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A content analysis challenges the notion that elite newspapers can speak for local dailies. Gulf dailies focused on the environment until the well was capped and then shifted to the local economy, while the national dailies focused on the accident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the digital modelling of radiance reflectance of the sea surface when the water column is polluted by oil-in-water emulsion. A method tracking the fate of two billion virtual solar photons was applied to obtain the angular distribution of bottom-up radiance for a plane of sunlight striking the sea surface. For the calculations, the inherent optical properties of seawater characteristic for the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea) were used. The analyses were performed for two types of oils with extremely different optical properties for an oil concentration of 10 ppm and for a roughened sea surface with a wind speed of 2 m/s. The spectral index for oil detection in seawater for different viewing angles was determined based on the results obtained for reflectance at eight wavelengths in the range of 412–676 nm for viewing angle in the range from 80° to 0°, both on the side of incidence of direct sunlight and on the opposite side. The resulting calculated spectral indexes for different wavelength combinations indicated significant dependence on the viewing angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The storage potential of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the central Gulf of Mexico (GOM) makes future development of CO2 storage projects in those areas promising for secure, large-scale, and long-term storage purposes. Focusing on the producing and depleted hydrocarbon fields in the continental slope of the central GOM, this paper analyzed, assessed, and screened the producing sands and evaluated their CO2 storage potential. A live interactive CO2 storage site screening system was built in the SAS® Viya system with a broad range of screening criteria combined from published studies. This offers the users a real-time assessment of the storage sites and enables them to adjust the filters and visualize the results to determine the most suitable filter range. The CO2 storage resources of the sands were estimated using a volumetric equation and the correlation developed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The results of this study indicate that 1.05 gigatons of CO2 storage resources are available in the developed reservoirs at the upper slope area of the central GOM. The Mississippi Canyon and Green Canyon protraction areas contain the fields with the largest storage resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the Journal of Marine Science & Engineering, discussing the importance of novel oil-water separation technologies in marine environmental science. The editorial highlights the urgent need for efficient oil-water separation techniques to mitigate the devastating effects of oil spills on marine life and habitats. It also emphasizes the significance of these technologies in preserving marine biodiversity and maintaining the health of our oceans. The editorial introduces a special issue dedicated to showcasing the latest advancements and research breakthroughs in oil-water separation technologies within marine environments. It provides a brief overview of five published articles in the special issue, each focusing on different aspects of oil-water separation technology. The articles explore topics such as electric-field-enhanced oil-water separation, vortex finder depth in mini-hydrocyclones, efficiency enhancement of mini hydrocyclones, demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions, and pre-treatment core tubes for treating produced water in heavy oilfields. The editorial concludes by emphasizing the collective contribution of these articles towards sustainable marine resource management and the importance of technological advancements in addressing the challenges posed by oil spills and pollution in marine ecosystems. [Extracted from the article]

This paper evaluates contingent valuation method data quality by examining differences in results between probability‐based and opt‐in internet samples using data from a survey estimating passive use losses associated with the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Both samples pass the internal validity tests of negative price (bid) coefficient and positive sign on income but only the probability‐based sample passed the scope test and shows evidence of use values. We find that the willingness to pay estimates from the opt‐in sample may be over‐estimated compared to the probability‐based sample, though not statistically different. Results support the utility of less expensive opt‐in samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the various remote sensing technologies that have been applied to monitor oil spills on the sea surface, passive ultraviolet (UV) imaging is a controversial one that has raised some disputes in the community of oil spill remote sensing. As a result, the research and applications of oil spill detection using passive UV imaging have not been as developed as other methods. In order to clarify some existing questions on oil spill detection using passive UV remote sensing technology, this paper discusses the needs of thin oil film detection, examines the feasibility of thin oil film detection using passive UV imaging through field experiments under controlled conditions and validates it with the UV imagery derived from the airborne visible/infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) observation of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Two types of fully automatic models are designed to extract the thin oil films on the water surface: (1) a binary classification model based on an adaptive threshold; (2) an unsupervised image segmentation model based on image clustering and greyscale histogram analysis. The two models are tested on the UV imagery obtained through both field experiments and AVIRIS observations. The results indicate that the binary classification model can extract the thin oil films with reasonable accuracy under stable imaging conditions, while the unsupervised image clustering model can robustly detect the thin oil films at the cost of higher computational complexity. These results infer that passive UV imaging is an effective way to detect thin oil films and could be applied to provide early warning at the beginning stage of oil spills and reduce further damage. It may also be applied as a supplementary method for oil spill detection to achieve comprehensive oil spill monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the change in field expected ultimate recovery across time is an old and complex topic fraught with ambiguity and misinterpretation. In this paper, changes in recovery estimates performed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the US Gulf of Mexico are evaluated based on 782 offshore fields that began producing after 1975 and ceased production before 2017. At the time of first production, field expected ultimate recovery estimates totaled 6.3 billion barrels oil equivalent (38.6 exajoules), but by the end of their life, the fields produced 8.5 billion barrels oil equivalent (52 exajoules), a 35% growth. On an individual field basis, however, median recovery estimates grew less than 2%. The purpose of this paper is to explain the differences in these two statistics and quantify how expected ultimate recovery is influenced by field age, discovery year, reserve category, peak ratio, product type, size, and water depth to understand better the contribution of individual factors in reserves evaluation. Consistent interpretation of reserves category is probably the most important factor in application. Field age and size are positively correlated with changes in expected ultimate recovery in both the shallow water and deepwater regions of the US Gulf of Mexico, pre- and post-1988 evaluation periods are a significant factor, and a development variable referred to as peak ratio exhibits a meaningful correspondence. The results of this analysis show that Bureau of Ocean Energy Management procedures for expected ultimate recovery estimation in the US Gulf of Mexico post-1988 are consistent with the application of probable reserves classifications; these highlight the need for a precise understanding of factor inputs in reserves growth studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The authors study the effect of increasing environmental awareness on shareholders' activism. Specificallly, this study aims to examine whether growing environmental awareness is reflected in more aggressive environmental shareholder proposals. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster as an exogenous event that increased shareholders' environmental awareness. This study analyzes the spill's effect on the tone of proposals about environmental issues and nonenvironmental topics. Findings: After the disaster, the tone of environmental proposals (i.e. the treatment group) is significantly more negative. In contrast, the tone of nonenvironmental proposals (i.e. the control group) is unaffected. This study interprets this finding as direct evidence that the oil spill led to increased shareholder environmental activism through proposals that targeted the environmental risks surrounding the business more aggressively. By contrast, this study finds no effect of the oil spill on the tone of managers' responses to the proposals, consistent with managers refraining from emphasizing environmental threats. Originality/value: Anecdotal evidence and recent studies suggest a link between environmental disasters and shareholder pressure for corporate change. However, no prior research has investigated the channel through which shareholders could have exerted such pressure or has looked for direct evidence of it in the negotiations between shareholders and managers. By finding such evidence in shareholder proposals, this study fills in this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gilchrest read Safina's white paper, and he requested a meeting with Safina, alone, without anyone else - not Safina's advisors, nor the Congressman's staff. In the 1990s, when Safina was becoming active, fisheries regulations were mandated by the Magnuson Act, and managed by Fisheries Councils comprising fishermen (Safina was the only professional conservationist). Carl Safina - Provide your audience with information they care about I This essay is part of a series of essays that are based on interviews conducted for this special issue with people who practice risk communication related to human or natural hazards as part of their professions i . [Extracted from the article]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the statements by the chairman and CEO in BP plc’s Annual Report 2010 for linguistic evidence of reader positioning. This is based on the premise that reputational fallout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill would have heightened the need for such positioning to repair the company’s legitimacy.Design/methodology/approach Applying Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFL) framework, a comparative register analysis was undertaken of the respective statements of the chairman and CEO of BP plc. This was informed by corpus analysis of these statements, of comparative statements from industry competitors and of two larger-scale corpora constructed from the chairman and CEO statements extracted from the annual reports of 25 FTSE100 companies.Findings The findings suggest that readers’ perceptions are likely to be shaped by the statements of the chairman and CEO of BP plc in the company’s 2010 annual report, but similarities and differences are apparent in the way this positioning is engineered. Broader corpus analysis hints that these similarities and differences are not localised to BP plc.Research limitations/implications The analysis relies on the assumptions that the chairman and CEO are the writers of each piece. As with prior research, questions of intent on the part of the corporate authors and impact upon target readers remain unanswered.Practical implications This paper demonstrates and highlights the issue of reader positioning through lexico-grammatical choices in corporate disclosures.Originality/value This paper makes a contribution to the literature by demonstrating how reader positioning may be engineered through lexico-grammatical choices in corporate disclosures. This paper further responds to a call from Sydserff and Weetman (1999, 2002) for interdisciplinary approaches to investigating corporate narrative reports involving linguistics, through foregrounding Halliday’s SFL framework as an analytical tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil spills lead to catastrophic problems. In most oil spill cases, the spatial and temporal intractability of the detriment cannot be neglected, and problems related to economic, social and environmental factors constantly appear for a long time. Remote sensing has been widely used as a powerful means to conduct oil spill detection. Optical polarization remote sensing, thriving in recent years, shows a novel potential for oil spill detection. This paper provides a demonstration of the use of open-source POLDER/PARASOL polarization time-series data to detect oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, one of the largest oil spill disasters, is utilized to explore the potential of optical polarization remote sensing for oil spill detection. A total of 24 feature combinations are organized to quantitatively study the positive effect of adding polarization information and the appropriate way to describe polarization characteristics. Random forest classifier models are trained with different combinations, and the results are assessed by 10-fold cross-validation. The improvement from adding polarization characteristics is remarkable ((average) accuracy: +0.51%; recall: +2.83%; precision: +3.49%; F1 score: +3.01%, (maximum) accuracy: +0.80%; recall: +5.09%; precision: +6.92%; F1 score: +4.72%), and coupling between the degree of polarization and the phase angle of polarization provides the best description of polarization information. This study confirms the potential of optical polarization remote sensing for oil spill detection, and some detailed problems related to model establishment and polarization feature characterization are discussed for the further application of polarization information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper calls for re-focusing the analysis of existing results to evaluate whether there are stable ratios of use value to total willingness to pay for improvements in different types of environmental resources. The objective is to develop a screening tool to determine if decisions about the assumed number of users versus nonusers of a resource are likely to be important to aggregate benefit measures for changes in the amount or quality of different environmental resources. Four sets of applications involving different aspects of water resources are considered: nutrients in the Neuse River affecting the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary; nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay; whitewater rafting on the Colorado River; and the Deepwater Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The findings suggest a need to add the evaluation of these ratios to the research agenda in benefits transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Deep Water Horizon oil spill dramatically impacted the Gulf of Mexico from the seafloor to the surface. While dispersion of contaminants at the surface has been extensively studied, little is known about deep water dispersion properties. This study describes the results of the Deep Water Dispersion Experiment (DWDE), which consisted of the release of surface drifters and acoustically tracked RAFOS floats drifting at 300 and 1,500 dbar in the Gulf of Mexico. We show that surface diffusivity is elevated and decreases with depth: on average, diffusivity at 1,500 dbar is 5 times smaller than at the surface, suggesting that the dispersion of contaminants at depth is a significantly slower process than at the surface. This study also examines the turbulent regimes driving the dispersion, although conflicting evidences and large uncertainties do not allow definitive conclusions. At all depths, while the growth of dispersion and kurtosis with time supports the possibility of an exponential regime at very short time scales, indicating that early dispersion is nonlocal, finite size Lyapunov exponents support the hypothesis of local dispersion, suggesting that eddies of size comparable to the initial separation (6 km), may dominate the early dispersion. At longer time scales, the quadratic growth of dispersion is indicative of a ballistic regime, where a mean shear flow would be the dominating process. Examination of the along‐ and across‐bathymetry components of float velocities supports the idea that boundary currents could be the source for this shear dispersion. Plain Language Summary: The 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill has dramatically impacted the Gulf of Mexico's marine environment from the seafloor to the surface. While dispersion of contaminants at the surface has been extensively studied over the past decades, little is known about the deep water dispersion properties of the ocean, and the fate of deep contaminants is uncertain. This paper describes the results of the Deep Water Dispersion Experiment that took place in the western Gulf of Mexico, a deep water drilling operation area. The experiment consisted in the simultaneous release of surface drifters and floats drifting at 300 and 1,500 m, to assess the variations of dispersion properties with depth for the first time. It is shown that diffusivity is weaker in depth that at the surface, so that contaminants would spread less rapidly. Key Points: Pairs of surface drifters and RAFOS floats drifting at 300 and 1,500 dbar were released simultaneously in the Gulf of Mexico between 2016 and 2018Relative diffusivity at 300 and 1,500 dbar is on average 2 and 5 times weaker than at the surface, respectivelyTopography and sheared boundary currents might play a major role in float dispersion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The teacher can then demonstrate the process of spilling an amount of oil in the water and estimating the area the oil will cover. It is better for students to start by spilling a small amount of oil (such as starting with 1 ml), then estimating the area the spill covers and recording the spilled amount along with the estimated area. The teacher can redirect students to consider different elements that must be known in order to clean such a spill (e.g., type of oil, spilled amount, etc.). [Extracted from the article]

The article presents an overview of articles on the oil spill at the Deepwater Horizon rig by the oil firm BP PLC, which have been presented during a Data Exposition held by the American Statistical Association in 2011. It mentions the paper "Effect of Oil Spill on Birds: A Graphical Assay of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill's Impact on Birds" by T. Tran et al. and the paper "A Graphical Exploration of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill" by Lendie Follett et al.

Following the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in 2010, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) was established to improve society's ability to understand, respond to, and mitigate the impacts of petroleum pollution and related stressors of the marine and coastal ecosystems. This article provides a high-level overview of the major outcomes of the scientific work undertaken by GoMRI. This is scientifically independent initiative, consisting of over 4,500 experts in academia, government, and industry, contributed to significant knowledge advances across the physical, chemical, geological, and biological oceanographic research fields, as well as in related technology, socioeconomics, human health, and oil spill response measures. For each of these fields, this paper outlines key advances and discoveries made by GoMRI-funded scientists (along with a few surprises), synthesizing their efforts in order to highlight lessons learned, future research needs, remaining gaps, and suggestions for the next generation of scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Natural Gas Industry is the property of Natural Gas Industry Journal Agency and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Natural Gas Industry is the property of Natural Gas Industry Journal Agency and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This review covers selected 2019 articles on the biological effects of pollutants, including human physical disturbances, on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems, and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field, and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing, and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, marine debris, dredging, and disposal. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due largely to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and proliferation of data on the assimilation and effects of marine debris microparticulates. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (e.g., mass mortalities ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not on pollutant sources, chemistry, fate, or transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g., some bioaccumulation data may be appeared in other topical categories such as effects of wastewater discharges, or biomarker studies appearing in oil toxicity literature). Therefore, we strongly urge readers to use keyword searching of the text and references to locate related but distributed information. Although nearly 400 papers are cited, these now represent a fraction of the literature on these subjects. Use this review mainly as a starting point. And please consult the original papers before citing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common snook, Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch, 1792), with barnacle patch above gill plate caught by Captain Brook Wallace and photographed by Pete Mersch, 83.8 cm (33 in) long. Further, we have found similar photos of acorn barnacles on "red drum", I Sciaenops ocellatus i (Linnaeus, 1766) (fig. 2); a "gag grouper", I Mycteroperca microlepis i Goode & Bean, 1879 (figs. Sheepsheads eat acorn barnacles, to the extent that these barnacles are used as bait for this fish. Wild-caught sheepshead, Archosargus probatocephalus (Walbaum, 1792), with acorn barnacles attached (Ace Fishing, 2018). [Extracted from the article]

Anthropology can be broadly characterised as an optimistic discipline. Exploring the ways in which different groups confront particular ends and end-time scenarios, whether through rituals and ceremonies, myths and legends, or through local manners of coping with the aftermath of political and ecological ends, anthropologists have been particularly inventive and productive in thinking through ends and endings. Examining different narratives of ends and endings, they also shed light on the future, which, as Vidal and Dias explain, 'is imagined less as a continuation of the present than as a time in which the present ... will no longer be' ([54]: 5). Encounters with Millenarian movements, particularly in Papua New Guinea and Melanesia (Roscoe [46]; Robbins [42]; Stephen [49]) but also elsewhere (Stewart & Harding [50]; Pessar [37]), have led anthropologists to consider the ways in which doomsday scenarios shape everyday lives. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Medunarodni Problemi is the property of Institute of International Politics & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This review covers selected 2018 articles on the biological effects of pollutants, including human physical disturbances, on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems, and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing, and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, marine debris, dredging, and disposal. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due largely to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and proliferation of data on the assimilation and effects of marine debris. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (e.g., mass mortalities ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not on pollutant sources, chemistry, fate, or transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g., some bioaccumulation data may be appear in other topical categories such as effects of wastewater discharges, or biomarker studies appearing in oil toxicity literature). Therefore, we strongly urge readers to use keyword searching of the text and references to locate related but distributed information. Although nearly 400 papers are cited, these now represent a fraction of the literature on these subjects. Use this review mainly as a starting point. And please consult the original papers before citing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pattern recognition methodology was developed for the automated detection of marine oil spills in passive infrared multispectral remote sensing images. The images employed in this work were collected from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill accident in 2010. The imaging instrument for data collection was a downward-looking infrared line scanner equipped with eight optical bandpass filters in the spectral range of 8–12 μm on a fixed-wing aircraft. Oil slicks may show either positive or negative thermal contrast against the surrounding sea water, depending on the sun glint conditions or the oil thickness. Classifiers were developed separately to detect oil with different contrasts by the application of backpropagation neural networks to the preprocessed radiances. Preprocessing strategies included: (1) assembly of training data through k-means clustering analysis; (2) elimination of variation in radiance magnitudes by a customized temperature correction method; (3) removal of sun glint artifacts in images by polynomial correction; and (4) extraction of the most representative features as inputs for the neural networks by a subset selection approach. The classifiers designed to detect oil with positive and negative thermal contrast relative to water achieved overall classification accuracies of 88.7 and 92.2%, respectively. Composite classification images were generated by integrating classification scores produced by the two classifiers. The prediction performance of the classification system was demonstrated through its application to images not involved during the training of the networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offering a scientific perspective, this paper provides a rationale for the use of dispersants in oil spill remediation by discussing their formulations and modes of action and connecting their physics and chemistry to a their environmental fates and impacts. With the first use of dispersants at the source of the oil release during the Deepwater Horizon incident, there is a new great need for understanding the efficiency and the environmental impacts of their use. The paper concludes with some cautionary recommendations on dispersant research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel insight on forecasting influent flow is developed by hybridizing ANFIS-GWO. • Three horizons: Very immediate short-term, mid-term, long-term as 5-min to 10-days. • Different input combinations based on Gamma Test analysis are surveyed in horizons. • Direct and recursive hybrid strategies for multi-step forecasting are provided. • Taylor diagrams, box-plots, ECDF used, ANFIS-GWO direct and recursive are superior. Accurate influent flow forecasting plays a significant role in management, operation, scheduling and utilization of the sewage treatment plants. In design and operate such plants, it is essential to measure and forecast the influent flow rate in wastewater plants. In this paper, the Very immediate-short-term to long-term influent flow rate are modeled and forecasted by a new developed hybrid model of ANFIS and Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO). The objective of this study is the integration of GWO with ANFIS in forecasting multi-ahead influent flow rate. The forecast horizon of the model is from 5 min up to 10 days bases on Gamma Test (GT) feature selection of input combinations. As the parameters of ANFIS have effect on the forecasting accuracy, these parameters are adjusted and optimized by using Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO). Then the choice of appropriate input parameters at different prediction horizons from Very immediate-short-term (5-min ahead) to long-term (10 days ahead) was discussed for influent forecasting. The statistical indices of RMSE, NSE, MAE, RAE, R2, d, CI and graphical evaluations such as scatter-plots with confidence bounds, error distributions, Taylor diagrams, box-plots and empirical cumulative distribution function (ECDF) were implemented for assessing the performance of all models in prediction horizons. Furthermore as another novelty in the present paper, recursive forecasting models based on previous forecasted values is used to improve the accuracy and applicability of ANFIS-GWO in recursive predictions. Our Results showed that: (1) the hybrid of ANFIS-GWO significantly improved the prediction accuracy. (2) ANFIS-GWO performs more efficiently than the ANFIS in almost all of the prediction horizons (ANFIS-GWO1: 5 min ahead; ANFIS-GWO11: 1–2 days ahead; ANFIS-GWO8: one week ahead). (3) The performance of models in influent flow forecasting is significantly influenced by the prediction horizon. The computational results confirmed that the ANFIS-GWO performs well in all of prediction horizons. Equally the true values and the trends are precisely forecasted by the ANFIS-GWO. Results of this novel study demonstrate that reliable estimates of influent flow rate from 5-min up to 10 days in advance can be achieved using the developed direct and recursive hybrid GWO models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water contamination is one of the major environmental and natural resource concerns in the twenty-first century. Oil contamination can occur during operation of machinery, oil exploration and transportation, and due to operating environment. Oil spills occasionally occur during oil exploration and transportation. Water contamination with various chemicals is a major concern with growing population and unsafe industrial practices of waste disposal. Commonly used oil–water separation techniques are either time consuming, energy intensive and/or environmentally unfriendly. Bioinspired superhydrophobic/superoleophobic and superoleophobic/superhydrophilic surfaces have been developed which are sustainable and environmentally friendly. Bioinspired oil–water separation techniques can be used to remove oil contaminants from both immiscible oil–water mixtures and oil–water emulsions. Coated porous surfaces with an affinity to water and repellency to oil and vice versa are commonly used. The former combination of affinity to water and repellency to oil is preferred to avoid oil contamination of the porous substrate. Oil–water emulsions require porous materials with a fine pore size. Recommended porous materials include steel mesh and cotton fabric for immiscible oil–water mixtures and cotton for oil–water emulsions. A review of various approaches is presented in this paper. This article is part of the theme issue 'Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology (part 2)'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conundrum of Pak-Afghan border security is not new. It's among those contentious issues that became an impediment in the governance of both states. In recent times, this issue has emerged yet again, but there is no substantial stratagem embedded to deal with complex security border management. This lack of border management, especially on the status of international recognition of the Durand line, is rejected by the successive governments of Afghanistan, has created a power vacuum which is again a security predicament of governance for both states. Previously, Pakistan proposed border security arrangements which were rejected by Afghanistan. Moreover, Pakistan was blamed for harboring militancy, cross border terrorism, drugs and trafficking in Afghanistan. In order to address the allegations from the Afghan government and to secure the border from insurgency directly harming Pakistan's internal security paradigm, Pakistan's military has suggested and constructing a border fencing mechanism which is the most pertinent arrangement to bar further border security issues. This paper would analyze the reservations over the constructions of fencing across the Pak-Afghan border from the Afghanistan's government and security agencies, while it has been a consistent demand from their side for Pakistan to provide with a border security mechanism. Any indiscretion over border management would cost Pakistan at the highest stake, because as being the immediate neighbor, this security management fallout would have a spill over impact on Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A puzzle that faces public administrators within regulatory governance networks is how to balance the need for democratic accountability while increasingly facing demands from elected officials to optimize oversight of industry by utilizing the expertise of the private sector in developing risk-based standards for compliance. The shift from traditional command and control oversight to process oriented regulatory regimes has been most pronounced in highly complex industries, such as aviation and deepwater oil drilling, where the intricate and technical nature of operations necessitates risk-based regulatory networks based largely on voluntary compliance with mutually agreed upon standards. The question addressed in this paper is how the shift to process oriented regimes affects the trade-offs between democratic, market, and administrative accountability frames, and what factors determine the dominant accountability frame within the network. Using post-incident document analysis, this paper provides a case study of regulatory oversight of the deepwater oil drilling industry prior to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, to explore how the shift to a more networked risk-based regulatory regime affects the trade-offs and dominant accountability frames within the network. The results of this study indicate that a reliance on market-based accountability mechanisms, along with the lack of a fully implemented process-oriented regulatory regime, led to the largest oil spill in US history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Points: Dead zones: The loss of oxygen from rivers, lakes, seas, and the ocean — Glenn SuterDesperate: An epic battle for clean water and justice in Appalachia — Glenn SuterLife is simple: How Occam's razor set science free and shapes the universe — Glenn SuterOffshore Situation Room: Enhancing resilience to offshore oil disasters in the Gulf of Mexico — Robert L. StevensonImpacts of Fukushima nuclear accident on freshwater environments — Louise StevensonPlastics in the aquatic environment—Part I: Current status and challenges — Temitope O. SogbanmuPlastics in the aquatic environment—Part II: Stakeholders' role against pollution — Temitope O. SogbanmuCumulative impacts: Recommendations for ORD Research: External review draft — Richard Wenning [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates some of the immediate impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 on the environment using graphical means. The exploration focuses on the effects of the oil discharge on wildlife, the chemical pollution in the area following the spill, and salinity levels in the aftermath of the spill. Thousands of animals including birds, turtles, dolphins, and whales were found dead along the beaches and in the Gulf of Mexico in the months after the oil discharge. Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were found to be at dangerous levels along the coast line, making conditions for wildlife highly unfavorable. Salinity measurements, which can be used to determine currents and oil movement, are examined over time as well as geographically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Deepwater Horizon oil discharge in the Gulf of Mexico is considered to be one of the worst environmental disasters to date. The spread of the oil spill and its consequences thereof had various environmental impacts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the American Statistical Association (ASA) have made available a few datasets containing information of the oil spill. In this paper, we analyzed four of these datasets in order to explore the use of applied statistics and machine learning methods to understand the spread of the oil spill. In particular, we analysed the ' gliders, floats, boats' and ' birds' data. The former contains various measurements on sea water such as salinity, temperature, spacial locations, depth and time. The latter contains information on the living conditions of birds, such as living status, oil conditions, locations and time. A varying-coefficients logistic regression was fitted to the birds data. The result indicated that the oil was spreading more quickly along the East-West direction. Analysis via boosted trees and logistic regression showed similar results based on the information provided by the above data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper frames the unfolding impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a process of lifeway disruption, analyzing the degree to which residents of spill affected communities were prevented from undertaking routine behaviors during the disaster. Special attention is paid to the influence of time, natural resource employment, and community sentiment. Drawing on data from the Louisiana Community Oil Spill Survey, the results show that people in the spill impacted region were prevented from engaging in routine behaviors, though this disruption has steadily decreased over time, suggesting a general trend toward recovery. Consistent with the renewable resource community concept, the results also show that those with ties to the fishing industry were more likely to be prevented from undertaking routine behaviors than were nonfishers. Finally, community sentiment is shown to ameliorate routine behavior disruption, thus, promoting resilience. Overall, these results challenge notions of monolithic paths to disaster recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which self-reported resilience was associated with mental health outcomes four years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWHOS). Design/methodology/approach -- Participants included 179 men and women randomly selected from two Northeast Gulf Coast communities as part of a larger, prospective study of behavioral health post oil spill. The majority of the participants were Caucasian (70.8 percent), female (61.5 percent), had a high school education or lower (75.3 percent), and ranged in age from 18 to greater than 60 years old. Participants completed a measure of resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, CD-RISC) 2.5 years post oil spill and measures of overall mood disturbance (Profile of Mood States), depression (Beck Depression Inventory), quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF Scale) 4.5 years post oil spill. Findings -- Based upon linear regression analyses, elevated self-reported resilience significantly predicted lower scores on mood disturbance (b = -0.63, p < 0.01) and depressive symptoms (b = -0.14, p < 0.05) and higher scores on psychological (b = 0.08, p < 0.01) and overall health quality of life (b = 0.08, p < 0.01). Factor analysis of the CD-RISC identified three factors (hardiness, adaptability, optimism). Each factor predicted some, but not all, of the outcomes with optimism being the least predictive of mental health. Originality/value -- Self-reported resilience two years after the DWHOS was a useful predictor of mental health outcome four years post-spill. Early assessment may facilitate the identification of individuals at risk of longer-term mental health problems for public health prevention or mental health intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An economic downturn coincided with the start of the epidemic but the recession was short and moderate, compared with that of 1920/21. Cross-sectional high-frequency data indicate that the epidemic affected the labor supply sharply but briefly with no ensuing spill-overs; most of the recession, brief as it was, was due to the end of the war. I analyze weekly city-level mortality data and economic indicators with time series methods and structural estimation of an economic-epidemiological model: interventions to hinder the contagion reduced mortality at little economic cost, probably because reduced infections mitigated the impact on the labor force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – With the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 and until the well was officially "killed" on September 19, 2010, British Petroleum (BP) did not merely experience a crisis but a five-month marathon of sustained, multi-media engagement. Whereas traditional public relations theory teaches us that an organization should synchronize its messages across channels, there are no models to understand how an organization may strategically coordinate public relations messaging across traditional and social media platforms. This is especially important in the new media environment where social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) are increasingly being used in concert with traditional public relations tools (e.g. press releases) as a part of an organization's stakeholder engagement strategy. This paper seeks to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The present study is a content analysis examining all of BP's press releases (N=126), its Facebook posts (N=1,789), and its Twitter tweets (N=2,730) during the 2010 Gulf crisis (May 20, 2010 through September 20, 2010). Findings – Results demonstrate BP used a synchronized approach with press releases serving as the hub for their multi-media strategy. Originality/value – This paper identifies a synchronized approach for crisis communication in response to organizational transgressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review covers selected 2011 articles on the biological, chemical and physical effects of natural and anthropogenic pollutants on marine and estuarine plants and animals. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field and laboratory measurement activities (concentrations of contaminants, field surveys, toxicity testing and biomarkers). Reviewed papers focus further on pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, wastewater discharges, dredging and disposal, etc. Special emphasis is placed on oil spills and marine debris due in part to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and ongoing cleanup and the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Several topical areas reviewed in the past were dropped this year due to circumstances beyond our control. Further, the focus is on effects, not pollutant fate and transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g. some bioaccumulation papers may be cited in other topical categories). as always, readers should only use this as a guide and must consult the original papers before citing them, including double-checking units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico covered a sufficiently large area to be observed by the European Space Agency Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) on MetOp-A. In this paper, ASCAT data and numerically computed winds from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) are used to map the spatial extent of oil on the ocean surface over the duration of the spill event. Surface oil alters the ocean radar scattering properties, resulting in a difference between the measured backscatter and the backscatter that would be measured if oil were not present. Wind scatterometers infer the near-surface wind speed and direction using the wind geophysical model function (GMF) in conjunction with measured radar backscatter. The oil-altered backscatter error propagates through the wind retrieval process to create a difference in ASCAT-inferred winds and actual winds. Numerically computed vector winds from ECMWF are compared against ASCAT-inferred vector winds. The GMF is applied to ECMWF winds to create a predicted backscatter value to compare against ASCAT-measured backscatter. Large differences in wind or backscatter indicate areas of the ocean surface affected by oil. An objective function is developed to choose an appropriate threshold level to flag the oil-contaminated regions. Data from other sensors corroborate the ASCAT oil extent mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as well as a multitude of other corporate scandals repeatedly draw attention to the importance of good corporate governance. This paper seeks to explain the possible reasons for violations of principles of good corporate governance in corporate practice.Design/methodology/approach – The paper opens with a brief illustration of the Deepwater Horizon case by relating BP's corporate governance rules to its actual decision making in the context of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The insights gained through this analysis are used to identify a basic precondition for the realization of good corporate governance in corporate practice.Findings – This paper finds a link connecting the conflicts in the relationship between short- and long-term interests of corporations and good corporate governance. Occasionally, deficits in the institutional environment foster the pursuit of quick wins through violations of corporate governance rules. To resolve the tension between short- and long-term objectives, good institutions are required that provide incentives for sustainable behavior without endangering corporations' short-term competitiveness. This is the starting point for global governance efforts.Practical implications – On the basis of the analysis in the paper, new implications for business are derived with respect to the relationship between corporate and global governance.Originality/value – The paper derives a theoretical framework that captures the relationship between corporate governance and global governance. This framework identifies an interplay between corporate and global governance that allows corporations to bring good corporate governance to life and thereby to invest in the conditions of their sustainable success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of a massive offshore oil spill, federal and state agencies undertook studies to determine the reduction in outdoor recreational trips along the Gulf of Mexico. This paper describes three of those efforts, which gauged the impact of the oil spill on beach visits, boating, and fishing. Together the studies represented an enormous undertaking, involving nearly half a million aerial photographs, 35,000 onsite counts, and 129,000 interviews over a period of three years. For each activity, samples of time-place combinations were quickly developed and systematic data collection covering hundreds of miles of the most affected areas began within six weeks of the start of the spill and soon expanded to cover more than 1,000 miles of shoreline. The research used a mix of aerial and onsite counts and interview data to estimate the reduction in recreation due to the spill. "Baseline" estimates were developed that represented what the level of recreation would have been in the absence of the spill. These estimates were derived from the observed levels of recreation at a later period when the spill was unlikely to have had continuing effects on recreation, with adjustments for differences in the weather between the baseline period and the period immediately after the spill. Overall, the results suggest that there were about 12.3 million fewer visits to the beach because of the spill. In addition, 215,000 fewer boaters went out in the Gulf and anglers made 144,000 fewer fishing trips. We conclude with a discussion of the lessons learned from the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon was the largest oil spill in human history that occurred during a 12-week period in a region less than 100 km from the coast of Louisiana; however, after more than a decade of post-spill research, few definitives can be said to be known about the long-term impacts on the development and distribution of fishes in and around the region of the disaster. Here, we examine endemic Gulf of Mexico fish species that may have been most impacted by noting their past distributions in the region of the spill and examining data of known collecting events and observations over the last twenty years (ten years prior to the spill, ten years post-spill). Five years post-spill, it was reported that 48 of the Gulf's endemic fish species had not been collected and, with expanded methods, we now report that 29 (of the 78 endemic species) have not been reported in collections since 2010 (five of these are only known from observations post-spill). Although the good news that some previously 'missing' species have been found may be cause to celebrate, the lack of information for many species remains a cause for concern given focused sampling efforts post-spill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]