A RAPID APPROXIMATION FOR PREDICTING THE HYDROCARBON DISCOVERY RATE: PART 1. ASSESSING THE ACCURACY

The hydrocarbon discovery prediction problem is important to firms having to make decisions about the deployment of scarce exploration resources. Traditional methods for estimating the discovery rate rely on the completion of time consuming simulation experiments. A rapid approximation that does not require the completion of simulation exists and has been shown to have some promise as a prediction tool. This paper investigates the accuracy of the approximation method under a wide variety of distributional and drilling efficiency assumptions. The results indicate that the approximation produces predictions close to those of simulation under most of the tested conditions. This suggests that resource exploration firms could conveniently use the method for a wide variety of planning purposes without incurring the same costs in time and personnel required for simulation.     

An integrated microfluidic device for influenza and other genetic analyses

An integrated microfluidic device capable of performing a variety of genetic assays has been developed as a step towards building systems for widespread dissemination. The device integrates fluidic and thermal components such as heaters, temperature sensors, and addressable valves to control two nanoliter reactors in series followed by an electrophoretic separation. This combination of components is suitable for a variety of genetic analyses. As an example, we have successfully identified sequence-specific hemagglutinin A subtype for the A/LA/1/87 strain of influenza virus. The device uses a compact design and mass production technologies, making it an attractive platform for a variety of widely disseminated applications.     

Stereoselective synthesis of internal allylic fluorides

Ru-based catalysts can be used in E-selective cross metathesis (CM) reactions to synthesise various functionalised internal allylic monofluorides.     

Determination of riboflavin in pharmaceutical products by automatic discrete-sample analysis

A procedure for the determination of iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and chromium down to 0.01 μg g^-1 in sodium calcium silicate glass, sodium borosilicate glass, sodium carbonate and calcium carbonate is described. The analytical procedure depends on the separation at pH 6 of the metal diethyldithiocarbamates into isobutyl methyl ketone, and their determination by flameless atomic absorption spectrometry, with a Massmann-type graphite furnace. The limiting factors on the detection limits attainable are discussed and related to the purity of the acids used for sample solution, sample contamination during chemical separation and the sensitivity of the analytical technique.