The oil industry is the richest and most influential industry in the world. The industry has moved the fates of nations. Oil is required to fight wars and exert power, and the restriction of this energy source is paramount to the restriction of movement, control, and in the end, power. Management of this resource and the tax revenue it generates are of serious strategic importance, both domestically and internationally. Understanding the results of taxation for this important commodity is important to international relations as well. The tax system affects tax revenue, government actions, oil company actions, and the oil supply itself. Each of these is important to international relations.

To achieve a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, the United Nations has defined the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including economic, social, and environmental sustainability as three pillars. This thesis work is aimed at building a sustainability evaluation framework to investigate the product, which in this study is transformer insulating liquid. What’s more, this study focuses on the sustainability evaluation of the extraction step of the raw material which is crude oil and vegetable oil for insulating liquids. The evaluation method is based on the triangular fuzzy number variables, which represent the ambiguity of linguistic variables. Meanwhile, the sustainable development goals are discussed and developed into feasible evaluation criteria. According to the defined criteria, the performance of each indicator is taken from published literature, reports, and official organization. After that, the sustainability index of each oil is calculated and compared, thus a general sustainable result is given. The result shows that mineral oil is more sustainable than vegetable oil only in economic sustainability, while in other aspects including the overall aspect vegetable oil is more sustainable than mineral oil. Among that, mineral oil performs most weakly in environmental sustainability, while vegetable oil is in economic sustainability. Furthermore, the framework designed is expected to be used to evaluate the entire life cycle of a product and can be referred to in future supply chain improvement, since more indexes can be developed based on the mathematics fuzzy number calculation principle. / För att uppnå en gemensam plan för fred och välstånd för människor och planeten har FN definierat 2030-agendan för hållbar utveckling, inklusive ekonomisk, social och miljömässig hållbarhet, som tre pelare. Detta examensarbete syftar till att bygga ett ramverk för hållbarhetsutvärdering för att undersöka produkten, som i denna studie är transformatorisoleringsvätska. Dessutom fokuserar denna studie på hållbarhetsutvärderingen av utvinningssteget av råmaterialet som är råolja och vegetabilisk olja för isolerande vätskor. Utvärderingsmetoden är baserad på de triangulära luddiga talvariablerna, som representerar tvetydigheten hos språkliga variabler. Samtidigt diskuteras målen för hållbar utveckling och utvecklas till genomförbara utvärderingskriterier. Enligt de definierade kriterierna är prestandan för varje indikator hämtad från publicerad litteratur, rapporter och officiell organisation. Därefter beräknas och jämförs hållbarhetsindexet för varje olja, vilket ger ett generellt hållbart resultat. Resultatet visar att mineralolja är mer hållbar än vegetabilisk olja endast i ekonomisk hållbarhet, medan i andra aspekter inklusive den övergripande aspekten är vegetabilisk olja mer hållbar än mineralolja. Bland annat presterar mineralolja sämst i miljömässig hållbarhet, medan vegetabilisk olja har ekonomisk hållbarhet. Dessutom förväntas det utformade ramverket användas för att utvärdera hela livscykeln för en produkt och kan hänvisas till i framtida förbättringar av försörjningskedjan, eftersom fler index kan utvecklas baserat på matematikens luddiga talberäkningsprincip.

[pt] A programação de produção em refinaria pode ser compreendida como decisões que buscam otimizar alocação de recursos, o sequenciamento de atividades e a sua realização temporal, respeitando restrições e visando ao atendimento de múltiplos objetivos. Apesar da complexidade e natureza combinatória, a atividade carece de sistemas sofisticados que auxiliem o processo decisório, especialmente baseadas em otimização, pois as ferramentas utilizadas são planilhas ou softwares de simulação. A diversidade de objetivos do problema não implica em equivalência de importância. Pode-se considerar que existem grupos, onde os que afetam diretamente a capacidade produtiva da refinaria se sobrepõem aos associados à maior continuidade operacional. Esta tese propõe o desenvolvimento de algoritmos multiobjetivos para programação de petróleo em refinaria. As propostas se baseiam em conceituadas técnicas da literatura multiobjetivo, como dominância de Pareto e decomposição do problema, integradas à programação genética com inspiração quântica. São estudados modelos em um ou dois níveis de decisão. A diferenciação dos grupos de objetivos é avaliada com base em critérios estabelecidos para considerar uma solução proposta como aceitável e também é avaliada a influência de uma população externa no processo evolutivo. Os modelos são testados em cenários de uma refinaria real e os resultados são comparados com um modelo que trata os objetivos de forma hierarquizada. As abordagens baseadas em dominância e em decomposição apresentam vantagem sobre o algoritmo hierarquizado, e a decomposição é superior. Numa comparação com o modelo em dois níveis de decisão, apenas o que utiliza estratégia de decomposição em cada nível apresenta bons resultados. Ao final deste trabalho é obtido mais de um modelo multiobjetivo capaz de oferecer um conjunto de soluções que atendam aos objetivos críticos e deem flexibilidade de análise a posteriori para o programador de produção, o que, por exemplo, permite que ele pondere questões não mapeadas no modelo. / [en] Refinery scheduling can be understood as a set of decisions which aims to optimize resource allocation, task sequencing, and their time-related execution, respecting constraints and targeting multiple objectives. Despite its complexity and combinatorial nature, the refinery scheduling lacks more sophisticated support decision tools. The main systems in the area are worksheets and, sometimes, simulation software. The multiple objectives do not mean they have the same importance. Actually, they can be grouped whereas the objectives related to the refinery production capacity are more important than the ones related to a smooth operation. This thesis proposes the development of multiobjective algorithms applied to crude oil refinery scheduling. The proposals are based on the major technics of multiobjective literature, like Pareto dominance and problem decomposition, integrated with a quantum-inspired genetic programming approach. One and two decision level models are studied. The difference between groups is handled with conditions that define what can be considered a good solution. The effect of using an archive population in the evolutionary process is also evaluated. The results of the proposed models are compared with another model that handles the objectives in a hierarchical logical. Both decomposition and dominance approaches have better results than the hierarchical model. The decomposition model is even better. The bilevel decomposition method is the only one, among two decision levels models, which have shown good performance. In the end, this work achieves more than one multiobjective model able to offer a set of solutions which comprises the critical objectives and can give flexibility to the production scheduler does his analysis. Therefore, he can consider aspects not included in the model, like the forecast of crude oil batches not scheduled yet.

Recently, there has been a surge in the research and application of "Green energy" in the United States. This has been driven by the following three objectives: (1) to reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil, (2) to mitigate emission of greenhouse gas, and (3) to create an economic stimulus within the United States. Switchgrass is the biomass of choice for the Southeastern United States. In this dissertation, we address a feedstock logistics problem associated with the delivery of switchgrass for conversion into biofuel. In order to satisfy the continual demand of biomass at a bioenergy plant, production fields within a 48-km radius of its location are assumed to be attracted into production. The bioenergy plant is expected to receive as many as 50-400 loads of biomass per day. As a result, an industrialized transportation system must be introduced as early as possible in order to remove bottlenecks and reduce the total system cost. Additionally, we assume locating multiple bioenergy plants within a given region for the production of biofuel. We develop mixed integer programming formulations for the feedstock logistics problem that we address and for some related problems, and we solve them either through the use of decomposition-based methods or directly through the use of CPLEX 12.1.0. The feedstock logistics problem that we address spans the entire system-from the growing of switchgrass to the transporting of bio-crude oil, a high energy density intermediate product, to a refinery for conversion into a final product. To facilitate understanding, we present the reader with a case study that includes a preliminary cost analysis of a real-life-based instance in order to provide the reader appropriate insights of the logistics system before applying optimization techniques for its solution. First, we consider the benefits of active versus passive ownership of the production fields. This is followed by a discussion on the selection of baler type, and then, a discussion of contracts between various business entities. The advantages of storing biomass at a satellite storage location (SSL) and interactions between the operations performed at the production field with those performed at the storage locations are then established. We also provide a detailed description of the operations performed at a SSL. Three potential equipment options are presented for transporting biomass from the SSLs to a utilization point, defined in this study as a Bio-crude Plant (BcP). The details of the entire logistics chain are presented in order to highlight the need for making decisions in view of the entire chain rather than basing them on its segments. We model the feedstock logistics problem as a combination of a 2-level facility location-allocation problem and a multiple traveling salesmen problem (mATSP). The 2-level facility location-allocation problem pertains to the allocation of production fields to SSLs and SSLs to one of the multiple bioenergy plants. The mATSP arises because of the need for scheduling unloading operations at the SSLs. To this end, we provide a detailed study of 13 formulations of the mATSP and their reformulations as ATSPs. First, we assume that the SSLs are always full, regardless of when they are scheduled to be unloaded. We, then, relax this assumption by providing precedence constraints on the availability of the SSLs. This precedence is defined in two different ways and, is then, effectively modeled utilizing all the formulations for the mATSP and ATSP. Given the location of a BcP for the conversion of biomass to bio-crude oil, we develop a feedstock logistics system that relies on the use of SSLs for temporary storage and loading of round bales. Three equipment systems are considered for handling biomass at the SSLs, and they are either placed permanently or are mobile, and thereby, travel from one SSL to another. We use a mathematical programming-based approach to determine SSLs and equipment routes in order to minimize the total cost incurred. The mathematical program is applied to a real-life production region in South-central Virginia (Gretna, VA), and it clearly reveals the benefits of using SSLs as a part of the logistics system. Finally, we provide a sensitivity analysis on the input parameters that we used. This analysis highlights the key cost factors in the model, and it emphasizes areas where biggest gains can be achieved for further cost reduction. For a more general scenario, where multiple BcPs have to be located, we use a nested Benders' decomposition-based method. First, we prove the validity of using this method. We, then, employ this method for the solution of a potential real-life instance. Moreover, we successfully solve problems that are more than an order of magnitude larger than those solved directly by CPLEX 12.1.0. Finally, we develop a Benders' decomposition-based method for the solution of a problem that gives rise to a binary sub-problem. The difficulty arises because of the sub-problem being an integer program for which the dual solution is not readily available. Our approach consists of first solving the integer sub-problem, and then, generating the convex hull at the optimal integer point. We illustrate this approach for an instance for which such a convex hull is readily available, but otherwise, it is too expensive to generate for the entire problem. This special instance is the solution of the mATSP (using Benders' decomposition) for which each of the sub-problems is an ATSP. The convex hull for the ATSP is given by the Dantzig, Fulkerson, and Johnson constraints. These constraints at a given integer solution point are only polynomial in number. With the inclusion of these constraints, a linear programming solution and its corresponding dual solution can now be obtained at the optimal integer points. We have proven the validity of using this method. However, the success of our algorithm is limited because of a large number of integer problems that must be solved at every iteration. While the algorithm is theoretically promising, the advantages of the decomposition do not seem to outweigh the additional cost resulting from solving a larger number of decomposed problems. / Ph. D.

Submitted by Biblioteca de Pós-Graduação em Geoquímica BGQ (bgq@ndc.uff.br) on 2016-05-02T17:58:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GALLOTTA_30_06_14.pdf: 62695484 bytes, checksum: 33335ee3affc2bcffb11fc10caf9ae3f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-02T17:58:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GALLOTTA_30_06_14.pdf: 62695484 bytes, checksum: 33335ee3affc2bcffb11fc10caf9ae3f (MD5) / Universidade Federal Fluminense. Instituto de Química. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geociências-Geoquímica. Niterói, RJ / Os hidrocarbonetos presentes no ambiente consistem em misturas complexas de compostos derivados de múltiplas fontes. Os combustíveis fósseis representam a principal contribuição, devido à taxa e escala espacial, em que o petróleo tem sido usado como fonte de energia e matéria-prima para a indústria química. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os níveis de concentração e identificar fontes de hidrocarbonetos na Bacia do Alto Iguaçu e, em especial, na área de influência da Refinaria Presidente Getúlio Vargas (REPAR). Além dos fatores de poluição crônica, a área de estudo foi alvo de um derrame acidental de petróleo em julho de 2000. Diversos indicadores em diferentes compartimentos ambientais (água superficial, sedimento, solo e água subterrânea) foram avaliados na fase pós-derrame e no monitoramento ambiental ao longo de várias campanhas por mais de uma década. Os esforços de avaliação foram concentrados nos seguintes indicadores: os nalcanos, os alcanos isoprenoides, os hidrocarbonetos policíclicos aromáticos (HPA), os biomarcadores de petróleo e ainda o total de hidrocarbonetos de petróleo (THP). Os resultados identificaram como principal aporte de matéria orgânica para as águas superficiais dos rios Barigüi e Iguaçu, os fluxos materiais originados em região a montante do acidente, refletindo a contribuição antropogênica crônica da cidade de Curitiba. Em 2007 e 2008, as concentrações de THP e HPA nas águas superficiais e sedimentos dos rios Barigüi e Iguaçu refletem uma expressiva melhoria nas condições desses rios em relação a 2000. Na área interna da refinaria (Ponto Zero), observou-se uma nítida diminuição (atenuação) natural das concentrações de THP no solo em todas as profundidades dos perfis amostrados ao longo do tempo nos Banhados 1 e 4 e, em particular, uma diminuição importante das concentrações entre 2004 e 2007. Para a identificação das fontes de hidrocarbonetos foram utilizadas razões diagnósticas e quimiometria. As razões diagnósticas calculadas a partir de concentrações de HPA sugeriram que, na maioria dos sedimentos dos Rios Barigüi e Iguaçu coletados nas campanhas de 2000 e 2001, a fonte petrogênica é a principal. Somente na estação a montante do acidente no Rio Barigüi, a fonte pirolítica predominou nestas duas campanhas. As razões diagnósticas que apresentaram maior eficiência na identificação de fontes de hidrocarbonetos nos sedimentos dos rios Barigüi e Iguaçu foram: ΣC1-Fenantrenos/Fenantreno; e (ΣHPA parentais de 3-6 anéis)/(Σ5 séries de HPA alquilados). A identificação de fontes através de razões diagnósticas calculadas a partir de áreas e alturas de picos cromatográficos demonstrou sua aplicabilidade verificando a relação entre os compostos encontrados em amostras de solo da área interna da refinaria com a amostra de petróleo derramado no acidente, após quase uma década da ocorrência do vazamento. A identificação de fontes através método de quimiométrico baseado na análise de componentes principais (ACP) de seções pré-processadas e combinadas dos Cromatogramas de Íons Selecionados (CIS) mostrou que as amostras mais contaminadas estão na área interna da refinaria. Essas amostras apresentam um padrão de distribuição petrogênica e diferentes graus de intemperismo. As amostras da área externa à refinaria (Guajuvira, General Lúcio e Balsa Nova) são menos ou não contaminadas e/ou contém uma mistura de contribuições diagenéticas, pirolíticas e petrogênicas onde predominam diferentes proporções. Os locais mais distantes da atividade industrial (Balsa Nova) contem, como esperado, os níveis mais baixos de contaminação por HPA. Os resultados de biomarcadores demonstraram que não há evidências para concluir que as amostras da área externa à refinaria e o óleo Cusiana vazado tenham a mesma origem. Os resultados ao longo dos rios Barigüi e Iguaçu e do Ponto Zero demonstraram que as ações de emergência para a contenção do óleo foram adequadas para os rios, e que a contaminação decorrente do derrame ficou predominantemente contida no Ponto Zero e diminuiu significativamente após uma década. / Hydrocarbons present in the environment consist of complex mixtures of compounds derived from multiple sources. The main contribution lies on fossil fuel inputs due to the rate and spatial scale by which petroleum has been used as an energy source and chemical feedstock. The aim of this study was to assess the concentration levels and identify sources of hydrocarbons in the Upper Iguaçu Watershed and, in particular, in the area of influence of the President Getulio Vargas Refinery (REPAR). In addition to the factors of chronic pollution, the study area was the scenario of an acute accidental oil spill in July 2000. Numerous indicators in different environmental compartments (surface water, sediment, soil and groundwater) were assessed in the post spill phase and during the environmental monitoring programs over the course of several campaigns for more than a decade. Assessment efforts were concentrated on the following indicators: n-alkanes, alkanes isoprenoids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), petroleum biomarkers and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). The results identified as the main contribution of organic matter to surface waters of the Barigüi and Iguaçu Rivers the materials flows originated in the region upstream of the accident, reflecting chronic anthropogenic contribution of the city of Curitiba. In 2007 and 2008, the TPH and PAH concentrations in surface waters and sediments of the Barigüi and Iguaçu Rivers revealed a significant improvement in the conditions of these rivers when compared with 2000. Inside the refinery area (Point Zero), it was observed a clear natural decrease (attenuation) of the concentrations of TPH in the soil at all depths sampled over time in Marshes 1 and 4 and, in particular, an important decrease of concentrations between 2004 and 2007. Diagnostic ratios and chemometrics were used to identity hydrocarbon sources. The diagnostic ratios calculated from the concentrations of PAH suggested that, in the majority of sediments from the Barigüi and Iguaçu Rivers collected in 2000 and 2001 campaigns, the main source is petrogenic. Only in the station upstream the accident in the Barigüi River, the pyrolytic source predominated in these two campaigns. The diagnostic ratios that presented higher efficiency in identifying sources of hydrocarbons in sediments of the Barigüi and Iguaçu Rivers were: ΣC1- Phenantrenes/Phenanthrene; and (Σ3-6 rings parental PAH)/(Σ5 alkylated PAH series). The source identification through diagnostic ratios calculated from heights and areas of chromatographic peaks demonstrated its applicability establishing a relationship between the compounds found in soil samples of the internal area of the refinery and the sample of the oil spilled in the accident, after nearly a decade of occurrence of the spillage. The source identification through chemometric method based on principal components analysis (PCA) of preprocessed and combined sections of Selected Ion Chromatograms (SIC) showed that the most contaminated samples are inside the refinery area. These samples present a petrogenic pattern and different weathering degrees. Samples from outside the refinery area (Guajuvira, General Lúcio e Balsa Nova) are either less or not contaminated, and/or contain mixtures of diagenetic, pyrogenic and petrogenic inputs where different proportions predominate. The locations farthest away from industrial activity (Balsa Nova) contain, as expected, the lowest levels of PAH contamination. The biomarkers results do not show any evidences to conclude positive matches between the samples from outside the refinery area and the spilled Cusiana oil. The results along Barigüi and Iguaçu rivers and Point Zero demonstrated that emergency actions to contain the oil were appropriate for the rivers, and that the contamination resulting from the spill was mostly contained in the Point Zero and decreased significantly after one decade

CHINA IN GLOBAL AND REGIONAL POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY - GEOPOLITICAL CLASH WITH JAPAN, INDIA, USA, RUSSIA AND EUROPE Mgr. Martin Petrtýl Supervisor: Doc. Dr. Bořivoj Hnízdo, PhD. Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences This dissertation discusses the current and future role of China in the 21st century. I worked with the idea to prepare a systematically detailed analytical study of the country in relation to its surroundings as well as its internal environment for more than 8 years, including many interruptions. I, above all, contemplated about the way how to truly scientifically, i.e. credibly, it means in the maximum possible the limits of verifiability, develop a full work that could hold up to the colleagues from the scientific community and myself. It is logical it was and is my attempt to allow minimal possibility of any criticism of this work for its formal, content, or other deficiencies. First, I decided to analyse in some detail the currently known theoretical approaches and methods of study, not only in political sciences, especially those used by political geographers, but also in other related fields, especially in the field of study of international relations, sociology, political science or general security studies. I did not want to study the issue is the...