Masteropgave. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Masteropgave. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

On the last day of May 2008, new chemicals legislation, REACH came into force in Norway following its implementation within the EU in 2007. The regulation streamlines and improves an earlier legislative framework for chemicals of the European Union. To be able to comply with the new regulation, enterprises will have to put in place considerable measures and undertake possibly restructuring part of or the entire enterprise. Such measures could include the need for training, external consultancy and need for new practical software. Other measures include strategic changes in the enterprises such as the centralization of operations, change of short/long term plans, venturing into areas, change in procurement procedures etc. These may vary from enterprise to enterprise depending on their position on the supply chain as defined by the new legislation. Importers and producers of chemicals have more duties under REACH than downstream users and distributors. This study investigates how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the chemical industry in Norway have been affected by the implementation of the legislation; the main focus of the study is on the economic and strategic effects of REACH on SMEs. Most SMEs in Norwegian chemical industry fall under REACH’s definitions of downstream users and distributors meaning they have fewer duties compared to producer and importers. Despite fewer duties, the effect of REACH on SMEs is quite comprehensive and far-reaching. / Address: Austadvn 99 3034 Drammen Tel: +47-90949602

No description available.

The Heidrun field is located in the Halten Terrace of the Mid-Norwegian Continental Shelf and is one of the first giant oil fields found on the Norwegian Sea. Modern 3D seismic reflection data acquired over the field, as well as well data were used to define the key structural and stratigraphic elements within the study area. The basic geologic history of the Heidrun field is typical of most North Sea plays, and includes Triassic rift sequences that are masked by the reactivation of bounding faults that were active during the Jurassic rift phase. This rifting phase was followed by deposition of marine black shales and subsequent carbonaceous shales during the Latest Jurassic to Earliest Cretaceous. The next sequence was characterized by the deposition of Paleocene-Eocene boundary tuffs, which were formed due to volcanism associated with a rifting event that separated Norway and Greenland. Finally, an Eocene to present passive margin marine sequence is dominant over the study area that is mainly composed by glacial deposits. Traditional reservoir intervals within the Heidrun field are located within the Jurassic age inter-rift sequence. However, most recently Cretaceous-age turbidites have been explored in the Norwegian and North Sea as possible targets with some success. These Cretaceous turbidites are traditionally found as basin floor fan deposits within rifted deeps along the Norwegian continental shelf and are believed to be sourced from localized erosion of Jurassic- age rifted highs. Data within our study area revealed the existence of a deep-water Cretaceous age wedge located within the downthrown hanging wall of several smaller half-grabens formed on the Halten Terrace. Seismic attribute extractions taken within this Cretaceous wedge show the presence of several elongate to lobate bodies that seem to cascade over fault-bounded terraces associated with the rifted structures. These high amplitude elongated bodies are interpreted as proximal sedimentary conduits that are time equivalent to the Cretaceous basin floor fans located in more distal portions of the basin to the west. Several wells penetrate the updip, tilted half-graben hanging walls which are believed to be sourcing these turbidite systems. These half graben fills have the potential to contain high quality Cretaceous sandstones that might represent a potential new reservoir interval within the Heidrun field. / text

Sexual minorities or those minoritized as a result of the expressed or assumed sexual orientations and identities (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer), by virtue of their sometimes stigmatized identities, oftentimes report deleterious and unprovoked experiences of harassment, victimization, and prejudice. For several decades, research has confirmed that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are at high risk for maladaptive outcomes, including higher rates of suicidality, depression, substance use and abuse, and anxiety disorders. The goal of this dissertation was to 1) document and compare these disparities across two cultures, 2) disentangle social support systems that are important to sexual minorities, and 3) identify factors that best protect sexual minorities against the effects of bias-based bullying. Large datasets were used to compare, understand, and trace the processes of interpersonal relational support on adjustment for sexual minorities. Specifically, different cultural normativities were hypothesized to explain differences in adjustment across culture, parent support was hypothesized to be most associated with lower depression and higher self-esteem, and parent acceptance was expected to buffer the relation between bias-based bullying and depression for sexual minorities. These expectations were generally supported and demonstrate the clear role that parents and friends contribute to mental health for sexual minorities. Implications for future research, parents, teachers, and other stakeholders are discussed in different contexts of sexual minority adjustment.

This paper seeks to explain divergent policies toward oil and gas development across two jurisdictions, Alberta, Canada and Norway. Empirical evidence reveals that Norway collects a significantly higher portion of available economic rent from oil and gas activities than Alberta. Edwards (1987) postulates that if we assume governments have similar economic objectives (e.g. to receive the highest possible levels of revenue from the exploitation of a depleting natural resource), then it is to be expected that oil and gas policy outputs in various states would be similar. Why then did Norway develop a policy regime that allows it to capture comparatively higher levels of economic rent? The puzzle is even more interesting given the fact that Alberta and Norway are both advanced, industrialized, mature democracies that share many institutional characteristics. In response to this question, this paper presents a framework that links contemporary variations in rent collection performance to early government policies in Alberta and Norway. Several alternative explanations are tested as a means for understanding these divergent policies: resource differences approaches, bargaining power explanation, and political institutional differences. Finding each of these alternative explanations insufficient, it is argued that fundamental differences in political culture are important for understanding variations in early policies and ultimately in rent collection performance. The implications of this research are important both theoretically and empirically. For one, the analysis overcomes some of the traditional shortcomings of political culture analyses by delineating the specific dimensions of political culture that impacted policy outcomes. The analysis is pushed further by hypothesizing the intervening mechanism linking political culture to policy outcomes, namely motives. On the empirical side, there is a dearth in the political-economy literature dealing with why oil and gas fiscal policy outputs differ between developed states. This research seeks to fill this gap by focusing on how political culture can affect oil and gas policy.

The tectonometamorphic histories of allochthonous nappe units that were deeply buried and subsequently exhumed during the Scandian orogeny in the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway are poorly constrained and understood. One such unit is the Blåhø Nappe which underlies northern Harøya and Finnøya, two islands in the Nordøyane ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic domain. The Blåhø Nappe contains a lower unit of garnet amphibolite gneiss with interlayered garnet-bearing quartzofeldspathic gneiss and marble, and an upper unit of migmatitic aluminous gneiss. Southern Harøya comprises orthogneisses attributed to the Baltican continental crust, and is separated from the Blåhø Nappe by the Finnøya migmatitic shear zone (FMSZ). Field and petrographic observations from these islands suggest that the Blåhø Nappe experienced peak metamorphism at high pressure amphibolite to granulite facies conditions before being overprinted by relatively lower pressure amphibolite facies conditions. In contrast, the adjacent Baltican basement gneiss contains coesite-eclogite pods, which attests to UHP conditions. However, the basement rocks are also overprinted by an amphibolite facies assemblage. To understand the implications of these observations, the metamorphic history of the Blåhø Nappe was investigated, and compared to that of the basement. This thesis presents thermobarometric and geochronologic analyses used to define a metamorphic pressure-temperature-time (PTt) path for the Blåhø Nappe on Harøya and Finnøya. The results suggest prograde metamorphism between ca. 440 Ma and 415 Ma, peak temperature metamorphism at 860?C and 15 kbar at around 410 Ma, equilibration at amphibolite-facies conditions of 680?C and 9 kbar by 395 Ma, and cooling below Ar-closure T in muscovite by ca. 360 Ma. The PTt data from the Blåhø Nappe demonstrate that these rocks did not share the UHP history of the adjacent basement rocks, but that both experienced similar amphibolite facies metamorphism and deformation. These units were likely juxtaposed along the FMSZ during isothermal decompression from their respective maximum burial depths to ~30 km depth.

Crustal faulting has long been known as the source of shallow seismicity, and the seismogenic zone is the depth (3-15 km) within the crust that is capable of co-seismic slip, largely under brittle conditions. However, some continental seismicity occurs at depths >> 15 km. I performed thermobarometry of mylonitic pseudotachylyte to determine the P-T of a seismogenic extensional fault in the Caledonian Norwegian margin. Two shear zones (Eidsfjord and Fiskfjord) located in northern Norway exhibit brittle extension propagating into the ductile regime of the lower crust as evidenced by the presence of pseudotachylyte. Averages from Eidsfjord (653 ± 38°C and 570 ± 115 MPa) and Fiskfjord (680 ± 70°C and 1121 ± 219 MPa) correspond to depths of co-seismic slip of 21 ±4 km and 41 ± 9 km, respectively. These depths are 5-25 km below the depth of the standard seismogenic zone in mature fault systems, and require another mechanism (e.g. dynamic downward rupture, unusually high shear stresses) to account for seismogenic rupture at such depths. Assuming Eidsfjord and Fiskfjord were uplifted at the same time, and considering they are currently at the same crustal level, Fiskfjord was uplifted a greater amount and at a faster rate as it was initially located at a greater crustal depth.