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A viable and cost effective two-step process for reducing solid and water production in oil wells is presented.

Photographs have long been used to represent environmental conditions in the context of landscape quality assessments and environmental perception research. Representational options have been significantly expanded by applications of computer modeling and computer graphic technologies that can provide precise visualizations based on inventoried or model-projected biophysical data. Final graphic displays from computer visualization systems can range from very abstract ‘wire-frame’ models to high resolution, photorealistic video images. An important assumption underlying the use of both photographic and computer rendered visualizations is that human viewers' responses to these representations provide valid indications of perceptions and judgments made in response to direct experience with the landscape conditions nominally represented. In this study the same set of forest landscape scenes was represented by visualizations rendered at four different levels of realism–abstraction. Each representation was shown to separate groups of observers who rated the perceived scenic beauty of the common set of forest landscape scenes. Correlations between the ratings of the same scenes in the different visualization conditions were very low, raising important questions about the representational validity of computer-generated landscape visualizations.

A method for developing maps of the scenic beauty of forests is described and applied to a Ponderosa pine forest in Arizona. Sample points were selected and located on the ground. Randomly-oriented color slides were taken from each point. Observers were asked to rate the scenic beauty of the sites represented by the slides. Ratings were transformed to Scenic Beauty Estimates (SBEs), a standardized, relative index of interval scale. The SBEs for each location were submitted, along with data describing the location of each sample point, to a computer program (SYMAP) which produces interpolated maps of the scenic beauty of the area. Data concerning the reliability and validity of the procedure are presented. The relationship between the scenic beauty map and maps of physical forest features was investigated.

Data from three separate but related surveys address the linkages between recreation and public perception of and attitudes toward fire management. Recreation ranks high among alternative forest resource uses and is a serious concern vis-a-vis fire effects. Public acceptance of new fire-management policies may be greater and more sophisticated than commonly thought. Public knowledge of fire effects and tolerance of light-intensity fires can be increased through use of educational materials. However, there is some evidence that increases in knowledge and tolerance may not affect perceptual judgments of recreational acceptability or scenic beauty. Some recreational activities, particularly camping, show considerable sensitivity to fire effects. New fire-management policies and educational programs will need to account for increasing sophistication in the public's understanding and tolerance of fire, as well as for different impacts that fire may have on various outdoor recreation activities.

We report the results of two experiments on bilateral bargaining under the sealed-bid double auction mechanism in environments where theory calls for decidedly strategic play. The observed individual sellers' ask functions and buyers' bid functions, each based on 50 rounds of bargaining, are shown to be in good agreement with the Bayesian–Nash piecewise linear equilibrium solution of Chatterjee & Samuelson (1983). Although the game is played with random matching of traders on each round, both sellers and buyers change their behavior over time. The buyers in particular learn to bid more aggressively. The information sets of the two players are shown to be a major determinant of this result and of the strikingly disparate profits earned by buyer and seller during the experiment. To address the dynamics of this result, we propose a simple adaptive learning model postulating round-to-round changes in the entire bid/ask function which are proportional to the actual gain, if a deal was struck, or the gain that could have been but was not realized, if no agreement was reached on the previous round. Based on results from the experimental psychology literature, this model captures the major features of the mean bid/ask functions and accounts for most of the trial-to-trial variability in the buyers', but not the sellers', decisions.

Using data obtained from visitors to forest campgrounds, travel cost models were developed. Bid functions and willingness-to-pay estimates of recreation value were derived from contingent value questions posed to campers. The willingness-to-pay responses were based on both photographic representations of forest scenes and on actual forest conditions at each campground. The photo-based willingness-to-pay estimates were significantly correlated with scenic beauty rating estimates made for photo-based scenes, but there was little correlation between these values and willingness-to-pay estimates for actual forest conditions, or estimates from travel cost models. Further, no correlation was found between travel cost estimates and contingent value estimates of the value of forest conditions on-site. The findings raise questions about the validity and comparability of willingness-to-pay measures that are applied to particular types of forest recreation situations.

The regulations implementing the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments distinguish between the detectability of air pollution-caused visibility impairment in Class I Parks and Wilderness areas and the adversity of impairment, referring to the effect on the quality of park visitors' visual experiences. Two lines of environmental perception research have arisen from this distinction, one emphasizing the detectability of visibility impairment, and the other emphasizing the quality of park visitors' experiences. This study addressed issues relevant to both lines of research. Subjects rated either the “visual air quality”; or “scenic beauty”; of color slides depicting varying levels of atmospheric visibility in Class I scenic vistas under treatment conditions designed to emphasize either the detectability or adversity criteria. Subjects who rated visual air quality for repeated samples of a single vista were most sensitive to changes in atmospheric visibility. Subjects who rated a mixture of different vistas for scenic beauty were least sensitive to visibility changes. Lighting conditions and the composition of the paricular vista being viewed also proved to have substantial influence on perceptual ratings.

The article discusses a new treatment in 2006 that provides a single two-step process for dealing with the problems of sand and water in a producing well. According to the author, the process offers a viable and cost-effective treatment for lowering water and solids production. The author adds that the water-sand control treatment is a less-invasive method for lowering water and solids that can facilitate hydrocarbon flow.