This paper is based on detailed study [I], over two years, of sixteen small companies based in the northern region of the U.K. The study was concerned with the way in which the companies pursued different lines of product and market development. The research was characterized by experimental 'action inputs' designed to allow observation of the impact of different types of 'software' (information, counselling, training/education) support on the development process.O n the basis of this observation the paper constructs a model of the development process as a basis for evaluation of 'assistance support'. This model, derived from theoretical concepts, nevertheless has been used in practice by companies for the evaluation of their own specific business development and has also been used for training small firm advisers. Observation of the development process enables a characterization of methods of planning used and evaluation of their influence. This indicates 'clearly the absence of formal planning models but underlines the importance of the strategic awareness and personal commitment of the owner manager in pursuing particular objectives. Strategic awareness is defined and its relationships with forms of assistance are explored. Implications are then drawn for those who seek to assist small businesses.

From time to time during the past century reference has been made to the effects of meat diets on various animal species. The earliest papers refer to lions maintained on carcass meat in the collection of the Zoological Society of London. Crisp (1864) observed enlarged thyroids in lion cubs born at the zoo, and Bland Sutton (1888) described skeletal changes referred to as 'rickets' in cubs and young lions. Of an %week-old cub Bland Sutton wrote: 'instead of playing with its companions it preferred to remain quiet. . . ; when attempting to walk it advanced a few paces, then staggered. . . the hindquarters rolled over. . .convulsions sometimes occurred'. This cub died at 1 2 weeks: its skull was found to be softened and much thickened. Bland Sutton noticed that cubs of 6 months or more suffered a less severe form of the disease, often surviving a year or two, the only constant sign being a slow progressive paraplegia. Some cubs, to which he gave supplements of bone dust and cod-liver oil, made a good recovery, and were alive and active without any signs of paralysis 2 years later. In spite of this observation, some 25 years later Marine (1914) wrote: 'In zoological gardens where carnivores are held and bred in captivity and the diet is for the most part beef, goitre, rickets and osteomalacic states are quite common.' Baumann (1896) observed that dogs fed on flesh diets frequently had enlarged thyroids of low iodine content. Watson (1904) found that fowls fed on raw lean meat and water died, in 3-16 months, with terminal paralytic signs; their thyroids were ten times the normal weight, though histologically normal apart from occasional hyperaemia. The parathyroids were also enlarged, but of normal structure. Watson (1906) reported marked thyroid hyperplasia in suckling rats whose mothers had been fed on meat, compared with the normal thyroids of those whose mothers received a mixed diet.Heitzmann (1873) noticed that rickets developed in cats fed on milk, boiled meat, white bread, boiled potatoes and fat. He was interested in lactic acid as a factor in the aetiology of rickets, but the diet he used was certainly deficient in calcium and probably also in vitamin D. The cats showed swelling and distortion of the long-bone epiphyses after 4-5 weeks on the diet; rickets was confirmed microscopically. After 4-5 months the long bones were soft ' . . .elastic, like a fish', and at post-mortem the

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Intelligent digital oilfield (iDOF) operations have gained momentum in the past few years, transformed from being merely a vision to real-world projects with quantifiable value. Challenges such as increased energy demand and diminishing new discoveries, coupled with a lack of specialist-domain expertise and trained personnel to efficiently operate assets, have forced operators to rethink the traditional way of asset management to increase productivity and operational efficiency. The amount of information that asset managers now have to make decisions has increased dramatically in the last few years. More data about a problem can lead to improved decisions, but it also increases the complexity of the decision-making process. Asset teams need tools and technologies to help them quickly and efficiently analyze and understand all this data so they make better, faster decisions. To help asset teams meet these challenges, a new generation of petroleum workflow automation integrates real-time data with asset models, helping team members to collaborate so they can better analyze data and more fully understand asset problems. We're calling this new generation of automated, intelligent workflows "smart flows." This approach is cutting-edge, but also more complex. The complexity is addressed with the use of artificial intelligence technology, such as proxy models and neural networks, coupled with a visualization engine to provide an effective visual data mining tool. The objective of this new generation of petroleum workflow automation is to provide integrated solutions to asset opportunities and guide the operations with instructions based on smart analysis and integrated visualization. This paper provides an overview of a workflow automation environment that is being implemented for a major operator.