Summary of activities and research findings. This study analyses empirically the effects of import competition on firm productivity (TFPQ), using administrative firm-level panel data from German manufacturing. We find that only import competition from high-income countries is associated with positive incentives for firms to invest in productivity improvement, whereas import competition from middle- and low-income countries is not.
Summary of activities and research findings. 3.1. Porous phases and corresponding pore types Gas transport modelling requires a complete understanding of the pore system in shale reservoirs (Xxxxxxx et al., 2012; Mines, 2011) and the multi-scale imaging approach presented here allows such an understanding. Based on the pore size quantification, gas flow could be comprised of a combination of flows, as found in other materials with multiple scales of porosity (Tariq et al., 2011b), with Xxxxxxx flow in the finest pores, transitioning to Xxxxx flow in the larger pores and perhaps even slip flow in the larger cracks. Pores in shales are associated with organic matter, mineral grains, and the phyllosilicate mineral- dominated matrix, which we define as porous phases (Figure 3 A). The distribution of pores sizes, their connectivity and the chemical composition of phase containing the porosity all affect the flow behaviour. A Haynesville sample was chosen as a typical shale example. Pore systems were quantified at the microscale to nanoscale. From two FIB-SEM imaging datasets, a total of over 15,000 pores were identified, segmented and categorized into four pore types. Imaged pores were categorized into two groups based on their occurrence: organic-associated pores and mineral-associated pores. Based on the relationship of each pore to its surrounding shale components (Figure 3), the pore can be further classified into the following types: intra-organic pores (pore type I), organic mineral interface pores (type II), inter-mineral pores (type III), and intra-mineral pores (type IV). In the nanoscale datasets, the size, frequency, volume, and surface area of each pore type were quantified. The following section outlines pore types and their properties.
Summary of activities and research findings. This report is a desktop research study covering European shale gas basins. The findings are meant as a guide to outline potential shale gas regions and provide pressure and temperature estimates and measurements for depths that fall within the range of shale gas plays. The pressure-temperature conditions reflect present day conditions and are not maximum burial and maturity conditions experienced by the shale gas plays. The prospective areas shown in Figure 1 correlate with the thermal maturity range of the gas window (Ro = 0.9 to 3.0 %) that each basin experienced and preserved through its geological history, as well as an economic cut-off of greater than 2% average TOC for shale plays with a thickness greater than 30 m (approximately > 100 feet). The TOC and thermal maturity data from published reports reflect borehole samples analysed from shale gas prospective regions. These are extrapolated, together with geophysical studies (where available) to assess the extent of potential shale gas plays (coloured areas in Figure 1). Pressure and temperature data in the Halliburton rows (Table 1) are downhole measurements from samples with gas potential and are a reference of comparison to standard condition estimates. It is important to note that the complete range and heterogeneity of each individual basin is not represented in this report. Instead, we have researched the broad available literature where possible in order to summarise representative values and ranges for each region. We emphasise that the findings of this report are to be used as a starting point and guide for further research of the individual basins of interest. The results and findings of European shale rock basins are summarised in Table 1. The table includes a brief summary of the basin location and prospective region, which are shown on the map in Figure 1. The literature review rows in Table 1 include research articles and survey reports. We present data for the Xxxxxxx Shale, Midland Valley Basin, Alum Shale, Lower Saxony Basin, Paris Basin (upper and lower), Southeast Basin, Basque-Cantabrian Basin, Baltic Basin and the Lublin Basin. Table 1 excludes details on compositional variable (x). This is due to the broad mineralogical heterogeneity of shale rocks defined by their sedimentary history. However, the implications of mineralogy to shale gas prospectively should not be discounted when considering shale gas exploitation, as the mineralogy defines the “brittleness” or strength of shal...
Summary of activities and research findings. Table 1: Average values of conventional parameters for gas shales with ranges in parenthesis. Depth of analyses corresponds to HL – 3459-3582 m; JE – 3560-3724 m; BL – 3594-3656 m. N denotes the number of samples analyzed. HL (N=24) JE (N=24) BL (N=11) Mineralogy (%) Clay-46 (40-58) Carbonate-14 (5-22) *Clay-12 (3-21) *Carbonate-67 (22-93) Clay-46 (40-58) Carbonate-14 (5-22) Comment - The clay is mostly illitic while the carbonates are calcitic. Quartz, pyrite K-feldspar, plagioclase and apatite also present. *Corresponding depth of analyses of six samples: 3982- 4012m. Thermal maturity (Tmax - °C) ϒ438 (312-531) 318 (307-352) N.A. Comment - Immature OM in JE lacking hydrocarbon potential. ϒUnreliable data as non-volatile OM content too low. N.A. Not analyzed. Porosity (% of bulk volume) 8.9 (3.4-10.4) 6.3 (4.2-7.9) 11.2 (4.2-14.4) Comment - Not correlated with TOC suggesting that the pore spaces are not solely confined to OM. Permeability (md) 1.6 (0.7-3.2) [x 10-5] 6.8 (0.004-69) [x 10-3] 3.4 (0.5-24) [x 10-4] Not correlated with porosity. Possibly related to natural fractures present. TOC (wt. %) 1.7 (0.6-2.7) 1.3 (0.3-2.7) ^1.5 (3592 m) ^3.4 (3630 m) Comment - Increases with depth related to oxygen depletion. ^Corresponding depth of analyses indicated in parentheses. Table 2: Average values of trace elements for gas shales with ranges in parenthesis. Depth of analyses corresponds to HL– 3465-3593 m; JE – 3542-3726 m; BL – 3592-3656 m. Element HL (N=23) JE (N=26) BL (N=20) Detrital influx (%) Al 10(8-45) 10(3.5-32) 8.5(1.1-7.9) Ti 0.4(0.3-0.5) 0.4(0.2-0.5) 0.3(0.1-0.4) Zr(ppm) 197(135-902) 204(25-642) 158(21-523) Comment - Detrital influx low for JE. Variation with depth for BL. Productivity indicators (%) P 0.04(0.005-0.1) 0.3(0.005-1.9) 0.02(0.004-0.04) Ba 0.1(0.04-0.4) 0.4(0.04-3.1) 0.2(0.05-0.7) Comment - Ba/Al and P/Al indicate high productivity particularly for JE. Redox indicators (ppm) Mo 7 (1-69) 10 (2-31) 18 (3-51) V 144 (104-564) 145 (40-480) 194 (24-558) Cr 109 (76-451) 123 (41-406) 117 (15-418) Cu 21 (10-30) 28 (4-91) 23 (9-55) Ni 44 (28-91) 35 (15-52) 54 (23-91) Co 43 (11-142) 25 (10-70) 24 (4-54) Zn 332 (52-4423) 103 (21-195) 195 (31-546) Comment - V/Cr, Cu/Zn and Ni/Co indicate deposition under oxic conditions. Table 3: Average values of C, N and noble gases for gas shales with ranges in parenthesis. Depth of analyses corresponds to HL – 3459-3582 m; JE – 3560-3724 m; BL – 3594-3656 m. Element HL(N=7) JE(N=7) BL(N=5) C C (wt %) 2.7(2.1-3...
Summary of activities and research findings. This report is a desktop research study covering European shale gas basins. The findings are meant as a guide to outline potential shale gas regions and provide pressure and temperature estimates and measurements for depths that fall within the range of shale gas plays. The pressure-temperature conditions reflect present day conditions and are not maximum burial and maturity conditions experienced by the shale gas plays. The prospective areas shown in Figure 1 correlate with the thermal maturity range of the gas window (Ro = 0.9 to 3.0 %) that each basin experienced preserved through its geological history, as well as an economic cut-off of greater than 2% average TOC for shale plays with a thickness greater than 100 feet (approximately > 30 m). The TOC and thermal maturity data from published reports reflect borehole samples analysed within the prospective regions. These are extrapolated together with geophysical studies (where available) to show the extent of potential shale gas plays (coloured areas in Figure 1). Pressure and temperature data in the Halliburton rows (Table 1) are downhole measurements from samples with gas potential and are a reference of comparison to standard condition estimates. It is important to note that the complete range and heterogeneity of each individual basin is not represented in this report, but we have researched the broad available literature in order to summarise representative values and ranges for each region. We emphasise that the findings of this report are to be used as a starting point and guide for further research of the individual basins of interest. Table 1: Summary of European shale gas plays with present day temperature and pressure estimates and measurements for selected depths within play range. Table 1: continued.
Summary of activities and research findings. We find that automation has political effects on aggregate election returns at the district- level, leading to a tilt in favour of radical-right and nationalist parties promoting an anti- cosmopolitan agenda. Consistently, the individual-level analysis shows that individuals that are more exposed to automation are substantially more likely to vote for radical-right parties, and tend to support parties with more nationalist platforms.
Summary of activities and research findings. A workflow for the characterization of microbial communities in fluid samples has been developed. This includes methodology for sampling for microbial analyses, DNA extraction, metagenomic libraries construction, and NGS sequencing for subsequent gene screening. Fluid samples have been collected from Carbfix sites, Nesjavellir, and drilling mud has been collected from Cornwall. DNA has been extracted and quantified from the Iceland samples.
Summary of activities and research findings. Thanks to the visit at the CarbFix site by one of us – Xx Xxxxxx, and extended discussions with Xx Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx (Reykjavik Energy), we identified the pressure and temperature of interest at the Nesjavellir, CarbFix1 and CarbFix2 sites in Iceland. At CarbFix1 sampling should occur at a maximum depth of 400 m, which corresponds to the limit of the casing of the xxxxx, and to a pressure of 4 MPa. Temperature in this location has been monitored sporadically between 2005 and 2007; the data show that temperature does not exceed 20°C at that depth. This is well within the P-T range of PUSH50 instruments. At CarbFix2, the temperature ranges between 15°C at the wellhead to max 80°C at 750 meters depth, although the casing doesn’t go as deep. The important positive observation is that these conditions are well within the biotic zone for both pressure and temperature. The limitation is that pressure is too low to retrieve samples under pressure. Therefore, we will collect the samples and the water is pumped to the surface and we will pressurize again at the original pressure for transportation and further investigation. In order to prepare as far as possible according to D3.2, Xx Xxxx Xxxxxx (S4CE – engineer in high-pressure microbiology May – July 2018) launched the culture of a synthetic piezotolerant bacterial strain and natural communities, whose metabolic activities resemble those expected at the CarbFix sites, targeting the microaerophilic metabolism of nitrate and sulfur. Xx. Xxxxxx also calibrated some internal standards for the measurement in situ of the metabolic activity of sulfur using Raman spectroscopy in the diamond anvil cell. The piezotolerant strain is now stored in one PUSH50 at 10 MPa.
Summary of activities and research findings. Restoration of organ function Many disorders significantly affect organ function leading to severe complications and, in a worst-case scenario, death. One strategy for treating such patients is organ transplantation. Yet, the current demand for organs greatly exceeds the availability of donors. An alternative strategy, is to engineer functional organs in vitro. This, however, comes with significant biological, technical and translational challenges that need to be carefully considered in the context of current state-of-the-art. Replacement therapies for patients with severe xxxxx and devastating diseases such as junctional epidermolysis bullosa with normal and genetically corrected human cells have paved the way to engineer entire organ (Gallico et al., 1984; Xxxxxx et al., 2017). Indeed, these proof-of-principle epidermal transplantation studies have established the requirements for engineering tissue in vitro and also demonstrated that risk for adverse complications such as cancer can be tightly controlled. However, this therapy has also underlined the challenges for total replacement of complex organs. Procurement of multiple cell type in large quantity, with adequate functional level and scaffolds used to seed these in 3D environment mimicking organ architecture represent major challenges. Furthermore, it will be key to develop standardized procedures to eliminate adverse side effects such as graft rejection or tumor development and sustain long-term functionality. Here we discuss these different aspects taking the small intestine as a prime example for organ replacement. The small intestine The small intestine represents a complex organ consisting of concentric rings of muscle fibers (longitudinal and circular), and a submucosa that provides a mesenchymal framework for the epithelium that forms the barrier to the inside of the gut. Within these layers, the enteric nervous system regulates peristalsis and the controlled secretion of hormones and enzymes, blood vessels as well as lymphatics capillaries ensure that nutrients taken up are distributed to the rest of the organism, and an intricate balance between enteric immune cells and luminal microflora sustain gut homeostasis. The organ consequently relies on a complex interplay between tissues, different cell populations and their environment in order to sustain gut function. Short Bowel Syndrome (SBS) is a condition that occurs when part or the entire small intestine is missing or has been removed dur...
Summary of activities and research findings. 3.1 Experimental fluid-rock studies of the Cornwall Geothermal site
