of discounted benefits and deregulation, are used in a calculation of payback periods for various energy conserving devices. A phenomenological model for market penetration is developed along with the factors for future energy growth rates. A brief analysis of the economic returns of the ''house doctor'' program to reprofit houses for energy conservation is presented.
Oman: World Oil Report 1991

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1991-08-01

This paper reports that for the sixth consecutive year, Oman should retain its title as the biggest driller in the Middle East in 1991. An accelerated program in 1990 pushed production to an all-time record 700,000 bpd late in the year. Although not a member of Opec, Oman has cooperated with the group in restraining output as needed to support oil prices. Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), a partnership of the government (60%), Royal Dutch Shell (34%), Total (4%) and Partex (2%), remains by far the biggest producer. This year, PDO will begin work on its $500-million effort to boost productionmore » from its Lekhwair field from a current 24,000 bpd to 110,000 bpd by 1994. Last year, PDO also drilled 15 horizontal wells, most of which were successful in increasing per well production compared to conventional vertical holes. The horizontal program has been continued this year with two rings.« less
Evaluation of different methods to model near-surface turbulent fluxes for a mountain glacier in the Cariboo Mountains, BC, Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radić, Valentina; Menounos, Brian; Shea, Joseph; Fitzpatrick, Noel; Tessema, Mekdes A.; Déry, Stephen J.

2017-12-01

As part of surface energy balance models used to simulate glacier melting, choosing parameterizations to adequately estimate turbulent heat fluxes is extremely challenging. This study aims to evaluate a set of four aerodynamic bulk methods (labeled as C methods), commonly used to estimate turbulent heat fluxes for a sloped glacier surface, and two less commonly used bulk methods developed from katabatic flow models. The C methods differ in their parameterizations of the bulk exchange coefficient that relates the fluxes to the near-surface measurements of mean wind speed, air temperature, and humidity. The methods' performance in simulating 30 min sensible- and latent-heat fluxes is evaluated against the measured fluxes from an open-path eddy-covariance (OPEC) method. The evaluation is performed at a point scale of a mountain glacier, using one-level meteorological and OPEC observations from multi-day periods in the 2010 and 2012 summer seasons. The analysis of the two independent seasons yielded the same key findings, which include the following: first, the bulk method, with or without the commonly used Monin-Obukhov (M-O) stability functions, overestimates the turbulent heat fluxes over the observational period, mainly due to a substantial overestimation of the friction velocity. This overestimation is most pronounced during the katabatic flow conditions, corroborating the previous findings that the M-O theory works poorly in the presence of a low wind speed maximum. Second, the method based on a katabatic flow model (labeled as the KInt method) outperforms any C method in simulating the friction velocity; however, the C methods outperform the KInt method in simulating the sensible-heat fluxes. Third, the best overall performance is given by a hybrid method, which combines the KInt approach with the C method; i.e., it parameterizes eddy viscosity differently than eddy diffusivity. An error analysis reveals that the uncertainties in the measured meteorological variables and the roughness lengths produce errors in the modeled fluxes that are smaller than the differences between the modeled and observed fluxes. This implies that further advances will require improvement to model theory rather than better measurements of input variables. Further data from different glaciers are needed to investigate any universality of these findings.
Solar thermal technologies benefits assessment: Objectives, methodologies and results for 1981

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gates, W. R.

1982-01-01

The economic and social benefits of developing cost competitive solar thermal technologies (STT) were assessed. The analysis was restricted to STT in electric applications for 16 high insolation/high energy price states. Three fuel price scenarios and three 1990 STT system costs were considered, reflecting uncertainty over fuel prices and STT cost projections. After considering the numerous benefits of introducing STT into the energy market, three primary benefits were identified and evaluated: (1) direct energy cost savings were estimated to range from zero to $50 billion; (2) oil imports may be reduced by up to 9 percent, improving national security; and (3) significant environmental benefits can be realized in air basins where electric power plant emissions create substantial air pollution problems. STT research and development was found to be unacceptably risky for private industry in the absence of federal support. The normal risks associated with investments in research and development are accentuated because the OPEC cartel can artificially manipulate oil prices and undercut the growth of alternative energy sources.
Modeling the Oil Transition: A Summary of the Proceedings of the DOE/EPA Workshop on the Economic and Environmental Implications of Global Energy Transitions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greene, David L

2007-02-01

The global energy system faces sweeping changes in the next few decades, with potentially critical implications for the global economy and the global environment. It is important that global institutions have the tools necessary to predict, analyze and plan for such massive change. This report summarizes the proceedings of an international workshop concerning methods of forecasting, analyzing, and planning for global energy transitions and their economic and environmental consequences. A specific case, it focused on the transition from conventional to unconventional oil and other energy sources likely to result from a peak in non-OPEC and/or global production of conventional oil.more » Leading energy models from around the world in government, academia and the private sector met, reviewed the state-of-the-art of global energy modeling and evaluated its ability to analyze and predict large-scale energy transitions.« less
World oil outlook. Hearings before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, First Session, January 22 and March 11, 1987

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1987-01-01

Dr. James E. Akins, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, James R. Schlesinger of the Georgetown Center for Strategic and International Studies, Dr. Daniel Dreyfus of the Gas Research Institute, Dr. Scott Jones of Chase Econometrics, Inc., and Dr. John H. Lichtblau of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation were the principal witnesses at a hearing held to review the potential for another oil crisis due to reduced domestic production and exploration and a diminished capability in both areas. Statements made by several senators reviewed the dangers of depending upon Middle East oil imports and the threat of an energy problem more seriousmore » than those of 1973 and 1979. Of primary concern was the need to retain a healthy domestic petroleum industry in the wake of fluctuating prices and restrengthening of OPEC as a cartel. Additional material submitted by Americans for Energy Independence follows the two-day testimony of the 16 witnesses.« less
Solar thermal technology development: Estimated market size and energy cost savings. Volume 1: Executive summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gates, W. R.

1983-01-01

Estimated future energy cost savings associated with the development of cost-competitive solar thermal technologies (STT) are discussed. Analysis is restricted to STT in electric applications for 16 high-insolation/high-energy-price states. The fuel price scenarios and three 1990 STT system costs are considered, reflecting uncertainty over future fuel prices and STT cost projections. STT R&D is found to be unacceptably risky for private industry in the absence of federal support. Energy cost savings were projected to range from $0 to $10 billion (1990 values in 1981 dollars), dependng on the system cost and fuel price scenario. Normal R&D investment risks are accentuated because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel can artificially manipulate oil prices and undercut growth of alternative energy sources. Federal participation in STT R&D to help capture the potential benefits of developing cost-competitive STT was found to be in the national interest.
Solar thermal technology development: Estimated market size and energy cost savings. Volume 1: Executive summary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gates, W. R.

1983-02-01

Estimated future energy cost savings associated with the development of cost-competitive solar thermal technologies (STT) are discussed. Analysis is restricted to STT in electric applications for 16 high-insolation/high-energy-price states. The fuel price scenarios and three 1990 STT system costs are considered, reflecting uncertainty over future fuel prices and STT cost projections. STT R&D is found to be unacceptably risky for private industry in the absence of federal support. Energy cost savings were projected to range from $0 to $10 billion (1990 values in 1981 dollars), dependng on the system cost and fuel price scenario. Normal R&D investment risks are accentuated because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel can artificially manipulate oil prices and undercut growth of alternative energy sources. Federal participation in STT R&D to help capture the potential benefits of developing cost-competitive STT was found to be in the national interest.
International energy indicators, October-November 1981

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, E., Jr.

Detailed data are presented for energy indicators in tables and graphs. Specific international data are presented: world crude oil production, 1974 to July 1981; OPEC crude oil productive capacity; world crude oil and refined product inventory levels, 1975 through the first half of 1981; oil consumption in OFCD countries, 1975 through the first half of 1981; USSR crude oil production, 1975 through July 1981; and free world and US nuclear electricity generation, 1973 through September 1981 and current capacity. Data presented for energy indicators in the US are: US domestic oil supply and crude oil production, 1977 through March 1981; US gross imports of crude oil and products, 1973 through August 1981; landed cost of Saudi crude oil in current and 1974 dollars; US coal trade, 1975 through July 1981; US natural gas trade, 1975 through August 1981; summary of US merchandise trade, 1977 through the first half of 1981; and the energy/gross national product ratio from 1974 through the first half of 1981.
Annual review of energy. Volume 6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollander, J. M.; Simmons, M. K.; Wood, D. O.

Developments in the areas of energy resources and supply technologies, energy end use and conservation, energy policy, energy-related risks and the sociopolitical aspects of energy are reviewed. Progress in solar energy technologies over the last five years is discussed, along with the implications for reactor safety of the accident at Three Mile Island, the derivation of biomass fuels from agricultural products and the application of probabilistic risk assessment to energy technologies. Attention is also given to a program for national survival during an oil crisis, energy conservation in new buildings, the development of a United States synthetic fuel industry, the role of OPEC policies in world oil availability, the social impacts of soft and hard energy systems, and the energy implications of fixed rail mass transportation systems. Additional topics include the energy consumptions of industries, the relative economics of nuclear, coal and oil-fired electricity generation, and the role of petroleum price and allocation regulations in the management of energy shortages.
Hubbert's Peak -- A Physicist's View

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDonald, Richard

2011-04-01

Oil, as used in agriculture and transportation, is the lifeblood of modern society. It is finite in quantity and will someday be exhausted. In 1956, Hubbert proposed a theory of resource production and applied it successfully to predict peak U.S. oil production in 1970. Bartlett extended this work in publications and lectures on the finite nature of oil and its production peak and depletion. Both Hubbert and Bartlett place peak world oil production at a similar time, essentially now. Central to these analyses are estimates of total ``oil in place'' obtained from engineering studies of oil reservoirs as this quantity determines the area under the Hubbert's Peak. Knowing the production history and the total oil in place allows us to make estimates of reserves, and therefore future oil availability. We will then examine reserves data for various countries, in particular OPEC countries, and see if these data tell us anything about the future availability of oil. Finally, we will comment on synthetic oil and the possibility of carbon-neutral synthetic oil for a sustainable future.

Solar thermal technologies benefits assessment: Objectives, methodologies and results for 1981

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gates, W. R.

1982-07-01

The economic and social benefits of developing cost competitive solar thermal technologies (STT) were assessed. The analysis was restricted to STT in electric applications for 16 high insolation/high energy price states. Three fuel price scenarios and three 1990 STT system costs were considered, reflecting uncertainty over fuel prices and STT cost projections. After considering the numerous benefits of introducing STT into the energy market, three primary benefits were identified and evaluated: (1) direct energy cost savings were estimated to range from zero to $50 billion; (2) oil imports may be reduced by up to 9 percent, improving national security; and (3) significant environmental benefits can be realized in air basins where electric power plant emissions create substantial air pollution problems. STT research and development was found to be unacceptably risky for private industry in the absence of federal support. The normal risks associated with investments in research and development are accentuated because the OPEC cartel can artificially manipulate oil prices and undercut the growth of alternative energy sources.
Study of a wind energy conversion system in New Hampshire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lockwood, J.; Kraft, G.; Pregent, G.; Smukler, L.

1981-08-01

Concern over conventional energy costs and supplies is currently strong, particularly in New England region where eighty percent of the total energy is oil based; furthermore, forty percent of this region's total energy is OPEC oil. These figures contrast with national averages of forty-seven and thirteen percent, respectively (1). The quest to develop alternative and renewable energy sources indigenous to New England is understandable in light of these figures. The wind is one such source. The study of wind energy can be divided into three basic areas; these are technical, legal-institutional, and financial. The technical area encompasses collection and analysis of wind data, selection and installation of wind turbines and peripheral equipment, and operation and maintenance. The legal-institutional area encompasses the resolution of such issues as land use policies, power contracts, and state and federal regulations. The financial area encompasses the examination of investment opportunities made available by various site-machine combinations and the selling of such opportunities to the investment community.
Oil outlook

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DiBona, C.J.

1979-04-01

Because the US imports approximately 43% of its oil, and the amount available from the western hemisphere has declined sharply, the US has depended more on the eastern hemisphere members of OPEC, which now supplies >82% of US oil imports. Because of the political unrest in Iran, it has become apparent that domestic energy goals must be considered along with clear air goals. Examples illustrating the compatibility of energy production and environment are described. Questions arising from differences in federal, state, and local regulations are discussed in terms of adjusting the Clean Air Act to allow the implementation of newmore » energy recovery systems, i.e., thermal recovery, and construction of terminals and pipeline to receive and ship Alaskan crude oil and of refineries to produce low-sulfur fuels and unleaded gasoline. The level of air quality that will protect public health, and how can that level be achieved effectively need to be resolved. The concern expressed over the relaxed O/sub 3/ standard is discussed, and arguments supporting the move are presented.« less
Venezuela Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2015-01-01

Venezuela is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of crude oil. The country has been one of the largest exporters of crude oil in the Americas. As a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela is an important player in the global oil market. Although oil production has declined since its peak in the late 1990s, Venezuela has been among the top exporters of crude oil to the United States have been among the largest in the world. In recent years, through significant upfront investment, an increasing share of Venezuela’s exports has been delivered to China. While Venezuela is important to the global oil market, the government’s reinvestment of oil revenues into social programs instead of reinvestment into exploration, production, and refining has led to declines in output. In 2014, Venezuela consumed 3.3 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of total energy.1 Oil continues to represent most of the country’s total energy consumed, and natural gas consumption has increased in the past five years. Hydroelectric power meets less than 25% of total demand, and coal represents less than 1%.
International energy indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiss, R. M.

1981-07-01

Data are presented in graphs and tables on the following: world crude oil production by area, annually, 1974 through 1980, and monthly, October 1980 through April 1981; OPEC crude oil productive capacity, installed, maximum sustainable, and available, by country; world crude oil and refined product inventory levels, 1975 through 1981; oil consumption in OCED countries, 1975 through 1981; USSR crude oil production and exports, 1975 through April 1981; free world (by country) and US nuclear electricity generation, 1973 through 1980 and January to May 1981 and current capacity by country; US domestic oil supply (monthly) 1977 through 1980; US gross imports of crude oil and products, 1973 and 1974 annually, and 1975 through 1980 and monthly from January to June 1981; cost of Saudi crude oil in current and 1974 dollars from December 1974 through March 1981; US coal trade from January 1975 to March 1981; US natural gas trade from January 1975 through April 1981; summary of US merchandise trade, quarterly, from Quarter I, 1977 through Quarter I, 1981; and US energy/GNP ratio, annually, 1974 through 1980, and quarterly from 1974 through March 1981.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cooper, M.H.

When Saddam Hussein sent his troops across the border into oil-rich Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, the stage was set for yet another global oil shock. To most everyone's surprise, the gulf war's impact on oil supplies was less traumatic, in the long run, than expected. But the situation nonetheless forces the US to confront its continued dependence on oil imports. During the last major energy crisis, in 1978-1979, oil shortages resulted in higher prices and prompted Americans to save energy. Oil imports shrank. But the subsequent fall in oil prices prompted consumers to return to bigger, less-efficient cars, andmore » oil imports climbed back up. Then Saddam plundered his neighbor, putting the torch to more than 500 Kuwaiti oil wells and sparking the US to re-examine its energy policies. This article examines the issues involved in increased U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Areas covered are history of U.S. oil dominance, postwar (WWII) import quotas, the birth of OPEC, Reagan and Bush Administration energy policies, gas mileage standards, and the future of continued dependence.« less
Solar thermal technology development: Estimated market size and energy cost savings. Volume 2: Assumptions, methodology and results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gates, W. R.

1983-02-01

Estimated future energy cost savings associated with the development of cost-competitive solar thermal technologies (STT) are discussed. Analysis is restricted to STT in electric applications for 16 high-insolation/high-energy-price states. Three fuel price scenarios and three 1990 STT system costs are considered, reflecting uncertainty over future fuel prices and STT cost projections. Solar thermal technology research and development (R&D) is found to be unacceptably risky for private industry in the absence of federal support. Energy cost savings were projected to range from $0 to $10 billion (1990 values in 1981 dollars), depending on the system cost and fuel price scenario. Normal R&D investment risks are accentuated because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel can artificially manipulate oil prices and undercut growth of alternative energy sources. Federal participation in STT R&D to help capture the potential benefits of developing cost-competitive STT was found to be in the national interest. Analysis is also provided regarding two federal incentives currently in use: The Federal Business Energy Tax Credit and direct R&D funding.
Why the spending stopped in Nigeria

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rapoport, C.

Nigeria will have an income of about $14 billion this year from the sale of crude, mostly from the US. Nigeria is our second-largest foreign oil supplier. But, lacking the expertise and financial sophistication of other oil producers, Nigeria began squandering its oil earnings soon after petroleum prices quadrupled following the 1973 OPEC boycott. The country plunged into a series of overindulgent development plans that sent imports and government expenditures soaring, mainly on projects of little value. Improvements that were constructed have not been maintained or are not working, i.e., telecommunication systems, elevators in high-rise buildings, etc. The spiraling importsmore » and lavish spending was brought to an abrupt halt in mid-1978, when the country's military government began imposing a series of drastic restrictions on spending. This year, Nigeria's imports are running a full third below last year's level. The austerity measures have helped to plunge the counry into recession, but if things go according to plan, the hard times should enable Nigeria to right itself and to become an economic leader of Africa.« less
Solar thermal technology development: Estimated market size and energy cost savings. Volume 2: Assumptions, methodology and results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gates, W. R.

1983-01-01

Estimated future energy cost savings associated with the development of cost-competitive solar thermal technologies (STT) are discussed. Analysis is restricted to STT in electric applications for 16 high-insolation/high-energy-price states. Three fuel price scenarios and three 1990 STT system costs are considered, reflecting uncertainty over future fuel prices and STT cost projections. Solar thermal technology research and development (R&D) is found to be unacceptably risky for private industry in the absence of federal support. Energy cost savings were projected to range from $0 to $10 billion (1990 values in 1981 dollars), depending on the system cost and fuel price scenario. Normal R&D investment risks are accentuated because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel can artificially manipulate oil prices and undercut growth of alternative energy sources. Federal participation in STT R&D to help capture the potential benefits of developing cost-competitive STT was found to be in the national interest. Analysis is also provided regarding two federal incentives currently in use: The Federal Business Energy Tax Credit and direct R&D funding.
U.S. oil dependence 2014: Is energy independence in sight?

DOE PAGES

Greene, David L.; Liu, Changzheng

2015-06-10

The importance of reducing U.S. oil dependence may have changed in light of developments in the world oil market over the past two decades. Since 2005, increased domestic production and decreased oil use have cut U.S. import dependence in half. The direct costs of oil dependence to the U.S. economy are estimated under four U.S. Energy Information Administration Scenarios to 2040. The key premises of the analysis are that the primary oil market failure is the use of market power by OPEC and that U.S. economic vulnerability is a result of the quantity of oil consumed, the lack of readilymore » available, economical substitutes and the quantity of oil imported. Monte Carlo simulations of future oil market conditions indicate that the costs of U.S. oil dependence are likely to increase in constant dollars but decrease relative to U.S. gross domestic product unless oil resources are larger than estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In conclusion, reducing oil dependence therefore remains a valuable goal for U.S. energy policy and an important co-benefit of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.« less
Energy policies of the world: Arab states of the Persian Gulf. [Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barger, T.C.

An attempt is made to trace the historical and social factors that affect the policies of the Arab states on the Gulf, especially with respect to the oil industry. The states are Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman; Oman qualifies as contiguous to the Gulf by reason of its possession of the point of land that comprises the southern shore of the Straits of Hormuz. The book analyzes pricing, production, and participation in the oil industry in the Gulf region; the formation of the organization of OPEC; and the Arab embargo of 1973. By examiningmore » both the general policies of these countries and their individual needs and goals, an objective observer may be able to evaluate the future timing and tenor of energy policy in this region, which will surely affect world policies. Also discussed is the greatest assemblage of offshore oil fields in the world in the Persian Gulf. Considerations in making energy policy and the policies of the seven countries are discussed in Chapters 5 and 6. A bibliographical note follows a concluding chapter. (MCW)« less
Comparison of Sensible Heat Flux from Eddy Covariance and Scintillometer over different land surface conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeweldi, D. A.; Gebremichael, M.; Summis, T.; Wang, J.; Miller, D.

2008-12-01

The large source of uncertainty in satellite-based evapotranspiration algorithm results from the estimation of sensible heat flux H. Traditionally eddy covariance sensors, and recently large-aperture scintillometers, have been used as ground truth to evaluate satellite-based H estimates. The two methods rely on different physical measurement principles, and represent different foot print sizes. In New Mexico, we conducted a field campaign during summer 2008 to compare H estimates obtained from the eddy covariance and scintillometer methods. During this field campaign, we installed sonic anemometers; one propeller eddy covariance (OPEC) equipped with net radiometer and soil heat flux sensors; large aperture scintillometer (LAS); and weather station consisting of wind speed, direction and radiation sensors over three different experimental areas consisting of different roughness conditions (desert, irrigated area and lake). Our results show the similarities and differences in H estimates obtained from these various methods over the different land surface conditions. Further, our results show that the H estimates obtained from the LAS agree with those obtained from the eddy covariance method when high frequency thermocouple temperature, instead of the typical weather station temperature measurements, is used in the LAS analysis.
[Cardiac invasion of ATLL cells and therapeutic effects of local along with systemic treatments].

PubMed

Imoto, S; Nakagawa, T; Ito, M

1989-07-01

We report a rare case of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) in which cardiac invasion was clinically demonstrated and treated effectively. A 45-year-old female was admitted because of exertional dyspnea and cervical tumors. The leukocyte count was 19,100/microliters with 20% of flower cells. HTLV-I antibody was positive. She was diagnosed as ATLL and treated with VEPA. She got remission for a short duration which was followed by relapse. OPEC was started as salvage therapy. In the course, extensive pericardial effusion was found in chest X-P. Pericardial puncture demonstrated ATLL cells and high titer of free IL-2 receptor (57,400U/ml) in the effusion. It was diagnosed as pericardial invasion of ATLL cells. Chemotherapy was started with new combination of drugs (cisplatin, mitoxantrone, ifosfamide, and prednisolone). Concomitantly pericardial drainage was performed and the drugs were administered directly into the pericardial cavity. The clinical improvement was obtained and pericardial effusion did not appear thereafter. She died 4 months after the diagnosis of cardiac invasion. On autopsy myocardial invasion was identified. The pericardium widely adhered and effusion measured 42 ml.
[Cervical neuroblastoma in an infant].

PubMed

Arvai, Krisztina; Tóth, Judit; Németh, Tamás; Kiss, Csongor; Molnár, Péter; Oláh, Eva

2004-01-01

The case of a one-month-old patient admitted to the Department of Pediatrics (Medical and Health Science Center, Debrecen University) because of respiratory distress caused by a cervical mass compressing the upper respiratory pathways is presented. The mass could only be partially removed, the histological diagnosis proved to be neuroblastoma (SBCT: "small blue cell tumor"). Despite the fact that the DNA index of tumor cells (ploidy measurements) and the age of the patient suggested a favourable prognosis, the tumor continued to grow and metastases appeared. Because of symptoms of compression exerted on the respiratory system by the tumor, chemotherapy had to be applied. Since a standard OPEC/OJEC chemotherapeutic protocol proved to be not entirely effective and a residual tumor was still present, retinoic acid and interferon treatment was introduced. Presently, 4 years after the diagnosis, the patient is in complete remission and can be considered to be cured. The case presented here demonstrates that despite the favorable prognosis of the majority of infant neuroblastomas, in some cases the anatomic location of the tumor, leading to disturbance of vital functions, may serve as indication of chemotherapy. Our experience also proved the efficacy of retinoic acid and interferon treatment in relapsed neuroblastoma.
Partial response after intensive chemotherapy for adrenal cortical carcinoma in a child.

PubMed

Aricò, M; Bossi, G; Livieri, C; Raiteri, E; Severi, F

1992-01-01

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) in childhood is a rare tumor with high fatality rate. Available reports provide event free survival rates ranging between 10 to 50%. Optimal treatment has not yet been established; surgery plays a major role, and the value of adjuvant chemotherapy needs to be evaluated further, especially in children who develop recurrent disease and those with metastases at diagnosis. Optimal therapy of ACC has not been established. Surgery has been curative after complete tumor resection. Children with inoperable, recurrent and metastatic ACC have been treated with O,P'DDD, with response rates ranging from 10 to 60% in different series [7,11-20]. Radiotherapy [21] and other anti-cancer drugs have been used [4-22] but their efficacy has not been established. Combination chemotherapy containing oncovin, cisPlatinum, epipodophyllotoxin and cyclophosphamide (OPEC) produced regression of metastatic ACC in a 5-year-old male [23]. We report one girl with relapsed disseminated ACC who showed good, even if temporary, control of the disease, with disappearance of lung, liver and spleen metastases, and marked reduction of the adrenal mass, following combined chemotherapy according to the "eight-drugs-in-one-day" protocol.
The quality of the outdoor environment influences childrens health -- a cross-sectional study of preschools.

PubMed

Söderström, M; Boldemann, C; Sahlin, U; Mårtensson, F; Raustorp, A; Blennow, M

2013-01-01

To test how the quality of the outdoor environment of child day care centres (DCCs) influences children's health. The environment was assessed using the Outdoor Play Environmental Categories (OPEC) tool, time spent outdoors and physical activity as measured by pedometer. 172/253 (68%) of children aged 3.0-5.9 from nine DCCs participated in Southern Sweden. Health data collected were body mass index, waist circumference, saliva cortisol, length of night sleep during study, and symptoms and well-being which were scored (1-week diary - 121 parent responders). Also, parent-rated well-being and health of their child were scored (questionnaire, 132 parent responders). MANOVA, ANOVA and principal component analyses were performed to identify impacts of the outdoor environment on health. High-quality outdoor environment at DCCs is associated with several health aspects in children such as leaner body, longer night sleep, better well-being and higher mid-morning saliva cortisol levels. The quality of the outdoor environment at DCCs influenced the health and well-being of preschool children and should be given more attention among health care professionals and community planners. ©2012 The Author(s)/Acta Paediatrica ©2012 Foundation Acta Paediatrica.
Characterization of biodegradation intermediates of nonionic surfactants by MALDI-MS. 2. Oxidative biodegradation profiles of uniform octylphenol polyethoxylate in 18O-labeled water.

PubMed

Sato, Hiroaki; Shibata, Atsushi; Wang, Yang; Yoshikawa, Hiromichi; Tamura, Hiroto

2003-01-01

This paper reports the characterization of the biodegradation intermediates of octylphenol octaethoxylate (OP(8)EO) by means of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). The biodegradation test study was carried out in a pure culture (Pseudomonas putida S-5) under aerobic conditions using OP(8)EO as the sole carbon source and (18)O-labeled water as an incubation medium. In the MALDI-MS spectra of biodegraded samples, a series of OP(n)EO molecules with n = 2-8 EO units and their corresponding carboxylic acid products (OP(n)EC) were observed. The use of purified OP(8)EO enabled one to distinguish the shortened OPEO molecules as biodegradation intermediates. Furthermore, the formation of OP(8)EC (the oxidized product of OP(8)EO) supported the notion that terminal oxidation is a step in the biodegradation process. When biodegradation study was carried out in (18)O-labeled water, incorporation of (18)O atoms into the carboxyl group was observed for OPEC, while no incorporation was observed for the shortened OPEO products. These results could provide some rationale to the biodegradation mechanism of alkylphenol polyethoxylates.
Macro policy responses to oil booms and busts in the United Arab Emirates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Al-Mutawa, A.K.

1991-01-01

The effects of oil shocks and macro policy changes in the United Arab Emirates are analyzed. A theoretical model is developed within the framework of the Dutch Disease literature. It contains four unique features that are applicable to the United Arab Emirates' economy. There are: (1) the presence of a large foreign labor force; (2) OPEC's oil export quotas; (3) the division of oil profits; and (4) the important role of government expenditures. The model is then used to examine the welfare effects of the above-mentioned shocks. An econometric model is then specified that conforms to the analytical model. Inmore » the econometric model the method of principal components' is applied owing to the undersized sample data. The principal components methodology is used in both the identification testing and the estimation of the structural equations. The oil and macro policy shocks are then simulated. The simulation results show that an oil-quantity boom leads to a higher welfare gain than an oil-price boom. Under certain circumstances, this finding is also confirmed by the comparative statistics that follow from the analytical model.« less
A review on existing OSSEs and their implications on European marine observation requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

She, Jun

2017-04-01

Marine observations are essential for understanding marine processes and improving the forecast quality, they are also expensive. It has always been an important issue to optimize sampling schemes of marine observational networks so that the value of marine observations can be maximized and the cost can be lowered. Ocean System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is an efficient tool in assessing impacts of proposed future sampling schemes on reconstructing and forecasting the ocean and ecosystem conditions. In this study existing OSSE research results from EU projects (such as JERICO, OPEC, SANGOMA, E-AIMS and AtlantOS), institutional studies and review papers are collected and analyzed, according to regions (Arctic, Baltic, N. Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea) and instruments/variables. The preliminary results show that significant gaps for OSSEs in regions and instruments. Among the existing OSSEs, Argo (Bio-Argo and Deep See Argo), gliders and ferrybox are the most often investigated instruments. Although many of the OSSEs are dedicated for very specific monitoring strategies and not sufficiently comprehensive for making solid recommendations for optimizing the existing networks, the detailed findings for future marine observation requirements from the OSSEs will be summarized in the presentation. Recommendations for systematic OSSEs for optimizing European marine observation networks are also given.
Implementation of a reduced order Kalman filter to assimilate ocean color data into a coupled physical-biochemical model of the North Aegean Sea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalaroni, Sofia; Tsiaras, Kostas; Economou-Amilli, Athena; Petihakis, George; Politikos, Dimitrios; Triantafyllou, George

2013-04-01

Within the framework of the European project OPEC (Operational Ecology), a data assimilation system was implemented to describe chlorophyll-a concentrations of the North Aegean, as well the impact on the European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) biomass distribution provided by a bioenergetics model, related to the density of three low trophic level functional groups of zooplankton (heterotrophic flagellates, microzooplankton and mesozooplankton). The three-dimensional hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model comprises two on-line coupled sub-models: the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) and the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM). The assimilation scheme is based on the Singular Evolutive Extended Kalman (SEEK) filter and its variant that uses a fixed correction base (SFEK). For the initialization, SEEK filter uses a reduced order error covariance matrix provided by the dominant Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) of model. The assimilation experiments were performed for year 2003 using SeaWiFS chlorophyll-a data during which the physical model uses the atmospheric forcing obtained from the regional climate model HIRHAM5. The assimilation system is validated by assessing the relevance of the system in fitting the data, the impact of the assimilation on non-observed biochemical parameters and the overall quality of the forecasts.

A decade of discontinuity.

PubMed

Brown, L R

1993-01-01

Usual trends in the world have changed direction in the 1990s. We do not yet fully know the consequences of these altered trends. As population continues to grow, basic agricultural and industrial production falls (e.g., 1%/year decline in grain production and 0.6%/year decline in oil production). Moreover, world economic growth has fallen .8% annually in the early 1990s. It is feared that these shifts are not short term as were the instabilities generated during the 1973 increase in oil prices. The shifts in the 1990s are not limited to several national political leaders (e.g., OPEC), but are a result of the collision between swelling human numbers and their needs and the limitations of the earth's natural systems on the other. These limitations include the capacity of seas to produce seafood, of grasslands to yield mutton and beef, of the hydrological cycle to generate fresh water, of crops to use fertilizer, of the atmosphere to absorb carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons, and of people to inhale polluted air, and of forests to resist acid rain. These constraints are forcing the realization that each nation must reduce consumption of the earth's natural resources and implement a population policy. The challenge is for social institutions to quickly check and stabilize population growth without infringing in human rights.
Review and outlook for the world oil market. World Bank discussion paper

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Streifel, S.S.

1995-12-01

The objectives of the study are: (1) to review historical developments in world oil and energy markets; (2) review past and recent forecasts of oil prices and oil markets; and (3) project world oil demand, supply and prices to 2010. A major aim of the study is to take a view on long term oil prices rather than present several alternative scenarios. A basic conclusion of the paper is that significantly higher or lower real oil prices are less likely than a continuance of present price levels, although there is a fairly wide band in which oil prices could reasonablymore » be expected to fluctuate or be sustained, i.e., the low `teens` to the the low $20s per barrel range. OPEC is expected to continue to limit output to keep oil prices well above the long term competitive costs of productions. Consequently the oil market is expected to remain volatile and unstable, although somewhat more stable than during the early 1980s when oil prices were far too high to be sustained. Although upward oil price shocks are likely, a greater risk to the forecast in the near-to-medium term is for a further decline in real oil prices. (Copyright (c) 1995 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank.)« less
Finding the multipath propagation of multivariable crude oil prices using a wavelet-based network approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Xiaoliang; An, Haizhong; Sun, Xiaoqi; Huang, Xuan; Gao, Xiangyun

2016-04-01

The globalization and regionalization of crude oil trade inevitably give rise to the difference of crude oil prices. The understanding of the pattern of the crude oil prices' mutual propagation is essential for analyzing the development of global oil trade. Previous research has focused mainly on the fuzzy long- or short-term one-to-one propagation of bivariate oil prices, generally ignoring various patterns of periodical multivariate propagation. This study presents a wavelet-based network approach to help uncover the multipath propagation of multivariable crude oil prices in a joint time-frequency period. The weekly oil spot prices of the OPEC member states from June 1999 to March 2011 are adopted as the sample data. First, we used wavelet analysis to find different subseries based on an optimal decomposing scale to describe the periodical feature of the original oil price time series. Second, a complex network model was constructed based on an optimal threshold selection to describe the structural feature of multivariable oil prices. Third, Bayesian network analysis (BNA) was conducted to find the probability causal relationship based on periodical structural features to describe the various patterns of periodical multivariable propagation. Finally, the significance of the leading and intermediary oil prices is discussed. These findings are beneficial for the implementation of periodical target-oriented pricing policies and investment strategies.
Essays on Macroeconomics and Oil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cakir, Nida

In these essays, I examine (i) the empirical methods that are widely used in the literature to measure total factor productivity growth and (ii) the impact of nationalization on productivity in the oil industry. The first chapter, which is an ongoing work with SHI, Wei, investigates two empirical measures, quantity-based (primal) measure and price-based (dual) measure, of total factor productivity growth. My co-author and I analyze how these two measures are affected by output market imperfection or variable capacity utilization. We find that under constant-returns-to-scale production function assumption, existence of the imperfect competition in the output market creates a gap between the measured TFP growth and the true TFP growth, no matter which method is used. However, theoretically, it does not affect the equivalence between the two measures. Under variable capacity utilization, we show that constant-returns-to-scale assumption is almost enough to guarantee the validity of the two methods in correctly capturing the true TFP growth. In the second and third chapters, I analyze the link between nationalization and productivity. The second chapter documents the trends in expropriation acts, and evaluates the impact of expropriations on labor productivity of resource-rich developing countries in the oil industry. In the first part of this chapter, I investigate the trends in the expropriation acts that took place in 102 developing countries during the period 1922-2006. I find that more than half of the acts occurred between 1970 and 1976, there has been an increase in the number of expropriations in recent years, and the extractive sector including petroleum is more likely to be expropriated. Motivated by these facts, in the second part, I examine the oil industry in a period of widespread expropriations, the 1970s. In a sample of major oil-producing countries including OPEC and non-OPEC members, I show that losses in relative labor productivity after nationalization range from 25 percent to 55 percent. In the third chapter, I attempt to provide an answer for why nationalization is associated with lower productivity by examining the case of the 1975 Venezuelan oil industry nationalization. The first part of the chapter documents the facts. I find that prior to nationalization there was a significant contraction in manpower (particularly in the foreign work force) and exploration, and an increase in production and productivity. Production and productivity declined sharply, however, by the beginning of the nationalization process. This decline continued even after the process was finalized and a substantial expansion took place in the industry. In the second part, I explain these facts by using a dynamic partial equilibrium framework for nonrenewable resources featured by imperfect substitutability between domestic and foreign workers. The anticipation of nationalization preceding 1970 can explain the drop in the total work force at the expense of lower exploration which accompanies increasing productivity. The lost foreign expertise can explain the path of productivity during and after nationalization. A comparison of the simulated and actual time series shows that around 56 percent of the increase in productivity prior to 1970, and about 39 percent of the decline in productivity during and after the nationalization process can be attributed to the proposed mechanism.
Carbon taxes and the petroleum wealth

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rosendahl, K.E.

1995-12-31

A global carbon tax may have considerable impact on the petroleum wealth of fossil fuel producers. However, it is not clear to what extent such a tax eventually will decrease the producer prices, rather than increase the consumer prices. Thus, an interesting question is: How will the tax burden be shared between producers and consumers? This question is of course of major importance for countries with relatively large petroleum reserves, like for instance the OPEC-countries as well as Norway. In this study we are addressing this question, trying to reveal how different carbon taxes may change the petroleum wealth, bothmore » for the average producer and for Norway in particular. Even if a global climate treaty at present seems a bit distant, several OECD-countries are or have been discussing a carbon tax to restrict their emissions of CO{sub 2}. Hence, there is a fair possibility that such a tax, or eventually some quota restrictions, will be imposed in at least the main countries of the OECD-area, which stands for almost 60 percent of the worlds oil consumption. The size of this tax is difficult to foresee, and in addition, the tax may not be constant over time. However, some concrete proposals of a carbon tax have been put forward in e.g. the EU and the US, and several research projects have come up with appropriate suggestions (see e.g. Manne and Richels and Oliveira Martins et al.).« less
Qatar: development of an oil economy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

El Mallakh, R.

Since black gold catapulted the oil-producing countries into the limelight of the international political and economic scene, there has been a proliferation of studies on the larger exporting states, neglecting many of the small countries like Qatar. A detailed examination of the bases and extent of economic development in Qatar and consideration of the need to translate the petroleum-generated growth into viable, self-sustained development is presented for the first time. Qatar was first in the field of oil development and exhibits a number of special features not shared by its Gulf neighbors: in pre-oil boom days it was already inmore » advance of many other Gulf states in the field of education; it has a modest agricultural sector and there is a comparatively strong attachment to the land; and it has played an important role in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a member of the moderate price camp. The individual chapters trace the development of the oil industry, outline public financing and economic policy and sketch the issues involved in industrialization, absorptive capacity, and agricultural development. Examination is made of the social and physical infrastructure as well as money and banking, and the international linkages in trade, foreign aid, economic co-operation efforts and investment opportunities are elucidated. Planners in Qatar know that their revenue base in petroleum is finite, and thus investment of present surplus needs careful planning. Government priorities are outlined and areas for future investments are suggested.« less
Geology and hydrocarbon potential in the state of Qatar, Arabian Gulf

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alsharhan, A.S.; Nairn, A.E.M.

The state of Qatar is situated in the southern Arabian Gulf and covers an area of 12,000 km{sup 2}. It is formed by a large, broad anticline, which is part of the regional south-southwest-north-northeast-trending Qatar-South Fars arch. The arch separates the two Infracambrian salt basins. The Dukhan field was the first discovery, made in 1939, in the Upper Jurassic limestones. Since then, a series of discoveries have been made so that Qatar has become one of the leading OPEC oil states. Hydrocarbon accumulations are widely dispersed throughout the stratigraphic column from upper Paleozoic to Cretaceous producing strata. The most prolificmore » reservoirs are the Permian and Mesozoic shelf carbonate sequences. Minor clastic reservoirs occur in the Albian and Paleozoic sequences. Seals, mainly anhydrite and shale. occur both intraformationally and regionally. Several stratigraphic intervals contain source rocks or potential source rocks. The Silurian shales arc the most likely source of the hydrocarbon stored in the upper Paleozoic clastics and carbonates. The upper Oxfordian-middle Kimmeridgian rocks formed in the extensive starved basin during the Mesozoic period of sea level rise. Total organic carbon ranges between 1 and 6%, with the sulfur content approximately 9%. The source material consists of sapropelic liptodetrinite and algae. The geological background of the sedimentary facies through geologic time, stratigraphy, and structural evolution which control source, and the subsequent timing and migration of large-scale hydrocarbon generation are presented in detail.« less
High-resolution record of pyrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon deposition during the 20th century.

PubMed

Lima, Ana Lúcia C; Eglinton, Timothy I; Reddy, Christopher M

2003-01-01

A high-resolution record of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) deposition in Rhode Island over the past approximately 180 years was constructed using a sediment core from the anoxic Pettaquamscutt River basin. The record showed significantly more structure than has hitherto been reported and revealed four distinct maxima in PAH flux. The characteristic increase in PAH flux at the turn of the 20th century was captured in detail, leading to an initial maximum prior to the Great Depression. The overall peak in PAH flux in the 1950s was followed by a maximum that immediately preceded the 1973 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo. During the most recent portion of the record, an abrupt increase in PAH flux between 1996 and 1999 has been found to follow a period of near constant fluxes. Because source-diagnostic ratios indicate that petrogenic inputs are minor throughout the record, these trends are interpreted in terms of past variations in the magnitude and type of combustion processes. For the most recent PAH maximum, energy consumption data suggest that diesel fuel combustion, and hence traffic of heavier vehicles, is the most probable cause for the increase in PAH flux. Systematic variations in the relative abundance of individual PAHs in conjunction with the above changes in flux are interpreted in relation to the evolution of combustion processes. Coronene, retene, and perylene are notable exceptions, exhibiting unique down-core profiles.
Long-term follow-up of children with high-risk neuroblastoma: the ENSG5 trial experience.

PubMed

Moreno, Lucas; Vaidya, Sucheta J; Pinkerton, C Ross; Lewis, Ian J; Imeson, John; Machin, David; Pearson, Andrew D J

2013-07-01

Therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma is intensive and multimodal, and significant long-term adverse effects have been described. The aim of this study was to identify the nature and severity of late complications of metastatic neuroblastoma survivors included in the ENSG5 clinical trial. The trial protocol included induction chemotherapy (randomized "Standard" OPEC/OJEC vs. "Rapid" COJEC), surgery of primary tumor and high-dose melphalan with stem cell rescue. Two hundred and sixty-two children were randomized, 69 survived >5 years, and 57 were analyzed. Data were obtained from the ENSG5 trial database and verified with questionnaires sent to participating centers. Median follow-up was 12.9 (6.9-16.5) years. No differences were found in late toxicities between treatment arms. Twenty-eight children (49.1%) developed hearing loss. Nine patients (15.8%) developed glomerular filtration rate <80 ml/min/1.73 m(2), but no cases of chronic renal failure were documented. Endocrine complications (28.1% of children) included mainly hypogonadism and delayed growth. Four children developed second malignancies, three of them 5 years after diagnosis: one osteosarcoma, one carcinoma of the parotid gland and one ependymoma. There were no hematological malignancies or deaths in remission. This study analyzed a wide cohort of high-risk neuroblastoma survivors from a multi-institutional randomized trial and established the profile of long-term toxicity within the setting of an international clinical trial. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Rapid COJEC Induction Therapy for High-risk Neuroblastoma Patients - Cochrane Review.

PubMed

Peinemann, F; van Dalen, E C; Berthold, F

2016-04-01

Neuroblastoma is a rare malignant disease and patients with high-risk neuroblastoma have a poor prognosis. Rapid COJEC induction chemotherapy means (almost) the same total doses given within a shorter time period. In theory, rapid COJEC could reduce the risk of drug resistance and it has been considered as a potential candidate for improving the outcome. The objective was to evaluate effects of rapid COJEC compared to standard induction chemotherapy in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. We searched the databases CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE from inception to 11 November 2014 and included randomized controlled trials. We identified one relevant randomized controlled trial with 130 participants receiving rapid COJEC and 132 participants receiving standard OPEC/COJEC induction chemotherapy. There was no statistically significant difference between the treatment groups in complete response (risk ratio 0.99, 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 1.38, P=0.94) and treatment-related mortality (risk ratio 1.21, 95% confidence interval 0.33 to 4.39, P=0.77). A statistically significant difference in favor of the standard treatment arm was identified for the following early toxicities: febrile neutropenia, septicemia, and renal toxicity. The differences in complete response and treatment-related mortality between treatment alternatives were not statistically significantly different. Based on the currently available evidence, we are uncertain about the effects of rapid COJEC induction chemotherapy in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.
Energy and globalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birjandi, Hossein Saremi

Before the Industrial Revolution, nations required no energy fuel. People relied on human, animal, and wind and waterpower for energy need. Energy (oil) has resettled populations, elected officials in the free world, or changed the governments of the energy rich countries by force. Energy fueled wars, played the major factor in the might of those who have it or more importantly the abilities to acquire it by force. This dissertation researches the primacy of oil as an energy source from the time of oil's discovery to the present times. Between 1945 and 1960, the use of oil and gas doubled as power was generated for industries as steel, cement, metalworking and more important of all filling station hoses into automobiles gas tanks, thus energy swept people and societies quite literally off their feet. One in every six jobs in the industrial world hired by the giant automotive industries. The big five American oil companies spurred on by special tax benefit, these companies grew to gigantic sizes by taking out the best part of the nation's oil. Then, for greater growth, they leaped overseas and built up an immensely profitable system, in alliance with Anglo-Dutch Shell and British Petroleum, known as seven sisters. On the other side of the world, the energy producing nations form an alliance mainly to protect themselves from downward price fluctuations of oil. The struggle for survival in the global energy market forced those countries to get together and form OPEC, which is referred as an "oil cartel".
The Policy Trade-off Between Energy Security and Climate Change in the GCC States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahbek, Shaikha Ali

Developing policies for energy security and climate change simultaneously can be very challenging as there is a trade-off. This research project strives to analyze the policies regarding the same that should be developed in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) States which are; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman. Energy security is important in these countries because it is the prominent sector of their economies. Yet, the environment is being negatively impacted because of the energy production. There has been lot of international pressure on the GCC to divert its production and move towards clean energy production. It needs more research and development, as well as better economic diversification to maintain and improve the economic growth. Along with the literature review that has been used to study the cases and impacts of the GCC states, six in-depth interviews were conducted with professors, scholars and specialists in the environment and natural science fields to discuss about the GCC's situation. It has been alluded that the GCC states cannot be held solely responsible about the climate change because they are not the only energy producing nations in the world. Based on OPEC, there are 14 countries including the United States and China that also have prominent energy sectors. They should also be held accountable for the causes of environmental and climate change. This research provides recommendations for the GCC states to follow and apply in order to move forward with clean energy production, economic diversification and develop better policies.
Efficacy of PLD-118, a Novel Inhibitor of Candida Isoleucyl-tRNA Synthetase, against Experimental Oropharyngeal and Esophageal Candidiasis Caused by Fluconazole-Resistant C. albicans

PubMed Central

Petraitis, Vidmantas; Petraitiene, Ruta; Kelaher, Amy M.; Sarafandi, Alia A.; Sein, Tin; Mickiene, Diana; Bacher, John; Groll, Andreas H.; Walsh, Thomas J.

2004-01-01

PLD-118, formerly BAY 10-8888, is a synthetic antifungal derivative of the naturally occurring β-amino acid cispentacin. We studied the activity of PLD-118 in escalating dosages against experimental oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis (OPEC) caused by fluconazole (FLC)-resistant Candida albicans in immunocompromised rabbits. Infection was established by fluconazole-resistant (MIC > 64 μg/ml) clinical isolates from patients with refractory esophageal candidiasis. Antifungal therapy was administered for 7 days. Study groups consisted of untreated controls; animals receiving PLD-118 at 4, 10, 25, or 50 mg/kg of body weight/day via intravenous (i.v.) twice daily (BID) injections; animals receiving FLC at 2 mg/kg/day via i.v. BID injections; and animals receiving desoxycholate amphotericin B (DAMB) i.v. at 0.5 mg/kg/day. PLD-118- and DAMB-treated animals showed a significant dosage-dependent clearance of C. albicans from the tongue, oropharynx, and esophagus in comparison to untreated controls (P ≤ 0.05, P ≤ 0.01, P ≤ 0.001, respectively), while FLC had no significant activity. PLD-118 demonstrated nonlinear plasma pharmacokinetics across the investigated dosage range, as was evident from a dose-dependent increase in plasma clearance and a dose-dependent decrease in the area under the plasma concentration-time curve. The biochemical safety profile was similar to that of FLC. In summary, PLD-118 demonstrated dosage-dependent antifungal activity and nonlinear plasma pharmacokinetics in treatment of experimental FLC-resistant oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis. PMID:15388459
Treatment outcome in Hodgkin's disease in patients above the age of 60: a population-based study.

PubMed

Enblad, G; Glimelius, B; Sundström, C

1991-04-01

All persons in three Swedish counties afflicted with Hodgkin's disease between 1979 and 1988 were traced. The objective was to analyze, in unselected, population-based material, whether an assumed worse prognosis in the elderly could be due to differences in staging procedures, treatment intensity, decreased tolerance to therapy or to a more aggressive disease. After histopathological revision, 163 of 202 patients (autopsy cases excluded) were accepted as HD, 61 (37%) of them above the age of 60. Although staging procedures had been more intense in the young, the elderly patients had a more advanced stage at diagnosis, and tended more often to have B-symptoms. The intensity of staging procedures did not seem to influence survival. The 5-yr relative survival was 37% above and 85% below the age of 60. Radiotherapy was the primary treatment in 12 (20%) above and 41 (41%) below the age of 60 with 5-yr relative survival figures of 84% and 85%, respectively. Thirty-seven patients (61%) above and 61 (59%) below 60 were treated with combination chemotherapy (MOPP/ABVD, MOPP, ChlVPP/OPEC) with curative intent. The 5-yr relative survival was 33% and 86%, respectively. The majority of the elderly patients (54%) received less than 40% of the planned chemotherapy dose. The main reason for this pronounced reduction was intolerance to therapy, with 8 treatment-related deaths. We conclude that tolerance to combination chemotherapy in the elderly patients with HD is poor and could be the major reason for poor treatment outcome in this age group.
Characterization and quantitative analysis of surfactants in textile wastewater by liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

PubMed

González, Susana; Petrović, Mira; Radetic, Maja; Jovancic, Petar; Ilic, Vesna; Barceló, Damià

2008-05-01

A method based on the application of ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to hybrid quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QqTOF-MS) with an electrospray (ESI) interface has been developed for the screening and confirmation of several anionic and non-ionic surfactants: linear alkylbenzenesulfonates (LAS), alkylsulfate (AS), alkylethersulfate (AES), dihexyl sulfosuccinate (DHSS), alcohol ethoxylates (AEOs), coconut diethanolamide (CDEA), nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs), and their degradation products (nonylphenol carboxylate (NPEC), octylphenol carboxylate (OPEC), 4-nonylphenol (NP), 4-octylphenol (OP) and NPEO sulfate (NPEO-SO4). The developed methodology permits reliable quantification combined with a high accuracy confirmation based on the accurate mass of the (de)protonated molecules in the TOFMS mode. For further confirmation of the identity of the detected compounds the QqTOF mode was used. Accurate masses of product ions obtained by performing collision-induced dissociation (CID) of the (de)protonated molecules of parent compounds were matched with the ions obtained for a standard solution. The method was applied for the quantitative analysis and high accuracy confirmation of surfactants in complex mixtures in effluents from the textile industry. Positive identification of the target compounds was based on accurate mass measurement of the base peak, at least one product ion and the LC retention time of the analyte compared with that of a standard. The most frequently surfactants found in these textile effluents were NPEO and NPEO-SO4 in concentrations ranging from 0.93 to 5.68 mg/L for NPEO and 0.06 to 4.30 mg/L for NPEO-SO4. AEOs were also identified.
Efficacy of PLD-118, a novel inhibitor of candida isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, against experimental oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis caused by fluconazole-resistant C. albicans.

PubMed

Petraitis, Vidmantas; Petraitiene, Ruta; Kelaher, Amy M; Sarafandi, Alia A; Sein, Tin; Mickiene, Diana; Bacher, John; Groll, Andreas H; Walsh, Thomas J

2004-10-01

PLD-118, formerly BAY 10-8888, is a synthetic antifungal derivative of the naturally occurring beta-amino acid cispentacin. We studied the activity of PLD-118 in escalating dosages against experimental oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis (OPEC) caused by fluconazole (FLC)-resistant Candida albicans in immunocompromised rabbits. Infection was established by fluconazole-resistant (MIC > 64 microg/ml) clinical isolates from patients with refractory esophageal candidiasis. Antifungal therapy was administered for 7 days. Study groups consisted of untreated controls; animals receiving PLD-118 at 4, 10, 25, or 50 mg/kg of body weight/day via intravenous (i.v.) twice daily (BID) injections; animals receiving FLC at 2 mg/kg/day via i.v. BID injections; and animals receiving desoxycholate amphotericin B (DAMB) i.v. at 0.5 mg/kg/day. PLD-118- and DAMB-treated animals showed a significant dosage-dependent clearance of C. albicans from the tongue, oropharynx, and esophagus in comparison to untreated controls (P
Energy vulnerability relationships

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shaw, B.R.; Boesen, J.L.

The US consumption of crude oil resources has been a steadily growing indicator of the vitality and strength of the US economy. At the same time import diversity has also been a rapidly developing dimension of the import picture. In the early 1970`s, embargoes of crude oil from Organization of Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) created economic and political havoc due to a significant lack of diversity and a unique set of economic, political and domestic regulatory circumstances. The continued rise of imports has again led to concerns over the security of our crude oil resource but threats to thismore » system must be considered in light of the diversity and current setting of imported oil. This report develops several important issues concerning vulnerability to the disruption of oil imports: (1) The Middle East is not the major supplier of oil to the United States, (2) The US is not vulnerable to having its entire import stream disrupted, (3) Even in stable countries, there exist vulnerabilities to disruption of the export stream of oil, (4) Vulnerability reduction requires a focus on international solutions, and (5) DOE program and policy development must reflect the requirements of the diverse supply. Does this increasing proportion of imported oil create a {open_quotes}dependence{close_quotes}? Does this increasing proportion of imported oil present a vulnerability to {open_quotes}price shocks{close_quotes} and the tremendous dislocations experienced during the 1970`s? Finally, what is the vulnerability of supply disruptions from the current sources of imported oil? If oil is considered to be a finite, rapidly depleting resource, then the answers to these questions must be {open_quotes}yes.{close_quotes} However, if the supply of oil is expanding, and not limited, then dependence is relative to regional supply sources.« less
The Role of Heat in the Development of Energy and Mineral Resources in the Northern Basin and Range Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armstrong, Richard L.

It is now just over a decade since OPEC escalated the price of oil and triggered a flurry of alternate energy research and changing energy consumption practices. One scientific impact of that historical economic turning point was the launching of geothermal exploration programs of unprecedented intensity that focused on Cenozoic volcanic rocks and active, as well as fossil, geothermal systems. The good science that was already being done on such rocks and systems was both accelerated and diluted by government-funded research and energy industry exploration efforts. After the initial flood of detailed reports, gray literature, and documents interred in company files, we are observing the appearance of syntheses of just what happened and what progress was achieved during the geothermal boom (which has now wilted to the quiet development of a few most promising sites). Recent examples of geothermal synthesis literature include the book Geothermal Systems by L. Rybach and L.J. Muffler (John Wiley, New York, 1981), publications like Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries Paper 15 by G.R. Priest et al. (1983) entitled “Geology and geothermal resources of central Oregon Cascade range,” and informative maps like the U.S. Geological Survey series summarizing late Cenozoic volcanic rock distribution and age (R.G. Luedke and R.L. Smith, maps 1-1091 A to D, 1979 to 1982), and state and regional geothermal resources maps (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, 1977-1982). The book under review here is part of this second literature wave, a useful primary reference, collection of syntheses, and literature guide but certainly not unique.
Industrial conversion costs from oil and gas to alternative fuels

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Askari, H.; Reichert, A.T.

1977-01-01

From a national standpoint, many questions can be raised on conversion -- whether mandatory or through taxation. 1) Why is it necessary to intervene in the market since price increases will act to allocate available fuels. The desire to reduce dependence on imported oil and gas may be an overriding constraint -- an unproven proposition; some believe that price increases would not have a significant positive impact on output -- a position without a great deal of economic or geological foundation; and the President, for obvious reasons, did not want to force households into conversion nor did he want tomore » propose deregulation which, in the short run, may increase prices directly to consumers but it would be politically more palatable to pass on energy price increase through industry; though astute politically, the economic merit of such a decision is very questionable. 2) Is the cutback of oil and gas consumption being targeted into the least critical area of national need, namely industry. 3) From the national perspective, is conversion desirable as compared to continued dependence on foreign oil for existing plants, with non-petroleum fuel sources for new plants and new residential dwellings. If conversion costs are prohibitive, then it may be ruled out. If conversion costs are low but the real cost of using coal or electricity far exceeds the economic risk of OPEC price increases or embargoes, then again conversion may be ruled out. In short, even if conversion costs are low, it is far from obvious that conversion is desirable. In this paper, the question of conversion cost and its regional implications is examined in detail.« less
Changes In The Heating Degree-days In Norway Due Toglobal Warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skaugen, T. E.; Tveito, O. E.; Hanssen-Bauer, I.

A continuous spatial representation of temperature improves the possibility topro- duce maps of temperature-dependent variables. A temperature scenario for the period 2021-2050 is obtained for Norway from the Max-Planck-Institute? AOGCM, GSDIO ECHAM4/OPEC 3. This is done by an ?empirical downscaling method? which in- volves the use of empirical links between large-scale fields and local variables to de- duce estimates of the local variables. The analysis is obtained at forty-six sites in Norway. Spatial representation of the anomalies of temperature in the scenario period compared to the normal period (1961-1990) is obtained with the use of spatial interpo- lation in a GIS. The temperature scenario indicates that we will have a warmer climate in Norway in the future, especially during the winter season. The heating degree-days (HDD) is defined as the accumulated Celsius degrees be- tween the daily mean temperature and a threshold temperature. For Scandinavian countries, this threshold temperature is 17 Celsius degrees. The HDD is found to be a good estimate of accumulated cold. It is therefore a useful index for heating energy consumption within the heating season, and thus to power production planning. As a consequence of the increasing temperatures, the length of the heating season and the HDD within this season will decrease in Norway in the future. The calculations of the heating season and the HDD is estimated at grid level with the use of a GIS. The spatial representation of the heating season and the HDD can then easily be plotted. Local information of the variables being analysed can be withdrawn from the spatial grid in a GIS. The variable is prepared for further spatial analysis. It may also be used as an input to decision making systems.

Oil: a guide through the total energy jungle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Windsor, P.

1976-01-01

The primary fact is, according to Mr. Windsor, that there is no shortage of oil and there won't be for many years to come--ample time for advanced technologies to provide other sources of energy if only.... This is not to downgrade the severity of the crisis--but to say that the major dangers lie elsewhere, in politics, in monetary, fiscal, social and military national policies. The author traces an easily comprehensible line for connection through these complexities. Here is a brief history of oil, of the great oil companies, their connections with their governments and their continuing, if diminishing, importance. Heremore » are answers to such vital questions as: why a complex OPEC country like Iran might want maximum oil production and the highest possible rate of price increase while a smaller and simpler one like Saudi Arabia might want to keep its oil in the ground and ask more moderate prices; what effect the price of oil may have on world economic stability and the capabilities of Western technology; how oil is now setting back if not destroying the Green Revolution in new and developing countries; why it is perhaps sensible to develop oil fields off Scotland and Alaska, and elsewhere, even though the wellhead cost per barrel is astronomically higher than in Saudi Arabia. These matters, and many others like them, are not separate although they have devastating particular effects. In the end, more concerned with international relations than with oil itself or economics in the strict sense of the word, this book points out that the solution must be political on a multinational scale and requires foresight and forbearance of a kind uncommon in history. (from book jacket)« less
Energy Technologies for the West: what impact could energy technology development have on the quality of life. Workshop held in San Francisco, California, 22 September 1976

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

David O. Rankin, a clergyman, the first of eight speakers, dealt with religion and science, particularly the responsibility of scientists; he concluded that ''science without religion is demoniac.'' Raymond Romatowski, ERDA, examined the impacts of technological developments and the impacts in terms of quality of life of a shortage of energy. Daniel Luten, Univ. of California, spoke on Huxley's axiom that ''perhaps the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being but some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge.'' Dr. Richard Mason, Univ. of California, spoke on what is to be expected for the quality ofmore » life in respect to the production section, the quality of working life; in effect, guidelines that might be used in developing alternative, or new social processes. Dr. Laura Nader, Univ. of California, examined the impact of energy technology development on the quality of life, after the millions of dollars of investment in the past 20 years. Ms. Theodosa H. Ferguson, San Francisco Bay area Ad Hoc Energy Forum, spoke briefly on implementation and planning, a dynamic dialogue. Using our $13 million/hour bill to the OPEC nations, she displayed graphically what energy is--and why education is needed. Carter Rose, a citizen, shared his thoughts on the nature of human consciousness. Doug Mallouk, U.S. Labor Party, Fusion Energy Foundation, spoke for labor saying, in effect, that they will continue to oppose the so-called ''quality of life'' movement, because they are concerned with the real quality of life. Mr. Mallouk's speech had centered around labor activities in order to maintain jobs, etc. A very hotly debated question-and-answer period concluded the session. (MCW)« less
Future resources and world development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rogers, P.

1976-01-01

The aim of this book is to examine some of the longer-term implications of the use of global resources on prospects for world development and on relations between the developed and less-developed countries of the world. Part I consists of papers prepared especially for this volume. It begins with a contribution from Anthony Vam on ''The Global Ecosystem and Human Activity'' which gives an ecological perspective to trends in energy and mineral resource utilization. This is followed by a detailed case study of the one dominating example of producer power, oil; this is entitled ''Oil Prices, OPEC and the Poormore » Oil Consuming Countries'' and is by Dr. Biplab Dasgupta. Following this, Paul Rogers contributes a paper on ''The Role of Less-Developed Countries in World Resource Use'' which includes a consideration of the potential development of producer power for a number of primary commodities. This is followed by a paper by Dr. E. E. Banks entitled ''Problems of Mineral Supply'' which concentrates attention on two important minerals, copper and aluminum. Robert Dickson and Paul Rogers then contribute a discussion on the possible effects of producer power on relations between developed and less-developed countries. The editors then conclude with a summary of the views expressed in the preceding papers placed in the context of recent developments on the international scene. Part II of this book consists of a number of important documents, statements, and speeches that appeared over the period September 1973 to May 1975. This was the crucial period for the development of producer power and the contributions help to show exactly how the process has developed.« less
Induction chemotherapy in metastatic neuroblastoma--does dose influence response? A critical review of published data standards, options and recommendations (SOR) project of the National Federation of French Cancer Centres (FNCLCC).

PubMed

Pinkerton, C R; Blanc Vincent, M P; Bergeron, C; Fervers, B; Philip, T

2000-09-01

The purpose of this study was to determine, from a review of published data, whether in stage 4 neuroblastoma in children over 1 year of age, the dose or scheduling of induction chemotherapy influenced the response rate in distant metastases. Publications relating to induction chemotherapy since the introduction of cisplatin/epipodophyllotoxin combinations were identified using Medline, Current Contents and personal reference lists. Thirteen publications were identified which described 17 regimens involving 948 children. The doses and the scheduling of the various regimens were compared with a standard regimen OPEC (vincristine, cisplatin, teniposide, cyclophosphamide). These were correlated with the reported response rates in the bone marrow. Due to a lack of standardisation in the nature of restaging investigations, timing of restaging and definitions of response it was difficult to compare all studies. The complete response rate at distant metastases ranged from less than 40% to over 90%. For individual drugs; the comparative doses given in each course ranged up to 4.2 g/m(2) for cyclophosphamide, 280 mg/m(2) for cisplatin, 600 mg/m(2) for etoposide and 4.5 mg/m(2) for vincristine. There was no evidence of any positive correlation between response rate in the marrow and either the dose of any individual drug or the schedule used. In contrast to a previous study which included a number of older studies where disease assessment was even more variable, this analysis has failed to show any justification for the routine use of very intensive induction regimens in this disease. Such an approach should only be taken in the context of randomised trials in which timing and methods of reassessment can be standardised. Until such studies demonstrate superiority either in terms of response rate or progression-free survival lower morbidity regimens should remain the standard therapy.
Comparisons of xylem sap flow and water vapour flux at the stand level and derivation of canopy conductance for Scots pine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Granier, A.; Biron, P.; Köstner, B.; Gay, L. W.; Najjar, G.

1996-03-01

Simultaneous measurements of xylem sap flow and water vapour flux over a Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris) forest (Hartheim, Germany), were carried out during the Hartheim Experiment (HartX), an intensive observation campaign of the international programme REKLIP. Sap flow was measured every 30 min using both radial constant heating (Granier, 1985) and two types of Cermak sap flowmeters installed on 24 trees selected to cover a wide range of the diameter classes of the stand (min 8 cm; max 17.5 cm). Available energy was high during the observation period (5.5 to 6.9 mm.day-1), and daily cumulated sap flow on a ground area basis varied between 2.0 and 2.7 mm day-1 depending on climate conditions. Maximum hourly values of sap flow reached 0.33 mm h-1, i.e., 230 W m-2. Comparisons of sap flow with water vapour flux as measured with two OPEC (One Propeller Eddy Correlation, University of Arizona) systems showed a time lag between the two methods, sap flow lagging about 90 min behind vapour flux. After taking into account this time lag in the sap flow data set, a good agreement was found between both methods: sap flow = 0.745* vapour flux, r 2 = 0.86. The difference between the two estimates was due to understory transpiration. Canopy conductance ( g c ) was calculated from sap flow measurements using the reverse form of Penman-Monteith equation and climatic data measured 4 m above the canopy. Variations of g c were well correlated ( r 2 = 0.85) with global radiation ( R) and vapour pressure deficit ( vpd). The quantitative expression for g c = f ( R, vpd) was very similar to that previously found with maritime pine ( Pinus pinaster) in the forest of Les Landes, South Western France.
Political non-speak. Gadfly: Norman Myers.

PubMed

Myers, N

1992-01-01

Election years in Britain, the USA, France, and Italy have not granted the environment a high place on the political agenda even in the year of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The erosion of the natural resources base is not included as natural resource accounting in the computation of gross national product (GNP). In countries such as Germany, Australia, Indonesia, and Costa Rica, 50% of GNP growth annually is cancelled out by soil erosion, pollution, excessive logging, and other environmental degradation. The economic health of the country including recovery from recessions is related to environmental protection. The economic practices involve ecological deficit accounting. It has been suggested by Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute that an economical deflator is needed to gage economic progress. The ecological illiteracy of politicians prevents the American people from realizing the actual cost of ignoring the problems. Politicians fight against raising taxes on gasoline and ignore the cost of carbon dioxide emissions and destabilization of climate. Americans pay a 1/4 the price Europeans pay for gasoline. Energy conservation must be expanded from current levels. Improvements have been made since the first OPEC price hike in 1973; the economy saved $100 billion a year and improved efficiency and production. American conservation in line with European conservation would save $200 billion a year; matching Japanese conservation would generate a savings of $300 billion. This sum exceeds the Federal deficit or the Pentagon budget. It is enough to save 8 million children who die from preventable causes or provide $4.5 billion/year annually to the year 2000 for foreign aid for UN family planning programs. The savings compares favorable with the UNCED estimates of $125 billion/year for environmental protection in the South. The question is whether politicians really would be committing political suicide by listening less to oil and car lobbyists and listening more to those promoting long term interests and security.
Fifteen years' review of advanced childhood neuroblastoma from a single institution in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Leung, C K

1998-05-01

To assess the progress in the treatment of advanced childhood neuroblastoma. From 1981 to 1996, there were 32 children with neuroblastoma (NB) diagnosed, staged and treated in our institution. There were 4 patients with stage II NB (12%), 5 stage III (16%), 21 stage IV (66%) and 2 stage IV s (6%). The NBs were excised if CT scan indicated that the tumors were operable. For advanced NB, stages III and IV, multiple drug chemotherapy was started first and operability was assessed with serial CT scan examinations. Once the X-ray imaging indicated the tumors were operable, surgical interventions were done. The medical records of the advanced NB were reviewed. In the initial period of the study, 9 patients were treated using the VAC protocol [vincristine (vcr), adriamycin (adria) and cyclophosphamide (cyc)]. No patient was convertible to operable and all died with a mean survival of 10 months. OPEC [vcr, cyc, VM26, cisplatin (cis)], Rapid COJEC (carboplatin, VP16, vcr, cis and cyc) and more recently N6 protocol (cyc, adria, vcr, VP16, cis) was used for 17 patients. 80% of them were converted to operable. In 4 patients, surgical specimens showed only necrotic tissue without viable tumor tissue and 6 (35%) tumors were converted to ganglioneuroma or ganglioneuroblastoma. Although 2 (12%) patients died of fungal septicemia and 1 (6%) developed Fanconi's syndrome after chemotherapy, the mean survival period increased to 27 months. In the 10 survivors (60%), 4 had megatherapy with melphalan followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation and 2 were waiting for transplantation. There is a high percentage of advanced NB on presentation in Hong Kong. With more potent multiple drug chemotherapy for advanced stage NB there are (1) improvement in the survival of these patients, (2) opportunities for more operations for tumor excision and (3) opportunities for autologous PBSC transplantation for better tumor eradication.
International Energy Outlook 2016 With Projections to 2040

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Conti, John; Holtberg, Paul; Diefenderfer, Jim

The International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016) presents an assessment by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the outlook for international energy markets through 2040. U.S. projections appearing in IEO2016 are consistent with those published in EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2015 (AEO2015). IEO2016 is provided as a service to energy managers and analysts, both in government and in the private sector. The projections are used by international agencies, federal and state governments, trade associations, and other planners and decisionmakers. They are published pursuant to the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-91), Section 205(c). The IEO2016 energymore » consumption projections are divided according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development members (OECD) and nonmembers (non-OECD). OECD members are divided into three basic country groupings: OECD Americas (United States, Canada, and Mexico/Chile), OECD Europe, and OECD Asia (Japan, South Korea, and Australia/New Zealand). Non-OECD countries are divided into five separate regional subgroups: non-OECD Europe and Eurasia (which includes Russia); non-OECD Asia (which includes China and India); Middle East; Africa; and non-OECD Americas (which includes Brazil). In some instances, the IEO2016 energy production models have different regional aggregations to reflect important production sources (for example, Middle East OPEC is a key region in the projections for liquids production). Complete regional definitions are listed in Appendix M. IEO2016 focuses exclusively on marketed energy. Nonmarketed energy sources, which continue to play an important role in some developing countries, are not included in the estimates. The IEO2016 projections are based on existing U.S. and foreign government laws and regulations. In general, IEO2016 reflects the effects of current policies—often stated through regulations—within the projections. EIA analysts attempt to interpret the likely effects of announced country targets when the implementation of those targets will require new policies that have not been formulated or announced.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Santini, Danilo J.; Poyer, David A.

Vector error correction (VEC) was used to test the importance of a theoretical causal chain from transportation fuel cost to vehicle sales to macroeconomic activity. Real transportation fuel cost was broken into two cost components: real gasoline price (rpgas) and real personal consumption of gasoline and other goods (gas). Real personal consumption expenditure on vehicles (RMVE) represented vehicle sales. Real gross domestic product (rGDP) was used as the measure of macroeconomic activity. The VEC estimates used quarterly data from the third quarter of 1952 to the first quarter of 2014. Controlling for the financial causes of the recent Great Recession,more » real homeowners’ equity (equity) and real credit market instruments liability (real consumer debt, rcmdebt) were included. Results supported the primary hypothesis of the research, but also introduced evidence that another financial path through equity is important, and that use of the existing fleet of vehicles (not just sales of vehicles) is an important transport-related contributor to macroeconomic activity. Consumer debt reduction is estimated to be a powerful short-run force reducing vehicle sales. Findings are interpreted in the context of the recent Greene, Lee, and Hopson (2012) (hereafter GLH) estimation of the magnitude of three distinct macroeconomic damage effects that result from dependence on imported oil, the price of which is manipulated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The three negative macroeconomic impacts are due to (1) dislocation (positive oil price shock), (2) high oil price levels, and (3) a high value of the quantity of oil imports times an oil price delta (cartel price less competitive price). The third of these is the wealth effect. The VEC model addresses the first two, but the software output from the model (impulse response plots) does not isolate them. Nearly all prior statistical tests in the literature have used vector autoregression (VAR) and autoregressive distributed lag models that considered effects of oil price changes, but did not account for effects of oil price levels. Gasoline prices were rarely examined. The tests conducted in this report evaluate gasoline instead of oil.« less
Alberta's economic development of the Athabasca oil sands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinmann, Michael

This dissertation examines the 61-year evolution of public policies pertaining to development of Alberta's non-conventional source of crude oil. The Athabasca oil sands contain an estimated 1.5 trillion barrels and provide for a safe continental supply. The Provincial Government first sponsored this undertaking in 1943. The period from then to 1971 was one of a transition from a wheat economy to a natural-resource economic base. A stable government emerged and was able to negotiate viable development policies. A second period, 1971 to 1986, was marked by unstable world conditions that afforded the Alberta government the ability to set terms of development with multi-national oil firms. A 50% profit-sharing plan was implemented, and basic 1973 terms lasted until 1996. However, 1986 was a critical year because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced prices, causing the Alberta economy to lapse into recession. During a third period, 1986 to 1996, the Alberta Government was unable to adapt quickly to world conditions. A new leadership structure in 1996 made major changes to create ongoing fiscal and development policies. That history provides answers to two primary research questions: How do public policies affect the behaviors of the modern corporation and visa versa? What are the implications for development theory? Two sources of information were used for this study. First, it was possible to review the Premier's files located in the Provincial Archives. Materials from various government libraries were also examined. Some 7,000 documents were used to show the evolution of government policymaking. Second, interviews with leaders of oil companies and federal research facilities were important. Findings support the thesis that, to facilitate oil sands development, government and the private sector have closely collaborated. In particular, revenue policies have allowed for effective R&D organization. Relying on intensive technological innovations to achieve economic oil sands productivity, the oil companies have responded successfully to declining rates of American conventional oil production. With respect to North American hinterlands, implications for development theory center on connections among established and changing political coalitions, capacities for technological innovations, and responses to dynamic world conditions.
New light on old problem: population.

PubMed

Padilla, T

1982-01-01

A central issue of the Third Asian and Pacific Population Conference, to be held in Sri Lanka in September 1982, is the need for full recognition on the part of developing countries that an integrated approach to population and development is essential. Such an approach requires the following: management of internal migration and urbanization; women's participation in development; and increased involvement in promoting family planning, family welfare, and family health programs. Of much concern is the fact that the ESCAP region's urban population is projected to grow from 660 million in 1980 to 1347 million by the year 2000. Much of this increase will occur in the largest cities. Unplanned urbanization and a growing population reservoir in rural areas will continue to spur movements to the cities, aggravating the urban malaise, yet migration is young people's only option if rural populations are to survive. These problems plague most governments. A recent conference held in Rome urged governments to formulate comprehensive population policies and programs, to specify goals on the rate of population growth and on the distribution of population between urban and rural areas, and to plan for the redistribution of population. The conference also recommended that cities pay attention to problems of the shantytown and slum dwellers who are principally rural migrants and the urban poor. In addition the region's corps of development planners and experts worry about the staggering increase in migration by 3rd world guest workers to the high income OPEC members in the Middle East and the industrialized market economy nations. The proper management of international migration should increase the reabsorptive capacity of sending countries to ensure the reintegration of returning off-loaded guest workers and should try to prevent the rural stagnation due to large scale migration by the young and the better educated from the countryside. Internal and international migration give women an opportunity to discover their great development potential. Yet, more generally, women breaking out of social structures that foster dependency and exploitation are in need of more than simple, single factor solutions. Emerging relationships between declining mortality levels and women's participation in development and economic activities will be explored at the Third Asian and Pacific Population Conference.
Hypercars: The next industrial revolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lovins, Amory B.; Barnett, John W.; Lovins, L. Hunter

1996-01-01

The auto industry -- one-seventh of the GNP, and the highest expression of the Iron Age -- is about to trigger the biggest transformation in industrial structure since the microchip. Ultralight cars molded from net-shape advanced composites can be several-fold lighter than present steel cars, yet safer, sportier, and more comfortable, durable, and beautiful. Modern hybrid-electric drives boost efficiency approximately 1.3-1.5x in heavy steel cars, but approximately 5-20x in ultralight, very slippery plafforms. Synergistically combined into ultralight-hybrid 'hypercars,' these elements can yield state-of-the-shelf family cars that average 150-300+ mi/gal -- twice that with state-of-the-art technologies -- yet can also be superior in all other respects, probably including cost: carbon-fiber monocoques can actually be cheaper to mass-produce that steel unibodies. Designing cars more like aircraft and less like tanks requires not only an approximately 400-500 kg curb mass and very low air and road drag, but also an aerospace philosophy of engineering integration. Mass, cost, and complexity turn out to compound with heavy hybrids but to decompound with ultralight hybrids, owing partly to radical simplification. Excellent aerodynamics, preferable including advanced techniques for passive boundary-layer control, will be the key to successful design integration. Transforming automaking is a competitive and environmental imperative, could form the nucleus of a green industrial Renaissance, and would enhance national security by, among other things, saving as much oil as OPEC now extracts. However, this transformation faces serious cultural barriers. For example, hypercars will be more like computers with wheels than like cars with chips -- they'll have an order of magnitude more code than today's cars -- but Detroit is not a software culture. Just the transition from stamped and welded steel to integrated and adhesive-joined synthetics is difficult enough. Nonetheless, hypercars are rapidly heading to market in the late 1990s, because approximately 25 current and intending automakers are eager to capture their potentially decisive competitive advantages -- including order-of-magnitude reductions in product cycle time, tooling cost, assembly effort, and parts count. Hypercars will succeed, and may well sweep the market, not because of mandates or subsidies, but because of manufacturers' quest for competitive advantage and customers' desire for better, smarter cars.
International sources of financial cooperation for health in developing countries.

PubMed

Howard, L M

1983-01-01

By direct consulation and review of published sources, a study of 16 selected official sources of international financial cooperation was conducted over the August 1979 to August 1980 period in order to assess the policies, programs, and prospects for support of established international health goals. This study demonstrated that approximately 90% of the external health sector funds are provided via development oriented agencies. The major agencies providing such assistance concur that no sector, including health, should be excluded "a priori," providing that the requesting nation conveys its proposals through the appropriate national development planning authority. The agencies in the study also were found to be supporting health related programs in all the geographic regions of the World Health Organization (WHO). An associated review of 30 external funding agencies revealed that only 5 reported providing health assistance in more than half of the countries where they provided assistance for general development purposes. Interviewed sources attributed this to the limited manner in which health proposals have been identified, prepared, and forwarded (with national development authority approval) to international agencies. In 1979 concessional development financing totaled approximately US$29.9 billion, US$24.2 billion being provided by 17 major industrial nations, US$4.7 billion by Organization of Petroleum Exporting (OPEC) countries, and less than US$1 billion by the countries of Eastern Europe. Approximately 2/3 of such concessional financing is administered bilaterally, only 1/3 passing through multilateral institutions. UN agencies receive only 12% of these total concessional development financing resources. In 1979, concessional funding for health totaled approximately US$3 billion, approximately 1/10 of which was administered by WHO and its regional offices. It is anticipated that future international funding for health in developing countries will continue to come mostly from public and private development institutions directly, rather than through WHO or UN channels. Thus, it is important to recognize that each donor has a specific programming cycle, and the donors' organizational structures and professional health staffs vary greatly. Additionally, agencies providing external assistance perceive the possibility of expediting the funding process by reducing constraints on program processing that exist in the recipient countries, and they believe that reduction of such constraints is necessary.
Crude oil price dynamics: A study on effects of market expectation and strategic supply on price movements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Xin

Recent years have seen dramatic fluctuations in crude oil prices. This dissertation attempts to better understand price behavior. The first chapter studies the behavior of crude oil spot and futures prices. Oil prices, particularly spot and short-term futures prices, appear to have switched from I(0) to I(1) in early 2000s. To better understand this apparent change in persistence, a factor model of oil prices is proposed, where the prices are decomposed into long-term and short-term components. The change in the persistence behavior can be explained by changes in the relative volatility of the underlying components. Fitting the model to weekly data on WTI prices, the volatility of the persistent shocks increased substantially relative to other shocks. In addition, the risk premiums in futures prices have changed their signs and become more volatile. The estimated net marginal convenience yield using the model also shows changes in its behavior. These observations suggest that a dramatic fundamental change occurred in the period from 2002 to 2004 in the dynamics of the crude oil market. The second chapter explores the short-run price-inventory dynamics in the presence of different shocks. Classical competitive storage model states that inventory decision considers both current and future market condition, and thus interacts with spot and expected future spot prices. We study competitive storage holding in an equilibrium framework, focusing on the dynamic response of price and inventory to different shocks. We show that news shock generates response profile different from traditional contemporaneous shocks in price and inventory. The model is applied to world crude oil market, where the market expectation is estimated to experience a sharp change in early 2000s, together with a persisting constrained supply relative to demand. The expectation change has limited effect on crude oil spot price though. The world oil market structure has been studied extensively but no consensus has been reached on OPEC strategic behavior. In the third chapter, we are interested in the effects of supply-side market power on oil price dynamics in face of different demand shocks, and model the oil market as composed of a strategic dominant firm and several competitive fringe producers. In each period, the dominant firm makes decision while taking fringe's response into consideration. We consider two alternative pricing strategies for the dominant firm. Our results show that this dynamic strategic model improves the potential of dominant firm-competitive fringe model in fitting and explaining real world data. A regime switch after a permanent demand increase generates a time path for price that looks like the price movements in the recent years.
AquaUsers: Improving access to remotely sensed data for non-specialists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clements, Oliver; Walker, Peter; Calton, Ben; Miller, Peter

2015-04-01

In recent years more and more complex remotely sensed data have been made available to the public by national and international agencies. These data are also reprocessed by different organisations to produce secondary products that are of specific need to a community. For instance the production of chlorophyll concentration maps from ocean colour data provided by NASA for the marine community. Providing access to such data has normally been focused on simply making the data available with appropriate metadata so that domain specialists can make use of it. One area that has seen significant investment, both of time and money, has been in the production of web based data portals. Primarily these have focused on spatial data. By providing a web map visualisation users are able to quickly assess both spatial coverage and data values. Data portal improvements have been possible thanks to advancements in back end data servers such as Thredds and ncWMS as well as improvements in front-end libraries for data visualisation including OpenLayers and D3. Data portals that make use of these technological advancements have aimed at improving the access and use of data by trained scientific domain specialists. There is now a push to improve access to these systems by non-scientific domain specialists through several European Commission funded projects, including OPEC and AquaUsers. These projects have improved upon an open source web GIS portal created by Plymouth Marine Laboratory [https://github.com/pmlrsg/GISportal]. We will present the latest version of our GIS portal, discuss the designs steps taken to achieve the latest build and share user stories as to how non-domain specialists are now able to utilise the system and get benefits from remotely sensed data. A first version was produced and disseminated to end users for feedback. At this stage the end users included government advisors, fish farmers and scientific groups with no specific GIS training or knowledge. This iteration produced some pretty harsh responses. The product looked good, it seemed to have a large volume of data available but it was too difficult to get any added value from without specific training in its functionality. The feedback we gathered lead to the involvement of a user experience specialist. This was a first for both our development team and the specialist. Through a focused iteration process we created a design that would reduce the steps necessary to get meaningful output from the portal, we minimised the amount of information shown initially by using a keyword system similar to online shopping. The interface for analysing the data was greatly simplified as well, allowing easier and quicker access to time series or subsetting of data.
Decadal Changes in Ozone and Emissions in Central California and Current Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanrikulu, S.; Beaver, S.; Soong, S.; Tran, C.; Cordova, J.; Palazoglu, A.

2011-12-01

The relationships among ozone, emissions, and meteorology are very complex in central California, and must be well studied and understood in order to facilitate better air quality planning. Factors significantly impacting changes in emissions such as economic and population growth, and adopted emission controls make the matter even more complex. Here we review the history of ozone pollution in central California since the 1970s to plan for the future. Since the 1970s, changes in emissions have been accompanied by likewise dramatic changes in region-to-region differences in air quality. We focus on the coastal San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) and the inland San Joaquin Valley (SJV). In the 1970s, the SFBA population was approaching 5 million people while the considerably larger and more rural SJV population remained below 2 million. The SFBA population was mostly confined to coastal locations. Peak ozone levels occurred mostly around the population centers and especially over the Bay itself. Hourly average ozone levels routinely approached 160 ppb. These high ozone levels promoted regulations under which SFBA emissions were continuously reduced through the present. By the 1990s, SFBA emissions had been reduced considerably despite the region's population growing to around 6 million. Relative to the 1970s, in 1990s the SFBA had lower peak ozone levels that were shifted to inland locations where much of the population growth was occurring. The SFBA still exceeded the federal 1-hour standard. A rapidly changing economic landscape in the 1970s promoted vast changes in the central California population distribution. In the SJV, the OPEC oil crisis promoted significant development of petroleum resources. Meanwhile, family farms were quickly being replaced with commercial-scale farming operations. The SJV population rapidly expanded to around 3 million people by the early 1990s. During this time, SJV emissions increased considerably, largely from increases in mobile source activities. The previously sparsely populated SJV had quickly developed an even more severe ozone problem than previous years. From 1990 to 2010, the SFBA population expanded to inland locations and then even further into the sheltered SJV. SFBA emissions for ROG and NOx were decreased around 40% and 15%, respectively during this period. High ozone levels became rather infrequent for coastal SFBA locations. During the same period, the SJV population continued to expand rapidly while emissions decreased, especially for ROG. Peak ozone levels remained around 100 ppb and shifted to locations downwind of Fresno and Bakersfield. Central California has experienced perhaps the most dramatic population growth and shifts in the United States during the contemporary economic era. These changes in population have led to some of the most difficult air quality management problems faced by regulators in the United States. Lessons learned from central California highlight the potential benefits of acting early and also the necessity for a long-term, flexible approach using sustained regulations to accompany population changes.
Hubbert's Peak, The Coal Question, and Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rutledge, D.

2008-12-01

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes projections in terms of scenarios that include estimates of oil, gas, and coal production. These scenarios are defined in the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios or SRES (Nakicenovic et al., 2000). It is striking how different these scenarios are. For example, total oil production from 2005 to 2100 in the scenarios varies by 5:1 (Appendix SRES Version 1.1). Because production in some of the scenarios has not peaked by 2100, this ratio would be comparable to 10:1 if the years after 2100 were considered. The IPCC says "... the resultant 40 SRES scenarios together encompass the current range of uncertainties of future GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions arising from different characteristics of these models ..." (Nakicenovic et al., 2000, Summary for Policy Makers). This uncertainty is important for climate modeling, because it is larger than the likely range for the temperature sensitivity, which the IPCC gives as 2.3:1 (Gerard Meehl et al., 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report, Chapter 10, Global Climate Projections, p. 799). The uncertainty indicates that we could improve climate modeling if we could make a better estimate of future oil, gas, and coal production. We start by considering the two major fossil-fuel regions with substantial exhaustion, US oil and British coal. It turns out that simple normal and logistic curve fits to the cumulative production for these regions give quite stable projections for the ultimate production. By ultimate production, we mean total production, past and future. For US oil, the range for the fits for the ultimate is 1.15:1 (225- 258 billion barrels) for the period starting in 1956, when King Hubbert made his prediction of the peak year of US oil production. For UK coal, the range is 1.26:1 for the period starting in 1905, at the time of a Royal Commission on coal supplies. We extend this approach to find fits for world oil and gas production, and by a regional analysis, for world coal production. For world oil and gas production, the fit for the ultimate is 640Gtoe (billion metric tons of oil equivalent). This is somewhat larger than the sum of cumulative production and reserves, 580Gtoe. Because future discoveries are not included in the reserves, it is to be expected that our fit would be larger. On the other hand, there have been large increases in OPEC reserves that have not been subject to outside audit, so it is not clear how close the two numbers should be. For world coal, the sum of the fits for regional ultimate production is 660Gt (billion metric tons). This is considerably less than the sum of cumulative production and reserves, 1,100Gt, but it is consistent with the British experience, where until recently, reserves were a large multiple of future production. The projection is that we will have consumed half of the ultimate world oil, gas, and coal production by 2019. This means that the current intense development of alternative sources of energy can be justified independently of climate considerations. When these projections are converted to carbon equivalents, the projected future emissions from burning oil, gas, and coal from 2005 on are 520GtC. The projected emissions for the 2005-2100 period are smaller than for any of the 40 SRES scenarios. This suggests that future scenarios should take exhaustion into account. These projections, if correct, are good news for climate change.
Ocean Pollution as a Result of Onshore Offshore Petroleum Activities in the African Gulf of Guinea Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abubakar, B.

2007-05-01

The Gulf of Guinea region is located on the Atlantic side of Africa; the sub region has a total population of approximately 190million people. It comprises of five different countries and their territorial waters, which are as follows: Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Cameroon. The sub region is blessed with so many types of natural resources ranging from petroleum, Natural gas, Bitumen, Uranium Diamond and Gold to mention but a few. However the region since the last two decades started attracting the World's attention as a result of the continuous increasing discoveries of new oil fields on both its on shores and off shores. In view of this extra ordinary increasing discoveries of new oil fields in the region, the Gulf of Guinea has become a "Gold rush" to the oil companies and it has so far attracted almost all the top oil firms in the world including; Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, Texaco, Agip, Chevron, Slumberger, Stat Oil and Conoco Phillips among many other oil giants. In the more recent time even the U.S. Marine Corp have stationed their War Ship in the territorial waters of the Gulf in the name of providing protection to the "Liquid Gold" (Petroleum) underlying the beneath of the region. OIL ACTIVITIES AND ITS ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS IN THE GULF OF GUINEA As a result of the geometrically increasing oil activities in the region ranging from Drilling, Gas flaring, Bunkering and Exploration activities, there was increase in the general pollution of the region. For example recent reports released in June, 2005 by the internationally renown nongovernmental organization on environmental pollution the Netherlands based Climate Justice programme and the Nigeria's Environmental Rights Action, Under the aegis of friends of the Earth, had it that the region is ranked top on the world's total flare with Nigeria along accounting for 16 percent of the world's total flare. Another example is the increasing cases of oil spillages leading to the increasing cases of pollution of farmlands, rivers, wells and the environment in general. Apart from all these, what is even becoming more worrisome is that none of all these oil firms operating in the region is able to account on how it disposes its industrial toxic waste generated as a result of its industrial activities within the region. Finally Geological strata are adversely destroyed by seismographic activities, Sea creatures are destroyed by oil pollution and Means of livelihood of revering dwellers are often threatened by pollution. RECOMMENDATIONS After identifying how the pollution in the Gulf of Guinea region is increasing in relation to the increasing petroleum activities, I have come up with the following suggestions/recommendations. 1. AFRICAN UNION RESOLUTION The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in conjunction with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should use their capacity to be able to influence the African Union (AU) to pass a resolution banning the illegal dumping of radioactive waste, Gas flaring and Costal bunkering in this part of the world. 2. RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATION The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in conjunction with the United Nations Environmental Agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency and with the corporation of the African Union should send team of researchers to come and investigate this trend on petroleum pollution in the Gulf of Guinea region and proffer possible solutions in checking the menace.
The HartX-synthesis: An experimental approach to water and carbon exchange of a Scots pine plantation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernhofer, Ch.; Gay, L. W.; Granier, A.; Joss, U.; Kessler, A.; Köstner, B.; Siegwolf, R.; Tenhunen, J. D.; Vogt, R.

1996-03-01

In May 1992 during the interdisciplinary measurement campaign HartX (Hartheim eXperiment), several independent estimates of stand water vapor flux were compared at a 12-m high Scots pine ( Pinus silvestris) plantation on a flat fluvial terrace of the Rhine close to Freiburg, Germany. Weather during the HartX period was characterized by ten consecutive clear days with exceptionally high input of available energy for this time of year and with a slowly shifting diurnal pattern in atmospheric variables like vapor pressure deficit. Methods utilized to quantify components of stand water flux included porometry measurements on understory graminoid leaves and on pine needles and three different techniques for determining individual tree xylem sap flow. Micrometeorological methods included eddy covariance and eddy covariance energy balance techniques with six independent systems on two towers separated by 40 m. Additionally, Bowen ratio energy balance estimates of water flux were conducted and measurements of the gradients in water vapor, CO2, and trace gases within and above the stand were carried out with an additional, portable 30 m high telescoping mast. Biologically-based estimates of overstory transpiration were obtained by up-scaling tree sap flow rates to stand level via cumulative sapwood area. Tree transpiration contributed between 2.2 and 2.6 mm/day to ET for a tree leaf area index (LAI) of 2.8. The pine stand had an understory dominated by sedge and grass species with overall average LAI of 1.5. Mechanistic canopy gas exchange models that quantify both water vapor and CO2 exchange were applied to both understory and tree needle ecosystem compartments. Thus, the transpiration by graminoid species was estimated at approximately 20% of total stand ET. The modelled estimates for understory contribution to stand water flux compared well with micrometeorologically-based determinations. Maximum carbon gain was estimated from the canopy models at approximately 425 mmol/(m2day) for the tree needles and at 100 mmol/(m2day) for the understory. Carbon gain was suggested by the modelling analysis to remain relatively constant during the HartX period, while water use efficiency in carbon fixation increased with decreasing vapor pressure deficit. Biologically- and micrometeorologically-based estimates of stand water flux showed good general agreement with variation of up to 20% that reflects both errors due to the inherent assumptions associated with different methods as well as natural spatial variability in fluxes. The various methods support a reliable estimate of average ET from this homogeneous canopy during HartX of about 2.6 mm/day (a maximum of about 3.1 mm/day) with an insignificant decreasing trend in correlation with decreasing vapor pressure deficit and possibly soil moisture. Findings during HartX were embedded in local scale heterogeneity with greater roughness over the forest and much higher ET over the surrounding agricultural fields which results in weak but clearly existant circulation patterns. A variety of measurements were continued after the HartX campaign. They allow us to extend our findings for six months with changing environmental conditions, including shortage of soil moisture. Hydrological estimates of soil water extractions and micrometeorological estimates of ET by the one-propeller eddy covariance (OPEC) system were in very good agreement, supporting the use of this robust eddy covariance energy balance technique for long-term monitoring.
An analysis of macroeconomic fluctuations for a small open oil-based economy: The case of Saudi Arabia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Abdulkarim, Bander B.

The increasing fluctuations in the oil prices through the last decades have been transferred to the oil exporting countries. Thus, many oil exporting countries experienced significant changes in the economic activity due to changes in the oil markets. In light of this, oil exporting countries have attempted to implement a policy that would stabilize the fluctuations in the oil markets recognizing the adverse effects of such behavior on oil exporting countries, as well as oil importing countries. Saudi Arabia, as the largest oil-exporting country and a member of OPEC, takes the role of oil-markets stabilizer by behaving as the swing producer. This role has caused the global economic fluctuations to transfer into the domestic economy. In addition, Saudi Arabian government has adopted a fixed exchange rate currency regime. Although it has contributed to domestic price stabilizations, this policy has also exposed the country to global economic disturbances. The purpose of the study is to empirically investigate these aspects for Saudi Arabia. First, the effects of shocks originated in the international markets on the Saudi Arabian economy. Second, how the fixed exchange rate regimes influences the domestic macroeconomic variables. Third, to what extent the oil sector contributes to the non-oil domestic fluctuations. Finally, how the findings from the study can be explained by economic theory. In pursuing this, there are four economic theories that are considered to explain the causes of business cycles. These theories are Classical Theory, Keynesian Theory, Monetarist Theory, and the Real Business Cycles. In addition, a theoretical model is derived that is suitable for an oil-based economy. The model follows the set up of McCallum and Nelson (1999). Then, the empirical models of Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) and Error Correction Model (ECM) are implemented with three different specifications: Choleski Decomposition, Block Exogeneity and long-run Cointegration Model. The empirical models then are applied to sets of data from 1980 to 2002 for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Venezuela and Norway. The rationale of including other oil-exporting countries is to distinguish whether the shocks are country-specific, regional-specific, or global. Two sets of shocks are considered: international shocks and domestic shocks. Three types of international shocks are chosen: commodity-price (oil price) shock, international financial (interest rate) shock, and international real (output) shock. In addition, five domestic shocks which are non-oil output shock, oil production shock, price level shock, monetary shock, and exchange rate shock. The findings reached in the study demonstrate that the international shocks are responsible for a high proportion of fluctuations in the economic activity in Saudi Arabia. Most importantly, the international financial shocks represented by the US interest rate and oil price shocks are the major sources of fluctuations in the Saudi Arabian economy. Domestically, the economy is mostly affected by the oil production and the non-oil output shocks for Saudi Arabia. These results emphasize that the Saudi Arabia's role in the international oil market and its fixed exchange rate regime have significant implications on the domestic economy. Thus, special considerations should be placed on designing the appropriate policies to lessen the dependency on the oil sector and strengthen the role of private sector to diversify the economic base, and provide an independent sound monetary policy to steer the economy from the fluctuations in the global economy. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Economics of lifecycle analysis and greenhouse gas regulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajagopal, Deepak

2009-11-01

Interest in alternatives to fossil fuels has risen significantly during the current decade. Although a variety of different alternative technologies have experienced rapid growth, biofuels have emerged as the main alternative transportation fuel. Energy policies in several countries envision blending biofuels with fossil fuels as the main mechanism to increase energy independence and energy security. Climate change policies in several regions are also riding on the same hope for reducing emissions from transportation. The main advantage of biofuels is that they are technically mature, cheaper to produce and more convenient to use relative to other alternative fuels. However, the impact of current biofuels on the environment and on economic welfare, is controversial. In my dissertation I focus on three topics relevant to future energy and climate policies. The first is the economics of lifecycle analysis and its application to the assessment of environmental impact of biofuel policies. The potential of biofuel for reducing greenhouse gas emissions was brought to the fore by research that relied on the methodology called lifecycle analysis (LCA). Subsequent research however showed that the traditional LCA fails to account for market-mediated effects that will arise when biofuel technologies are scaled up. These effects can increase or decrease emissions at each stage of the lifecycle. I discuss how the LCA will differ depending on the scale, a single firm versus a region and why LCA of the future should be distinguished from LCA of the past. I describe some approaches for extending the LCA methodology so that it can be applied under these different situations. The second topic is the economic impact of biofuels. Biofuels reduce the demand for oil and increase the demand for agricultural goods. To high income countries which tend to be both large importers of oil and large exporters of agricultural goods, this implies two major benefits. One of the one hand it reduces the market power of OPEC (Oil Producing and Exporting Countries), a cartel of nations which is the single largest oil exporting entity in the world, and is an entity considered unreliable. On the other hand, it reduces the demand for domestic farm subsidies. At the same crops comprise a small share of the retail price of food. As a result, the expected negative impact of biofuel was at worst a small increase in the retail price of food. However, the food price inflation in the year 2008 suggests that the negative impact on food consumers was significantly higher than expected and also outweighed the impact fuel consumers. I estimate the effect on biofuels on food and oil prices and compare them to other estimates in the literature and also relate these to prices observed in the real world. The third topic is the economics of greenhouse gas regulations of transportation fuels. Climate change policies such as United Nations' Kyoto protocol, European Union Emission Trading Scheme, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the US north-east mandate an aggregate emission target, called a cap and allow regulated entities to trade responsibilities for abatement. Furthermore, these policies have generally and sometimes exclusively targeted the electricity and industrial sector for emission reduction. However, the Low carbon fuel standard and Renewable fuel standard are two policies about to be implemented by the State of California and the US federal government, which exclusively target the transportation sector for emission reduction. Furthermore, these regulations mandate emission intensity target for fuels rather than aggregate emission reduction. I compare the cost-effectiveness of these two types of regulations, namely, aggregate emission caps versus emission intensity standards and discuss how prices, output and emissions vary between these two types of policies.
Future petroleum energy resources of the world

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ahlbrandt, T.S.

2002-01-01

Is the world running out of oil? Where will future oil and gas supplies come from? To help answer these questions, in 2000 the U.S. Geological Survey completed a new world assessment, exclusive of the United States, of the undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources and potential additions to reserves from field growth.2 One hundred and twenty-eight provinces were assessed in a 100 man-year effort from 1995-2000. The assessed provinces included 76 priority provinces containing 95% of the world's discovered oil and gas and an additional 52 "boutique" provinces, many of which may be highly prospective. Total Petroleum Systems (TPS) were identified and described for each of these provinces along with associated Assessment Units (AU) that are the basic units for assessing undiscovered petroleum. The assessment process coupled geologic analysis with a probabilistic methodology to estimate remaining potential. Within the 128 assessed provinces were 159 TPS and 274 AU. For these provinces, the endowment of recoverable oil-which includes cumulative production, remaining reserves, reserve growth, and undiscovered resources-is estimated at about 3 trillion barrels of oil (TBO). The natural gas endowment is estimated at 2.6 trillion barrels of oil equivalent (TBOE). Oil reserves are currently 1.1 TBO; world consumption is about .028 TBO per year. Natural gas reserves are about 0.8 TBOE; world consumption is about 0.014 TBOE per year. Thus, without any additional discoveries of oil, gas or natural gas liquids, we have about 2 TBOE of proved petroleum reserves. Of the oil and gas endowment of about 5.6 TBOE, we estimate that the world has consumed about 1 TBOE, or 18%, leaving about 82% of the endowment to be utilized or found. Half of the world's undiscovered potential is offshore. Arctic basins with about 25% of undiscovered petroleum resources make up the next great frontier. An additional 279 provinces contain some oil and gas and, if considered, would increase the oil and gas endowment estimates. Whereas petroleum resources in the world appear to be significant, certain countries such as the United States may run into import deficits, particularly oil imports from Mexico and natural gas from both Canada and Mexico. The new assessment has been used as the reference supply case in energy supply models by the International Energy Agency and the Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy. Climate energy modeling groups such as those at Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others have also used USGS estimates in global climate models. Many of these models using the USGS estimates converge on potential oil shortfalls in 2036-2040. However, recent articles using the USGS (2000) estimates suggest peaking of oil in 2020-2035 and peaking of non-OPEC (Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries) oil in 2015-2020. Such a short time framework places greater emphasis on a transition to increased use of natural gas; i.e., a methane economy. Natural gas in turn may experience similar supply concerns in the 2050-2060 time frame according to some authors. Coal resources are considerable and provide significant petroleum potential either by extracting natural gas from them, by directly converting them into petroleum products, or by utilizing them to generate electricity, thereby reducing natural gas and oil requirements by fuel substitution. Non-conventional oil and gas are quite common in petroleum provinces of the world and represent a significant resources yet to be fully studied and developed. Seventeen non-conventional AU including coal-bed methane, basin-center gas, continuous oil, and gas hydrate occurrences have been preliminarily identified for future assessment. Initial efforts to assess heavy oil deposits and other non-conventional oil and gas deposits also are under way.
High-dose rapid and standard induction chemotherapy for patients aged over 1 year with stage 4 neuroblastoma: a randomised trial.

PubMed

Pearson, Andrew D J; Pinkerton, C Ross; Lewis, Ian J; Imeson, John; Ellershaw, Caroline; Machin, David

2008-03-01

The current standard treatment for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma includes initial induction chemotherapy with a 21-day interval between induction treatments. We aimed to assess whether an intensive chemotherapy protocol that had a 10-day interval between treatments would improve event-free survival (EFS) in patients aged 1 year or over with high-risk neuroblastoma. Between Oct 30, 1990, and March 18, 1999, patients with stage 4 neuroblastoma who had not received previous chemotherapy were enrolled from 29 centres in Europe. Patients were randomly assigned to rapid treatment (cisplatin [C], vincristine [O], carboplatin [J], etoposide [E], and cyclophosphamide [C], known as COJEC) or standard treatment (vincristine [O], cisplatin [P], etoposide [E], and cyclophosphamide [C], ie, OPEC, alternated with vincristine [O], carboplatin [J], etoposide [E], and cyclophosphamide [C], ie, OJEC). Both regimens used the same total cumulative doses of each drug (except vincristine), but the dose intensity of the rapid regimen was 1.8-times higher than that of the standard regimen. The standard regimen was given every 21 days if patients showed haematological recovery, whereas the rapid regimen was given every 10 days irrespective of haematological recovery. Response to chemotherapy was assessed according to the conventional International Neuroblastoma Response Criteria (INRC). In responders, surgical excision of the primary tumour was attempted, followed by myeloablation (with 200 mg/m2 of melphalan) and haemopoietic stem-cell rescue. Primary endpoints were 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year EFS. Data were analysed by intention to treat. This trial is registered on the clinical trials site of the US National Cancer Institute website, number NCT00365755, and also as EU-20592 and CCLG-NB-1990-11. 262 patients, of median age 2.95 years (range 1.03-20.97), were randomly assigned-132 patients to standard and 130 patients to rapid treatment. 111 patients in the standard group and 109 patients in the rapid group completed chemotherapy. Chemotherapy doses were recorded for 123 patients in the standard group and 126 patients in the rapid group. 97 of 123 (79%) patients in the standard group and 84 of 126 (67%) patients in the rapid group received at least 90% of the scheduled chemotherapy, and the relative dose intensity was 1.94 compared with the standard regimen. 3-year EFS was 24.2% for patients in the standard group and 31.0% for those in the rapid group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.86 [95% CI 0.66-1.14], p=0.30. 5-year EFS was 18.2% in the standard group and 30.2% in the rapid group, representing a difference of 12.0% (1.8 to 22.3), p=0.022. 10-year EFS was 18.2% in the standard group and 27.1% in the rapid group, representing a difference of 8.9% (-1.2 to 19.0), p=0.085. Myeloablation was given a median of 55 days earlier in patients assigned rapid treatment than those assigned standard treatment. Infective complications (numbers of patients with febrile neutropenia and septicaemia, and if given, time on antibiotic and antifungal treatment) and time in hospital were greater with rapid treatment. Occurrence of fungal infection was the same in both regimens. Dose intensity can be increased with a rapid induction regimen in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. There was no significant difference in OS between the rapid and standard regimens at 5 years and 10 years. However, an increasing difference in EFS after 3 years suggests that the efficacy of the rapid regimen is better than the standard regimen. A rapid induction regimen enables myeloablation to be given much earlier, which might contribute to a better outcome.
Rapid COJEC versus standard induction therapies for high-risk neuroblastoma.

PubMed

Peinemann, Frank; Tushabe, Doreen A; van Dalen, Elvira C; Berthold, Frank

2015-05-19

Neuroblastoma is a rare malignant disease and mainly affects infants and very young children. The tumors mainly develop in the adrenal medullary tissue and an abdominal mass is the most common presentation. The high-risk group is characterized by metastasis and other characteristics that increase the risk for an adverse outcome. In the rapid COJEC induction schedule, higher single doses of selected drugs than standard induction schedules are administered over a substantially shorter treatment period, with shorter intervals between cycles. Shorter intervals and higher doses increase the dose intensity of chemotherapy and might improve survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of the rapid COJEC induction schedule as compared to standard induction schedules in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma (as defined by the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group (INRG) classification system). Outcomes of interest were complete response, early toxicity and treatment-related mortality as primary endpoints and overall survival, progression- and event-free survival, late non-hematological toxicity, and health-related quality of life as secondary endpoints. We searched the electronic databases CENTRAL (2014, Issue 11), MEDLINE (PubMed), and EMBASE (Ovid) for articles from inception to 11 November 2014. Further searches included trial registries, conference proceedings, and reference lists of recent reviews and relevant articles. We did not apply limits on publication year or languages. Randomized controlled trials evaluating the rapid COJEC induction schedule for high-risk neuroblastoma patients compared to standard induction schedules. Two review authors performed study selection, abstracted data on study and patient characteristics, and assessed risk of bias independently. We resolved differences by discussion or by appeal to a third review author. We performed analyses according to the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We used the five GRADE considerations, study limitations, consistency of effect, imprecision, indirectness, and publication bias, to judge the quality of the evidence. We downgraded for risk of bias and imprecision We identified one randomized controlled trial (CCLG-ENSG-5) that included 262 patients with high-risk neuroblastoma who were randomized to receive either rapid COJEC (N = 130) or standard OPEC/COJEC (N = 132) induction chemotherapy. We graded the evidence as low quality; we downgraded for risk of bias and imprecision.There was no clear evidence of a difference between the treatment groups in complete response (risk ratio (RR) 0.99, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.71 to 1.38), treatment-related mortality (RR 1.21, 95% CI 0.33 to 4.39), overall survival (hazard ratio (HR) 0.83, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.10), and event-free survival (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.13). We calculated the HRs using the complete follow-up period of the trial.Febrile neutropenia (two or more episodes), proven fungal infections, septicemia (one or more episodes), gastrointestinal toxicity (grade 3 or 4), renal toxicity (glomerular filtration rate < 80 ml/min per body surface area of 1.73 m(2)), neurological toxicity (grade 3 or 4), and ototoxicity (Brock grade 2 to 4) were addressed as early toxicities (during pre-operative chemotherapy). For febrile neutropenia, septicemia, and renal toxicity, a statistically significant difference in favor of the standard treatment arm was identified; for all other early toxicities no clear evidence of a difference between treatment groups was identified. With regard to late non-hematological toxicities (median follow-up 12.7 years; range 6.9 to 16.5 years), the study provided data on any complication, renal toxicity (glomerular filtration rate < 80 ml/min per body surface area of 1.73m(2)), ototoxicity (Brock grade 1 to 4), endocrine complications, neurocognitive complications (i.e. behavioral, speech, or learning difficulties), and second malignancies. For endocrine complications and neurocognitive complications, a statistically significant difference in favor of the rapid COJEC arm was found; for all other late non-hematological toxicities no clear evidence of a difference between treatment groups was identified.Data on progression-free survival and health-related quality of life were not reported. We identified one randomized controlled trial that evaluated rapid COJEC versus standard induction therapy in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. No clear evidence of a difference in complete response, treatment-related mortality, overall survival, and event-free survival between the treatment alternatives was found. This could be the result of low power or too short a follow-up period. Results of both early and late toxicities were ambiguous. Information on progression-free survival and health-related quality of life were not available. This trial was performed in the 1990s. Since then, many changes in, for example, treatment and risk classification have occurred. Therefore, based on the currently available evidence, we are uncertain about the effects of rapid COJEC and standard induction therapy in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. More research is needed for a definitive conclusion.
Atlantic and indian oceans pollution in africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abubakar, Babagana

Africa is the second largest and most populated continent after Asia. Geographically it is located between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Most of the Africa's most populated and industrialized cities are located along the coast of the continent facing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, example of such cities include Casablanca, Dakar, Accra, Lagos, Luanda and Cape town all facing the Atlantic Ocean and cities like East London, Durban, Maputo, Dar-es-salaam and Mogadishu are all facing the Indian Ocean. As a result of the geographical locations of African Coastal Cities plus increase in their population, industries, sea port operations, petroleum exploration activities, trafficking of toxic wastes and improper waste management culture lead to the incessant increase in the pollution of the two oceans. NATURE OF POLLUTION OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN i. The petroleum exploration activities going on along the coast of "Gulf of Guinea" region and Angola continuously causes oil spillages in the process of drilling, bunkering and discharging of petroleum products in the Atlantic Ocean. ii. The incessant degreasing of the Sea Ports "Quay Aprons" along the Coastal cities of Lagos, Luanda, Cape Town etc are continuously polluting the Atlantic Ocean with chemicals. iii. Local wastes generated from the houses located in the coastal cities are always finding their ways into the Atlantic Ocean. NATURE OF POLLUTION OF THE INDIAN OCEAN i. Unlike the Atlantic ocean where petroleum is the major pollutant, the Indian Ocean is polluted by Toxic / Radioactive waste suspected to have been coming from the developed nations as reported by the United Nations Environmental Programme after the Tsunami disaster in December 2004 especially along the coast of Somalia. ii. The degreasing of the Quay Aprons at Port Elizabeth, Maputo, Dar-es-Salaam and Mongolism Sea Ports are also another major source polluting the Indian Ocean. PROBLEMS GENERATED AS A RESULT OF THE OCEANS POLLUTION i. Recent report released by the renown non governmental organization on environmental pollution the Netherlands based Climate Justice Programme under the aegis of friends of the Earth indicated that the coastal region of Nigeria along accounts for 16 percent of the world's total flare in view of the above coupled with the increasing oil spillages in the African Gulf of Guinea region resulted in the rapid decline in fish, plankton, shrimps and other sea lives along the Coast of Africa facing the Atlantic Ocean. ii. In the more recent time the revering dwellers living around the Coast of Gulf of Guinea region and Somalia's Coast have been complaining of increasing cases of child respiratory illness, land degradation, well pollution, infertility and premature death. iii. Geological strata of the Atlantic Ocean are adversely destroyed by the seismographic activities going on around the Gulf of Guinea region and Angola in particular. iv. The general means of livelihood of the revering dwellers are often threaten by the pollution. POSITION OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF AFRICA Apart from the governments of the federal republic of Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania that have either established institutes of Oceanography or Environmental Protection Agencies, the majority of the African governments have shown no signs of checking the menace. POSITION OF THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION The Netherlands based Climate Justice and the Nigeria Environmental Rights Action are the only non-governmental organizations out of very many that have shown signs of fighting this incessant increase in ocean pollution in Africa. RECOMMENDATION In view of the above situation I came up with the under-listed suggestions/recommendations: i. International organizations who's work that are related to Ocean and Pollution should send their teams of researchers to come and investigate the trend of this menace and proffer a possible lasting solution. ii. The United Nations should use its capacity to educate and convinced the African Union to pass a resolution making it compulsory on all the African Coastal Countries to set up ocean regulatory bodies in their respective countries. iii. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) should assist with her technical know how to educate the various Sea Ports in Africa on how to be degreasing their Quay Aprons without necessarily causing Ocean Pollution. iv. The organization of the petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) should use its capacity to find a way in controlling the incessant oil spillages going on in the African Gulf of Guinea region since many of the Gulf of Guinea Countries are its members. v. The World Health Organization (WHO) the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should also jointly send their team of researchers to come and investigate the trend of this pollution especially along the Coast of Somalia and Gulf of Guinea and proffer possible lasting solution before it becomes too late. CONCLUSION We cited on how the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans are polluted in Africa in relation to the petroleum, industrial and Sea Port activities in addition to the Toxic waste Trafficking, however some governments and non-governmental organizations are trying in fighting the menace, but the increasing nature of Ocean pollution in Africa is calling for assistance. It was in view of this situation I came up with the above listed suggestions/Recommendations, which I believe if implemented and adopted it will help in reducing the pollution otherwise the pollution of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans will ever remain on the increase.
Volatile Fuel Hydrocarbons and MTBE in the Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cozzarelli, I. M.; Baehr, A. L.

2003-12-01

Petroleum hydrocarbons (hydrocarbons that result from petroleum products such as oil, gasoline, or diesel fuel) are among the most commonly occurring and widely distributed contaminants in the environment. Volatile hydrocarbons are the lighter fraction of the petroleum hydrocarbons and, together with fuel oxygenates, are most often released from crude oil and liquid petroleum products produced from crude oil. The demand for crude oil stems from the world's ever-growing energy need. From 1970 to 1999, primary energy production of the world grew by 76% (Energy Information Administration, 2001), with fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas, and coal) accounting for ˜85% of all energy produced worldwide (Figure 1). World crude oil production reached a record 68 million barrels (bbl) per day (1.08×1010 L d-1) in 2000. The world's dependence on oil as an energy source clearly is identified as contributing to global warming and worsening air and water quality. (7K)Figure 1. World primary energy production by source from 1970 to 1999 (Energy Information Administration, 2001). Petroleum products are present in Earth's subsurface as solids, liquids, or gases. This chapter presents a summary of the environmental problems and issues related to the use of liquid petroleum, or oil. The focus is on the sources of volatile hydrocarbons and fuel oxygenates and the geochemical behavior of these compounds when they are released into the environment. Although oxygenates currently in commercial use include compounds other than methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), such as ethanol (ETOH), most of the information presented here focuses on MTBE because of its widespread occurrence. The environmental impact of higher molecular weight hydrocarbons that also originate from petroleum products is described in (Chapter 9.13, Abrajano et al.).Crude oil occurs within the Earth and is a complex mixture of natural compounds composed largely of hydrocarbons containing only hydrogen and carbon atoms. The minor elements of sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen constitute less than 3% of most petroleum (Hunt, 1996). Releases to the environment occur during the production, transport, processing, storage, use and disposal of these hydrocarbons. The petroleum industry classifies oil naturally occurring in a liquid phase as either conventional oil or nonconventional oil. Conventional oils can be explored and produced by conventional primary and secondary recovery techniques, whereas nonconventional oils, such as heavy oils, tar sands, and synthetic oils, are more difficult to extract from the host rock ( Tissot and Welte, 1984). The history of liquid petroleum usage dates back centuries. Marco Polo described its use as a fuel for lamps in 1291 ( Testa and Winegardner, 2000). In the mid-nineteenth century, Native Americans used crude oil skimmed from creeks and rivers as a medicinal ointment ( Energy Information Administration, 1999). Commercial production in the United States began in 1859, with kerosene production for use in lamps. At the turn of the century, emphasis shifted to gasoline with the invention of the automobile, and in the 1930s and 1940s a substantial market for heating oil developed.In 2000, over 85% of the world's energy came from fossil fuels (Table 1), with oil production alone supplying 40% of that energy (Edwards, 2001). Oil, with its high British Thermal Unit (BTU) density and ease of transport, is the most valuable fuel in the world today, and the demand for world crude oil is ever increasing. Annual world crude-oil demand increased from 22 billion to 28 billion bbl of oil (BBO) ((3.5-4.5)×1012 L) from 1990 to 2000. Increasing population growth and industrialization in developing countries is expected to drive this annual oil demand up 1.5% annually to ˜38 BBO (6.0×1012 L) by 2030. As demand increases and known oil reserves are depleted, more emphasis will be placed on new discoveries and improved recovery technologies. Sources such as tar sands and oil shales are likely to become more important, bringing environmental problems inherent to the production, transport, and processing of these resources to new sectors of the environment. Table 1. United States and world energy consumption by source (January 2000) Energy SourceUnited StatesWorld BBOEPercentBBOEPercent Petroleum6.84127.140 Natural gas4.224.214.421.2 Coal3.923.216.724.7 Nuclear1.37.94.56.7 Hydroelectric0.733.71.62.4 Biomass3.45 Total7.610069.3100 Source: Edwards (2001). BBOE=billion barrels of oil equivalent. Reserves of crude oil, the raw material used to make petroleum products, are not evenly distributed around the world. The production levels of the major oil-producing nations in the world, shown in Figure 2, are based on data collected by the US Department of Energy's (DOEs) Energy Information Administration (EIA). Nations in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) produce ˜43% of the world's total of nearly 68 million bbl per day (bpd) (1.08×1010 L d-1), with Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer at 8.3 million bpd (12% of total) (1.33×109 L d-1), followed by Russia and the former Soviet Union at 6.4 million bpd (9%) (1.02×109 L d-1). The United States produced ˜5.7 million bpd (8%) (9.06×108 L d-1). Oil and gas are being produced in virtually all geographic areas intersecting a wide range of ecological habitats, including tropical rain forests, Middle Eastern deserts, Arctic regions, and deep offshore marine environments. (6K)Figure 2. World crude-oil production from leading producers, 1960-2000, in million barrels per day (Energy Information Administration, 2001). The petroleum industry has two main components, exploration/recovery and refinement/delivery. Crude oil is delivered to refineries and refined products are delivered to consumers through a large transportation network that includes tankers, barges, pipelines, and railroads. This transportation network links suppliers and producers across the world. Above-ground tanks, below-ground tanks and caverns, and offshore facilities store petroleum at various stages in this distribution system. The largest underground storage facilities in the US are part of the US. Strategic Petroleum Reserve maintained by the US government for times of supply shortage (Energy Information Administration, 1999). The global and complex nature of this industry means that every environmental compartment (air, land, water, biota) and all nations are affected by petroleum spills and waste products.Petroleum products are released into the environment inadvertently and intentionally at all stages of petroleum use, from exploration, production, transportation, storage, use and disposal (Figure 3). The more volatile components of oil partition preferentially into the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and to a lesser extent, the geosphere (e.g., sorption onto sediments), and biosphere (i.e., bioaccumulation), whereas the higher molecular weight fraction of oil is less soluble and less volatile and impacts the biosphere and geosphere more directly as described by Abrajano et al. (see Chapter 9.13). Usage causes compounds from petroleum products to separate and enter the environment. For example, incomplete fuel combustion in an automobile engine or a home heating furnace results in the release of compounds to the atmosphere, where they can be widely dispersed. Compounds in the exhaust gas of a motor boat partition in river or lake water, allowing for mixing and transport in the water body. These examples are illustrative of chronic low-level and widespread release of compounds referred to as nonpoint sources. (10K)Figure 3. Modes of contamination by petroleum products during production, transport, use, and disposal (after Fetter, 1993). Concentrated releases of compounds to the environment generally are associated with product mishandling and accidents during storage and transportation. For example, gasoline leaking from an underground storage tank (UST) releases compounds to the air, water, and solids of the subsurface. An oil tanker spill at sea can result in the rapid dispersal of large amounts of product. These two examples of more concentrated release are referred to as point sources. However, in the case of a tanker spill, the point release can result in a serious regional problem such as the spill of the Exxon Valdez that spilled oil that spread 750 km from the original spill site and impacted 1,750 km of shoreline (Wolfe et al., 1994).Nonpoint sources can cause compounds to be dispersed throughout the hydrosphere, which can complicate efforts to evaluate the effect of spills. Current sampling and analytical techniques allow for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at low concentrations (0.1 μg L-1 and less). As a result, VOCs have been detected frequently in ambient shallow groundwater in urban areas across the country in studies conducted as part of the US Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program (Squillace et al., 1996). The importance of VOCs at low concentrations in ambient water is unclear. If these low concentrations are the result of plumes emanating from point sources, then concentrations could possibly increase with time. If the source were diffuse (nonpoint), as in the case of atmospheric sources, then changes in VOC concentrations in groundwater over time would be constrained by atmospheric concentrations.Widely distributed and frequent point source spills can be considered nonpoint sources when the scale of concern is large in space or time. For example, the United States generates 1.3 billion gallons (4.9×109 L) of used motor oil each year, of which ˜13% is disposed of improperly (Motor Oil Facts, http://www.epa.gov/seahome/housewaste/src/oilfact.htm). This large quantity of improperly disposed motor oil could be a regional source of MTBE and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) as used motor oil contains BTEX and MTBE, ˜500-2,000 mg L-1 for BTEX and 100 mg L-1 for MTBE (Baker et al., 2002; Chen et al., 1994). In a survey of 946 domestic wells designed to assess ambient groundwater quality in Maine, MTBE was detected in 15.8% of the wells, mostly at concentrations less than 0.1 μg L-1 (State of Maine Bureau of Health, 1998). Small and widely distributed spills of fuel-related products not necessarily associated with leaking storage tanks were identified as likely sources.

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