bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Digital Divide
Authors: Acilar Ali , Markin Maxim , Nazarbaeva Elena
Published: December 2012

Information and communication technology (ICT) is accepted as one of the foundations of modern society. ICTs have become an important part of the modern culture and almost all aspects of life. The information revolution started in the developed countries and mainly these countries have benefitted from these technologies. There are significant differences between developed and developing countries regarding accessing and using ICTs. This can be defined as the global digital divide. There are also different types of the digital divide within a country, such as the gender divide, the age divide, and the income divide. In this paper, the authors explore the digital divide within and between Russia and Turkey.
A Challenge for the Marketing Strategy
Authors: Mityko Delia Sorana Varvara
Published: December 2012

The Internet has proved to be a life savior for many businesses in a time where consumers demand at least some sort of online presence from the companies. Both retailers and consumers use the electronic commerce platform as a way of conducting day to day business and completing transactions. Electronic commerce has been a major milestone in the ongoing process of expanding beyond the traditional physical store. Regardless of the time and space dimensions, consumers have been shopping online and their behavior has been the subject of analysis for researchers and marketers. Hence, it might come as a surprise that although the first product classification model has been developed in the 1920s, there is still little standardization among the classification models and the vast number of models the literature provided to the present day makes it challenging for firms to comply with a standard and to align it to their marketing strategy. Therefore this paper aims at showing just how important such a standardized model would be and how it can impact not only customer perception, but also a firm’s competitive advantage. A short overview of the literature research highlights how many models researchers have developed in the last eight decades.
Teaching Green Information Technology Inside and Outside the Classroom
Authors: Roodt Sumarie , de Villiers Carina
Published: December 2012

One socio-economic and environmental challenge facing the leaders of tomorrow is how Green Information Technology can be applied effectively by organisations to contribute to the global green revolution. The author teaches 1500 undergraduate students yearly about Green Information Technology to influence awareness positively in terms of efficient ways that computer resources can be used. In order to facilitate this process, the author supplemented the theory component with a practical assignment leveraging a number of interactive learning tools, including: social networking, on-line collaboration, and 3-D programming. These tools can be classified as one of the components of social computing. Social computing is seen as the convergence of information technology with social behaviour, and the resulting interactions. The tools used include: Alice©, Facebook©, and pbWiki©. The students were tasked with creating an animation using Alice© teaching people about Green Information Technology. Upon completion of the assignment, a questionnaire was distributed in order to ascertain what their view of Green Information Technology was. This paper details the nature of the Green Information Technology teaching techniques that were employed and details the findings of the questionnaire. The paper merges theory and practical aspects of teaching Green IT and provides educators and researchers with insight in terms of interactive teaching tools that can be employed.
Low Dimensional Data Privacy Preservation Using Multi Layer Artificial Neural Network
Authors: VidyaBanu R. , Nagaveni N.
Published: December 2012

Government agencies, business enterprises and non-profit organizations are searching for innovative methods to collect and analyze data about individuals or businesses to support their decision making processes. Data mining techniques are able to derive sensitive knowledge from unclassified data, causing a severe threat to privacy. The authors provide a promising solution to address the demand for privacy preservation in clustering analysis. They propose a novel dimensionality expansion based data privacy preservation technique using multi-layer artificial neural network. By applying this idea, the authors can project a low dimensional data into a high dimensional space to enhance the privacy level. Clustering was done using K-means and the results show that privacy level and the nature of data were very much preserved even after this transformation. The results arrived at were significant and the proposed method transformed the data better than the classical Geometric data transformation based methods.
Optimizing Privacy-Accuracy Tradeoff for Privacy Preserving Distance-Based Classification
Authors: Kim Dongjin , Chen Zhiyuan , Gangopadhyay Aryya
Published: December 2012

Privacy concerns often prevent organizations from sharing data for data mining purposes. There has been a rich literature on privacy preserving data mining techniques that can protect privacy and still allow accurate mining. Many such techniques have some parameters that need to be set correctly to achieve the desired balance between privacy protection and quality of mining results. However, there has been little research on how to tune these parameters effectively. This paper studies the problem of tuning the group size parameter for a popular privacy preserving distance-based mining technique: the condensation method. The contributions include: 1) a class-wise condensation method that selects an appropriate group size based on heuristics and avoids generating groups with mixed classes, 2) a rule-based approach that uses binary search and several rules to further optimize the setting for the group size parameter. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the authors’ approach.
ECFS
Authors: Rawat U. S. , Kumar Shishir
Published: December 2012

Proposed is a secure and efficient approach for designing and implementing an enterprise-class cryptographic file system for Linux (ECFS) in kernel-space. It uses stackable file system interface to introduce a layer for encrypting files using symmetric keys, and public-key cryptography for user authentication and file sharing, like other existing enterprise-class cryptographic file systems. It differs itself from existing systems by including all public-key cryptographic operations and public-key infrastructure (PKI) support in kernel-space that protects it from attacks that may take place with a user-space PKI support. It has a narrower domain of trust than existing systems. It uses XTS mode of AES algorithm for file encryption for providing better protection and performance. It also uses kernel-keyring service for improving performance. It stores the cryptographic metadata in file’s access control list (ACL) as extended attributes to ease the task of file sharing. A secure protocol has also been designed and implemented to guard against various possible attacks, when its files are accessed remotely over an untrusted network.
Capital Accumulation, Technological Progress and Environmental Change in a Three-Sector Growth Model
Authors: Zhang Wei-Bin
Published: December 2012

This paper builds a dynamic growth model with wealth accumulation, technological change, and environmental change on the basis of the neoclassical growth theory with an alternative approach to household behavior. The model synthesizes the economic growth mechanism in the neoclassical growth theory, Arrow’s learning-by-doing, and the environmental change in some traditional dynamic models of environmental economics. It describes a dynamic interdependence among wealth accumulation, technological change, and environmental change under perfect competition with environmental taxes. The author simulated the model to demonstrate existence of equilibrium points and motion of the dynamic system. In particular, the author demonstrated effects of changes in the government policy and preference upon both short-run and long-run economic behavior of the system.
The Face-Off Between User Privacy and Information Exploitation in Online Social Networking
Authors: Wang Jing
Published: December 2012

This research examines the extent to which and the path through which privacy concerns may trigger negative consequences in Social Networking Sites (SNS). Contradicting conventional wisdom that privacy concerns could severely impede the adoption and diffusion of online social networking, the results indicate that privacy concerns and risk beliefs do not directly impact individuals’ willingness to share information through SNS. However, privacy concerns and risk beliefs do impede individuals’ willingness to be profiled by SNS for personalized services and advertisement. Privacy concerns also positively impact risk beliefs and negatively impact trusting beliefs. Trusting beliefs positively influence individuals’ willingness to share information through SNS and willingness to be profiled by SNS for personalized services and advertisement.
Impact of Sound Policies in Promoting Information Systems Research and Innovation in Africa’s SADC Region
Authors: Bwalya Kelvin Joseph
Published: December 2012

Countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and so forth are a force to reckon with in socio-economic value chains because they have fully embraced research and innovation as vital to their economies. Innovation is mostly a culture, and for innovation to thrive, it is desired that proper change management tactics be introduced as it results into social change. Research and innovation depends on multi-dimensional factors to thrive, policy being one of them. African countries have now started putting in place appropriate legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks to support innovation and research. This paper presents an ad hoc survey on what has been done on the policy front in as far as encouraging information systems (IS) research and innovation is concerned in the SADC region. Initiatives and policy environments in Botswana, Zambia, and Malawi are presented. It brings out lessons learnt on how research can or cannot contribute to national development and competiveness. It also presents a number of theoretical perspectives and standpoints from which rationales for innovation and research policy can be extracted. The paper has found that, for the African case, incorporation of the research and knowledge management agenda into national policies is not an easy thing to do because of bureacratic and contextual implications.
Information Technology Governance in Practice
Authors: Taylor Hazel , Woelfer Jill Palzkill , Artman Edward
Published: December 2012

This paper compares implementation frameworks for Information Technology (IT) governance and functions of a Project Management Office (PMO). While there are commonalities, the relational mechanisms called for in IT governance frameworks are omitted from the PMO functions. The authors provide a case study of a PMO at a large municipal government organization where relational mechanisms are incorporated into the risk assessment process through the use of a risk profile spider chart. Drawing conclusions from collaborative practice research, the authors discuss the use and relational aspects of the risk profile spider chart and show how this tool enables boundary spanning between the PMO and other departments by functioning as a boundary object-in-use, increasing the likelihood of buy-in for IT governance decisions. The authors conclude that the tool has potential both as a risk assessment mechanism and a boundary object for building collaboration and thus may be useful for PMOs at other organizations.
Project-to-Organization Matching
Authors: Mafakheri Fereshteh , Breton Michèle , Chauhan Satyaveer
Published: December 2012

Recent studies show that the capacity of organizations to cope with risk is usually neglected in project risk analysis (see for instance Bannerman, 2008 in the context of software projects). Using single-dimension risk assessment approaches, vulnerability, or conversely competence of the organization, is not taken into account in the decision to or not to undertake a risky project. This paper proposes a two-dimensional multi criteria approach with the aim of providing a more complete risk assessment decision support to project managers, by jointly considering the degree of risk of projects along with the risk management capability of organizations.
Comparative Review on the Tools and Techniques for Assessment and Selection of the Project Risk Response Actions (RRA)
Authors: Hatefi Mohammad Ali , Seyedhoseini Seyed Mohammad
Published: December 2012

Project risk management is the process of risk identification, analysis, and response. Risk response includes assessment and selection of the efficient Risk Response Actions (RRA) in order to reduce/enhance the likelihood of the occurrence of threats/opportunities and/or the magnitude of threats/opportunities impact. There is wide agreement that development of RRA plans is an important phase of project risk management, while there are few widely accepted processes, models or tools to support the proper selection of RRAs. The present paper reviews and compares the efforts, which have been made to assess and select RRAs and address the mentioned deficiency found in the published literature. The investigations provide an insight into the need to provide the risk analysts with effective tools and techniques for assessing and selecting RRAs in the area of project risk management.
The Value of Government Mandated Location-Based Services in Emergencies in Australia
Authors: Aloudat Anas , Michael Katina , Abbas Roba , Al-Debei Mutaz
Published: December 2012

The adoption of mobile technologies for emergency management has the capacity to save lives. In Australia in February 2009, the Victorian Bushfires claimed 173 lives, the worst peace-time disaster in the nation’s history. The Australian government responded swiftly to the tragedy by going to tender for mobile applications that could be used during emergencies, such as mobile alerts and location services. These applications have the ability to deliver personalized information direct to the citizen during crises, complementing traditional broadcasting mediums like television and radio. Indeed governments have a responsibility to their citizens to safeguard them against both natural and human-made hazards and today national security has grown to encapsulate such societal and economic securitization. However, some citizens and lobby groups have emphasized that such breakthrough technologies need to be deployed with caution as they are fraught with ethical considerations, including the potential for breaches in privacy, security and trust. The other problem is that real world implementations of national emergency alerts have not always worked reliably and their value has come into question as a result. This paper provides a big picture view of the value of government-mandated location-based services during emergencies, and the challenges ensuing from their use.
The Cloud Computing as the Tool for Implementation of Virtual Organization Technology for eHealth
Authors: Kldiashvili Ekaterine
Published: December 2012

Information and communication technologies have become the essential part of societal life and practical activity. eHealth can be designated as a special form of information and communication technologies. It is obvious that eHealth has a great potentiality; however today there are unfortunately only a few examples of its large services. Efficient, effective, and reliable systems for remote consultations and distance education are the top requirements for eHealth. Cloud computing has emerged as an important new field, distinguished from conventional distributed computing by its focus on large-scale sharing, innovative applications, and, in some cases, high-performance orientation. The authors define Cloud computing as flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions, and resources – what can be described as “virtual organizations.” It is plausible that this technology has more potential and can improve health care services, benefit health care research, and change the face of health information technology. However, cloud computing should be rigorously evaluated before its widespread adoption. Over the past five years, research and development activities have produced protocols, services, and tools. The present article discusses the application of virtual organization technology for eHealth purposes.
Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing
Authors: Stein Richard A.
Published: December 2012

Genetics has fascinated societies since ancient times, and references to traits or behaviors that appear to be shared or different among related individuals have permeated legends, literature, and popular culture. Biomedical advances from the past century, and particularly the discovery of the DNA double helix, the increasing numbers of links that were established between mutations and medical conditions or phenotypes, and technological advances that facilitated the sequencing of the human genome, catalyzed the development of genetic testing. Genetic tests were initially performed in health care facilities, interpreted by health care providers, and included the availability of counseling. Recent years have seen an increased availability of genetic tests that are offered by companies directly to consumers, a phenomenon that became known as direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Tests offered in this setting range from the ones that are also provided in health care establishments to tests known as ‘recreational genomics,’ and consumers directly receive the test results. In addition, testing in this context often does not involve the availability of counseling and, when this is provided, it frequently occurs on-line or over the phone. As a field situated at the interface between biotechnology, biomedical research, and social sciences, direct-to-consumer genetic testing opens multiple challenges that can be appropriately addressed only by developing a complex, inter-disciplinary framework.
Analyzing Key Decision-Points
Authors: Gasson Susan
Published: December 2012

This study explores innovative approach to early requirements analysis for boundary-spanning organizational information systems. It is argued that software engineering methods, focus on reductionist problem-definitions, while participatory design methods hinge on the unrealistic expectation that users have the time and interest to engage in design. Neither approach analyzes the relationship between formal decision-support and the informal knowledge and interaction processes that coordinate tightly-coupled, distributed systems of work. The author focuses their analysis on key decision-points as these embody the coordination-points of distributed work-systems, combining informational and processual knowledge. The method is developed and validated by means of an action research study of the Trauma care processes of a hospital emergency department – an environment characterized by highly-regulated, formal reporting requirements, with rapid-response decision-making that relies on the coordination of distributed knowledge across a variety of actors and work-roles.
Architecture of an Event Processing Application for Monitoring Cardiac Patient Wait Times
Authors: Baarah Aladdin , Mouttham Alain , Peyton Liam
Published: December 2012

Presented is an architecture for event processing applications that manage business processes, and the authors use a case study of monitoring cardiac patient wait times to evaluate their architecture and illustrate our approach. Event processing applications can collect streams of events from sensors for processing to infer critical medical events in real time. However, to manage business processes, it is critical to understand not only where in the hospital those events occur, but also where in the business process those events are occurring. Metrics, such as wait times, can be computed in real-time by using complex event processing to integrate and aggregate events in support of fine grained monitoring of business processes. The authors evaluate their architecture against both current practice and related works in the literature.
Internet Voting Usefulness
Authors: Carter Lemuria , Campbell Ronald
Published: December 2012

Opportunities for Internet use in the political process are constantly emerging. The use of the Internet to obtain political news and share political information is gaining momentum. Remote Internet voting initiatives are also growing in popularity. This study presents a model of Internet voting adoption that explores the predictors of the perceived usefulness of Internet voting systems. To test the model a survey is administered to 372 citizens. The results of structural equation modeling indicate that accessibility, convenience, disposition to trust, and Internet trust all have a significant impact on the perceived usefulness of Internet Voting. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Modeling Disruption Risk in Supply Chain Risk Management
Authors: Bilsel Ragip Ufuk , Ravindran A. Ravi
Published: December 2012

Disruptions have often been ignored in supply chain models due to their infrequency; however, there is evidence that disruptions are among the most significant threats to supply chains. This paper presents analytical methods to model and quantify disruption risks. The methods consist of breaking disruption risks down into four components: impact, occurrence, detectability and recovery. Analytical frameworks to quantify each individual component is provided. Methods to combine the individual components of risk are discussed and illustrated with numerical examples.
Using Analytical Network Process Decision Methodology to Analyze and Allocate Resources in the U.S. Army Training Support System
Authors: Diaz Rafael , Ezell Barry Charles
Published: December 2012

Deciding on an appropriate training solution mix at the strategic level of U.S. Army training support system enterprise to support warfighter preparation is a complex matter. One of the most important problems is integrating qualitative and quantitative multiple sources of influential information. There are many goals to accomplish while they are constantly changing. However, the best training solution mix option that both minimizes resource impact and maximizes training throughput must be selected. The objective of this paper is to introduce a decision-making methodology based on the Analytical Network Process (ANP) for the U.S. Army Training Support System (ATSS). The methodology assists in the evaluation of training alternatives to help strategic decision makers to select the best mix of training components and strategies. An application of the proposed methodological framework is performed in real world example. The problem involves deciding the right mix of training solutions for urban operation training among a group of selected options.
Petermann Ice Island 'A' Survey Results, Offshore Labrador
Authors: Halliday E. Julie , King Tony , Bobby Pradeep , Copland Luke , Mueller Derek
Published: December 2012

In August 2010 a 265 km2 ice island calved from the Petermann Glacier innorthern Greenland. Soon after the initial calving event the mass broke intoseveral pieces, some of which exited Baffin Bay and drifted south toward theLabrador coast. By June 2011 PII-A, a large fragment of the initial PetermannIce Island, was situated offshore Labrador and in one week it had moved 225 kmdown the coast. Concern arose that if PII-A continued its trajectory it couldreach the Grand Banks by August 2011, posing a potential risk for existinginfrastructure in the offshore region of Newfoundland. To properly assess thepotential risk a realistic estimate of ice mass was necessary. This in turnrequired field measurements of the ice islands thickness.

A three-day field program was carried out on the Petermann Ice Islands, PII-A and PII-A-a, from June 17–19, 2011. At this time PII-A and PII-A-a weresituated offshore Labrador, Canada, approximately 100 km northeast of the townof Rigolet. Geophysical survey methods, including Ground Penetrating Radar(GPR) and Seismic Reflection, were used to identify the base of the islands andobtain ice thickness measurements at various locations. Eight satellitetracking beacons were deployed on PII-A and one was deployed on PII-A-a. Ablation data, photographs and video footage were also obtained during theprogram. On July 22, 2011, PII-A was revisited while it was situated off thesouthern Labrador coast. GPR measurements were acquired at the pre-existingstations; the measurements allowed for deterioration rates due to surface andbasal melting to be calculated for PII-A. Results of the field measurementsindicate that ice thickness varied between 50 to 80 m on PII-A; the thicknessof PII-A-a was 30 m at a single survey location. Surface melt rates of 2.7–6.3cm day-1 were observed over a 1-day period in June. For the 35-day periodbetween June and July visits, average surface and basal melt of 5.0 cm day-1and 3.4 cm day-1, respectively, were calculated.
Interface of an Offshore Gravity-Based Oil and Gas Producing Platform with a Subgrade
Authors: Papusha Alexander N. , Gontarev Denis P. , Kruglova Irina V.
Published: December 2012

In work principles of modeling of interaction of sea gravitational oil andgas extraction platforms with the soil basis are presented. The seabed level ispresented by the non-uniform model consisting of seven layers of soils, satedwith a liquid. Approximate calculation of interaction platform Prirazlomnayawith a sea-bottom is resulted.

Introduction

Demand of oil and gas increase requires development of new oil and gasfields leads us to study of them on the sea and ocean shelf.

For this reason the actuality of the development of new justified methods ofdesign and construction of gravity-based structures (GBS) in application tosevere conditions of the arctic shelf is obvious.

Unfortunately the rich world experience is not sufficiently oriented todesign of GBS in combination of large quantity of negative factors and Russianengineering practice does not have a lot of experience of GBS design onoffshore shelf, but it has some experience of design and construction of hydrotechnical structures in the north zone.

That is why the primary aim of this article is to develop of thescience-based procedure of design of the system " GBS - bed-plate" in severeconditions of the Russian shelf, which provides requisite reliability andsafety level.

1 Problem set

Developing oil deposit Prirazlomnoye use of a gravitational platform issupposed. In the conditions of increased requirements of safety the estimationof stability of a platform on a sea-bottom becomes the important engineeringproblem.

For an estimation of stability platform Prirazlomnaya on the sea-bottom ithas been developed two 2D analytical models consisting of model of the basis ofa platform and an anisotropic solid-state element, simulating the saturatedfile soils, composing the sea-bottom. Basic difference of schemes are thefollowing:in the first settlement scheme the weight of the top structure has beenreplaced by action of uniform pressure,in the second scheme - non-uniform condition and ice loads.

That fact has been taken into consideration, that the weight of the topstructure is distributed non-uniformly on the area of the basis of aplatform.

Abovementioned mechanical models are presented in Figures 1 and 2.
Geomagnetic Referencing in the Arctic Environment
Authors: Poedjono Benny , Beck Nathan , Buchanan Andrew , Brink Jason , Longo Joseph , Finn Carol A. , Worthington E. William
Published: December 2012

Geomagnetic referencing is becoming an increasingly attractive alternativeto north-seeking gyroscopic surveys to achieve the precise wellbore positioningessential for success in today's complex drilling programs. However, thegreater magnitude of variations in the geomagnetic environment at higherlatitudes makes the application of geomagnetic referencing in those areas morechallenging.

Precise, real-time data on those variations from relatively nearby magneticobservatories can be crucial to achieving the required accuracy, butconstructing and operating an observatory in these often harsh environmentsposes a number of significant challenges. Operational since March 2010, theDeadhorse Magnetic Observatory (DED), located in Deadhorse, Alaska, was createdthrough collaboration between the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and aleading oilfield services supply company. DED was designed to produce real-timegeomagnetic data at the required level of accuracy, and to do so reliably underthe extreme temperatures and harsh weather conditions often experienced in thearea.

The observatory will serve a number of key scientific communities as well asthe oilfield drilling industry, and has already played a vital role in thesuccess of several commercial ventures in the area, providing essential, accurate data while offering significant cost and time savings, compared withtraditional surveying techniques.
Nereid UI: A Light-Tethered Remotely Operated Vehicle for Under-Ice Telepresence
Authors: Bowen A.D. , Jakuba M.V. , Yoerger D.R. , Whitcomb L.L. , Kinsey J.C. , Mayer L. , German C.R.
Published: December 2012

We describe a new underwater vehicle for under-ice telepresence, NereidUI (Under Ice). This paper discusses potential applications, environmental and logistical constraints, and progress to date. Based on lightdata-only fiber tether technology, Nereid UI will provide operatorswith a capability to teleoperate a ~1000 kg remotely operated vehicle (ROV)under fixed ice at ranges up to 20 km distant from a support ship or otherdeployment site under direct human supervision. When operating from anicebound support vessel, the light fiber technology permits the vehicle toremain stationary on the seafloor or maneuver freely in the water column orunder the ice while its support ship drifts with the sea ice up to 20 kmaway. Nereid UI will facilitate its recovery autonomously in theevent that the tether is severed. Prior experience with the hybrid ROVNereus 11,000 m rated vehicle, along with trade studies and conceptdevelopment devoted to Nereid UI has revealed (1) the light fiberconcept is viable in polar waters; (2) battery operation and the need totransit result in an ROV that occupies a unique trade-space with respect todrag; (3) redundant systems and a focus on reliability are necessary to avoidexpensive losses in productivity or the vehicle itself. The Nereid UIproject is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Woods HoleOceanographic Institution.

Introduction

Polar scientists presently lack access to effective capabilities inice-margin and under-ice environments for examining the submerged features ofice shelves, icebergs, and sea ice as well as the seafloor under iceshelves. Close-up high-resolution inspection and survey operations inthese complex under-ice environments require a tether to provide high-bandwidthtelemetry between the underwater vehicle and its human operators. Long-range light-fiber ROV tether technology, as pioneered on theNereus vehicle (Bowen et al., 2009) for 11,000 m depth operation, provides the high bandwidth (Gigabit Ethernet) link necessary for real-timecontrol under the direction of the shipboard science party, and yet retainsextreme horizontal mobility of the host vehicle. The goal of theNereid UI system is to extend this capability to the Polar Regions, providing scientific access to under-ice and ice-margin environments that ispresently impractical or infeasible and enabling operators to extract maximumbenefit from every minute spent on-site in these harsh and otherwiseinaccessible environments. Funds for the project have been awarded by theNational Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) undera Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program. Additional cost-share has beenprivately provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
Numerical Study on Stability of Mud Line Cellars in the Arctic Offshore Environment
Authors: Trandafir Aurelian C. , Long Xiaoyan , Tjok Ko-Ming
Published: December 2012

This paper employs finite-element analysis to investigate the performance ofmud line cellars (MLC) in various stratigraphic settings representative for theArctic offshore environment. Numerical results addressing the stability of mudline cellars excavated in sand-prone Arctic marine sediments revealed apotential flow-like mode of failure associated with a high degree of materialdisruption within the failure wedge. On the other hand, the computed potentialfailure mechanism of a mud line cellar excavated in clay-prone Arctic marinesediments is characterized by a sliding block mode of deformation. For theconsidered geotechnical properties of unfrozen Arctic marine sediments, free-standing sand mud line cellars are prone to instability thus requiringadditional lateral support, whereas free-standing clay mud line cellars appearto be stable. The analysis results for a free-standing mud line cellarexcavated in clay with adjacent surcharge at seafloor indicate a progressiveincrease in the size of the potential failure wedge controlling the stabilityof the MLC wall with increasing surcharge horizontal distance relative to themud line cellar location. For surcharge horizontal distances exceeding aspecific threshold, the dominant potential failure mechanism of theMLC-surcharge system in clay undergoes transition from a fully-developedfailure wedge localized at the face of the excavation wall to a more generaltype of bearing capacity failure mechanism developed underneath and in theimmediate vicinity of the loading area of the surcharge that has no significantinfluence on the stability of the MLC wall. Numerical investigations addressingthe performance of a caisson-supported mud line cellar in sand with adjacentsurcharge revealed that the caisson may experience wall bending in combinationwith rigid body rotation due to surcharge-induced lateral soil movements in thevicinity of the mud line cellar.

Introduction

Mud line cellars are cylindrical excavations created below the seafloor inthe Arctic offshore environment in order to protect exploration and productionwells against potential ice gouging hazards. A mud line cellar allows for thewellhead assembly and blowout preventer to be installed below the seafloor atdepths greater than the anticipated ice-scour depth, therefore, stability ofsuch excavations is crucial for safe well drilling and completionoperations.
Multi-Year Ice Loads: Alignment of Experts Workshop
Authors: Timco G.W.
Published: December 2012

A Joint Industry Project (JIP) was conducted in 2007 to determine the degreeof consensus of leading ice mechanics experts on the loads exerted bymulti-year ice on offshore platforms. Seven international experts on multi-yearice loads were asked to predict loads for three different ice loading scenariosinvolving multi-year ice floes: isolated floe, a multi-year floe in pack ice, and a multi-year hummock field in a sheet of first-year ice. The Experts wereasked to calculate the loads from these three ice conditions interacting with a150 m wide vertical caisson structure and a 45 degree conical-shapedstructure. There were significant differences in the methodologies usedand the assumptions made to estimate the loads. Load predictions variedconsiderably for each scenario with estimates differing by a factor of 4.6 forthe vertical caisson and 3.5 for the conical structure. In spite of the lowerratio of predicted loads for the conical structure, the Experts were moreconfident with loads on the vertical caisson. The key areas for furtherresearch were identified and these include improved knowledge of the icethickness and its variation for Old Ice, new and innovative techniques forobtaining ice loads, improved knowledge of pack ice driving forces, and betterunderstanding of the failure behavior of multi-year ice. This paper provides anoverview of the loading scenarios, details of the load predictions, andoutlines the areas identified for future research to help to provide morereliable load predictions.

Introduction

The presence of ice in the frontier regions of Canada, USA, Greenland, Norway and Russia presents a unique set of obstacles to the safe and economicproduction of offshore oil and gas. Ice interaction with structuresraises design, operational and regulatory issues, and if not understoodproperly, can lead to exceedingly high design and operational costs foroffshore production. Global ice loads are needed for overall stabilityconsiderations of gravity-based structures, caisson structures and floatingproduction systems. In addition, ice impacts may generate high local icepressures, causing damage or failure of small but critical areas of offshorestructures and/or petroleum tankers. Research on ice loads over the pastseveral years has led to significant understanding of these loads especiallyfor level ice conditions. Recently, Timco and Croasdale (2006) invited twentyinternational ice mechanics specialists to predict loads for differentfull-scale scenarios. The results show general agreement in predicted loadsgenerated by level ice on a vertical-sided structure. However, predictions of loads for multi-year ice differed by a factor of seven. Clearlythis large uncertainty would lead to conservative assumptions regarding iceloads and significantly higher construction and operational costs in regionswhere multi-year ice is present. A better understanding of multi-year iceloads, and the factors that affect ice loads is the key to reducing thisuncertainty.
Best Practice Seismic Acquisition Onshore in the Canadian Arctic
Authors: Enachescu Michael E. , Kierulf Fred
Published: December 2012

A three year cycle is generally needed to adequately plan, execute, processand interpret a medium size 2D or 3D seismic program in the Canadian Arctic. The tasks of designing, supervising and monitoring the seismic surveys isdivided between the oil and gas exploration company, a seismic managementcompany and a seismic contractor well experienced in Canadian Arcticacquisition. In order to complete these seismic programs, MGM Energy Corp.dedicated extensive efforts and manpower to mitigate environmentalconsiderations within the survey area while respecting federal, territorial andlocal regulations and maintaining good and productive relationships developedwith the area's first nations and northern groups. A series of " Best PracticeMeasures", based on the extensive northern work knowledge and expertise of MGM, its contractors and the local communities, were adopted in the successfulcompletion of these projects.

Respecting federal, territorial and local regulations and maintainingproductive relationships with the area's First Nations is required in allphases of program implementation. For MGM " Best Practice" in Arctic seismicacquisition means permanently innovating and improving on the set ofenvironmental, safety and technical policies and conventions which are currentin seismic data acquisition in various Arctic physiographic and geologicalsettings.

Introduction

During the past seven years, MGM and its predecessor company ParamountResources Ltd., acquired and processed several 2D and 3D seismic surveys in theNorthwest Territories of Canada. A three year cycle is needed to adequatelyplan, execute, process and interpret a) a 2D seismic program consisting of 4 to6 lines and totalling approximately 100 km in the Central Mackenzie Valley orb) a 3D seismic grid of 144 km2 in the Mackenzie Delta. The NorthEllice 3D seismic grid, representing the latest 3D survey collected in theMackenzie Delta, was acquired on land, within the delta channels and theshallow marine area (Tranzitional Zone) during the winter of 2007/2008. Thecost of acquisition of these programs is usually five to ten times higher thanin southern Canada due mainly to harsh conditions and complex logistics.
Seismic Acquisition in Alaska's Cook Inlet
Authors: Yates Mike , Adiletta Steve
Published: December 2012

In March/April 2011 Apache carried out an extensive series of seismicacquisition tests in Cook Inlet, Alaska, to evaluate the feasibility oflarge-scale, year-round 3D seismic acquisition in Cook Inlet, and to look atthe effectiveness of a nodal or autonomous seismic recording system compared toa conventional cable-telemetry system. An 18-mile seismic line startingonshore, crossing the tidal mudflats, and extending into the deeper water ofCook Inlet was acquired using multiple onshore and offshore source, receiver, and instrument types to establish the viability of a large-scale regional 3Dsurvey and the optimum source parameters for such a program. The location ofthe test line is shown in Figure 1.

Background

Alaska's Cook Inlet Basin is a proven hydrocarbon-producing compressionalfore-arc basin with 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 8 TCF of gas produced, andapproximately 1 billion barrels of oil and 21 TCF of gas yet to be found, according to the USGS and BOEM. Since the expansion of exploration andproduction activity on Alaska's North Slope in the 1980's there has been littleexploration activity in Cook Inlet; small 2D and 3D seismic surveys havegenerated leads for the small number of wells drilled in the area during thistime. The majority of these seismic surveys had been either exclusively onshoreor offshore, with only a handful of transition zone surveys crossing theshoreline, and all acquired in the short window of a single season. To makelarge-scale regional seismic surveying a reality, a single crew, equipped tooperate year-round, would be needed.
Reeling Arctic Export Lines
Authors: Van Zandwijk C. , Benard C. , Faidutti D.
Published: December 2012

Arctic projects are characterized by a very short installation season withan unpredictable begin and end, as well as large lo-gistical distances. Inparticular pipelay and pipe burial are a concern as these are time consumingprocesses. The deployment of multiple units for completing the work within thenarrow time frame available involves significant mobilization andde-mobilization costs, as for many Arctic developments the nearest offshoreequipment deployment area during the rest of the year is far away. Additionally, the costs of standby whilst waiting for break-up of the ice arehigh for such a vessel spread.

The paper presents a novel concept of pipelay using large floatingexchangeable reels which concept is anticipated to be sig-nificantly fasterthan S-lay. Moreover, it needs only a small construction crew in the field andis competitive with S-lay on costs.

For the economic viability of such a fast pipelay concept, it is essentialthat an Arctic pipelay market of sufficient volume will develop, in order toallow depreciation over a number of projects.

The fast pipelay concept proposed can also be deployed outside the Arctic onprojects having a scope comparable with the example project described.
Standards And Guidelines For The Use Of Satellite-Based Ice Information In The Oil &Gas Sector
Authors: Power Desmond , Partington Kim , Spring Walt , Dittman Christoph
Published: December 2012

The oil and gas industry is increasingly focusing its interests andactivities on areas that are prone to ice cover, in the form of sea ice andicebergs. The authors have noticed two significant trends with respect to theice charting to support operations in oil and gas operations:At present, companies who require ice information are developing their owninternal practices based on different experiences.No industry-wide standards exist for ice charting in this sector.

As a consequence, the authors have embarked on a project to address thisdeficiency by identifying minimum standards and best practices for theprovision of ice information derived from satellites for companies operating inthe polar and sub-polar regions. The development of a guideline governing icecharts is the primary focus of this project. The project has identifiedrequirements through the oil and gas project lifecycle, has matched these todifferent regions and has categorised satellite-derived ice information byservices and products. The project has reviewed current practices and willestablish a guideline with input and validation from the industry, taking intoaccount current constraints and future opportunities. Ice charting guidelineswill provide clear options to industry. Companies will be able to buildprocesses and systems around guidelines and can be assured that compliantservice providers will be compatible with their systems. Guidelines will alsoincrease access of the market to service providers, leading to increasedcompetition and lower costs. Ultimately, the knowledge of ice chartingcapabilities will be well documented so that they are not lost with staffattrition. This paper presents an overview of the ice charting guidelinesproject and its objectives, schedule, status and deliverables. This project isbeing coordinated through the Oil and Gas Earth Observation Group (OGEO) of theInternational Association of Oil and Gas producers (OGP) with initial seedfunding from the European Space Agency and Shell E&P International.

Index Terms—ice charting, ice information, sea ice, icebergs, guideline

Introduction

The oil and gas industry are increasingly focusing their interests andactivities on areas that are prone to ice cover, in the form of sea ice andicebergs. At present, the approach being taken by companies who require iceinformation is to develop their own internal practices based on differentexperiences. No industry-wide standards exist. In this project, we aim toaddress this deficiency, by identifing minimum standards and best practices forthe provision of ice information derived from satellites for companiesoperating in the polar and sub-polar regions
Ice Worthy Jack UP Assisted Conical Piled Monopod Concept for Offshore Arctic Field Development
Authors: Aurora Ravi P. , Williams Alan , Argiolas Ricardo
Published: December 2012

This paper describes the results of the feasibility study of an arcticoffshore platform concept sponsored by ConocoPhillips. This concept consists ofa Conical Piled Monopod (CPM) platform, shown in Figure 1, assisted by an IceWorthy Jack-up rig, Gemini, to drill development wells in Multi Year iceconditions as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The Gemini design is beingjointly developed by ConocoPhillips and Keppel Offshore and Marine TechnologyCentre Pte Ltd based in Houston. Gemini is equipped with two drill rigsthat can simultaneously or individually cantilever above the well slots locatedon the deck of the CPM. The key benefit of Gemini lies in extending thedrilling season from a few months during ice free season to several monthsbeyond the ice free period.

The study was carried out at Granherne Limited under ConocoPhillips'supervision between March 2010 and February 2011. A topsides operatingload of 5,000 tonnes was assumed, instead of 70,000 tonnes (or more)corresponding to a two drill rig stand alone drilling and production CPM. Thefeasibility of a stand alone drilling and production CPM was presented inanother paper at Icetech12 in September 2012.

The study concludes that a Gemini assisted CPM is feasible for iceconditions in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. The ice loads were calculated, in consultation with Ken Croasdale, a well known specialist in this discipline. Ice conditions assumed in this study were in accordance with ISO-19906, namely,12m thick level ice and a very rare 25m thick ice island event. No icemanagement was assumed. A Gemini assisted CPM offers a much lighter platformcompared to a standalone CPM or Gravity Based Structure.

ConocoPhillips has a patent pending on the CPM. ConocoPhillips andKeppel Offshore have patent(s) pending on the Ice Worthy Jack Up drilling rig, Gemini.