The Last Decade

It is fair to say that advances in seismic surveys over the last decade have changed the way fields are developed and managed. From being a predominantly exploration focused tool, seismic has progressed to become one of the most cost effective methods for optimising field production. In many cases, seismic has allowed operators to extend the life of mature fields by several years. 

Over the last decade some of the major oil companies have been using vast amounts of outcrop derived measurements to design and calibrate powerful computer models. These models are employed as tools to quantitatively describe reservoir distribution and flow behaviour within individual units. Hence this technique is not only important for the exploration phase but more so for the early assessment of production profiles. 

Horizontal wells were drilled as far back as the 1950s, but have gained great popularity in the last decade, as lower oil prices have forced companies to strive for technologies which reduce the cost of oil and gas recovery. Horizontal wells have potential advantage over vertical or deviated wells for three main reasons ... 

Computerized Tomographic Imaging (CT), a well established method in medical diagnostics for 25 years now, also makes its arrival into non-destructive testing since the last decade. 

Due to the many problems concerning steam generators of nuclear power plants over the last decades, we developed our own inspection equipment and services. Next to this main activity, we provide inspections for nuclear power plants components such as thimbles, guide carts and baffle bolts. 

This overview will first deal with the optical aspects of conventional microscopes and the various means to improve contrast. Confocal microscopy, which in the last decade has become an important tool, especially for biology, is discussed in the final section. 

One of the most important advances in electrochemistry in the last decade was tlie application of STM and AFM to structural problems at the electrified solid/liquid interface [108. 109]. Sonnenfield and Hansma [110] were the first to use STM to study a surface innnersed in a liquid, thus extending STM beyond the gas/solid interfaces without a significant loss in resolution. In situ local-probe investigations at solid/liquid interfaces can be perfomied under electrochemical conditions if both phases are electronic and ionic conducting and this... 

Development of laser technology over the last decade or so has permitted spectroscopy to probe short-time events. Instead of having to resort to the study of reactants and products and their energetics and shuctures, one is now able to follow reactants as they travel toward products. Fast pulsed lasers provide snapshots of entire molecular processes [5] demanding similar capabilities of the theory. Thus, explicitly time-dependent methods become suitable theoretical tools. 

Within the last decade or so, these three remarkable isomers of benzene (2-4) have been synthesized (with considerable difficulty). The purpose of this computer project is to obtain the energies, enthalpies, or Gibbs free energies of compounds (1-4) and rank them according to energy on a veilical scale with the highest at the top. 

Within the last decade remarkable progress has been made with highly stereoselective addition reactions to C = C and C = 0 double bonds using chiral reagents. These reagents include ... 

We conclude this section with another description of a total synthesis, in which many reactions developed within the last decade have been applied. 

Acetylene was discovered m 1836 by Edmund Davy and characterized by the French chemist P E M Berthelot m 1862 It did not command much attention until its large scale preparation from calcium carbide m the last decade of the nineteenth century stim ulated interest m industrial applications In the first stage of that synthesis limestone and coke a material rich m elemental carbon obtained from coal are heated m an electric furnace to form calcium carbide... 

Bui H.D., Ehrlacher A. (1997) Developments of fracture mechanics in France in the last decades. In Fracture Research in Retrospect. H.P. Rossmanith (Ed.), A.A.Balkema, Rotterdam, 369-387. 

Polymers. The Tt-conjugated polymers used in semiconducting appHcations are usually insulating, with semiconducting or metallic properties induced by doping (see Flectrically conductive polymers). Most of the polymers of this type can be prepared by standard methods. The increasing use of polymers in devices in the last decade has led to a great deal of study to improve the processabiUty of thin films of commonly used polymers. 

The per capita consumption of rice in the United States has doubled since 1960 to approximately 10 kg in 1989. Over the last decade U.S. rice consumption has benefited from a growing trend in U.S. diets away from high fat animal products and toward grain-based foods. Many health groups encourage use of the complex carbohydrates found in grain products such as rice. Also, increases in the Asian and Hispanic segments of the U.S. 

Such repositioning inevitably means reduced production volume, and for the first time this century production in the last decade has been below that a decade earUer (Eig. 9). Most capacity reductions have been in North America and especiaUy eastern Europe. This has been offset in part by capacity increases in the Ear East. Rayon is no longer a significant component of carpets, and has lost the disposable diaper coverstock business to cheaper and more easUy processed polypropylene. It has, however, gained share in health and hygiene products and is now a principal component of tampons worldwide. 

Steel tire cord provides a unique combination of strength, ductihty, dimensional stabiUty, resistance to fatigue, mbber adhesion, and consumer value that led to a dramatic increase in steel cord consumption for the last decade (46,47). 

Over the last decade production capacity in the United States remained essentially unchanged, but minor fluctuations occurred in response to changes in environmental regulations (38). A similar reaction was noted worldwide (35). The current demand for activated carbon is estimated at 93% of production capacity. The near-term growth in demand is projected to be approximately 5.5%/yr (39). 

Controversy over test methodology, and concern with the welfare of test animals, has been highly pubhci2ed in the last decade, and various states have proposed legislation to ban animal tests. Significant effort has been devoted to developing nonanimal alternative tests and predictive methods. Progress has been made, but no entirely satisfactory substitute has been found to date (142). 

In the last decade, the refrigerant issue is extensively discussed due to the accepted hypothesis that the chlorine and bromine atoms from halocarbons released to the environment were using up ozone in the stratosphere, depleting it specially above the polar regions. Montreal Protocol and later agreements ban use of certain CFCs and halon compounds. It seems that all CFCs and most of the HCFCs will be out of produc tion by the time this text will be pubhshed. 

Current Status The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its private-sector collaborators have substantially advanced the development of gasification-based power systems during the last decade. This section describes the current status for the various types of gasifiers used. 

One of the new trends in chemical analysis appeared in the last decade is that the miniaturization. It becomes apparent in the miniaturization of analytical devices, separation procedures, measuring tools, analyzing samples and as a consequent the term micro have appeared. Further development of this trend have led to transfer from the term micro to nano one (nanoparticles, nanofluides, nanoprobes, nanoelectrodes, nanotubes, nanoscale, nanobarcode, nanoelectrospray, nanoreactors, etc). Thereupon a nanoscale films produced by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique are proposed for modifying of chemical sensors. 

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