Crises

The international debt crisis was brought about by Western bankers in search of quick profit and is now one of our most pressing problems. This book looks at the background and shows what we must do to avoid disaster. 

Since the 1960 s, two ideas have gained our attention the struggle against pollution before the first oil crisis of 1973 and the diminution of consumption since. One can consider, in fact, that the two objectives are linked. Indeed, any maladjustment of a fuel admission system will modify the equivalence ratio of the mix. The consequences are modifications, on one hand, of the consumption and on the other, of the nature and the quantity of pollutants emitted CO, NO, and unburned hydrocarbons. 

The Acetic Acid Process. Prior to the energy crisis of the 1970s, acetic anhydride was manufactured by thermal decomposition of acetic acid at pressures of 15—20 kPa (2.2—2.9 psi) (22), beginning with the first step ... 

The MTG process was developed for synfuel production in response to the 1973 oil crisis and the steep rise in crude prices that followed. Because methanol can be made from any gasiftable carbonaceous source, including coal, natural gas, and biomass, the MTG process provided a new alternative to petroleum for Hquid fuels production. New Zealand, heavily dependent on foreign oil imports, utilizes the MTG process to convert vast offshore reserves of natural gas to gasoline (59). 

Optimism about economic growth in the period 1960—1975 led to a large number of reactor orders. Many of these were canceled even after partial completion in the period after the 1974 oil crisis, as the result of a reduction in energy demand. Inflation, high interest rates, long constmction periods, and regulatory delays resulted in severe cost overmns. Moreover, the reactor accidents of TMI and, later, Chernobyl produced an atmosphere of pubHc concern. 

D. Lowe, "Crisis Management Marketing, Tampering Strategies for International and Domestic Marketplace Terrorism," San Fran. St. Univ. J. 1, (1990). 

Chronic use of these irreversible MAO inhibitors has been associated with life-threatening toxicity, ie, hepatotoxicity and hypertensive crisis. Interactions with tyramine contained in food and other drugs have severely limited use of irreversible MAO inhibitors. These MAO inhibitors are also nonselective, inhibiting both MAO-A and MAO-B isoenzymes. Furthermore, they interfere with the hepatic metabolism of many dmgs. 

As of the mid-1990s, use of MAOIs for the treatment of depression is severely restricted because of potential side effects, the most serious of which is hypertensive crisis, which results primarily from the presence of dietary tyramine. Tyramine, a naturally occurring amine present in cheese, beer, wine, and other foods, is an indirecdy acting sympathomimetic, that is, it potently causes the release of norepinephrine from sympathetic neurons. The norepinephrine that is released interacts with adrenoceptors and, by interacting with a-adrenoceptors, causes a marked increase in blood pressure the resultant hypertension may be so severe as to cause death. 

P. H. Gleick, ed.. Water in Crisis, A. Guide to the World s Fresh Water Resources, Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K., 1993. 

A. M. Brownsteia, Trends in Petrochemical Technology The Impact of the Energy Crisis, Petroleum PubHshiag Company, Tulsa, OMa., 1976, p. 36. 

Pinacidil. Piaacidil is a poteat vasodilator, actiag through potassium channel opening effects (242,251—253). Its antihyperteasive effect is greater than that of hydrala2iae and pra2osia ia chronic treatmeat. Its fast oaset of actioa also makes it suitable for use ia hyperteasive crisis. 

Two important pathways for catecholamine metaboHsm are 0-methylation by COMT, which is cytoplasmicaHy localized, and oxidative deamination by the mitochondrial localized enzyme MAO. There are large amounts of MAO in tissues such as the fiver and the heart which are responsible for the removal of most of the circulating monoamine, including some taken in from the diet. Tyramine is found in high concentrations in certain foods such as cheese, and in wine. Normally, this tyramine is deaminated in the fiver. However, if MAO is inhibited, the tyramine may then be converted into octopamine [104-14-37] which may indirecdy cause release of NE from nerve terminals to cause hypertensive crisis. Thus MAO, which is relatively nonspecific, plays an important role in the detoxification of pharmacologically active amines ingested from the diet. 

The subject of fermentation alcohol has always been of considerable interest to several tropical countries, but until the oil crisis of 1973, other than Brazil (197), only India appeared to appreciate the importance of fermentation alcohol as a strategic material in its economy. Ethanol prices in India have been maintained at an extremely low level by processing cane molasses, which has been a waste product of negligible value (197). 

Between about Rop = 350,000 and 1 X 10 , the drag coefficient drops dramatically in a drag crisis owing to the transition to turbulent flow in the boundary layer around the particle, which delays aft separation, resulting in a smaller wake and less drag. Beyond Re = 1 X 10 , the drag coefficient may be estimated from (Clift, Grace, and Weber) ... 

Since ratios, like balance sheets, refer to a particiilar point in time, they have a hmited use unless they are compared with previous values. A study of ratio trends indicates whether or not a company is approaching a working-capital or a hquidity crisis and may enable management to compare the performance of the company with that of competitors. 

Fishman, ]., "Global Alert The Ozone Pollution Crisis," Plenum, New York, 1990. 

The lack of new plastics in the late 1960s did not deter the growth of the plastics industries around the world and production reached levels an order of magnitude higher than 20 years before. Then in 1973 came the first serious check to growth that had been seen by the industry since the war. This arose from the oil crisis and it is now pertinent to consider the dependence of plastics on oil and other raw materials. 

The advent of the oil crisis of 1973 led to dire predictions about the future of plastics materials, which to date have not been realised. Before attempting to predict what will happen in the next few years it is worthwhile to consider why the growth of plastics was so spectacular during the period 1945-1973. 

Walter, M.L. (1990) Science and Cultural Crisis An Intellectual Biography of Percy William Bridgman (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA). 

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