Química Sem Fronteiras: o desafio da energia

Coal, natural gas and petroleum-based liquid fuels are still the most widely used energy sources in modern society. The current scenario contrasts with the foreseen shortage of petroleum that was spread out in the beginning of the XXI century, when the concept of "energy security" emerged as an urgent agenda to ensure a good balance between energy supply and demand. Much beyond protecting refineries and oil ducts from terrorist attacks, these issues soon developed to a portfolio of measures related to process sustainability, involving at least three fundamental dimensions: (a) the need for technological breakthroughs to improve energy production worldwide; (b) the improvement of energy efficiency in all sectors of modern society; and (c) the increase of the social perception that education is a key-word towards a better use of our energy resources. Together with these technological, economic or social issues, "energy security" is also strongly influenced by environmental issues involving greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity in environmentally sensitive areas, pollution and poor solid waste management. For these and other reasons, the implementation of more sustainable practices in our currently available industrial facilities and the search for alternative energy sources that could partly replace the fossil fuels became a major priority throughout the world. Regarding fossil fuels, the main technological bottlenecks are related to the exploitation of less accessible petroleum resources such as those in the pre-salt layer, ranging from the proper characterization of these deep-water oil reservoirs, the development of lighter and more efficient equipment for both exploration and exploitation, the optimization of the drilling techniques, the achievement of further improvements in production yields and the establishment of specialized training programs for the technical staff. The production of natural gas from shale is also emerging in several countries but its production in large scale has several problems ranging from the unavoidable environmental impact of shale mining as well as to the bad consequences of its large scale exploitation in the past. The large scale use of coal has similar environmental problems, which are aggravated by difficulties in its proper characterization. Also, the mitigation of harmful gases and particulate matter that are released as a result of combustion is still depending on the development of new gas cleaning technologies including more efficient catalysts to improve its emission profile. On the other hand, biofuels are still struggling to fulfill their role in reducing our high dependence on fossil fuels. Fatty acid alkyl esters (biodiesel) from vegetable oils and ethanol from cane sucrose and corn starch are mature technologies whose market share is partially limited by the availability of their raw materials. For this reason, there has been a great effort to develop "second-generation" technologies to produce methanol, ethanol, butanol, biodiesel, biogas (methane), bio-oils, syngas and synthetic fuels from lower grade renewable feedstocks such as lignocellulosic materials whose consumption would not interfere with the rather sensitive issues of food security. Advanced fermentation processes are envisaged as "third generation" technologies and these are primarily linked to the use of algae feedstocks as well as other organisms that could produce biofuels or simply provide microbial biomass for the processes listed above. Due to the complexity and cost of their production chain, "third generation" technologies usually aim at high value added biofuels such as biojet fuel, biohydrogen and hydrocarbons with a fuel performance similar to diesel or gasoline, situations in which the use of genetically modified organisms is usually required. In general, the main challenges in this field could be summarized as follows: (a) the need for prospecting alternative sources of biomass that are not linked to the food chain; (b) the intensive use of green chemistry principles in our current industrial activities; (c) the development of mature technologies for the production of second and third generation biofuels; (d) the development of safe bioprocesses that are based on environmentally benign microorganisms; (e) the scale-up of potential technologies to a suitable demonstration scale; and (f) the full understanding of the technological and environmental implications of the food vs. fuel debate. On the basis of these, the main objective of this article is to stimulate the discussion and help the decision making regarding "energy security" issues and their challenges for modern society, in such a way to encourage the participation of the Brazilian Chemistry community in the design of a road map for a safer, sustainable and prosper future for our nation.

Mining in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Sustainability Challenges

Mining has severe impacts on its surrounding. Particularly in the developing countries it has degraded the environment and signigicantly altered the socio-economical dynamics of the hosts. Especially relocation disrupts people from their homes, livelihoods, cultures and social activities. Mining industry has failed to develop the local host and streghten its governance structures; instead it has further degraded the development of mineral rich third world countries, which are among the world poorest ones. Cash flows derived from mining companies have not benefitted the crass-root level that however, bears most of the detrimental impacts. Especially if the governance structure of the host is weak, the sudden wealth is likely to accelerate disparities, corruption and even fuel wars. Environmental degradation, miscommunication, mistrust and disputes over land use have created conflicts between the communities and a mining company in Obuasi, Ghana; a case study of this thesis. The disputes are deeply rooted and further fuelled by unrealistic expectations and broken promises. The relations with artisanal and illegal miners have been especially troublesome. Illegal activities, mainly encroachment of the land and assets of the mine, such as vandalising tailings pipes have resulted in profits losses, environmental degradation and security hazards. All challenges mentioned above have to be addressed locally with site-specific solutions. It is vital to increase two-way communication, initiate collaboration and build capacity of the stakeholders such as local communities, NGOs and governance authorities. The locals must be engaged to create livelihood opportunities that are designed with and for them. Capacity can also be strengthened through education and skills training, such as women’s literacy programs. In order to diminish the overdependence of locals to the mine, the activities have to be self -sufficient and able to survive without external financial and managerial inputs. Additionally adequate and fair compensation practises and dispute resolution methods that are understood and accepted by all parties have to be agreed on as early as possible.

Assessment of Coals from Russia and Countries of Former Soviet Union for Utility Fluidized Bed Boilers

With the occurrence of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal we found new sources of energy that have played a critical role in the progress of our modern society. Coal is very ample compared to the other two fossil fuels. Global coal reserves at the end of 2005 were estimated at 847,5 billion tones. Along with the major energy sources, coal is the most fast growing fuel on a global basis, it provides 26% of primary energy needs and remains essential to the economies of many developed and developing countries. Coal-fired power generation accounts for 41% of the world‘s total electricity production and in some countries, such as South Africa, Poland, China, Australia, Kazakhstan and India is on very high level. Still, coal utilization represents challenges related to high emissions of air pollutants such as sulphur and nitrogen dioxides, particulate matter, mercury and carbon dioxide. In relation to these a number of technologies have been developed and are in marketable use, with further potential developments towards ―Near Zero Emission‖ coal plants. In present work, coals mined in Russia and countries of Former Soviet Union were reviewed. Distribution of coal reserves on the territory of Russia and the potential for power generation from coal-fired plants across Russia was shown. Physical and chemical properties of coals produced were listed and examined, as main factor influencing on design of the combustion facility and incineration process performance. The ash-related problems in coal-fired boilers were described. The analysis of coal ash of Russia and countries of Former Soviet Union were prepared. Feasible combustion technologies also were reviewed.

Effects of Foreign Direct Investment inflows on growth in Central and Eastern European transition countries

The aim of this master’s thesis is to analyze the effects of Foreign Direct Investments on growth in selected Central and Eastern European transition countries. The theoretical part of this thesis, introduces growth theories and how FDI is covered in those theories. In addition, the results from previous studies, which have studied FDI’s effect on growth, are presented in this master’s thesis. This work introduces also the economical progress during the transition period in selected countries. In the empirical part’s regression model, it will be searched for the direct effect of FDI on growth with panel data collected from nine transition countries.

Convergence and divergence in global economy and social development : global perspectives on the contents of economic and soical development policy and its effects on rich and poor countries

The study of convergence and divergence in global economy and social development utilises comparative indicators to investigate the contents of economic and social development policy and their effects on the global samples that represent the rich industrial, semi-industrial and the poor developing nations. The study searchesfor answers to questions such as "what are the objectives of economic growth policies in globalisation under the imperatives of convergence and divergence, and how do these affect human well-being in consideration to the objectives of social policy in various nations?" The empirical verification of data utilises the concepts of the `logic of industrialism´ for comparative analysis that focuses mainly on identifying the levels of well-being in world nations after the Second World War. The perspectives of convergence and divergence in global economy and social development critically examine the stages of early development processes in global economy, distinguish the differences between economy and social development, illustrate the contents of economic and social development policies, their effects on rich and poor countries, and the nature of convergence and divergence in propelling economic growth and unequal social development in world nations. The measurement of convergence and divergence in global economy and social development utilised both economic and social data that were combined into an index that measures the precise levels of the effects of economic and social development policies on human well-being in the rich and poor nations. The task of finding policy solutions to resolve the controversies are reviewed through empirical investigations and the analyses of trends indicated within economic and social indicators and data. These revealed how the adoption of social policy measures in translating the gains from economic growth, towards promoting education, public health, and equity, generate social progress and longer life expectancy, higher economic growth, and sustain more stable macro economy for the nations. Social policy is concerned with the translation of benefits from objectives of global economic growth policies, to objectives of social development policy in nation states. Social policy, therefore, represents an open door whereby benefits of economic growth policies are linked with the broader objectives of social development policy, thereby enhancing the possibility of extending benefits from economic growth to all human being in every nation.

Mobile banking in developing countries

This Master’s thesis examines the feasibility of eBusiness in developing countries by looking at the current mobile banking solutions. The research involved reviewing literature that was relevant to the research questions. It was discovered that the Wizzit and M-PESA are the current solutions to mobile banking. Furthermore, it was found out that the Wizzit and M-PESA were either transformational or additive. Additive mobile banking is the use of mobile phones as a channel to provide services to existing customers within financial institutions. Transformational mobile banking extends financial services to the unbanked. The results of the thesis are M-PESA works with only Safaricom while on the other hand Wizzit has compatibility with any mobile operator. The other result is that both M-PESA and Wizzit are transformational mobile banking technologies at the sametime Wizzit is an Additive mobile banking technology. Wizzit can provide financial services to both the unbanked and existing bank customers. It can be said the merits of Wizzit outweigh those of M-PESA which makes Wizzit better.

Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa : Part the third : Scandinavia : Section the second : by Edward Daniel Clarke.

Digital reproduction, The National Library of Finland, Centre for Preservation and Digitisation, Mikkeli

Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa : Part the third : Scandinavia : Section the first : by Edward Daniel Clarke.

Digital reproduction, The National Library of Finland, Centre for Preservation and Digitisation, Mikkeli

The effect of institutional settings on accounting conservatism – Empirical evidence from the Nordic countries and the transitional economies of Europe

The purpose of the dissertation is to investigate how different institutional settings affect accounting conservatism. These aspects are of interest because prior studies show that accounting quality is influenced not only by accounting standards, but also by incentives from the financial reporting environment. Accounting quality could be defined as the usefulness of financial reporting to investors and other parties in contractual relationships with the firm. In this thesis it is measured by a single, but important attribute, accounting conservatism. Conservatism is understood as asymmetric timeliness of loss and gain recognition. The study examines the role and the users of financial statements, and how changes in both respectively affect accounting conservatism. These two questions are explored in two different research environments, the Nordic countries and the transitional economies of Europe. The results of the dissertation indicate that the degree of accounting conservatism increases the closer the financial statement comes to fulfilling the informational role of financial reporting. Secondly, it is also implied that foreign investors demand conservative accounting numbers in order to mitigate the problem of information asymmetry. Overall, the findings suggest that earnings conservatism is useful and increases the quality of financial information for the purpose of decision-making and contracting. These results are of relevance to managers, investors and other users of financial reporting information, as well as to standard setters.

Advanced orbital pipe welding

Since the introduction of automatic orbital welding in pipeline application in 1961, significant improvements have been obtained in orbital pipe welding systems. Requirement of more productive welding systems for pipeline application forces manufacturers to innovate new advanced systems and welding processes for orbital welding method. Various methods have been used to make welding process adaptive, such as visual sensing, passive visual sensing, real-time intelligent control, scan welding technique, multi laser vision sensor, thermal scanning, adaptive image processing, neural network model, machine vision, and optical sensing. Numerous studies are reviewed and discussed in this Master’s thesis and based on a wide range of experiments which already have been accomplished by different researches the vision sensor are reported to be the best choice for adaptive orbital pipe welding system. Also, in this study the most welding processes as well as the most pipe variations welded by orbital welding systems mainly for oil and gas pipeline applications are explained. The welding results show that Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) and its variants like Surface Tension Transfer (STT) and modified short circuit are the most preferred processes in the welding of root pass and can be replaced to the Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) in many applications. Furthermore, dual-tandem gas metal arc welding technique is currently considered the most efficient method in the welding of fill pass. Orbital GTAW process mostly is applied for applications ranging from single run welding of thin walled stainless tubes to multi run welding of thick walled pipes. Flux cored arc welding process is faster process with higher deposition rate and recently this process is getting more popular in pipe welding applications. Also, combination of gas metal arc welding and Nd:YAG laser has shown acceptable results in girth welding of land pipelines for oil and gas industry. This Master’s thesis can be implemented as a guideline in welding of pipes and tubes to achieve higher quality and efficiency. Also, this research can be used as a base material for future investigations to supplement present finding.

Regional innovation strategies and sustainability in selected EU countries

This study focuses on regional innovation strategy (RIS) and sustainability aspects in selected regions of European Union (EU) countries. It is known that RIS helps a region to innovate locally and to compete globally and it is considered as one of the main policy tools of the EU for innovation support at a regional level. This study is conducted to explore the existence and adoption of RIS in different regions of selected EU countries, and to highlight and compare regional RIS characteristics. The study is also aimed at identifying the factors that characterise the formulation and implementation of RIS as well as the problems associated thereof. In this study, six regions of EU countries are considered: Päijät-Häme Region (Finland); London Region (United Kingdom); Mid-West Region (Ireland); Veneto Region (Italy); Eastern Region (Poland); and West Region (Romania). Data and information are collected by sending questionnaires to the respective regional authorities of these selected regions. Based on the gathered information and analysis, RIS or equivalent strategy document serves as a blueprint for forwarding innovative programmes towards regional sustainability. The objectives of RIS in these regions are found to be dependent on the priority sectors and state of the region’s development. The current environmental sustainability aspects are focused on eco-design, eco-products, and eco-innovation, although each region also has its own specific aspects supported by RIS. Likewise, regional policies typically follow the RIS yet translated in various sectoral focus or priority areas. The main enhancing factors supporting RIS among selected regions have some similarities and variations; among others, some regions are strongly supported by EU while others have support from own regional agencies, organisations and professional networks. RIS implementation is not without challenges and despite the differences in challenges, almost all of reviewed regions consider financial resource as a common problem. Generally, it is learned from this study that RIS and regional sustainability are reinforcing each other mutually. In this study, the strong focus is given towards environmental sustainability in the regions although regional sustainability also includes economic and social aspects. A well-focused and prioritised RIS is beneficial for regional sustainable development.

Future prospects of short distance rail based passenger transport in Northern Europe

The worlds’ population is increasing and cities have become more crowded with people and vehicles. Communities in the fringe of metropolitans’ increase the traffic done with private cars, but also increase the need for public transportation. People have typically needs traveling to work located in city centers during the morning time, and return to suburbs in the afternoon or evening. Rail based passenger transport is environmentally friendly transport mode with high capacity to transport large volume of people. Railways have been regulated markets with national incumbent having monopoly position. Opening the market for competition is believed to have a positive effect by increasing the efficiency of the industry. National passenger railway market is opened for competition only in few countries, where as international traffic in EU countries was deregulated in 2010. The objective of this study is to examine the passenger railway market of three North European countries, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. The interest was also to get an understanding of the current situation and how the deregulation has proceeded. Theory of deregulation is unfolded with literature analyses and empirical part of the study is constructed from two parts. Customer satisfaction survey was chosen as a method to collect real life experiences from the passengers and measure their knowledge of the market situation and possible changes appeared. Interviews of experts from the industry and labor unions give more insights and able better understanding for example of social consequences caused from opening the market for competition. Expert interviews were conducted by using semi-structured theme interview. Based on the results of this study, deregulation has proceeded quite differently in the three countries researched. Sweden is the most advanced country, where the passenger railway market is open for new entrants. Denmark and Estonia are lagging behind. Opening the market is considered positive among passengers and most of the experts interviewed. Common for the interviews were the labour unions negative perspective concerning deregulation. Despite the fact deregulation is considered positive among the respondents of the customer satisfaction survey, they could not name railway undertakings operating in their country. Generally respondents were satisfied with the commuter trains. Ticket price, punctuality of trains and itinerary affect the most to customer satisfaction.

Lannoitetehtaan prosessivesien käsittelyvaihtoehtojen soveltuvuuden arviointi

Phosphorus and nitrogen cause eutrophication of water bodies, causing severe damage to the ecosystem. Eutrophication of the waters causes oxygen depletion, which in turn increases fish mortality, releasing toxins in waters. The released toxins can cause damage to animals and humans, which is the reason in many countries to set emission limits for waste water. Nutrients exist naturally, but due to human activities there is high nutrient leaching to water bodies. Human activity is one of the main reasons to the eutrophication. The aim of this thesis was to estimate the suitability of different water treatment options for Yara Finland’s fertilizer plant’s process waters in Siilinjärvi. The fertilizer plant process waters are high concentrate and especially nitrogen concentrations are high, which bring challenge to the treatment. At the theoretical part was investigated conventional and as well advanced wastewater treatment methods like reverse osmosis, adsorption and ion exchange. Beside different treatment methods corporate environmental requirements, responsibility and strategies were researched. At the empirical part of the thesis the goal was to find out possibil-ities to intensify the efficiency of purification at lamella clarifier with chemical precipitation. In addition possibility to use already existing chemical purifying plant for process waters was estimated. As a result of the research Yara has a possibility to intensify lamella clarifier’s action by addi-tion of calcium hydroxide and thus to obtain the phosphorus and fluorine to precipitate out of the water. But in practice this would be too expensive. It is possible to eliminate nitrogen compounds by adsorption or ammonia stripping, both methods requires additional testing. It is possible to process waters in chemical purifying plant, if ammonium nitrogen has been reduced before. Reverse osmosis is possible to exploit for the phosphoric acid plant’s waters.

Advanced welding technologies used for arctic metal structures

Rapid depletion of easy-to-access fossil fuel, predominantly, oil and gas resources has now necessitated increase in need to develop new oil and gas sources in ever more remote and hostile environments. This is necessary in order to explore more oil and gas resources to meet rapidly rising long-term energy demand in the world, both at present and in the nearest future. Arctic is one of these harsh environments, where enormous oil and gas resources are available, containing about 20% of the world total oil and gas, but the environmental conditions are very harsh and hostile. However, virtually all the facilities required for the exploration and development of this new energy source are constructed with metals as well as their alloys and are predominantly joined together by welding processes and technologies. Meanwhile, due to entirely different environment from the usual moderate temperate region, conventional welding technologies, common metals and their alloys cannot be applied as this Arctic environment demand metals structures with very high toughness and strength properties under extremely low temperature. This is due to the fact that metals transit from ductility to brittleness as the temperature moves toward extreme negative values. Hence, this research work investigates and presents the advanced welding technologies applicable to Arctic metal structures which can give satisfactory weldments under active Arctic service conditions. .

Esophagectomy with gastroplasty in advanced megaesophagus: late results of omeprazole use

Objective: To analyze the late results of advanced Chagasic megaesophagus treatment by esophagectomy associated with the use of proton pump inhibitor (omeprazole) as for the incidence of esophagitis and Barrett's esophagus in the remaining stump. Methods : We studied patients with advanced megaesophagus undergoing esophagectomy and transmediastinal esophagogastroplasty. Patients were divided into three groups: A (20) with esophageal replacement by full stomach, without the use of omeprazole; B (20) with esophageal replacement by full stomach, with omeprazole 40 mg/day introduced after the first postoperative endoscopy and maintained for six years; and C (30) with esophageal replacement by gastric tube with use of omeprazole. Dysphagia, weight loss and BMI were clinical parameters we analyzed. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed in all patients, and determined the height of the anastomosis, the aspect of the mucosa, with special attention to possible injuries arising from gastroesophageal reflux, and the patency of the esophagogastric anastomosis. Results : We studied 50 patients, 28 males (56%) and 22 (44%) females. All underwent endoscopy every year. In the first endoscopy, erosive esophagitis was present in nine patients (18%) and Barrett's esophagus, in four (8%); in the last endoscopy, erosive esophagitis was present in five patients (8%) and Barrett's esophagus in one (2%). When comparing groups B and C, there was no evidence that the manufacturing of a gastric tube reduced esophagitis and Barrett's esophagus. However, when comparing groups A and C, omeprazole use was correlated with reduction of reflux complications such as esophagitis and Barrett's esophagus (p <0.005). Conclusion : The use of omeprazole (40 mg/day) reduced the onset of erosive esophagitis and Barrett's esophagus during the late postoperative period.