High-performance computers are increasingly in demand in the areas of structural analysis, weather forecasting, petroleum exploration, medical diagnosis, aerodynamics simulation, artificial intelligence, expert systems, genetic engineering, signal and image processing, among many other scientific and engineering applications. Without superpower computers, many of these challenges to advance hum...

(1) A few shipping accidents have caused spectacular local threats to the environment. (2) Leaks in offshore oil well drilling operations have received widespread news coverage. (3) A rising demand for petroleum products throughout the world complicated by political considerations has produced a corresponding expansion in tanker shipping operations and in offshore oil operations, both of which ...

Intelligent production planning and scheduling are of paramount importance to ensure refinery profitability, logistic reliability and safety at the local and corporate levels. In Brazil, such activities play a particularly critical role, since the Brazilian downstream model is moving towards a demand-driven model rather than a supply-driven one. Moreover, new and specialized non-linear constrai...

The possibility that workers could be adversely affected by environmental policies imposed on heavily regulated industries has led to claims of a “jobs versus the environment” trade-off by both business and labor leaders. The present research examines this claim at the industry level for four heavily polluting industries: pulp and paper mills, plastic manufacturers, petroleum refiners, and iron...

Energy supply in Sri Lanka is mainly based on three primary sources, namely hydroelectricity, biomass and petroleum. The supply from each of these sources is such that 11percent is attributable to hydroelectricity, 55 percent to biomass and 34 percent to petroleum oil products. Fuel-wood and other biomass such as coconut residues, paddy husks and sawdust are largely used for domestic cooking ac...

The depletion of world petroleum reserves and the increased environmental concerns have stimulated the search for alternative sources for petroleum-based fuel, including diesel fuels. Because of the closer properties, biodiesel fuel from non-edible oil is considered as the best candidate for diesel fuel substitute in diesel engines. With increasing demand on the use of fossil fuels, stronger th...