The work described in this thesis has been directed at the development of a novel synthetic route to alkylsalicylic acids. Associated reactions have also been studied. The primary aim has been the synthesising of alkylsalicylic acids possessing an alkyl chain containing more than eight carbon atoms. In addition, a limited study has also been carried out into the sulfurisation of alkylphenols. Both the alkylsalicylic acids and the sulfurised aJkylphenols are used as oil additives. They both act as detergents, keeping an engine clean and neutralising any acids formed in the engine as a result of oxidation processes. Chapter Icontains a general introduction to oil additives, principally the overbased detergents, and an introduction to Friedel-Crafts chemistry, which is the basic reaction employed in the alkylation of salicylic acid. Chapter 2 introduces the alkylation of salicylic acid employing concentrated sulfuric acid as the catalyst, and using simple model compounds to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. The effect of varying the alkylating substrate to produce an alkylsalicylic acid with an alkyl chain containing at least eight carbon atoms is explored in Chapter 3. Optimization of the alkylation reaction and the effect of altering a number of the reaction parameters (e.g. temperature, catalyst and reaction duration) on the yield and product distribution for a range of alkylating substrates is set out in Chapter 4. The work contained in Chapter 5 concentrates on the synthesis and rearrangement of the esters of salicylic acid and investigates the possibility that the esters are intermediates in the alkylation reaction. Chapter 6 is concerned with the industrial implications of the alkylation of salicylic acid. It concentrates in particular on the synthesis using industrially available alkenes and the scale-up of the reaction. An insight into the sulfurisation of alkylphenols, and the attempted identification of products formed in the industrial process, can be found in Chapter 7. Finally, the experimental details for Chapters 2 to 7 are contained in Chapter 8.

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The path through life is filled with light and darkness but light casts shadows and can darken one's life. With this metaphor, I use light to symbolize the positive and shadows to represent the negative things that every one of us encounters. In my landscape paintings, the combination of light and darkness symbolizes my journey through life. There is a predominance of light in my paintings. Therefore, my intention is to portray the positive over the negative. In other words, I want to portray the light at the end of the tunnel.

This Master thesis is devoted to research of the economic development of Kazakhstan based on the economy of oil. This study is an attempt to analyze the relationship between oil price, GDP, inflation and oil exports in Kazakhstan on the basis of quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2010Q4. We explored the role of oil price for the Kazakhstani economy by using time-series Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) approach. Moreover, we applied the Johansen cointegration test to examine the sensitivity of economic growth to changes of oil prices in the long term. The key result shows that oil price shock has no significant impact on real economic growth in Kazakhstan. However, the price of oil has significantly positive effect on GDP in the short-term. In addition, we investigated a relationship between FDI and economic growth of Kazakhstan. Foreign direct investment plays a significant role in the development of republic. For the analysis we used the annual data for the period 1993 to 2011 (almost from the period of independence of Kazakhstan). Regression analysis of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was used in analyzing the data. Based on the empirical results, the analysis shows that there is a positive relationship between the FDI and economic growth. Our findings confirmed that Kazakhstan as a new developing...

Carbonate systems hold vast amounts of the world's oil reserves, and seismic data is the largest subsurface data set in the oil industry. Thus it is vital that new advances be made in using seismic data to construct predictive subsurface models. This thesis uses three key case studies to demonstrate how carbonate outcrops can enhance seismic stratigraphic interpretation and create subsurface predictive models in carbonates. The methodology involves detailed outcrop characterization, a seismic simulation of the outcrop data, and an iterative interpretation of the subsurface data and outcrop data to produce a predictive subsurface model. Seismic-scale outcrops are used to construct seismic simulations of two carbonate settings: an isolated platform margin, and a low angle ramp. Forward seismic modelling of the high-resolution sequence stratigraphic outcrop models is used to create the seismic simulations, and is a very powerful way to calibrate geological information and seismic data. The outcrop platform architecture of a shelfal algal mound field was applied to interpreting subsurface seismic data using forward seismic modelling of well logs. Interpretation of multi-frequency synthetic seismic outcrop simulations identified specific seismic characteristics for various carbonate depositional environments, which enhanced the confidence in interpretations of the subtle seismic characteristics on lower frequency subsurface seismic as being caused by actual geologic characteristics. This is particularly critical in the platform and ramp margin areas where interpretation pitfalls could occur, for example, missing the platform or ramp margin or interpreting the data as seismic artefacts. The platform, or ramp, margin is a key seismic geometry to identify on subsurface data. Its identification aids in the prediction of the platform architecture, and the spatial relationships between the basin (potential source rocks) and the platform (potential reservoir). The comparison between outcrop and subsurface data can be used at either the exploration or production scale. At the exploration scale the main aim is to identify the platform margin, while the main aim at the production scale is to identify the reservoir architecture, predict stratigraphic traps, and to use the subsurface data to obtain reservoir parameters as input for reservoir models.

Oil-rich developing economies have in their oil a valuable asset which could enable them to achieve a transformation to economic maturity largely unhindered by the constraints of foreign exchange and/or domestic savings. Yet the existence of such an asset creates tendencies that would lead to 'too-fast' depletion rates and structural distortions which, together, threaten the viability of these economies in the long run. The question of optimal growth with exhaustible resources is, therefore, of considerable relevance to such economies. This thesis attempts to assess the past impact of oil on the Iraqi economy and to study its future optimal growth. The former issue is dealt with through an analysis of the structure and the general trends in the development of the Iraqi economy during the period 1953-1974. The study reveals a growing structural imbalance manifested by the growth of Services at the expense of Commodity sectors, a failure to diversify exports, and an increase in dependence on oil revenues. The problem of optimal growth is examined using a linear programming input-output type model, the two main features of which are (1) an explicit recognition of Iraq's dependence on an exhaustible resource (oil) as a source of foreign exchange and savings, (2) the use of optimal oil pricing trajectories for the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries as a group for the valuation of Iraq's oil exports. Apart from determining Iraq's optimal oil depletion path, the model also throws some light on the way Iraq's optimal growth path is affected by such factors as OPEC's pricing strategies, Iraq's absorptive capacity as well as by the requirements of some important economic development objectives, such as achieving self sufficiency in foreign exchange after oil is completely exhausted.

The material presented in this thesis falls into two main sections: 1. The determination of barium, strontium and calcium in oil-well waters (i) Determination of barium It is revealed that the addition of magnesium (5 g l-1) to samples for the determination of barium by d.c. plasma atomic emission spectrometry enhances the sensitivity of the analysis and dramatically reduces interference from calcium and strontium at both atomic and ionic emission wavelengths. (ii) Determination of strontium The determination of strontium in waters, was also subject to the interference of the concomitant elements like calcium, barium and magnesium. However, the addition of 3 g l-1 sodium with or without 5 g l-1 of magnesium eliminated all the interferences in the d.c. plasma and in the dinitrogen oxide-acetylene flame. (iii) Determination of calcium The determination of calcium in oil-well waters encountered some interference arising from the presence of sulfate. However, the effects of phosphate and sodium were also investigated in both air-acetylene and dinitrogen oxide-acetylene flames and in the direct current plasma. It was shown that the interference was reduced in the cool flame when 2 g l-1 of lanthanum was added. The absorbance of calcium was depressed by the presence of 2 g l-1 of sodium. The interferences from both sulfate and phosphate were eliminated when the hot flame or the d.c. plasma were used. 2. Slurry nebulization for soil, sediment and fertilizer samples A slurry atomisation direct current plasma (DCP) emission and flame atomic absorption and emission (FAAS and FAES) for the determination of alkaline earth elements and also of other minor and major elements in soils, marine sediments and fertilizer is reported. The results obtained by slurry nebulization, with lithium added as ionisation buffer, were compared with results obtained following fusion with LiBO2 at 950o for 10 minutes and dissolution of the residues in 4&'37 HNO3.

Obligately anaerobic bacteria of the genus Bacteroides are important and abundant inhabitants of the rumen and hind gut of mammals. They are the most numerous group in the rumen and play a major role in fibre degradation with the rumen. They are phylogenetically remote from the better studied groups of facultatively anaerobic gut bacteria (eg. enterobacteria), but are closely related to the colonic Bacteroides. Interstrain conjugal transfer of a plasmid, pRRI4 (coding for tetracycline (Tc) resistance), from the multiple plasmid bearing B.ruminicola strain 223/M2/7 to F101, a rifampicin resistant mutant of B.ruminicola B 14, was demonstrated. pRRI4 was demonstrated to be self transmissible and carried the genes coding for TcR in B.ruminicola. Transformation of B.ruminicola F101 to TcR with pRRI4 was achieved using electroporation at frequencies up to 106 per mug DNA. Four other B.ruminicola strains were not transformed with this plasmid nor was a strain of B.uniformis. Similar procedures gave transformation of B.uniformis strains, but not B.ruminicola strains, with the E.coli:Bacteroides shuttle vectors pDP1 and pE5-2 at frequencies up to 107 per mug DNA. A nuclease assay was developed to determine the nuclease activity of a number of rumen bacteria and high nuclease activity in all B.succinogenes and five B.ruminicola strains was demonstrated. E.coli and B.uniformis strains were also transformed using electroporation by the shuttle vector, pRRI207, which has been constructed from a cryptic B.ruminicola plasmid (pRRI2, 3.4kbp) cut with EcoRI* , an E.coli vector plasmid (pHG165, 3.37kbp) carrying the pUC8 multiple cloning site, and the 4.2kbp Cc-EmRTc R* EcoRI region of pDP1. pRRI207 is capable of transforming B.uniformis, B.distasonis and B.ruminicola to clindamycin (Cc) resistance and E.coli to TcR (only expressed aerobically), and was the only construct from eleven different constructs obtained based on pRRI2 able to do so.

El presente trabajo tiene por finalidad dar a conocer las actividades realizadas en la Cia. MAPLE GAS CORPORATION DEL PERU SRL, empresa en la cual ingrese a laboral el 12 de Mayo del 2003 hasta el 5 de setiembre de 2009.

Abstract A study on the essential oil chemistry and microbiological activity of South African indigenous medicinal plants with the aim of establishing a scientific rationale for their anti-infective properties was undertaken. For the purpose of this study, nine medicinal aromatic plants were selected. The hydrodistilled essential oil was analyzed by gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and various techniques were used to document the antimicrobial activity. Disc diffusion studies on Myrothamnus flabellifolius indicated highest activities against the fungal test organisms Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus niger with radial inhibition zones of 8 mm and 10 mm respectively. The highest antimicrobial activity noted in the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay was for C. neoformans (2 mg/mL). Time-kill studies demonstrated the death kinetic progression on M. flabellifolius essential oils where the killing rate was greatest for Candida albicans. Osmitopsis asteriscoides, a plant used traditionally for cuts and swellings showed highest disc diffusion antimicrobial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus (3 mm) and C. neoformans (3 mm). The MIC study indicated highest susceptibilities (4 mg/mL) for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Death kinetics for the three organisms studied demonstrated that the killing rate was greatest for C. albicans. The role of the two major constituents (1,8-cineole and (-)-camphor) act synergistically to enhance antimicrobial activity. Disc diffusion assays undertaken on Artemisia afra showed highest activity against Candida tropicalis (5 mm). In the MIC assay the highest susceptibility was against Serratia odorifera (4 mg/mL). Time-kill assays on Artemisia afra showed a concentration dependent bactericidal activity, with evidence that the major constituents independently and in combination were not responsible for the overall activity of the plant. Lippia javanica, a plant used to treat coughs, colds and bronchitis, indicated highest susceptibility against the respiratory pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae (5 mm) with the disc diffusion assay. The MIC assay indicated highest susceptibilities (4 mg/mL) against C. neoformans and E. coli. Death kinetic assays for three test organisms showed that the killing rate was the greatest for K. pneumoniae. The time-kill study for L. javanica in combination with A. afra demonstrated that the oils in combination act synergistically against K. pneumoniae. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils and extracts were determined for Helichrysum cymosum subsp. cymosum where the extracts demonstrated at least a six times greater MIC efficacy than the essential oils. Using column chromatography, the antimicrobially active compound was isolated from H. cymosum subsp. cymosum and identified as helihumulone. The traditional use of plants as a treatment for infectious diseases is not always restricted to a single part of the plant as was noted in the study on Croton gratissimus var. subgratissimus, where the leaf, bark and root extracts were investigated singularly and combined in various ratios to establish possible interaction. The MIC and fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) results indicated variable efficacies for the plant combinations. The greatest synergistic profile was noted for C. neoformans in the leaf and root combination (MIC 0.4 mg/mL and FIC of 0.4). Further isobologram combination studies were thereafter conducted on varying ratios of leaf and root extracts, indicating greatest synergy for Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis, C. albicans and C. neoformans. While seasonal variation had very little impact on the MIC results obtained from Heteropyxis natalensis, the ratio of the two major compounds (1,8-cineol and limonene) fluctuated on a monthly basis. Moderate antimicrobial activity (3.0-16.0 mg/mL) was found for most pathogens with higher sensitivities for C. neoformans. The geographical variation of H. natalensis essential oil indicated similar profiles for Gauteng, Nelspruit and Waterberg samples. The Lagalametse sample, however, showed distinct variation both chemically and microbiologically where efficacy was higher than in all other samples. The impact of the enantiomeric configuration was investigated for limonene in combination with 1,8- cineole with (+/-)-limonene in combination with 1,8-cineole having the most significant synergistic ratios against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antimicrobial activities of the non-volatile and volatile fractions of Tarchonanthus camphoratus and Plectranthus grandidentatus, singularly and in combination demonstrated that the volatile constituents contribute to the total efficacy of the plant. Isobologram representation of the combination of various ratios of T. camphoratus and P. grandidentatus essential oil and non-volatile extracts devoid of essential oils present a predominant synergistic profile for all pathogens studied. A comparative study on five indigenous oils (M. flabellifolius, O. asteriscoides, H. natalensis, A. afra and L. javanica) was undertaken with five popular commercial oils (Lavendula angustifolia, Thymus vulgaris, Melaleuca alternifolia, Mentha piperita and Rosmarinus officinalis). The highest antimicrobial activity was noted for Thymus vulgaris in the MIC assay, followed by M. flabellifolius, O. asteriscoides and M. alternifolia. With the time-kill assay, M. flabellifolius showed the most rapid cidal effect against all three pathogens tested. The comparative evaluation of commercial essential oils with indigenous oils validated the use of South African aromatic plants for their anti-infective properties.