Tax incentives have been used by countries to stimulate foreign investment. Few countries doubt the effectiveness of tax incentives. Canada and Indonesia are among the many countries that offer tax incentives to attract investors. While Canada has a long history of using tax incentives to foster the development of the Alberta oil sands, Indonesia is just embarking on this strategy, especially in promoting foreign investment in remote areas. Drawing on the Canadian development of the Alberta oil sands, this thesis asks what lessons Indonesia can learn from that experience in relying on tax incentives to develop the industry. This thesis acknowledges that there are many important differences between Canada and Indonesia. Since most countries speak of using tax incentives to finance their petroleum industries, it is worth examining at least one instance of that strategy and see whether Indonesia can extract any thing of value from this examination.

This project is a pilot study to assess the viability of transplantation as a technique to establish reindeer lichens on reclaimed areas of oil sands surface mines in the Athabasca region of Alberta. There were two components to this study: a) a lichen transplant trial, where I investigated which commonly available substrates found in reclaimed forest sites would promote the best lichen fragment survival and vigour for a lichen ‘seeding’ program; and b) a diversity assessment of the reclaimed site to compare the existing cryptogam community with the expected community for the target ecosite based on published descriptions from the surrounding native forests and documented chronosequences for terrestrial lichen communities. In July 2009, Cladonia mitis was transplanted into 54 plots on three sites that were planted with jack pine or spruce 12 or 24 years ago, respectively, on the Suncor Millenium/Steepbank Mine (Suncor Mine). This trial was designed to investigate possible short-term indicators of successful lichen establishment and the effect of substrate (moss, litter, or soil) on the establishment of transplanted lichen thallus fragments. The indicators of lichen establishment evaluated were vigour, movement from plots, photographic areal cover, and microscopic growth (hyphal growth, annual growth and lateral branching). After two growing seasons, the effect of substrate on lichen transplant survival varied by site; there was no significant difference in lichen fragment retention in plots by substrate on the 24-year old sites, but median fragment retention was significantly higher on moss and litter substrates than soil on the 12-year old site. There was also no significant difference in fragment vigour between substrates on each site, except on the south-facing 24-year-old forest site where average vigour was significantly higher on moss plots than on soil plots. Photographic areal measurement is not recommended as a short-term lichen establishment monitoring tool for transplanted fragments based on the difficulties encountered using the method for this trial. Forty-one percent of the fragments collected for microscopic assessment after the first growing season had grown hyphae, 23 percent of the fragments collected during September 2009 and September 2010 had formed apothecia, and 31 percent of the fragments collected in September 2010 had grown lateral branches. The results of the biodiversity assessment were compared with the successional communities previously described for spruce- and pine-lichen boreal forests. There were no lichens found on the 12-year-old site, though the cup lichens were common to abundant on the 24-year-old sites, which is consistent with the cryptogammic community expected for a regenerating natural site of that age. Cladonia mitis was also present but rare to uncommon on the 24-year-old site, while Cladonia stellaris, Cladonia rangiferina and Cladonia stygia that, together with C. mitis, are indicative of the al and c1 ecosites of the Central Mixedwood Boreal forest, were not present. / Graduate

The impacts of oil sands processed materials (OSPM) on phytoplankton and periphyton community growth and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were examined. Estimates of plankton and periphyton community growth, measured as chl a and dry weight, were low and similar in reference and OSPM reclamation wetlands. The use of stable isotope analyses revealed higher δ15N of plankton and periphyton in OSPM wetlands than reference wetlands, possibly due to increased TN concentrations in some OSPM wetlands. In the laboratory, water-soluble fractions (WSF) of two types of OSPM (mature fine tailings, MFT and consolidated tailings, CT) and an amendment material (peat-mineral mixture), potential fill materials in wetland or end pit lake reclamation, were examined for phytoplankton community growth and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. All WSF treatments had higher chl a compared to reference water and maximum growth was observed at a 50:50 ratio of peat:CT or peat:MFT. In general, WSFs of peat had the highest concentration of total nitrogen (TN) whereas WSFs of MFT had the highest total phosphorus (TP; 3x higher). The results suggested that the addition of peat as an amendment to OSPM (particularly for MFT), contributing additional TN, could improve phytoplankton community growth in oil sands reclamation. At higher percentages of MFT WSF, there was increased turbidity due to fine clay particles that likely contributed to reduced phytoplankton growth. Turbidity could be an important factor limiting phytoplankton growth and thus reducing dietary resources and biological detritus (via sedimentation) in the initial development of an end pit lake. The WSFs also promoted the unfavourable growth of filamentous algae, highest at intermediate concentrations of peat and CT WSFs and inhibited in MFT WSFs due to light limitation. Stable N isotopes of plankton and filamentous algae suggests that 15N enrichment of algae could be a useful indicator of nutrient inputs, including OSPM seepage into natural aquatic systems, for oil sands regional monitoring programs.

This research is a follow up to preliminary studies reported by Beier and Sego (2008) and the objective is to investigate laboratory scale dewatering of oil sands total tailings using cross flow filtration technology. A laboratory experiment was setup in Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility and tests were carried out under different operational conditions using different tailings. The experiments showed clean filtrate water generated under all test conditions. Coarser tailings and higher filter pipe porosity resulted in greater filtrate flux rate. The effect of slurry velocity, residual bitumen, and transmembrane pressure on cross flow filtration performance was also evaluated. A dimensional analysis was developed using the laboratory tests to establish the relationships between measured parameters and to assist and guide future experimental programs. / Geotechnical Engineering

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on April 1, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Iowa, 2009. / Thesis supervisor: Lea-Der Chen. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-97).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on June 18, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on June 11, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemical Engineering, [Department of] Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on July 15, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geotechnical Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from PDF file main screen (viewed on July 2, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Food Science and Technology, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta Includes bibliographical references.