Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Oil output'

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-33).
The manual processing of food products has become a substantial part of the daily routine of a typical household in the developing world. Consumption of oil is an essential part of an individual's diet and thus, the production of oil is an essential activity. In many communities, this oil is obtained by manually pressing it from peanuts. In order to more efficiently and easily express oil from peanuts, a design for a treadle-powered peanut oil press was created. My thesis work will attempt to further increase the amount of oil extracted by optimizing the design of this peanut oil press. The press transfers the motion of the treadle to the horizontal motion of a piston that presses the peanuts via a rotating cam. The focus of this thesis will be optimizing the design of the cam with respect to oil yield. The shape of the cam determines the displacement profile of the piston's compression of the peanuts. I will determine the optimal profile by designing and performing experiments on a variety of different displacement profiles and measuring the amount of oil extracted from the pressed peanuts. The results of these experiments will then determine the optimal cam design.
by Ravi M. Patel.
S.B.

The development of competent technicians for the oil and gas industries is vital for a sustainable economy in Libya. One of the major factors that brought about modernisation in the country is the export of oil and gas. This has allowed Libya to embark on profound growth and expansion in all sectors, including health and education. Technical education is one of the most significant components of Human Resources Development (HRD). Therefore, the government has embarked on establishing the Technical Education and Training (TET) programme for preparing and developing technicians to work in the oil and gas industries. This thesis focuses on an assessment of the TET programme. It is important to note that to the knowledge of the researcher, there has been no research conducted to assess TET programme in Libya. Therefore, this study can be considered as an initial source of information that is aimed to contribute to the knowledge in this field. In order to understand the nature of the TET programme and how it is perceived by the respondents, two research approaches were adopted, namely quantitative and qualitative. The results suggest that the respondents are positive about issues relating to the process of the TET programme and the relationship between the Petroleum Training and Qualifying Institute (PTQI) and the oil and gas industries in conducting this programme. To establish this, 3 questionnaires were used to collect data from the teaching staff, students and technicians who attended the TET programme. Results of the quantitative analysis suggest that respondents mostly agreed on issues related to the quality of the TET programme, the curricula, teaching and learning, educational resources and educational planning and assessment. However, although these results show a positive perception towards the TET programme, up to 38.5% of the respondents were negative on issues related to the quality of the TET programme, curricula, teaching and learning, educational resources and educational planning and assessment. In addition, results indicated that the managers at the PTQI and oil industries were working in partnership to organise and manage the TET programme. These results appear to suggest that although the majority of the respondents were happy with the TET programme further studies may be required to understand the effectiveness of the TET programme

This thesis examines the influence of oil price uncertainty shocks on sector stock return uncertainties and real output and provides new insights on how oil price uncertainty impulses are transmitted to the Nigerian macroeconomy. Five industry sectors namely banking, oil and gas, insurance, food beverages and tobacco, and consumer goods are investigated. The major contributions of this thesis include the decomposition of the effect of oil price change into sector stocks, application of second moment analysis, utilisation of high frequency micro-data and adoption of more than one econometric methodology. This deviates markedly from previous studies and unveils critical decision making information that was hitherto subsumed under the conventional macro-analysis approach. Three themes are examined for Nigeria using the multifactor model and the structural vector autoregressive framework. The first focuses on estimating sector stock returns sensitivity to oil price changes; the second analyses the effect of oil price uncertainty shocks on sector stock returns uncertainty, while the third assesses the effect of oil price uncertainty shocks on output growth. Significant policy issues include the overwhelming consequence of the oil price factor, the industry-wide negative effect of exchange rate and the near neutrality of interest rate effect. Evidence of price and exchange rate puzzles are clearly demonstrated. Though this poses a serious threat to the effective conduct of monetary policy in achieving the price and monetary stability mandate, they however, serve as potent tools for economic agents’ portfolio selection and management of investment risks. Suggested policy direction includes monitoring oil price movements, ensuring a stable foreign exchange market, and the removal of structural rigidities such as infrastructural bottlenecks and fuel subsidy programme. This would eliminate the perceived impediments to the effective conduct and implementation of monetary policy as well as enhance the seamless transmission of policy impulses to the economy.

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 52).
In northern Ghana, part of a belt reaching from Sub-Saharan Africa to northern Uganda, women collect and process Shea nuts for their valuable oil. This oil is then used in various cosmetic, cooking, and medicinal products. However, the traditional process to extract oil from Shea kernels is time and labor intensive, and the quality is inconsistent, preventing it from being a primary source of income. In order to address these problems, a hydraulic jack press for extracting Shea oil was designed for a woman's co-operative in the village of New Longoro during the summer of 2009 as part of the International Development Design Summit. This thesis presents the results of a study of the effect of temperature and roasting on the Shea oil yield of a hydraulic jack press in order to evaluate its practicality. Extraction efficiency was measured for ground Shea kernels, either unroasted or roasted, for pressing temperatures ranging from 50-70*C. It was found that a pressing temperature of 60-62°C produced the highest oil yields for both roasted and unroasted nuts, with unroasted, ground kernels producing slightly more oil than roasted, ground kernels. The highest yield produced was (23 ± 2.8)% for unroasted Shea kernels at 60.7°C. Furthermore, it was observed that the optimal press chamber configuration is one with perforations along the circumference of the cylinder and on the base with slits to allow oil to escape. It was also confirmed that post-press filtering will be necessary to purify the oil for marketability. Finally, although the initial results are promising, more investigation is needed in order to determine the economic viability of using the hydraulic jack press.
by Lisa Cristina Tacoronte.
S.B.

El concepto de Peak-Oil (el cénit del petróleo) es complejo y a menudo malentendido. Después de aclarar que el Peak-Oil es tanto un problema de estocs como de flujos, se ofrecen los conceptos de calidad y cantidad del recurso para facilitar la comprensión de la multitud de temas que influyen en el momento del cénit del petróleo y sus posibles impactos. Una revisión de la literatura y las últimas evidencias sugieren que hay un alto riesgo de que el Peak-Oil ocurra antes de 2020, dejando poco tiempo para la adaptación. La teoría de los sistemas y la termodinámica muestran que esto es un problema grave, dado que no podemos confiar únicamente en otros recursos energéticos como substitutos o en la mejora de la eficiencia. Es por esto que en la literatura sobre resiliencia y vulnerabilidad se recomiendan procesos de adaptación en la gestión de recursos en los casos de dependencias a recursos de riesgo (como es el caso de nuestra economía respecto al petróleo). Sorprende, por tanto, la ausencia de respuestas institucionales adecuadas y la falta de políticas de adaptación y planes de emergencia. Una primera aproximación mediante un análisis institucional de esta situación especula con que esto sea debido al paradigma dominante en la economía neoclásica, de la escasez relativa, a la gestión de los recursos no renovables mediante los mercados y al optimismo tecnológico. Por este motivo, se analiza la filosofía y se realizan encuestas para investigar las diferentes posturas posibles frente a la tecnología; sus orígenes y su importancia entre los diferentes científicos de la sostenibilidad. Una de las contribuciones principales de este texto en relación a la situación actual ante el cénit de petróleo es que realiza una rigorosa exploración y aplicación del análisis input-output para evaluar los efectos potenciales y las vulnerabilidades del sistema económico mundial. Este tipo de análisis son un primer paso hacia una gestión adaptativa de recursos, porque ayudan a entender el sistema energético en el que vivimos. Los casos de estudio presentados demuestran que ciertos grupos de industrias parecen particularmente vulnerables ante el cénit de petróleo (p.ej. transporte, petroquímica, comercio, etc.). Industrias que, por la importancia que tienen en el sistema económico, causan que el sistema entero se vuelva vulnerable. Este tipo de información es enormemente importante para diseñar políticas adaptativas. Finalmente se presenta un modelo radical de políticas para la adaptación a la base de recursos: el decrecimiento económico hacia una economía del estado estacionario. Se aclara, además, un viejo conflicto entre Herman Daly y Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen. La economía del estado estacionario se define como una ‘meta inalcanzable’, a la que nunca se puede llegar pero a la que se puede y deberíamos aproximarnos.
Peak-Oil is a complex, often misunderstood phenomenon. After clarifying that Peak-Oil is both a stock as well as a flow problem, the concepts of resource quality and quantity are offered for getting a grasp of the many below and above ground issues that influence its timing and possible impacts. A review of the latest evidence suggests that there is a significant risk of Peak-Oil occurring before 2020, giving us little time for adaptation. Systems theory and thermodynamics illustrate that this is a serious problem, as we may not solely rely on other energy sources for substitution or efficiency improvements. The resilience literature therefor recommends adaptive resource management processes in cases of dependencies on risky resources, as in our case of oil for the world economy. The lack of appropriate institutional response and development of adaptive policies or contingency plans is therefore rather surprising. A first attempt of an institutional analysis, speculates that this may be due to the dominant paradigm in neoclassical economic theory of relative resource scarcity, governance of non-renewable resources via markets and technological optimism. For this reason, a detour into philosophy and the analysis of surveys is taken in order to investigate the different possible attitudes towards technology, their origins and distribution among sustainability scientists. One main contribution of this text to the present Peak-Oil situation is the in-depth exploration and application of Input-Output analysis for estimating potential impacts and vulnerabilities of world economic systems to Peak-Oil. Such analysis is the first step towards adaptive resource management, it is about starting to get to know the system. The reproduced case studies show how certain clusters of industries seem to be vulnerable to Peak-Oil (e.g. transport, petrochemicals, wholesale and retail trade, etc.) and because of their importance within the structure of the economy render the entire economic system vulnerable to the phenomenon. Such information is of utter importance for designing adaptive policies. Finally the radical resource base adaptive policy option of economic degrowth towards a steady state economy (SSE) is presented and a settlement of an old dispute between Herman Daly and Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen offered. The SSE is defined as an unattainable goal, which can never actually be reached but can and should be approximated.

This diploma thesis is about lowering installation height of turbocharger without significant increase of the oil pressure inside the housing at the piston rings. At the beginning of the thesis is research about supercharging and turbocharging, construction and parts that are placed inside a turbocharger. Next chapter is short brief about CFD. Further chapters are about design and changes at the central housing and about simulations. From simulations were the results obtained.

The thesis studies three distinct issues in monetary economics using a common dynamic general equilibrium approach under the assumptions of rational expectations and nominal price rigidity.
The first chapter deals with the so-called "liquidity trap" - an issue which was raised originally by Keynes in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Since the nominal interest rate cannot fall below zero, this limits the scope for expansionary monetary policy when the interest rate is near its lower bound. The chapter studies the conduct of monetary policy in such an environment in isolation from other possible stabilization tools (such as fiscal or exchange rate policy). In particular, a standard New Keynesian model economy with Calvo staggered price setting is simulated under various alternative monetary policy regimes, including optimal policy. The challenge lies in solving the (otherwise linear) stochastic sticky price model with an explicit occasionally binding non-negativity constraint on the nominal interest rate. This is achieved by parametrizing expectations and applying a global solution method known as "collocation". The results indicate that the dynamics and sometimes the unconditional means of the nominal rate, inflation and the output gap are strongly affected by uncertainty in the presence of the zero lower bound. Commitment to the optimal rule reduces unconditional welfare losses to around one-tenth of those achievable under discretionary policy, while constant price level targeting delivers losses which are only 60% larger than under the optimal rule. On the other hand, conditional on a strong deflationary shock, simple instrument rules perform substantially worse than the optimal policy even if the unconditional welfare loss from following such rules is not much affected by the zero lower bound per se.
The second thesis chapter (co-authored with Andrea Pescatori) studies the implications of imperfect competition in the oil market, and in particular the existence of a welfare-relevant trade-off between inflation and output gap volatility. In the standard New Keynesian model exogenous oil shocks do not generate any such tradeoff: under a strict inflation targeting policy, the output decline is exactly equal to the efficient output contraction in response to the shock. I propose an extension of the standard model in which the existence of a dominant oil supplier (such as OPEC) leads to inefficient fluctuations in the oil price markup, reflecting a dynamic distortion of the economy's production process. As a result, in the face of oil sector shocks, stabilizing inflation does not automatically stabilize the distance of output from first-best, and monetary policymakers face a tradeoff between the two goals. The model is also a step away from discussing the effects of exogenous oil price changes and towards analyzing the implications of the underlying shocks that cause the oil price to change in the first place. This is an advantage over the existing literature, which treats the macroeconomic effects and policy implications of oil price movements as if they were independent of the underlying source of disturbance. In contrast, the analysis in this chapter shows that conditional on the source of the shock, a central bank confronted with the same oil price change may find it desirable to either raise or lower the interest rate in order to improve welfare.
The third thesis chapter (co-authored with Andrea Pescatori) studies the extent to which the rise in US macroeconomic stability since the mid-1980s can be accounted for by changes in oil shocks and the oil share in GDP. This is done by estimating with Bayesian methods the model developed in the second chapter over two samples - before and after 1984 - and conducting counterfactual simulations. In doing so we nest two other popular explanations for the so-called "Great Moderation": (1) smaller (non-oil) shocks; and (2) better monetary policy. We find that the reduced oil share can account for around one third of the inflation moderation, and about 13% of the GDP growth moderation. At the same time smaller oil shocks can explain approximately 7% of GDP growth moderation and 11% of the inflation moderation. Thus, the oil share and oil shocks have played a non-trivial role in the moderation, especially of inflation, even if the bulk of the volatility reduction of output growth and inflation is attributed to smaller non-oil shocks and better monetary policy, respectively.
La tesis estudia tres problemas distintos de macroeconomía monetaria utilizando como marco común el equilibrio general dinámico bajo expectativas racionales y con rigidez nominal de los precios.
El primer capítulo trata el problema de la "trampa de liquidez" - un tema planteado primero por Keynes después de la Gran Depresión de 1929. El hecho de que el tipo de interés nominal no pueda ser negativo limita la posibilidad de llevar una política monetaria expansiva cuando el tipo de interés se acerca a cero. El capítulo estudia la conducta de la política monetaria en este entorno en aislamiento de otros posibles instrumentos de estabilización (como la política fiscal o la política de tipo de cambio). En concreto, se simula un modelo estándar Neo-Keynesiano con rigidez de precios a la Calvo bajo diferentes regimenes de política monetaria, incluida la política monetaria óptima. El reto consiste en resolver el modelo estocástico bajo la restricción explícita ocasionalmente vinculante de no negatividad de los tipos de interés. La solución supone parametrizar las expectativas y utilizar el método de solución global conocido como "colocación". Los resultados indican que la dinámica y en ocasiones los valores medios del tipo de interés, la inflación y el output gap están muy influidos por la presencia de la restricción de no negatividad. El compromiso con la regla monetaria óptima reduce las pérdidas de bienestar esperadas hasta una décima parte de las pérdidas obtenidas bajo la mejor política discrecional, mientras una política de meta constante del nivel de precios resulta en pérdidas que son sólo 60% mayores de las obtenidas bajo la regla óptima. Por otro lado, condicionado a a un choque fuerte deflacionario, las reglas instrumentarias simples funcionan mucho peor que la política óptima, aun si las pérdidas no condicionales de bienestar asociadas a dichas reglas no están muy afectadas por la presencia de la restricción de no negatividad en si.
El segundo capítulo de la tesis estudia las implicaciones de la competencia imperfecta en el mercado del petróleo, y en concreto la existencia de un conflicto relevante entre la volatilidad de la inflación y la del output gap de un país importador de petróleo. En el modelo estándar Neo Keynesiano, los choques petroleros exógenos no generan ningún conflicto de objetivos: bajo una política de metas de inflación estricta, la caída del output es exactamente igual a la contracción eficiente del output en respuesta al choque. Este capitulo propone una extensión del modelo básico en la cual la presencia de un proveedor de petróleo dominante (OPEP) lleva a fluctuaciones ineficientes en el margen del precio del petróleo que reflejan una distorsión dinámica en el proceso de producción de la economía. Como consecuencia, ante choques provinientes del sector de petróleo, una política de estabilidad de los precios no conlleva automáticamente a una estabilización de la distancia del output de su nivel eficiente y existe un conflicto entre los dos objetivos. El modelo se aleja de la discución los efectos de cambios exógenos en el precio del petróleo y se acerca al análisis de las implicaciones de los factores fundamentales que provocan los cambios en el precio del petróleo en primer lugar. Esto último representa una ventaja clara frente a la literatura existente, la cual trata tanto los efectos macroeconómicos como las implicaciones para la política monetaria de cambios en el precio del petróleo como si éstos fueran independientes de los factores fundamentales provocando dicho cambio. A diferencia de esta literatura, el análisis del capitulo II demuestra cómo frente al mismo cambio en el precio del petróleo, un banco central puede encontrar deseable bien subir o bajar el tipo de interés en función del origen del choque.
El tercer capitulo estudia el grado en que el ascenso de la estabilidad macroeconómica en EE.UU. a partir de mediados de los 80 se puede atribuir a cambios en la naturaleza de los choques petroleros y/o el peso del petróleo en el PIB. Con este propósito se estima el modelo desarrollado en el capitulo II con métodos Bayesianos utilizando datos macroeconómicos de dos periodos - antes y después de 1984 - y se conducen simulaciones contrafactuales. Las simulaciones permiten dos explicaciones alternativas de la "Gran Moderación": (1) menores choques no petroleros; y (2) mejor política monetaria. Los resultados apuntan a que el petróleo ha jugado un papel no-trivial en la moderación. En particular, el menor peso del petroleo en el PIB a partir de 1984 ha contribuido a una tercera parte de la moderación de la inflación y un 13% de la moderación del output. Al mismo tiempo, un 7% de la moderación del PIB y 11% de la moderación de la inflación se pueden atribuir a menores choques petroleros.

Since the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Canadian dollar has come to be regarded as a petro-currency. Consequently, rising prices of oil and gas (as well as other natural resources) would increase capital inflows that would lead to a higher exchange rate and contribute to the decimation of the export-oriented Canadian manufacturing sector by making Canadian products less competitive internationally. Some have argued that the Canadian economy has started to show symptoms related to the Dutch Disease. One important symptom is the slow rate of productivity growth, which consequently leads to the theory that Canada’s productivity performance depends significantly on the foreign exchange value of the domestic currency. This dissertation attempts to address these issues and seeks to solve the question of whether the Canadian economy is suffering from the Dutch Disease, as well as whether or not movements of the Canadian dollar are responsible for the low Canadian productivity growth since the 1990s.

Orientadores: Marcelo Pereira da Cunha, Joaquim Eugênio Abel Seabra
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica
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Resumo: Este trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar os indicadores de energia e emissões de gases de efeito estufa (GEE) na cadeia produtiva da gasolina e do óleo diesel mineral no Brasil, com uso do modelo de insumo-produto monetário e híbrido, de modo a realizar, também, uma comparação entre os seus resultados. O ano base utilizado foi de 2009, ano mais recente possível de estimar a matriz de insumo-produto a partir dos dados divulgados pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Os modelos (monetário e híbrido) contêm 25 setores e 114 produtos; a técnica permite que sejam computados todos os efeitos diretos e indiretos envolvidos na cadeia produtiva dos setores avaliados. A base de dados usada consistiu, basicamente, nas tabelas de recursos e usos do IBGE (relativas ao ano de 2009), bem como na matriz consolidada relativa aos setores e produtos energéticos (também de 2009) do Balanço Energético Nacional (BEN), divulgado pela Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE). Os resultados obtidos com os dois modelos foram muito próximos, tanto para a gasolina quanto para o óleo diesel; em geral, os efeitos indiretos capturados no modelo híbrido foram um pouco maiores dado o maior encadeamento entre os setores energéticos quando as transações setorias entre estas atividades são computadas em unidades físicas. Com o uso do modelo híbrido, os principais resultados obtidos são de 1,201 ktep e 1,202 ktep de energia incorporados em cada 1 ktep de gasolina e óleo diesel, respectivamente; com relação às emissões de GEE, os indicadores encontrados são de 75,32 gCO2eq/MJ para a gasolina e 86,91 gCO2eq/MJ para o óleo diesel
Abstract: The goal of this study is to evaluate energy and GHG emissions indicators for gasoline and diesel oil in Brazil; the methodology chosen was the Input-Output (IO) Analysis. For this purpose, an economic IO model and a hybrid IO model were made to provide a comparison between them. The analysis considers 2009 as base year, because this is the most recent year which is possible to estimate the Brazilian input-output matrix from official data when the project started. Both models (economic and hybrid) have 25 sectors and 114 commodities; the approach allows all direct and indirect effects through production chain to be estimated. The main data collected and used to build the models were the use and make matrices (provided by The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ¿ IBGE) and the consolidated matrix with energy flows for primary and secondary energy sources (provided by The Brazilian Energy Research Company ¿ EPE). The results obtained with both models are very similar, considering gasoline as well as diesel oil; in general, the indirect effects captured by the hybrid model are a little bit higher due to the stronger linkage among the energy sectors when the transactions through these activities are accounted in physic (energy) units. From hybrid model, the main results are 1,201 toe and 1,202 toe embodied energy for 1 toe of gasoline and diesel oil, respectively; with respect to GHG emissions, the indicators are 75.32 gCO2eq/MJ to gasoline and 86.91 gCO2eq/MJ to diesel oil
Mestrado
Planejamento de Sistemas Energeticos
Mestra em Planejamento de Sistemas Energéticos

Devido ao seu tamanho e complexidade, a atuação da Petrobras gera impactos diretos na economia do país e na indústria fornecedora de equipamentos e serviços. Na perspectiva de acelerar o desenvolvimento dos mercados nos quais atua, os projetos de investimento e as contratações da empresa devem suportar os desafios expressos em seu Plano Estratégico e maximizar o conteúdo local, em base competitiva e sustentável, contribuindo para o aperfeiçoamento da política de conteúdo local brasileira. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal avaliar a aplicabilidade da análise de insumo-produto nas práticas de gestão de conteúdo local da Petrobras, como instrumento para avaliação da relação entre a política de conteúdo local brasileira e os impactos socioeconômicos na implementação de projetos de investimentos no setor de petróleo, gás e naval. A pesquisa pode ser considerada aplicada, metodológica e descritiva. Quanto aos meios de investigação, a metodologia compreende: (i) pesquisa bibliográfica e documental; (ii) pesquisa de campo, envolvendo gestores e especialistas da empresa; e (iii) desenvolvimento do estudo de caso, com análise dos resultados gerados. Destacam-se como resultados: (i) a revisão crítica da literatura existente sobre conteúdo local e análise de insumo-produto; e (ii) análise dos resultados do estudo de caso e demonstração da aplicabilidade e efetividade da abordagem metodológica proposta.
Due to its size and complexity, Petrobras operations and activities have direct impact on the Brazilian economy and on the local supplier industry (equipment and services). From the perspective of accelerating the development of markets in which it operates, Petrobras investment projects and hiring processes should bear the challenges defined in its Strategic Plan and maximize the local content on competitive and sustainable basis, contributing to the improvement of Brazilian local content policy. This dissertation aims at evaluating the applicability of input-output analysis to Petrobras local content management practices, as a tool to assess the relationship between the Brazilian local content policy and social and economic impacts of implementation of investment projects in oil, natural gas and shipbuilding sector in Brazil. The research can be considered applied, methodological and descriptive. The methodology comprises: (i) bibliographical and documental review; (ii) field research, by consulting managers and experts involved in local content and corporate strategy areas; and (iii) a case study, including analysis of results and propositions for stakeholders. The main results are: (i) critical review of the literature on local content and input-output analysis; and (ii) Petrobras case study, illustrating the applicability and effectiveness of the methodological approach proposed.

Mechanical vibrations are inevitable in drilling operations. Torsional stick-slip vibrations are vibrations that occur in drilling columns, which are produced by periodic variations of torque and characterized by large fluctuations in the speed of the drill bit. These vibrations are dangerous, primarily by the cyclical characteristic of the phenomenon that by the amplitude of the same, which can cause fatigue of the pipe, failures in the components of the drill string, deformations in the walls of the well, excessive wear of the drill, low rate of penetration, and collapse of the drilling process. The frequency of these unwanted oscillations can be reduced by the application of automatic control techniques. The objective of this study is to evaluate through numerical simulations, the application of conventional control techniques, such as proportional-integral control (PI), and nonlinear, as the sliding mode control (SMC) and the input-output linearization control (IOLC), to eliminate the presence of stick-slip oscillation in drilling columns. The controllers are designed primarily to maintain a constant speed of rotation system, by manipulating engine torque, thereby inferentially control the speed of the drill, thus providing optimum operation conditions, beyond preserving system stability. Results of simulations using drill string torsional models of two degrees of freedom (2-DOF) and four degrees of freedom (4-DOF) show the performance of the proposed control systems, which are analyzed and qualitatively compared.
Vibrações mecânicas são inevitáveis nas operações de perfuração. Vibrações torcionais stick-slip são vibrações que ocorrem em colunas de perfuração, as quais são produzidas pelas variações periódicas de torque e caracterizadas por grandes oscilações da velocidade da broca. Estas vibrações são prejudiciais, mais pela característica cíclica do fenômeno que pela amplitude da mesma, podendo originar fadiga da tubulação, falhas nos componentes da coluna de perfuração, deformações nas paredes do poço, desgaste excessivo da broca, baixa taxa de penetração e, inclusive, colapso do processo de perfuração. A frequência destas oscilações indesejadas pode ser reduzida pela aplicação de técnicas de controle automático. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar, mediante simulações numéricas, a aplicação de técnicas de controle convencional, como o controle proporcional-integral (PI), e não linear, como o controle por modos deslizantes (SMC) e o controle por linearização entrada-saída (IOLC) para eliminar a presença de oscilações stick-slip em colunas de perfuração. Os controladores são desenvolvidos principalmente para manter constante a velocidade do sistema de rotação, mediante a manipulação do torque do motor, para assim controlar inferencialmente a velocidade da broca, fornecendo desta maneira condições ótimas de operação, além de preservar a estabilidade do sistema. Resultados das simulações, usando modelos torcionais de uma coluna de perfuração de dois graus de liberdade (2-DOF) e de quatro graus de liberdade (4-DOF), mostram o desempenho dos sistemas de controle propostos, os quais são analisados e comparados qualitativamente.

In recent years, web services have become an emerging technology for communication and integration between applications in many areas such as business to business (B2B) or business to commerce (B2C). In this growing technology, it is hard to compose web services manually because of the increasing number and compexity of web services. Therefore, automation of this composition process has gained a considerable amount of popularity. Automated web service composition can be achieved either by generating the composition plan dynamically using given inputs and outputs, or by locating the correct services if an abstract process model is given. This thesis investigates the former method which is dynamicly generating the composition by using the abductive lanning capabilities of the Event Calculus. Event calculus axioms in Prolog language, are generated using the available OWL-S web service descriptions in the service repository, values given to selected inputs from ontologies used by those semantic web services and desired output types selected again from the ontologies. Abductive Theorem Prover which is the AI planner used in this thesis, generates composition plans and execution results according to the generated event calculus axioms. In this thesis, it is shown that abductive event calculus can be used for generating web services composition plans automatically, and returning the results of the generated plans by executing the necessary web services.

碩士
國立東華大學
經濟學系
99
This paper examines the impacts of oil price on output. We select five of the top ten oil exporting countries such as Iran, Kuwait, Nigeria, Norway, and Saudi Ar- abia, and the other top oil importing countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and United States in our research. Applying the VAR model, we find that the impacts of oil price shocks on output of oil exporting country are positive in the long-run. The impacts of oil price shocks on output of oil importing country are negative in the short-run.

碩士
國立中山大學
中國與亞太區域研究所
98
The primary purpose of this study is to explore whether changes in oil price are exogenous for small open economy and the significance of the financial variables in accordance with empirical results to discuss the role of monetary policies and implications. Considering the factors of monetary policy of the central banks with respect to the SVAR model, that tries to determine whether oil price shocks have disparaged effects on two small market economies, Taiwan and Korea, and trying to compare the difference and effects of their respective policies. In this paper, the empirical analysis, we found that the oil price shocks is a direct result of a major factor in decline in output, and while the impact of monetary policy effects on output is vague that coincide with Kim and Roubini (2000). In addition, Bernanke et al. (1997) analysis of the central bank encounter with the rise in oil prices in response to raise interest rates, the empirical results in this article: (1) policy implementation between the two countries have a significant impact on oil prices will be affected by the increase in oil prices which led to the implementation of central bank tightening of monetary policy , (2) central bank policy changes on behalf of the discount rate shocks, their impact on the real impact of the output is limited, (3) found that the central bank monetary policy to curb the effect of smaller price increases.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the maintenance management system (MMS) on production output and profitability (PO&P) at the Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA) GTL Refinery as a source of competitive advantage. State-Owned Companies and, or more specifically the PetroSA GTL Refinery must maintain its strategic importance for government fuel security but, at the same time, it must compete against private refineries in terms of achieving high production volumes, maximising profitability and to maintain its stake of 6.5% of the available production capacity. The literature review for this study suggested that the maintenance management system (MMS) impacts positively on production output and profitability (PO&P). The MMS has a tremendous influence on PO&P at the PetroSA GTL Refinery. Using a quantitative research design, cross-sectional research survey and the Maintenance Scorecards (MS) assessment tool, this study was conducted on six areas of the PetroSA GTL Refinery. Two population groups, namely production and maintenance groups participated in the survey. Fifty-six respondents belonged to the maintenance group and thirty-eight respondents belonged to the Production Group. All the Maintenance and Production Group respondents completed the MS questions designed to fit the characteristics of these population groups. Correlation analysis in terms of the means, standard deviations, gap analysis, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r) as well as the coefficient of determination (R²) was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study indicated a moderate positive linear correlation between the MMS and PO&P. Recommendations based on the findings were tabled in chapter 7 to improve and enhance production perspective (asset health gap), safety perspective (asset prioritisation gap) and the learning and growth perspective (skills and working condition gap).
Business Management
M. Com. ((Business Management)

碩士
國立高雄應用科技大學
金融資訊研究所
98
This paper investigates the relationship among oil price, industrial production of the BRICs. A variety of time-series methodologies, unit root test, cointegration test, and causality test, error correction models, are applied to investigate the relationship. The empirical results of this study are summarized as follows: First, all of the variables are non-stationary by unit root test. Second, the empirical results of Johensen’s cointegration showed that the cointegration of oil price, industrial production of the BRICs, which implied there is a long-run equilibrium relationship among these variables. Third, according to the results of the error correction model it is unidirectional running from industrial production of the Russia to all of these variables except industrial production of the Brazil, and industrial production of the China leads all of these variables except industrial production of the Russia. There is bi-directional causality between any two of other variables.

碩士
銘傳大學
經濟學系碩士班
96
Applying panel data of 14 OECD countries over 1980-2000 periods, this study aims to explore the relationship between the outputs of automobile industry and oil price. This study uses the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) model to modify the possible bias caused by heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation, and examines the impact of production factors with lag one on the outputs of automobile industry. The results indicate that labor force and disposable income per capita have significantly positive impacts on the outputs of automobile industry, where tax rate, unemployment rate and oil price are negatively related to the outputs of automobile industry. In addition, investments also have negative impacts on the outputs of automobile industry, which shows support with productivity paradox argued by Roach (1987). Inconsistent with the expectation, there is a negative relationship between exchange rate and the outputs of automobile industry, which may because the effect of increasing manufacturing costs is much stronger than other advantageous effects for exporting when exchange rate rises.