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.

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In December, 2002, the oil sands of Alberta, Canada – earlier seen as an obscure, obstacle-ridden scientific project – were for the first time included in the Oil & Gas Journal’s year-end review of worldwide oil reserves. To explain this decision, the editors of this prestigious international petroleum magazine cited the basic neoclassical economic theory of price-driven resource substitution. This thesis contends, however, that the neoclassical theory in fact explains very little of how it became possible to profitably extract petroleum from Alberta’s bitumen-saturated sands. Merging insights from resources geography on the politics of nature-based production with scholarship on calculation and classification in Science and Technology Studies, this thesis fleshes in much-needed detail and dimension to the neoclassical account by emphasizing the role of key actors and decision-makers, many within the state but also within the private sector, who have actively negotiated supply costs and pursued technological strategies for the oil sands. In doing so, it argues that market prices and supply costs are not independent objects, but are underpinned by a malleable, contingent, and profoundly political process. As evidence, this thesis draws on national and international petroleum statistics, industry publications and public relations campaigns, as well as over 80 years of archived and more contemporary government documents, in order to show that substitution between two materially different resources is rarely an independently propelled or inevitable response.

In December, 2002, the oil sands of Alberta, Canada – earlier seen as an obscure, obstacle-ridden scientific project – were for the first time included in the Oil & Gas Journal’s year-end review of worldwide oil reserves. To explain this decision, the editors of this prestigious international petroleum magazine cited the basic neoclassical economic theory of price-driven resource substitution. This thesis contends, however, that the neoclassical theory in fact explains very little of how it became possible to profitably extract petroleum from Alberta’s bitumen-saturated sands. Merging insights from resources geography on the politics of nature-based production with scholarship on calculation and classification in Science and Technology Studies, this thesis fleshes in much-needed detail and dimension to the neoclassical account by emphasizing the role of key actors and decision-makers, many within the state but also within the private sector, who have actively negotiated supply costs and pursued technological strategies for the oil sands. In doing so, it argues that market prices and supply costs are not independent objects, but are underpinned by a malleable, contingent, and profoundly political process. As evidence, this thesis draws on national and international petroleum statistics, industry publications and public relations campaigns, as well as over 80 years of archived and more contemporary government documents, in order to show that substitution between two materially different resources is rarely an independently propelled or inevitable response.

This thesis aims to investigate both the causes and effects of migration in the Middle East and North Africa with a view to identifying the patterns and trends that characterize migration phenomena in the region. It is argued that migration is a significant variable to understand the economic, social and political dynamics of the development that the MENA countries have experienced since imperial and/or colonial times. In its different variants, migration has been conditioned primarily by economic vicissitudes. With the exception of the Gulf states, all of the MENA countries have experienced significant levels of immigration as well as emigration especially since the 1980s when the structural effects of the oil crisis (1973) surfaced. The Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s and the Gulf War of the 1990s enhanced the existing trends of migration. In the absence of political reform and economic restructuring, the economies of the region have rejuvenated the conditions of migration. Having drawn upon sociological theories, political histories and economic analyses to identify and discuss the patterns and trends of migration, the present study argues in complete contrast to a policy-oriented Western scholarship that migration is far from being a stimulus for economic growth across the MENA countries.

Topic of this master thesis is the characterization of the relationship between private oil companies and the state. Ambition is to render this co-existence based on historical case studies and practical examples. Case studies show a transparent variety of state approaches and relations with private oil companies. Practical examples are characterized by three major oil states and demonstrate their efforts to prioritize "national champions" and to maximize their income from oil. Based on results of this work, it is clear that private companies and the state in most cases need each other, altough their relations are often tense. There are also a far-reaching legislative changes that are making actions of private oil companies more difficult.

Το ολοένα και μεγαλύτερο πρόβλημα, της ολοκληρωτικής εξάντλησης των αποθεμάτων του πετρελαίου το οποίο παρουσιάζεται στην βιομηχανία τα τελευταία χρόνια όλο και περισσότερο, έχει σοβαρό αντίκτυπο όπως είναι λογικό και στα παράγωγα αυτού και στην βιομηχανία που τα χρησιμοποιεί σαν πρώτο υλικό. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, στα Δίκτυα Υψηλής Τάσης Εναλλασσόμενου Ρεύματος η μόνωση του εξοπλισμού και των εγκαταστάσεων υψηλής τάσης είναι απαραίτητη προκειμένου να διατηρηθεί η διαφορά δυναμικού μεταξύ των υπό υψηλή τάση αγώγιμων μερών, η μηχανική στήριξη των αγωγών, η ανταλλαγή θερμότητας, κ.ά. Στον τομέα των ηλεκτροτεχνικών υγρών που χρησιμοποιούνται για αυτό τον σκοπό, βασική μας μελέτη ήταν η αντικατάσταση των όποιων μονωτικών υγρών χρησιμοποιούνταν μέχρι τώρα (συνήθως ορυκτελαίων κ.ά.) με έλαια φυτικής προέλευσης τα οποία προφανώς δεν επηρεάζονται από την εξάντληση του πετρελαίου που προ αναφέραμε αλλά και παρουσιάζουν κάποια βασικά πλεονεκτήματα τα οποία παρουσιάζονται στην παρούσα εργασία. Βασική μας ενασχόληση ήταν να περιγραφεί η συμπεριφορά των μονωτικών υγρών μέσω του επιστημονικού κλάδου της αναγνώρισης προτύπων. Πιο συγκεκριμένα , μέσω πειραματικών διαδικασιών που πραγματοποιήθηκαν στο Εργαστήριο Υψηλής Τάσης , έγινε η διάσπαση των υγρών υπό την επίδραση Υψηλής Τάσης και στη συνέχεια η μάθηση και η Εκπαίδευση Τεχνητού Νευρωνικού Δικτύου. Τα τεχνητά νευρωνικά δίκτυα χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία καθώς μπορούν να περιγράψουν μη γραμμικές σχέσεις μεταξύ εισόδου και εξόδου κάτι το οποίο συμβαίνει στην διάσπαση υγρών διηλεκτρικών υπό υψηλή τάση καθώς και γενικεύοντας μπορούμε να μελετάμε την συμπεριφορά των υγρών υπό την έκθεση πολύ υψηλών τάσεων , όπου στο εργαστήριο θα είναι αδύνατη η εφαρμογή τους. Eκτενέστερα στο 1ο Κεφάλαιο , της διπλωματικής εργασίας ασχολούμαστε με τα μονωτικά υγρά και τις ιδιότητες αυτών. Η χρήση τους είναι απαραίτητη στους μετασχηματιστές ,πυκνωτές , καλώδια , μονωτήρες διέλευσης κ.α. Επίσης , όσον αφορά τα μονωτικά υγρά που χρησιμοποιούνται ευρέως,τα ορυκτέλαια, αναφέρονται οι φυσικές και χημικές ιδιότητες τους και αναλύονται οι ηλεκτρικές τους ιδιότητες. Επιπλέον αναλύονται και οι ιδιότητες των φυσικών εστέρων ως μονωτικό μέσο σε μετασχηματιστές ισχύος και η γενική συμπεριφορά των υγρών υπό την επίδραση υψηλού ηλεκτρικού πεδίου. Στο 2ο Κεφάλαιο αναλύουμε τα τεχνητά νευρωνικά δίκτυα. Η αναγνώριση προτύπων σαν επιστημονικός κλάδος και οι τεχνικές του, όπως αυτή των νευρωνικών δικτύων μας εισάγουν στην δημιουργία συστημάτων τα οποία μπορούμε να δημιουργήσουμε, να εκπαιδεύσουμε και στην συνέχεια ελέγχοντας την αξιοπιστία τους μέσω της στατιστικής, να εργαστούμε πάνω σε αυτά. Η απαρχή των τεχνητών νευρωνικών δικτύων, οι βιολογικοί νευρώνες δηλαδή του εγκεφάλου, είναι η βάση όλων των συστημάτων και εν συνεχεία αφού περιγράφεται η ιστορική αναδρομή των τεχνητών δικτύων αναλύουμε την φύση των δικτύων οπισθοδρόμησης (Back Propagation) όπου είναι και τα δίκτυα που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία . Στο 3ο Κεφάλαιο εισάγουμε την δημιουργία τεχνητών νευρωνικών δικτύων στο περιβάλλον Μatlab. Αφού δημιουργήσαμε το κατάλληλο νευρωνικό δίκτυο, και το εκπαιδεύσαμε μελετήσαμε την καταλληλότητα του δικτύου και κατά πόσο αυτό θα μπορεί να μας δώσει αξιόπιστα αποτελέσματα προσομοιώνοντας την πειραματική διαδικασία του εργαστηρίου σε συνθήκες κατάλληλες και ακατάλληλες , εξετάζοντας δηλαδή τα πειραματικά δεδομένα με εισαγωγή στοιχείων κατάλληλα για το εργαστήριο, αλλά και στοιχείων που δεν είναι δυνατή η πραγματοποίηση τους στο εργαστήριο . Στο Κεφάλαιο Συμπεράσματα , εν τέλει αναλύουμε και συνοψίζουμε την καταλληλότητα του πειράματος που πραγματοποιήσαμε καθώς και κατά πόσο το νευρωνικό δίκτυο είναι αξιόπιστο, καθώς και οι λόγοι που το καθιστούν . / The growing problem of complete exhaustion of oil reserves, which occurred in the industry in recent years increasingly has a serious impact as is reasonable to derivatives and in industry as they are used as first material. More specifically, networks Ac high-voltage insulation of equipment and installations of high voltage is necessary in order to maintain the potential difference between the high voltage conductive parts, mechanical support of pipelines, heat exchange.In the volume of liquids used for this purpose, our main study was the replacement of any insulating liquids used so far with vegetable oils which apparently are not affected by the depletion of oil before mentioned but also show some key advantages that occur in this task. Our main preoccupation was to describe the behaviour of insulation liquids through the scientific branch of pattern recognition. More specifically, through experimental procedures carried out in high-voltage Laboratory, became the Division of fluid under the influence of high voltage and then learning and education of artificial Neural Network. Artificial neural networks used in the present study together can describe nonlinear relationships between input and output something that happens in breaking liquid dielectrics under high voltage and whilst generally applying to studying the behavior of liquids in the report very high voltages in the laboratory, where it will be impossible to implement them. Furthermore in 1st Chapter of study we occupate with insulating fluids and properties. Their use is indispensable to transformers, capacitors, cables, insulators, transit etc. Also as regards insulating liquids that are widely used, mineral oils, referred to the physical and chemical properties and the electrical properties. Additional analyses and properties of natural esters as insulating power and instrument transformers in the General behaviour of liquids under high electric field. In the 2nd Chapter analyze the artificial neural networks. The recognition of standards as a scientific discipline and techniques, such as neural networks we introduce in creating systems that we can create, to educate them and then checking the reliability of statistics, to work on them. The beginnings of artificial neural networks, biological neurons of the brain, is the basis of all systems and subsequently after describes the history of artificial networks analyse the nature of networks backwards (Back Propagation) and networks where they are used in this thesis. In the 3rd Chapter introduce the creation of artificial neural networks in Matlab environment. After you have created the appropriate neural network, and then by training have judged the appropriateness of the network and whether it can give reliable results by simulating the experimental procedure of laboratory conditions appropriate and inappropriate, considering that the experimental data with input suitable for laboratory but also items that cannot be made in the laboratory. In chapter Conclusions, ultimately analysing and concluding the suitability of the experiment held and whether the neural network is reliable, and the reasons that make it.