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The mapping of photographs to surface geometry is an important procedure for many applications within the geosciences. This paper proposes an interactive framework for feature-based image-to-geometry mapping that works directly on mobile devices, under challenging imaging conditions and with limited available hardware performance. The framework makes use of openly available digital elevation models (DEMs) together with mobile position-and-orientation sensor data. It integrates calculation heuristics for result evaluation and feedback, synthesising available knowledge in current registration literature. The approach is assessed on two image datasets captured on separate occasions. Their interpretations are mapped to one textured lidar surface model and the projection accuracy is qualitatively assessed. The experiments show a significant accuracy improvement in photograph registration results, as well as the faithful mapping of image interpretations on the underlying surface geometry. This semi-automatic, user-guided, interactive approach is superior to comparable fully automatic registration methods.

The construction of subsurface reservoir models is typically aided by the use of outcrops and modern analogue systems. We show how process- based models of depositional systems help develop and substantiate reservoir architectural concepts. Process-based models can simulate assumptions relating to the physical processes influencing sedimentary deposition, accumulation and erosion on the resultant 3D sediment distribution. In this manner, a complete suite of analogue geometries can be produced by implementing different sets of boundary conditions based on hypotheses of depositional controls. Simulations are therefore not driven by a desired/ defined outcome in the depositional patterns, but their application to date in reservoir modelling workflows has been limited because they cannot be conditioned to data such as well logs or seismic information.In this study a reservoir modelling methodology is presented that addresses this problem using a two-step approach: process-based models producing 3D sediment distributions, which are subsequently used to generate training images for multi-point geostatistics.The approach has been tested on a dataset derived from a well-exposed outcrop from central Utah. The Ferron Sandstone Member includes a shallow marine deltaic interval that has been digitally mapped using a high resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) survey in 3D to produce a virtual outcrop (VO). The VO was used as the basis to build a semi-deterministic outcrop reference model against which to compare the results of the combined process/Multiple Point Statistics (MPS) geostatistical realizations. Models were compared statically and dynamically by flow simulation.When used with a dense well dataset, the MPS realizations struggle to account for high levels of non-stationarity inherent in the depositional system that are captured in the process-based training image. When trends are extracted from the outcrop analogue and used to condition the simulation, the geologically realistic geometries and spatial relationships from the process-based models are directly imparted onto the modelling domain, whilst simultaneously allowing the facies models to be conditioned to subsurface data.When sense-checked against preserved analogues, this approach reproduces more realistic architectures than traditional, more stochastic techniques.

Telecommunications management is becoming a top priority of IS executives. Executives concerns range from network establishment and getting connectivity to using IS for competitive advantage. In a rapidly changing environment, these executives search for guidance and insights. Unfortunately they might find limited help from IS research. An extensive literature review of more than 9800 articles covering over eleven years of MIS research showed that academicians have not placed the same emphasis as practitioners on telecommunications management. Furthermore, the majority of telecommunications research focuses on lower level management issues, such as installing a network, rather than using IS for competitive advantage. More research in telecommunications is needed to provide IS executives with insights on how to manage the telecommunications function.

In March 1986 an unknown quantity of paraffin-based oil and brine was spilled in the Sam Houston National Forest, San Jacinto County, Texas. The source of the spill was a ruptured production flow line. A tributary to the East Fork of the San Jacinto River and 12.5 acres of the forest were affected by the spill. Mitigative options were evaluated for speed and environmental acceptability. Two atypical control methods were selected: freshwater flushing in areas principally affected by brine, and controlled burning in oil-saturated areas. These techniques provided rapid control of the contaminants and exerted the least additional stress on the forest. Restoration methods were suggested after the initial mitigation of the spill by burning and flushing.