Dual Gradient Drilling is an exciting technology which promises to solve the current technical hurdles and economic risks of Deepwater Drilling. Several techniques for Dual Gradient Drilling have been proposed to the industry. One such method involves installing a subsea booster pump at the seafloor with the aim of returning the drilling fluid back to the rig. The pump will manage annular pressures in the wellbore as circulation rates and mud weights vary and will permit early detection of wellbore influxes. Any such pump chosen to achieve this objective will be subjected to very high differential pressures and will be faced with the onerous task of lifting very abrasive and viscous mud slurries from the sea floor back to the drilling rig. This distance in deep water may be well within the range of about 4, 000 – 12,000 feet depending on the operating water depth of the rig. Several pump technologies available to the industry were examined. Piston pumps are very efficient and can withstand the high differential pressures encountered in the Mudlift Drilling System. However, their drawbacks are their large size and weight and high initial capital cost and maintenance costs. Centrifugal pumps on the other hand are relatively smaller than piston and diaphragm pumps and are generally less expensive. Disc pumps, with their non-impingement design are able to handle solids and fluids with a high gas volume fraction but, like centrifugal pumps, are generally less efficient than reciprocating pumps. Diaphragm pumps are capable of maintaining a constant rate regardless of pressure fluctuations. They can handle very abrasive solids with limited wear on the pump. They also excel at handling very viscous fluids and they can be modified to handle up to 95% gas volume fraction. Like piston pumps, they have very high efficiencies. The potential of each of these pump technologies to meet the requirements for the Mudlift Drilling System was examined in this thesis. The benefits and drawbacks of each of these pump technologies were highlighted and modifications to meet the demands of the mudlift system evaluated.

The international business century is coming. The general business shall transfer, collect, manage a lot of information effectively and reduce the cost and impacts. Therefore, during the business century, how do we use the useful information and technology to have more and more opportunities to improve the structure of a business. However, the business style changing, the competiveness improving, and the capability value increasing is achieve. Using Information technologies(IT) to develop capability is a mean to cope with globalization. Small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan have higher penetration and potential, however, as White Paper of E-Commercialization described, have lower penetration of infrastructures and applications of Information technologies(IT) than large enterprises. The purpose of this study is to understand what factors affect SMEs¡¦ e-business adoption and IT impacts, and how to formulate managerial regulation of diffuse e-business of SMEs. Following the purpose, this study develops and empirically tests a theoretical model to explain the SMEs¡¦ e-business adoption and impacts. For the e-business adoption, the theoretical model includes Institutional Theory, external e-business support, and relative advantage to investigate SME¡¦s intensity of e-business adoption. For the impacts, the model examines outcome performances through e-business usage, and the relative moderation effects which contain compatibility and training. Keyword: Small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) , Information Technologies (IT) , e-business.

L'adoption d'Internet par les habitants des pays développés est pour ce qui me concerne, une certitude. Les réfractaires, dont le droit à la résistance devra être affirmé et reconnu ne représenteront à terme, sous 5 ans ? sous 10 ans ? qu'une mince frange de la population : que l'on pourra comparer culturellement aux personnes qui aujourd'hui refusent, ou ne peuvent pas accéder à la télévision. En janvier 2000, 12% de la population française1 a utilisé Internet au moins une fois durant le dernier mois. Cette proportion, bien qu'inférieure à celle des utilisateurs de Minitel 20%, est à l'évidence en croissance rapide et explosera lorsque la téléphonie mobile offrira pour un faible coût une connexion directe. Les enseignants seraient selon ces sondages, l'utilisation du conditionnel semble nécessaire, la première catégorie professionnelle (dans l'absolu et<br />en proportion) connectée à Internet en France. [...]

Dissertation--Hochschule für Wirtschafts-, Rechts- und Sozialwissenschaften--Saint-Gall, 2005.

Diss.--Universität Klagenfurt, 2004. / Bibliogr. p. 181-189.

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Philosophie--Göteborg University, 2002. / Bibliogr. p. 271-279.

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Agron.--Montpellier--Centre international de hautes études agronomiques, 2001. / En appendice, choix de documents. Bibliogr. p. 110-115. Résumé en français et en anglais.

Diss.--Wirtschaft--Universität St. Gallen, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 297-315.

Dissertation--Soziologie--Trier--Universität Trier, 2006. / Bibliogr. p. 254-268.

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences économiques : Lyon 2 : 2001. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr.