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Turkish-Kurdish pipeline poker and Kurdistan’s investment climate
Stefanie Heerwig Natural ResourcesOver the last three years or so Iraqi Kurdistan has gained attention from international oil companies as a place to go when it comes to sweet crude deals. No wonder megacompanies like ExxonMobile and Total have not hesitated to sign oil and gas contracts with Erbil since 2011. The situation, however, is not as ideal as it sounds, and tensions between Baghdad and Erbil have been boiling and could even take an uncomfortable turn in response to a recent pipeline pact between Turkey and Kurdistan.
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Greenbuild offers a glimpse of emerging green building trends
Don Rosato ManufacturingThe U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild International Conference and Expo is the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to green building. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the USGBC put on quite a show for attendees in Philadelphia. This year, 30,000 attendees from 90 countries came to Greenbuild, which featured 1,000 exhibitors and sponsors with green products and service innovations and 100 education sessions led by business, environmental and social leaders.
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Deciphering M&A activity in the US oil and gas sector
Lucy Wallwork Natural ResourcesMergers and acquisitions hit the headlines daily in the financial pages, often making it all the way onto the front pages. Someone has swallowed a struggling target company; someone divested assets to focus on others. In the oil and gas sector, the level of M&A activity is used as a weather bell for the broader health of the sector, making investors nervous when things slowed down earlier this year. Now indicators seem to have picked up, but what does it all mean beyond those headlines?
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The View from Europe: An open-and-shut case?
Andrew Gaved Construction & Building MaterialsWith energy prices at unparalleled heights in many parts of Europe, retail refrigeration managers are under pressure to reduce energy in any way they can. Interestingly, one of the most well-proven changes in terms of guaranteed savings and certainly among the simplest in engineering terms is the one that has met with the most resistance — putting doors on the open-fronted chillers.
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Stopping hydrogen embrittlement and preventing disaster
Sasha Viasasha ManufacturingWater vapor makes up between 1-5 percent of air on average, delivering a one-two-three punch of oxidation, hydrogen blistering and embrittlement. Hydrogen embrittlement has proven itself particularly dangerous. Catastrophic structural failures that result from it have been at the root of the majority of the nautical and aerospace disasters over the past few decades.
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Green-building applications: The road ahead
Don Rosato EngineeringGrowth in green-building material demand will outpace the growth of building construction expenditures as green materials continue to account for an increasing share of building materials used. In the U.S., demand for green-building materials is projected to expand 13 percent annually through 2015, generating sales of more than $70 billion.
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To frack or not to frack: What should you think?
Stefanie Heerwig Natural ResourcesWhen I tell friends about what industry I am working in, I often get the following question: "So what do you think about fracking?" The question alone often already indicates their bias against the technology because the term "fracking" is usually used by opponents.
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Which reference electrode for which environment?
Sasha Viasasha ManufacturingUnderstanding the role of various reference electrodes is fundamental to performing electrochemical testing for corrosion. The reference electrode carries a fixed potential against which the working electrode in the surface being tested is measured. There are many choices in reference electrodes, though, and the environmental stressors are key in deciding which one to use.
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Practical applications for 3-D printing
Nick Merrill ManufacturingRecently, NASA announced a plan to install a 3-D printer on the International Space Station. This will be a huge boon for astronauts, who would no longer have to wait for a resupply shuttle to bring critical replacement parts. While this is certainly a high-profile use for 3-D printing in remote areas, there are many remote locations on Earth where having an on-site printer could prove invaluable.
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Common mistakes that lead to adhesion failure
Chris Lord ManufacturingOne of the most critical aspects of an effective coating application is achieving proper coating adhesion to either the substrate or between coats. While there are many variables that can lead to substrate or intercoat adhesion failure, there are several common mistakes that are the culprits.
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