Pandora's pithos

Large clay jars have long been popular for both wet and dry storage, but are particularly associated with Mediterranean wines and olive oil. Such ‘pithoi’ also underpin important historical shifts in social complexity and landscape investment, play prominent roles in Mediterranean social life, and thus offer an excellent opportunity to think about the deeper consequences of container culture.     

Learning by Failing

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund, or more commonly the Norwegian Petroleum Fund, established in 1990, is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. The fund is commonly regarded as a successful product of economic foresight in a country with strong traditions of long-term planning. As the fund was established in a period during which leading social scientists strongly doubted the ability of Norwegian political and administrative institutions to handle the large oil riches, the article examines the background of the fund in detail. Government archives reveal that senior advisors in the central administration opposed and delayed the establishment of a petroleum fund. The argument in the article is that the advisors’ previous experience with fund structures, combined with the institutional logic in which the most important advisors were situated, explains both the long-lasting opposition against the fund and how and why the fund acquired its main characteristics.     

Oil Lamps from the Catacombs of Canosa (Apulia,Fourth to Sixth Centuries AD): Technological Features and Typological Imitation

Fifty oil lamps from the catacombs of ‘Ponte della Lama’ (Canosa di Puglia, second to sixth centuries ad ) were analysed to understand the correlations existing between types and fabrics and to determine their provenance. Petrographic and chemical analyses confirmed the archaeological hypothesis of local production of the oil lamps, using fluvial deposits. However, the three samples of oil lamps imitating the African ‘Atlante VIII’ are considered chemical outliers compared to the rest and are supposedly of foreign origin. The extensive and original repertory of lamp types characterizes Canusium as the production centre in the late Roman period.     

Blueing business as usual in the ocean: Blue economies,oil, and climate justice

Oceans are increasingly looked toward for their contribution to addressing climate change. These so-called ocean-based climate “solutions” often fall under the umbrella of the “blue economy,” a term used to refer to new ways of organizing ocean economies to provide equitable economic and environmental benefits. Yet, thus far the literature exploring blue economies and blue economy governance has largely overlooked or downplayed its equity and justice roots and implications, including how blue economies are embedded in multiple scales of environmental injustices. This is particularly important when blue economies include offshore oil production. The purpose of this paper is to both emphasize the need and provide an approach to incorporate justice and equity—specifically climate justice—into blue economy planning and scholarship. We build on conceptualizations of blue economies as assemblages to draw attention to the global reach of climate impacts associated with oil that are often overlooked or ignored at sites of production and through regional governance. We argue that greenhouse gas emissions from the life cycle of oil should be included in policies and planning (including blue economy planning) at sites of production, but that this must also incorporate underlying power structures that lead to uneven impacts and climate injustice. We look at environmental assessments as a regional governance tool that could be used to shape opportunities and openings to organize blue economies differently. To illustrate these points, we look at how environmental assessments are playing (and could play) a role in enacting and shaping Newfoundland and Labrador's blue economy.     

Transfer of hydrocarbons from natural seeps to the water column and atmosphere

Results from surface geochemical prospecting, seismic exploration and satellite remote sensing have documented oil and gas seeps in marine basins around the world. Seeps are a dynamic component of the carbon cycle and can be important indicators for economically significant hydrocarbon deposits. The northern Gulf of Mexico contains hundreds of active seeps that can be studied experimentally with the use of submarines and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV). Hydrocarbon flux through surface sediments profoundly alters benthic ecology and seafloor geology at seeps. In water depths of 500–2000 m, rapid gas flux results in shallow, metastable deposits of gas hydrate, which reduce sediment porosity and affect seepage rates. This paper details the processes that occur during the final, brief transition — as oil and gas escape from the seafloor, rise through the water and dissolve, are consumed by microbial processes, or disperse into the atmosphere. The geology of the upper sediment column determines whether discharge is rapid and episodic, as occurs in mud volcanoes, or more gradual and steady, as occurs where the seep orifice is plugged with gas hydrate. In both cases, seep oil and gas appear to rise through the water in close proximity instead of separating. Chemical alteration of the oil is relatively minor during transit through the water column, but once at the sea surface its more volatile components rapidly evaporate. Gas bubbles rapidly dissolve as they rise, although observations suggest that oil coatings on the bubbles inhibit dissolution. At the sea surface, the floating oil forms slicks, detectable by remote sensing, whose origins are laterally within ～1000 m of the seafloor vent. This contradicts the much larger distance predicted if oil drops rise through a 500 m water column at an expected rate of ～0.01 m s^?1 while subjected to lateral currents of ～0.2 m s^?1 or greater. It indicates that oil rises with the gas bubbles at speeds of ～0.15 m s^?1 all the way to the surface.     

古建维修中砖地面改性桐油钻生试验研究(一)

为克服古建维修中砖地面桐油钻生常有不均匀、易产生油皮、起皮脱落的缺点,并提高其防水性,通过用不同配方钻生液涂刷砖的浸水实验,筛选出最佳改性桐油配方,为桐油50％ WD-1010％ 醋酸丁脂40％。用此配方及有机氟配方和纯有机硅配方钻生砖样的吸水率都较低,而斥水性都较高,且持久性好。表明上述三个配方钻生液也可用于古建屋面及素砖外墙的保护。     

中国油画的本土化与意象油画

本文回顾了在中国油画百年历史中,三次没有结果的民族化进程。在改革开放后,随着我国政治、经济和文化的深入发展,油画的本土化已成为每位有使命感的中国艺术家的自觉追求。中国意象油画在油画本土化的实践中,扮演着重要的角色。本文着重论述了中国意象油画的特点以及意象油画未来的发展空间和发展方向。     

印谱古籍中的印油老化研究

存世印谱中比较常见的一类病害是印蜕中印油老化导致的渗化问题。研究表明,印油渗化不仅会在印蜕四周形成黄色或棕色的油渍,而且会导致纸张pH值降低,影响印谱的长久保存。通过对印泥中常用的蓖麻油、菜籽油、茶油、调和印油等六种油脂进行模拟老化实验,发现油脂老化后普遍存在变色、pH值下降和渗化问题。采用气相色谱-质谱联用技术分析老化前后的油脂样品,发现油脂在老化过程中,不饱和脂肪酸含量降低,饱和脂肪酸占比增加,并形成了壬二酸等脂肪族羧酸。油脂老化过程中的成分变化,导致了变色、酸化、渗化等一系列问题。在印谱实物样品中也发现了饱和脂肪酸。在印谱的保护工作中,应对油脂的老化进行有针对性的处理。     

POTENTIALS FOR MIGRATION AND MOBILITY AMONG OIL WORKERS IN THE RUSSIAN NORTH

High population mobility, mainly in the form of out-migration, is a characteristic feature of the post-Soviet Russian North. As subsidies from the centre were significantly cut, living standards and the number of inhabitants in many Russian peripheries declined considerably. Nevertheless, there are also prospering regions and industry sectors in these parts of Russia, which are often related to and dependent on the exploitation of natural resources. After introducing general Soviet and post-Soviet mobility and migration patterns in the north of Russia, this article examines the mobility behaviour of oil workers. The analyses are based on a case study of an oil company (SeverTEK) from the Komi Republic and incorporate different statistical approaches. The purpose of the study is to assess past, present and future mobility behaviour of those in northern regions who are benefitting from post-Soviet transition and will most likely contribute most to a positive development of the Russian North. The results show that the surveyed employees of SeverTEK have migrated in the past mainly from Siberia, the Far East, and the now independent countries of the former Soviet Union to northern and central parts of European Russia. The present mobility behaviour is strongly characteristic of shift work employment with long-distance commuting. An analysis of intended migration indentifies strong potentials for future migrations among the oil workers of the case study. It appears that many employees are ready to leave northern regions as soon as their job situation allows it. Therefore, unlike in other resource peripheries such as Western Australia, long-distance commuting is in Russia not used as a decentralization measure; instead it offers opportunities for reducing the problematically high population density of the post-Soviet North.