Ultimate Resource Research Articles

To stimulate, or to meditate? That is the question! A randomized, sham-controlled trial exploring the effects of tDCS and mindfulness on cognition and creative thinking

Abstract Background: Our daily cognitive and sensory experiences change exponentially fast, thus requiring individuals to exert a great effort in terms of neural adaptation. Our cognitive system simultaneously needs to be flexible, allowing for prompt switching from routine functioning to Creative-On mode. Creativity has been defined as humankind’s ultimate resource and can be enhanced by using neuroscientific techniques, such as neuromodulation and neurostimulation. This way the Creative-On mode, essentially based on a transitory functional reset of frontal cortices, and in particular the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG), can “unlock” divergent, creative thinking. Alongside neuromodulation techniques, meditation has been proposed to be associated with a phenomenon known as "transient hypofrontality", with subsequent alterations in perception of self and cognitive capacities that can influence creative skills. Here we describe a study using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paired with mindfulness meditation to enhance both convergent and divergent thinking. Methods: We recruited 45 healthy volunteers divided in three experimental groups: A received active tDCS stimulation and real mindfulness meditation (e-meditation), B received sham tDCS and real mindfulness meditation, while the third one (C) received active tDCS stimulation and a relaxing book reading which did not involve specific mindfulness techniques. The participants received their randomized experimental condition 20-minutes daily for 4 consecutive days, with pre-and post- experiment cognitive and creative assessment. Results: Participants receiving intervention A demonstrated enhanced convergent thinking compared to sham stimulation, whereas intervention C enhanced divergent thinking compared to sham stimulation. Findings will be discussed at light of the neurofunctional models of creativity. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that pairing tDCS with mindfulness for four days facilitates critical and analytical thinking. Furthermore, tDCS paired with non-mindfulness techniques allow for more divergent and creative thought processes to emerge. These findings suggest that the tDCS-paired behavioral intervention allows for targeting of behavioral outcomes. Keywords: creativity, divergent thinking, mindfulness, tDCS

ESTABLISHMENT OF IN VITRO PROPAGATION OF Hibiscus cannabinus (KENAF)

Hibiscus cannabinus or commonly known as kenaf is a versatile plant that serves as resources for numerous manufacturing and livestock industries. Originally planted in West Africa, kenaf is now distributed in many countries including Malaysia as its fibres were proved to be an ultimate alternative resource for major industries such as automotive, paper and bio-composite. In fact, in Malaysia, due to its adaptation to wide range of climatic conditions, kenaf has potentially be chosen as a new industrial crop replacing tobacco. There have been many interests on regenerating kenaf via micropropagation as the demand for this crop has been increasing tremendously since the past decades. Hence, this study is initiated with the objective to establish in vitro propagation system of H. cannabinus. The callus induction was achieved on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different concentrations of benzylaminopurine (BAP). It was observed that calli were successfully induced on all the BAP concentrations tested. The optimum concentration of BAP that induced the healthiest and biggest calli was 3.0 mg/l. Shoot and root induction from the calli were attempted using MS medium supplemented with different combinations and concentrations of IBA, BA and GA3. From the seven treatments, three treatments successfully induced formation of shoot; treatment T3 (MS + 1.0 mg/l IBA + 2.5 mg/l BA), treatment T5 (MS + 0.1 mg/l IBA + 2.0 mg/l BA + 0.3 mg/l GA3) and treatment T6 (MS + 1.0 mg/l IBA + 2.5 mg/l BA + 0.3 mg/l GA3). The results obtained in this study can paved for more research on tissue culture of H. cannabinus.

The Impact of Hybrid Workplace Models on Intangible Assets: The Case of an Emerging Country

As part of a safety-first principle during the COVID-19 pandemics, the vast majority of companies have enabled flexible working environments, reducing the number of employees in the premises. The global best practices have firstly been recorded among the ICT companies which offered teleworking to their employees, empowering safety and flexibility through remote work policies and flexible working hours. Although hybrid working models might become a standard in many industries, only a paucity of papers has examined the relationship between novel working environments and various classes of intangible assets. The aim of this paper is to present the effects of hybrid working models (telework and flexible working hours) on intangible assets (human, relational, structural and intellectual capital). While the existing hybrid work principles have already shown mixed effects on corporate outcomes, its impact on intangible assets remains unrevealed. To address this research gap, we conducted an empirical study. Primary data were collected in the Serbian ICT sector (N=122) using a structured questionnaire developed for this purpose. Data was analyzed with the OLS regression. The results confirm the positive effects of the hybrid working model on intangible assets of ICT companies, which could further propel the financial success of these companies. In general, these results imply that hybrid working models, which are becoming a standard for many industries, would not jeopardize the creation of intangible assets – the ultimate resource of modern companies © 2021, Amfiteatru Economic. All Rights Reserved.

Regional Disparities and Spatial Dependence of Bankruptcy in Spain

Firm survival, bankruptcy, and turnaround are of great interest nowadays. Bankruptcy is the ultimate resource for a company to survive when it is affected by a severe decline. Thus, determinants of firm turnaround and survival in the context of bankruptcy are of interest to researchers, managers, and policy-makers. Prior turnaround literature has broadly studied firm-specific factors for turnaround success. However, location-specific factors remain relatively unstudied despite their increasing relevance. Thus, this paper aims to evaluate the existence of spatial dependence on the outcome of the bankruptcy procedure. Economic geography and business literature suggest that location matters and closer companies behave similarly to further ones. For this purpose, we designed a longitudinal analysis employing spatial correlation techniques. The analyses were conducted on a sample of 862 Spanish bankrupt firms (2004–2017) at a regional level (province). For overcoming the limitations of the broadly usually logistic model employed for the turnaround context, the Moran’s Index and the Local Association Index (LISA) were applied with gvSIG and GeoDa software. The empirical results show that the predictors GDP per capita and manufacturing specialization are related to higher bankruptcy survival rates. Both characteristics tend to be present in the identified cluster of provinces with better outcomes located in the North of Spain. We suggest that location broadly impacts the likelihood of the survival of a bankrupt firm, which can condition the strategic decision of locating in one region or another. Our findings provide policy-makers, managers, and researchers with relevant contributions and future investigation lines.

ЕКОЛОГІЯ ТА ЕКОНОМІЯ ДИЗЕЛЬНОГО ПАЛИВА В НАУКОВОМУ ОГЛЯДІ НОВИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ ЙОГО СПАЛЮВАННЯ

Вступ. Різноманіття використовуваного палива й різних сумішей, включаючи гомогенізоване паливо на суднах річкового й морського флоту, постійно зростає за номенклатурою та якістю свого вмісту, що забезпечує зниження шкідли- вих викидів та економію енергетичного ресурсу. Аналітичне вивчення основних напрямів у використанні дизельного палива з різними домішками й компонентами на суднах відкриває додаткові можливості у вишукуванні резервів для постійно зростальних вимог до екологічного вдосконалення сучасного водного транспорту. Мета. Стаття має на меті в певній послідовності показати нові сучасні наукові підходи в технології обробки дизельного палива і його різні варіації використан- ня. Поділитися власним науково-дослідним досвідом, отриманим у результаті випробувань на річкових і морських суднах паливних нанокаталізаторів і гомоге- нізованого палива. Застосування спиртів із мінімальними добавками дизельного палива розкрито в деталях табличним методом за своїми фізичними й хімічними показниками й характеристиками, де зроблено певні дослідження в пріоритет- ності його застосування на суднах. Показані позитивні сторони роботи судно- вих дизелів Fuel Dual на природному газі LPG і рідкому паливі з високим рівнем зниження шкідливих викидів в атмосферу, де практично до нуля зведені СО і зниження СО2 становить 20 %. Результати. Проаналізовано науково-дослідну роботу Дунайського інституту Національного університету «Одеська морська академія» у використанні водно-паливної емульсії та каталізаторів палива українського виробництва, здатних реструктурувати легке дизельне паливо. У пер- шому й у другому випадку отримано обнадійливі результати зниження шкідли- вих викидів в атмосферу в газах суден Українського Дунайського пароплавства й морських суден рибного промислу однією з індійських флотилій, де було отримано економію палива в 17,5 % за час путини в Індійському океані. На випробуванні паливних каталізаторів проводилася попередня діагностика технічного стану двигунів і його паливної апаратури. Додатково були проведені випробування на предмет граничного ресурсу використання каталізатора, який склав 500 тонн легкого дизельного палива. Висновки. У науковій статті показано переваги й недоліки використання різних видів сучасного палива і його суміші з різноманіт- ними включеннями й компонентами. Визначено нові сучасні наукові напрями для подальшої науково-дослідної роботи.

APPLICATION OF DEEP NEURAL NETWORKS BASED ON PALLIATIVE ANALYSIS UNDER CONDITIONS OF INCOMPLETE INFORMATION OF OPTICAL THERMAL AND ELECTRIC NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING FOR PREDICTION OF THE LIMIT RESOURCE OF OPERATION OF CONSTRUCTION

The problem of assessing operational stability and, accordingly, assessing the storage and safe operation periods of objects (for example, load-bearing structural structures made of polymer composite materials (PCM)) has always been one of the most important. At present, this prediction problem is mainly solved on the basis of product testing, as well as a detailed study of the regularities of the physicochemical aging processes occurring in PCM and changes in the physical and mechanical characteristics of products, and the creation on this basis of appropriate test methods and mathematical prediction models. The paper considers the problem of increasing the reliability of assessing the maximum service life of multicomponent structures by constructing predictive models using the results of optical-thermal and electrical non-destructive testing of the state of objects by temperature fields and the value of internal deformation of the material under force on the structure as input information. It is shown that in the case of using logical approaches as a software tool for predicting the ultimate resource of structures made of polymer composite materials, part of the knowledge should be used for reasoning that provides an explanation of the conclusions drawn, since formal logic is of limited applicability, especially in conditions of incomplete or uncertain information. In this case, the solution to the problem becomes the identification and establishment of cause-and-effect relationships. For the tasks of technical assessment of the quality of structures and their service life, the use of such logical conclusions as inductive, deductive and analogous conclusions is impossible, since for their work, they require all information about the diagnosed structure. The use of the proposed method for assessing the service life will allow timely stopping the loading of products with loads and, thus, preventing structural destruction. It should be borne in mind that in order to reliably predict the ultimate service life of complex structures made of composite materials using the proposed method, a set of various input instrumental and subjective information about the structural and operational characteristics of the product is required, including information on intermediate tests, non-destructive testing data. at various stages of manufacturing, design features, stability of parameters during the development process, subjective opinions of specialists, changes in the properties of materials from time to time and loads, etc. Implementation of the proposed approach will allow creating a new generation of test methods and predicting operational stability with an assessment of the limiting service life of elements and structures, which, ultimately, will provide an additional opportunity for developing practical recommendations for confirming or extending the warranty periods of operation and increasing the reliability and safety of operation of structures.

II.2/ Spolier les âmes : les musiciens et leurs instruments devant les chambres à gaz

Upon arriving at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, René Coudy and Simon Laks could hardly believe their eyes. “Are we hallucinating? […] Those are music stands. […] Shack 15: a number of instruments are arranged according to size.” (Music from Another World, 1948.) This first publication by Simon Laks, the future conductor of the orchestra in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Mélodies d’Auschwitz et autres écrits sur les camps [Auschwitz Melodies and Other Writings about the Camps], Paris, Cerf, 2018), makes clear that we have not given sufficient thought to the origin and fate of the instruments and sheet music the musicians in Nazi concentration camps and extermination sites used and sometimes discovered in the archaeological sense of the term. However, there are more eye-witness accounts than one might believe, and some of the original instruments are still around today. By studying the sources of these instruments and collections of sheet music, which in some ways represent the internal condition of consciousness, we uncover a story within a story in which the participants survived through or in exchange for music, and in which the ultimate resource being looted was life itself.

The Economic Logic Behind the Ultimate Resource

Using economic reasoning, Julian Simon offered crucial insights into a range of pressing issues including the environment, immigration, and economic development. The main lesson from Simon’s scholarship is that the ultimate resource does not reside in the ground (natural resources), or even in the accumulated wisdom and knowledge in books and scientific journals (human capital), but in the imagination of people. Through their purposeful actions, people turn their thoughts and aspiration into a new reality that enables immense improvements in the human condition. In making this argument, Simon articulated the core ideas of Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Israel Kirzner regarding the discovery and use of knowledge in society, and the role of entrepreneurship as the prime mover of progress. This paper makes this intellectual connection clear.

The Division of Labor and Knowledge is Limited by the Division of Ownership Over the Ultimate Resource: The Role of Economies of Scope in Julian Simon

The Division of Labor and Knowledge is Limited by the Division of Ownership Over the Ultimate Resource: The Role of Economies of Scope in Julian Simon

3D Visualization of the Dynamic Bidirectional Talk Between ER/PR and Her2 Pathways.

Background: Extensive amounts of archived formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) human tumor tissues are the ultimate resource to investigate signaling network underlying tumorigenesis in human. Yet, their usage is severely limited for lacking of suitable protein techniques. In this study, a quantitative, objective, absolute, and high throughput immunoblot method, quantitative dot blot (QDB), was explored to address this issue by investigating the putative relationship between estrogen receptor (ER)/progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) pathways in breast cancer tumorigenesis. Methods: In this descriptive observational retrospective study, ER, PR, Her2, and Ki67 protein levels were measured absolutely and quantitatively in 852 FFPE breast cancer tissues using the QDB method. ER, PR, and Her2 levels were charted on the X, Y, and Z-axes to observe samples distribution in a 3D scatterplot. Results: A “seesaw” relationship between ER/PR and Her2 pathways was observed in ER–PR–Her2 space, characterized by the expression levels of these 3 proteins. Specimens with strong expressions of ER/PR proteins were found spreading along the ER/PR floor while those with strong Her2 expression were found wrapping around the Her2 axis. Those lacking strong expressions of all 3 proteins were found accumulating at the intersection of the ER, PR, and Her2 axes. Few specimens floated in the ER–PR–Her2 space to suggest the lack of co-expression of all 3 proteins simultaneously. Ki67 levels were found to be significantly reduced in specimens spreading in the ER–PR space. Conclusions: The unique distribution of specimens in ER–PR–Her2 space prior to any clinical intervention provided visual support of bidirectional talk between ER/PR and Her2 pathways in breast cancer specimens. Clinical interventions to suppress these 2 pathways alternatively warrant further exploration for breast cancer patients accordingly. Our study also demonstrated that the QDB method is an effective tool to analyze archived FFPE cancer specimens in biomedical research.

E&P Notes (January 2021)

E&P Notes (January 2021)

Optimization of Fracture Spacing and Well Spacing in Utica Shale Play Using Fast Analytical Flow-Cell Model (FCM) Calibrated with Numerical Reservoir Simulator

Recently, a flow-cell model (FCM) was specifically developed to quickly generate physics-based forecasts of production rates and estimated ultimate resources (EURs) for infill wells, as the basis for the estimation of proven undeveloped reserves. Such reserves estimations provide operators with key collateral for further field development with reserves-based loans. FCM has been verified in previous studies to accurately forecast production rates and EURs for both black oil and dry gas wells. This study aims to expand the application range of FCM to predict the production performance and EURs of wells planned in undeveloped acreage of the wet gas window. Forecasts of the well rates and EURs with FCM are compared with the performance predictions generated with an integrated reservoir simulator for multi-fractured wells, using detailed field data from the Utica Field Experiment. Results of FCM, with adjustment factors to account for wet gas compressibility effects, match closely with the numerical performance forecasts. The advantage of FCM is that it can run on a fast spreadsheet template. Once calibrated for wet gas wells by a numerical reservoir simulator accounting for compositional flow, FCM can forecast the performance of future wells when completion design parameters, such as fracture spacing and well spacing, are changed.

Novel Design of Hybrid Steam Turbine Reflector Based Controller for Solar Power Plant

The large-scale generation of electric power using solar energy stimulates the development of novel technologies by researchers with ultimate resource qualities. Solar energy collectors are the significant part of Solar Energy Thermal Power Plant (STP), which can be operated at a particular feasible range for utilizing the solar resource with its intermittent inputs. The life span of solar thermal power plant can be increased by designing the controller with a closed loop. The proposed hybrid design of solar plant involves a controller with closed loop transferring the solar energy to the heat transfer liquid, namely therminol oil, which acts as a medium for transferring heat in Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) having single-phase flow. The concentrators are the parabolic reflectors focusing the rays on the line with a focal point using tracking mechanism having one axis. Solar collectors are utilized in the power converting technique of solar thermal energy, which concentrates sunlight for preparing Rankine cycle heat of high temperature. The steam turbine is driven by the superheated vapor using Rankine cycle with the shaft of the steam turbine connected to the generator for producing electricity. The life span of the Solar Energy Thermal Power Plant is enhanced as proposed design for solar collectors uses therminol oil as the heat transfer liquid. The controller design is implemented using Predictive Function Control (PFC) or Static Feed Forward (SFF) control with Proportional Integral Controller (PI) which provides the best performance with the added advantage of direct heat storage in the thermal plant. The simulated results are obtained for the proposed design of collector with the rate of change of variation and cost function of manipulated parameters, which are constant for the proposed controller but vary drastically for the conventional PI controller.

Opportunity recognition in immigrant entrepreneurship through social capital and geographical proximity: A conceptual framework

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework of the role of social capital as an ultimate resource for immigrant entrepreneurs in recognising entrepreneurial opportunities. Research consistently reveals that immigrants have higher tendency to engage in entrepreneurial activities in countries where they reside. Based on a review of existing literature, resources such as human, social, and financial capital facilitate immigrants to pursue entrepreneurial activities. In recognising business opportunities, social contexts have immensely influenced the entrepreneurial process. However, the role of social capital as an ultimate resource for immigrant entrepreneurship have yet to be comprehensively understood. Social capital is significantly related to the information flows, the trust and norms between individuals. Additionally, the geographical proximity between immigrants and their co-ethnic groups and local communities which enable more rigorous social exchanges plays prevalence role for immigrants to pursue entrepreneurial activities. Therefore, we could argue that the social capital and immigrant entrepreneurs’ geographical proximity are crucial constructs for immigrant entrepreneurs to recognise opportunities for their business ventures in a host country. The review of past literature enables us to develop a conceptual framework on how social capital and geographical proximity may assist the opportunity recognition of immigrant entrepreneurs. The proposed conceptual framework offers three general propositions than can be empirically validated in future research. This paper contributes to enhance the understanding of immigrant entrepreneurship from the lens of opportunity recognition, social capital and geographical proximity. Keywords: conceptual framework, host country, immigrant entrepreneurship, opportunity recognition, geographical proximity, social capital

Eloquence: A Response to Harold Bloom's <em>The American Canon</em>

Eloquence:A Response to Harold Bloom's The American Canon Robert L. Caserio (bio) A "literary" canon might be thought of as a treasury of eloquence, an ultimate resource of community expression. Harold Bloom suggests that possibility in his book's opening chapter, about Emerson. Juxtaposing a passage from Emerson's "Politics" with "this time of Trump" (2019a, 14) and with the President's (and his party's) "culture of narcissism," Bloom cites the following: "We might as wisely reprove the east wind or the frost, as a political party, whose members, for the most part, could give no account of their position, but stand for the defense of those interests in which they find themselves. … A party is perpetually corrupted by personality" (2019a, 14). Thus a passage by Emerson leaps out of its era (1843) to provide us an exact utterance with which to articulate our present condition. Utterance of this eloquent kind provides a rhetoric that can re-frame our vision of things and persons, so that we see them suddenly for what they are, instead of what we thought them to be. Bloom also measures the "time of Trump" in his chapter about Nathanael West. Shagpoke Whipple, the fascist president of the United States in West's A Cool Million (1934), "talks in terms," Bloom comments, "that now can be read all but daily in our media" (2019a, 283). A speech of Trump's in October, 2018, Bloom thinks, unwittingly even exceeds the "satirical genius" (283) that propelled West. Nevertheless, Bloom proposes, it is West's ghost that indites the President's stupidities. Indeed, "West's ghost now writes not only Shagpokian speeches, but the very text of reality in America" (284). Not limited to its time and place, West's narrative fiction materializes imaginative possibilities in a language that can strike us as permanently definitive. The American Canon involves fifty-seven writers, with Emerson at their head, as framers of "the very text of reality in America." In doing so, Bloom collects more than a treasury of eloquence. He also sets himself a heroic task: to unify a diverse population of essayists, poets, dramatists, and novelists, with all their variety of genres and styles, so that they tell a single national story, complemented by a single literary history. Not surprisingly, such an all-encompassing effort is full of hazards. How can everything be made to fit? To surmount the difficulties Bloom thematizes the treasury, basing it on [End Page 431] what he calls "wisdom writing," for which Emerson is the epitome, and the assigned source. The theme of the wisdom is a victorious limitless selfhood: in Bloom's words, "Emerson insists upon the necessity of the single self achieving a total autonomy" (2019a, 14). What unfolds after Emerson is for Bloom a chain of experiments in Emersonian success. "The territory all [the writer-experimenters] light out for is ultimately themselves" (241); indeed, the territory is the place of "worship of the god within" (110). Naming "the god within" a daemon, Bloom follows Emerson's diction. In "The Poet" (1842-1844) Emerson writes: "Over everything stands its daemon, or soul, and, as the form of the thing is reflected by the eye, so the soul of the thing is reflected by a melody" (i.e, by a verse melody; Emerson 1951, 278). In "Fate" (1852) Emerson, speaking of personal defects and illnesses, remarks that "And as every man is hunted by his own daemon, vexed by his own disease, this checks all his activity" (Emerson 1957, 350). In the same essay he recommends that "when a man is the victim of his fate," he should "leave…the daemon who suffers, [and] take sides with the Deity who secures universal benefit by his pain" (351). As these examples suggest, Emerson uses this term fluidly: without fixating on it, I would propose. Indeed, as I shall be pointing out, he early in his career criticizes fixation on it; and he criticizes the phenomenon again in the final (1876) version of his poem "Initial, Daemonic and Celestial Love." But Bloom, foregrounding the term, reifies it, as an inward, self-divisive component of the interior god, according to which his writers...

High Fertility is no Longer a Dividend: The Dynamics of a Big Young Population and Unemployment

The problem of youth unemployment has been discussed many times in the current development debate. Pro-natalists like Professor Kamuzora have argued that a youth population is the ultimate resources for Africa for all time. The idea that the high rates of population growth (which lead to high population density) can be compatible with economic growth was advocated by Boserup. The paper considers the limitation of the assumed compatibility between high fertility and development in Tanzania. It is argued that the rapid increase of the many young people in the population is not compatible with their rapid upward social mobility. Youth unemployment is likely to remain a principle social economic problem for a long time because of high fertility. Some solutions to youth unemployment like vocational training and agricultural development are critically considered.

Bead Strand Model: a high-efficiency storage structure for self-destructing data in cloud environment

Blockchain prospers in a second mining fever long after the one that occurred in the 1840s. Assumed to be an ark carrying all the data into the brave new world, blockchain provides limited tickets that all the miners struggled to win. Ultimate resources have been wasted to involve the proof-of-work game in order to dig up bitcoins even in countries of the third world. So we strive to design another storage structure with self-destructing mechanism that can provide high-efficiency concurrency and which is more important security for all the users and all types of data. The data would vanish after expiration that could be set by the user in this structure named Bead Strand Model, and this humanitarian mechanism makes it more acceptable than blockchain by the people who concerned privacy and security in cloud environment.

Computational Complexities of Modeling of Dynamical Systems with Anticipation

The concept of anticipation foresees the dependence of future states not only on the past but also on their future states. One of the main reasons causing urgency of the study of anticipatory systems is the ultimate resource capacity of the problem of modeling of the systems with multiple potential scenarios since anticipatory systems often provide for multivalued solutions. Not great number of publications in this field of computer science is also often caused by ill-posed problem statements due to the existence of several potential solutions. In that way, the systems with anticipation represent a new direction in cybernetics and the models based on anticipation can formally describe a great number of existing systems and processes with higher accuracy in comparison with classical models with delay. We consider the following nonlinear discrete dynamical systems with strong anticipation, where future states can be represented by an explicit dependence on the past ones by means of the Hutchinson operator. The evolution of such dynamical systems is carried out in the Hausdorff metric space. We consider the fundamental problem of such systems modeling, i.e., the volume of use of computation resources. A number of definitions were introduced to study the dynamics of anticipation systems. The necessary notions of the theory of computational complexity were presented. An important tool of studying the dynamics of systems is the map of dynamic modes, which construction requires adaptation of procedures for finding periodic trajectories of such type systems. Procedures of determination of periodic trajectories of dynamical systems with anticipation were proposed and described in detail. Time and spatial complexities of construction of states, trajectories, and these procedures, in general, were obtained successively. Representation of states of the corresponding dynamical systems is substantiated by multisets with the purpose of minimization of time complexity on simulation of systems with anticipation. For further optimization of computational costs, it is necessary to take into account the structure of the phase space of a dynamical system with anticipation combining the proposed procedures.

Assessment through socioecological abstraction: The case of nutrient management models in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa

The sustainability of smallholder agriculture in the drylands of West Africa is a topic of long-lasting concern. This paper is focused on the scientific assessment of nutrient (mis)management affecting the long-term productivity of cropland. “Nutrient mining” is seen as a major mechanism for land degradation in the region. Two models will be the focus: that tied to the rangeland-to-cropland metric and the nutrient balance model. These tools of assessment follow a long history of environmental assessment and modeling that purposefully abstracts from the heterogeneity of the same farming practices that modeling efforts seek to assess. Abstraction is always part of modeling but the form of abstraction described here ignores any detailed understanding of farming practices and in so doing, demands very little information about farming practices. In this way, models serve as both the symptom and cause of continued ignorance of farming practices by most agronomists and soil scientists working in the region. The variables used in these models will be described and how these same variables are strongly influenced by the variation of farmers’ practices will be discussed. In addition, it will be shown that needless model abstraction results in research outcomes that provide very little insights to guide land policy formulation and agricultural extension. In short, these models point to the ultimate resource limits of the regional agricultural system but provide few insights of what could be changed to reduce rates of land degradation. The paper concludes by presenting alternative approaches that through their engagement with the diverse positionalities of farmers, provides insights useful for the development of effective land policies.

Geological Life Cycle Inventory Model Development for Shale Gas Resources

This paper presents an innovative life cycle assessment approach for shale gas production, which integrates geological system characteristics with a surface emission model to estimate the overall GHG emissions. Firstly, the model developed incorporates a Volumetric Estimation technique, Flowing Material Balance and Advance Decline Curve analysis to estimate the field gas in-place and estimated ultimate resource (EUR). Next, this geological model is integrated with the surface emission model, which is based on engineering design and operational parameters, to estimate the GHG as well as other emissions (direct and indirect; gaseous, liquid, solid waste) and resource use (materials, energy, water) from site construction, drilling, hydraulic fracturing, well completion, well head operations, gas gathering and gas processing. The cradle to gate LCA model developed was applied to the Fayetteville shale gas field using public domain data. Three possible field development strategies were developed and implemented in the life cycle inventory model developed. They all comply with the outputs of the subsurface constraint inventory model but differ in terms of selected parameters in well construction, well drilling, hydraulic fracturing, well completion, well head and surface facilities operations. The annual GHG emissions of Fayetteville shale gas field production with a sensitivity analysis was estimated for the three different field development strategies. The resulting life cycle GHG emissions range between 12.79 and 21.09 CO2 equivalents per Mscf of gas produced or 13.65 to 22.51 CO2 equivalents per MJ of gas produced. The water consumption is estimated in the range of 18 litres of water per Mscf of gas production.