bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MRP8/14 serum levels as a predictor of response to starting and stopping anti-TNF treatment in juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Authors: Anink Janneke , Van Suijlekom-Smit Lisette W. A. , Otten Marieke H. , Prince Femke H. M. , van Rossum Marion A. J. , Dolman Koert M. , Hoppenreijs Esther P. A. H. , ten Cate Rebecca , Ursu Simona , Wedderburn Lucy R. , Horneff Gerd , Frosch Michael , Vogl Thomas , Gohar Faekah , Foell Dirk , Roth Johannes , Holzinger Dirk
Published: August 2015

Introduction

Approximately 30 % of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients fail to respond to anti-TNF treatment. When clinical remission is induced, some patients relapse after treatment has been stopped. We tested the predictive value of MRP8/14 serum levels to identify responders to treatment and relapse after discontinuation of therapy.

Methods

Samples from 88 non-systemic JIA patients who started and 26 patients who discontinued TNF-blockers were analyzed. MRP8/14 serum levels were measured by in-house MRP8/14 ELISA and by Bühlmann Calprotectin ELISA at start of anti-TNF treatment, within 6 months after start and at discontinuation of etanercept in clinical remission. Patients were categorized into responders (ACRpedi ≥ 50 and/or inactive disease) and non-responders (ACRpedi < 50) within six months after start, response was evaluated by change in JADAS-10. Disease activity was assessed within six months after discontinuation.

Results

Baseline MRP8/14 levels were higher in responders (median MRP8/14 of 1466 ng/ml (IQR 1045–3170)) compared to non-responders (median MRP8/14 of 812 (IQR 570–1178), p < 0.001). Levels decreased after start of treatment only in responders (p < 0.001). Change in JADAS-10 was correlated with baseline MRP8/14 levels (Spearman’s rho 0.361, p = 0.001). Patients who flared within 6 months after treatment discontinuation had higher MRP8/14 levels (p = 0.031, median 1025 ng/ml (IQR 588–1288)) compared to patients with stable remission (505 ng/ml (IQR 346–778)). Results were confirmed by Bühlmann ELISA with high reproducibility but different overall levels.

Conclusion

High levels of baseline MRP8/14 are associated with good response to anti-TNF treatment, whereas elevated MRP8/14 levels at discontinuation of etanercept are associated with higher chance to flare.
New multipled common fixed point theorems in Menger PM-spaces
Authors: Mu Xiaohuan , Zhu Chuanxi , Wu Zhaoqi
Published: August 2015

In this work, we introduce a new φ-contractive mapping; following that, we obtain some multipled common fixed point theorems for a pair of mappings $T: \underbrace{X \times X \times\cdots\times X}_{m\text{-times}}\rightarrow X$ and $A: X\rightarrow X$
A
:
X
→
X
. The main results of this paper are generalization of the main results of Kutbi et al. (Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2015(1):32, 2015). As an illustration, we give an example to demonstrate the validity of the obtained results.
A Chinese alligator in heliox: formant frequencies in a crocodilian
Authors: Reber Stephan A. , Nishimura Takeshi , Janisch Judith , Robertson Mark , Fitch W. Tecumseh
Published: August 2015

Crocodilians are among the most vocal non-avian reptiles. Adults of both sexes produce loud vocalizations known as ‘bellows’ year round, with the highest rate during the mating season. Although the specific function of these vocalizations remains unclear, they may advertise the caller's body size, because relative size differences strongly affect courtship and territorial behaviour in crocodilians. In mammals and birds, a common mechanism for producing honest acoustic signals of body size is via formant frequencies (vocal tract resonances). To our knowledge, formants have to date never been documented in any non-avian reptile, and formants do not seem to play a role in the vocalizations of anurans. We tested for formants in crocodilian vocalizations by using playbacks to induce a female Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis) to bellow in an airtight chamber. During vocalizations, the animal inhaled either normal air or a helium/oxygen mixture (heliox) in which the velocity of sound is increased. Although heliox allows normal respiration, it alters the formant distribution of the sound spectrum. An acoustic analysis of the calls showed that the source signal components remained constant under both conditions, but an upward shift of high-energy frequency bands was observed in heliox. We conclude that these frequency bands represent formants. We suggest that crocodilian vocalizations could thus provide an acoustic indication of body size via formants. Because birds and crocodilians share a common ancestor with all dinosaurs, a better understanding of their vocal production systems may also provide insight into the communication of extinct Archosaurians.
setsApp for Cytoscape: Set operations for Cytoscape Nodes and Edges
Authors: Morris John H. , Lotia Samad , Wu Allan , Doncheva Nadezhda T. , Albrecht Mario , Pico Alexander R. , Ferrin Thomas E
Published: August 2015

setsApp (http://apps.cytoscape.org/apps/setsapp) is a relatively simple Cytoscape 3 app for users to handle groups of nodes and/or edges. It supports several important biological workflows and enables various set operations. setsApp provides basic tools to create sets of nodes or edges, import or export sets, and perform standard set operations (union, difference, intersection) on those sets. Automatic set partitioning and layout functions are also provided. The sets functionality is also exposed to users and app developers in the form of a set of commands that can be used for scripting purposes or integrated in other Cytoscape apps.
NetMatchStar: an enhanced Cytoscape network querying app
Authors: Rinnone Fabio , Micale Giovanni , Bonnici Vincenzo , Bader Gary D. , Shasha Dennis , Ferro Alfredo , Pulvirenti Alfredo , Giugno Rosalba
Published: August 2015

We present NetMatchStar, a Cytoscape app to find all the occurrences of a query graph in a network and check for its significance as a motif with respect to seven different random models. The query can be uploaded or built from scratch using Cytoscape facilities. The app significantly enhances the previous NetMatch in style, performance and functionality. Notably NetMatchStar allows queries with wildcards.
CyREST: Turbocharging Cytoscape Access for External Tools via a RESTful API
Authors: Ono Keiichiro , Muetze Tanja , Kolishovski Georgi , Shannon Paul , Demchak Barry
Published: August 2015

As bioinformatic workflows become increasingly complex and involve multiple specialized tools, so does the difficulty of reliably reproducing those workflows. Cytoscape is a critical workflow component for executing network visualization, analysis, and publishing tasks, but it can be operated only manually via a point-and-click user interface. Consequently, Cytoscape-oriented tasks are laborious and often error prone, especially with multistep protocols involving many networks.

In this paper, we present the new cyREST Cytoscape app and accompanying harmonization libraries. Together, they improve workflow reproducibility and researcher productivity by enabling popular languages (e.g., Python and R, JavaScript, and C#) and tools (e.g., IPython/Jupyter Notebook and RStudio) to directly define and query networks, and perform network analysis, layouts and renderings. We describe cyREST’s API and overall construction, and present Python- and R-based examples that illustrate how Cytoscape can be integrated into large scale data analysis pipelines.

cyREST is available in the Cytoscape app store (http://apps.cytoscape.org) where it has been downloaded over 1900 times since its release in late 2014.
CyAnimator: Simple Animations of Cytoscape Networks
Authors: Morris John H. , Vijay Dhameliya , Federowicz Steven , Pico Alexander R. , Ferrin Thomas E.
Published: August 2015

CyAnimator (http://apps.cytoscape.org/apps/cyanimator) is a Cytoscape app that provides a tool for simple animations of Cytoscape networks. The tool allows you to take a series of snapshots (CyAnimator calls them frames) of Cytoscape networks. For example, the first frame might be of a network shown from a ”zoomed out” viewpoint and the second frame might focus on a specific group of nodes. Once these two frames are captured by the tool, it can animate between them by interpolating the changes in location, zoom, node color, node size, edge thickness, presence or absence of annotations, etc. The animations may be saved as a series of individual frames, animated GIFs, MP4 movies, or H.264/MOV

movies. CyAnimator is available from within the Cytoscape App Manager or from the Cytoscape app store.
How to use current practice, risk analysis and standards to define hospital-wide policies on the safe use of infusion technology
Authors: Timmerman Annemoon M. , Oliveira-Martens Suzanne M. , Snijder Roland A. , Nieman Anders K. , Egberts Toine C.
Published: August 2015

Infusion therapy is widely used in hospitals. It is well known that medication errors constitute one of the highest risks to patient safety, leading to numerous adverse events concerning incorrect application of infusion technology. Both clinical practice and
Flow variability and its physical causes in infusion technology: a systematic review of in vitro measurement and modeling studies
Authors: Snijder Roland A. , Konings Maurits K. , Lucas Peter , Egberts Toine C. , Timmerman Annemoon D.
Published: August 2015

Infusion therapy is medically and technically challenging and frequently associated with medical errors. When administering pharmaceuticals by means of infusion, dosing errors can occur due to flow rate variability. These dosing errors may lead to adverse effects. We aimed to systematically review the available biomedical literature for
Outage Analysis of Cooperative Communication Network with Hardware Impairments
Authors: Guo Kefeng , Chen Jin , Huang Yuzhen
Published: August 2015

The hardware impairments of physical transceivers that create distortions degrade the performance of communication. In this paper, we investigate the impact of hardware impairments on the outage performance of dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) cooperative networks with partial relay selection. Specifically, the approximated closed-form and asymptotic expressions for the outage probability of dual-hop AF relaying networks with hardware impairments are derived over Rayleigh fading channel, which provides a fast and efficient means to evaluate the impact of hardware impairments on the system performance. In addition, simulation results and intuitive discussions are provided to show the correctness of the analytical results. The finding of this paper suggests that the outage error floor exists when the hardware impairment exists.
A Digital SIW Phase Shifter Implemented by Switching Transverse Slots via PIN Diodes
Authors: Muneer Badar , Qi Zhu , Xu Shanjia
Published: August 2015

A new idea of Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) based digital phase shifter by controlling the transverse slots etched over the top metallic surface of SIW is proposed. A PIN diode is mounted on each transverse slot. Slots are made “enabled” or “disabled” by switching the state of PIN diode. A detailed explanation and demonstration is presented in this paper. As a result, a digital four bit phase shifter can be realized. Furthermore, equivalent circuit model for proposed device has also been discussed. Insertion loss is as low as 1.5 dB for a wide bandwidth of 31% (6.75–9.25 GHz), with a phase imbalance of ±4° and amplitude imbalance of ±0.5 dB. Simulation results agree well with the measured results.
Purification of Niobium by Electron Beam Melting
Authors: Sankar M. , Mirji K.V. , Prasad V.V. Satya , Baligidad R.G. , Gokhale A.A.
Published: August 2015

Pure niobium metal, produced by alumino-thermic reduction of niobium oxide, contains various impurities which need to be reduced to acceptable levels to obtain aerospace grade purity. In the present work, an attempt has been made to refine niobium metals by electron beam drip melting technique to achieve purity confirming to the ASTM standard. Input power to the electron gun and melt rate were varied to observe their combined effect on extend of refining and loss of niobium. Electron beam (EB) melting is shown to reduce alkali metals, trace elements and interstitial impurities well below the specified limits. The reduction in the impurities during EB melting is attributed to evaporation and degassing due to the combined effect of high vacuum and high melt surface temperature. The % removal of interstitial impurities is essentially a function of melt rate and input power. As the melt rate decreases or input power increases, the impurity levels in the solidified niobium ingot decrease. The EB refining process is also accompanied by considerable amount of niobium loss, which is attributed to evaporation of pure niobium and niobium sub-oxide. Like other impurities, Nb loss increases with decreasing melt rate or increase in input power.
Functionalization strategies and dendronization of iron oxide nanoparticles
Authors: Walter Aurelie , Garofalo Antonio , Parat Audrey , Martinez Herve , Felder-Flesch Delphine , Begin-Colin Sylvie
Published: August 2015

The explosive growth of nanotechnology has brought challenging innovations in the synthesis of multifunctional nano-objects able to revolutionize the field of diagnosis and therapy in medicine. Furthermore, one important input of today’s nanotechnology in biology is that their design will also allow real progress to achieve temporal and spatial site local therapy and imaging. Such a breakthrough is made possible by the development of multifunctional biocompatible nanosystems resulting from cutting-edge researches based on pluridisciplinary approaches. Among the challenges are the design of the organic coating and its grafting at the surface of NPs while preserving the properties of both NPs and molecules. The molecules should ensure the colloidal stability of NPs in physiological media, their biocompatibility and biodistribution, and may bear functions to couple bioactive groups. This paper aims at providing challenges in functionalization of iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications.
Design and Experimentation of Simulated Combustor Model for Aircraft Afterburner Applications
Authors: Kirubhakaran K. , Parammasivam K. M.
Published: August 2015

An experimental study of the recirculation zone and mixing lengths for bluff-body stabilized flames is conducted at non-reactive conditions. This paper reports the prediction of recirculation zone length from dynamic pressure measurements. The auxiliary turbulence created from the wall of the combustor is also studied and maintained to levels as low as 5%. The experiments are conducted by varying the velocity from 5 m/s to 8 m/s for V-Gutters bluff-body with induced angles of 60, 90 and 120
A Data Assemblage
Authors: Nordstrom Susan Naomi
Published: August 2015

In this article I describe data from my study about 11 family history genealogists and the objects they use to construct their ancestors as a Deleuzoguattarian assemblage, an entity that somehow functions together. In my study, I assembled object-interview data (Nordstrom 2013b), St. Pierre's (1997) dream and response data, weather data, spectral data (Nordstrom, 2013a), books written by participants, books recommended to me by participants, popular media about genealogy, my genealogy work, theories, and perhaps data—deconstructive data that problematize phenomenological certainty. Instead of thinking these data in discrete categories, the data functioned as lines that continuously moved and shifted together, thereby rendering the categories indistinguishable. The data assemblage is a dynamic onto-epistemological entity in which the constitutive lines open up new ideas of thinking about data in a study and what that data can do and become.
The Deleterious Personal and Societal Effects of the “Audit Culture” and a Domesticated Academy
Authors: Spooner Marc
Published: August 2015

The following article is a critical institutional analysis of the academy; its purpose is to turn our critical gaze inward to openly examine higher education's tenure, promotion, and peer-review practices. These practices, once meant to ensure quality and rigour, now instead operate as sites of subjugation, perverted by the audit culture so pervasive at my institution and, I would suggest, many others as well. The paper aims to interrogate a system where indentured academicians are either forced into academic servitude by the heavy debt loads they carry or are consciously or unconsciously players in the audit culture game. The subsequent pages will provide a brief overview of the audit culture, its effects, a critique, and, with the intent to move beyond critique, propose alternatives to be added to peer-reviewed journal articles as measures by which to credibly evaluate our scholarly work.
International Federation for Public History Plenary Address
Authors: de Groot Jerome
Published: August 2015

This article argues for the importance of genealogy and family history to contemporary understanding and experience of the past. Through looking at various ways that genealogy might be undertaken and imagined, the article argues that this important area needs to be further conceptualized and studied by public historians. The article looks at the implications inherent in the broad shift to global online genealogy and family history. The argument is interrogative and assertive in order to provoke debate amongst public historians about how we might investigate, theorize, and interrogate genealogy and family history further in the future.
Collecting Folk Histories
Authors: Walker William S.
Published: August 2015

This article explores the shared intellectual tradition in folklore, public history, and oral history of involving students in community-based field research. This case study of the collaborative research New York State folklorist Harold W. Thompson and his students undertook in the 1930s contributes to ongoing efforts to enrich our understanding of public history’s genealogy. It also demonstrates that a counter-tradition to the “lone genius” model of humanities research emerged through faculty-student community-based research projects in history and folklore.
MANAGEMENT OF ENDOCRINE DISEASE: Diabetes and osteoporosis: cause for concern?
Authors: Starup-Linde Jakob , Vestergaard Peter
Published: August 2015

Diabetes and osteoporosis are both frequent conditions, and they may thus occur simultaneously by chance. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that hyperglycemia may impair bone matrix formation and biochemical competence. Decreased biomechanical competence may be present even in a setting of increased bone mineral density, as assessed by traditional dual energy X-ray absorptiometry or normal structural parameters by quantitative computed tomography. Also, the absence of endogenous insulin secretion in type 1 diabetes (T1D) and insulin resistance or, in some cases, frank hyperinsulinemia in T2D may play a role.
Stability criteria and critical runway conditions of propylene glycol manufacture in a continuous stirred tank reactor
Authors: Gómez Miguel Angel
Published: August 2015

Here, a new method for the analysis of the steady state and the safety operational conditions of the hydrolysis of propylene oxide with excess of water, in a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR), was developed. For industrial operational typical values, at first, the generated and removed heat balances were examined. Next, the effect of coolant fluid temperature in the critical ignition and extinction temperatures (TCI and TCE, respectively) was analyzed. The influence of the heat exchange parameter (hS) on coolant and critical temperatures was also studied. Finally, the steady state operation areas were defined. The existence of multiple stable states was recognized when the heat exchange parameter was in the range 6.636 < hS kJ/(min.K) < 11.125. Unstable operation area was located between the TCI and TCE values, restricting the reactor operation area to the low stable temperatures.
O que poderia significar o "Grande Tempo"?
Authors: Bubnova Tatiana
Published: August 2015

RESUMOO Grande Tempo está presente na concepção de cultura e literatura de Bakhtin e na sua antropologia filosófica. Tomado como uma metáfora, o conceito poderia ser compreendido por meio de uma extensa gama de significados: tradição, futuro virtual, história literária e intelectual, memória em seu sentido mais amplo, um nível ontológico de existência, transcendência, etc. O Grande Tempo parece estar relacionado à ideia central de Bakhtin a respeito da responsabilidade pessoal, radicada na situação concreta do ato (postupok). Desse ponto de vista, o conceito implica a presença de um "terceiro" na comunicação ou no inconcluso diálogo da existência. A posição desse "terceiro" no diálogo (um conceito polissêmico em si mesmo: pessoas, o leitor, o futuro, Deus) ocorre sempre a partir de um distanciamento ou exotopia, que permite um julgamento de valor em relação ao ato, e que vai além de sua situação concreta e social. De certa forma, o "terceiro" é uma postura por meio da qual é possível ponderar o ato como transcendência. Minha experiência de vida, como intelectual e professor de Literatura Hispânica e Pensamento Latinoamericano, tem testemunhado a relevância da concepção antropológica bakhtiniana.
GESTIÓN CURRICULAR BASE DE CALIDAD ACADÉMICA
Authors: Soler López María Lucero , Martínez B. Nancy Dalida
Published: August 2015

El docente de Educación Superior está llamado a desempeñarse con altos niveles académicos, de proyección social e investigación; por tanto es necesario que se desarrollen procesos inter y extra Institucionales para propiciar el análisis de temáticas de actualización y desarrollo de competencias pedagógicas y disciplinares desde su rol, dado que la gestión del Currículo es la base para un proceso de aprendizaje – enseñanza que responda a los requerimientos de la Educación Superior, los objetivos institucionales y las políticas de calidad, de allí que el rol docente en el diseño, dosificación, despliegue y gestión curricular es pieza clave en una organización curricular Institucional, que permita el desarrollo y actualización desde el modelo pedagógico para implementar estrategias didácticas y metodologías que se tornen en momentos de aprendizaje potenciadores de desarrollo cognitivo, capacidad de solución de problemas, habilidades, saberes, procesos de pensamiento que permitan al estudiante y al docente una interacción directa en lo disciplinar e interdisciplinar, flexibilizando los esquemas rígidos tradicionales para pasar a desarrollos globalizadores orientados a la transdisciplinariedad del conocimiento. Para el logro de este propósito se desarrolló un proceso de reflexión interactuando con docentes de diferentes programas y disciplinas propiciando diálogo de saberes y actualización de terminología propia del modelo pedagógico y el diseño curricular basado en competencias, escuchar inquietudes y propiciar espacios de discusión, promoviendo un proceso de permanente actualización, capacitación y análisis del propio quehacer y experiencia, con miras a cualificar su rol potenciador de calidad en los procesos académicos.
SOCIEDAD DE LA INFORMACIÓN, GOBERNABILIDAD DE LAS TECNOLOGÍAS Y SU RELACIÓN CON LAS ORGANIZACIONES
Authors: Garzón Ramos Alfredo Orlando , Castiblanco Vargas William , Palacios Rozo Jairo Jamith
Published: August 2015

Tal como sucedió en la transición hacia la Sociedad Industrial, las actuales organizaciones se encuentran ante una situación de cambio constante y generalizado. Antes se produjeron fenómenos de este tipo cuando surgieron adelantos tecnológicos como la imprenta, los trenes, el cable, el telégrafo, luego los computadores e Internet, entre otros. Pero hoy se asiste a una diferencia importante: la sociedad está más informada. Este artículo de reflexión hace una descripción de las etapas del tránsito de las organizaciones hacia la sociedad de la información y su convergencia con las nuevas tecnologías, en búsqueda del orden y dominio de la intercomunicación de la informática. Interrelación de las tecnologías de la información-multimedia, redes de comunicaciones, sistemas operativos, bases de datos, computación en la nube, productos y servicios—con su administración y regulación por los sistemas de información establecidos por las compañías para el logro de sus objetivos. Todo ello enmarcado en la gobernabilidad de las tecnologías de la información, como parte integral del control corporativo.
USO DE MAQUETAS DEL CUERPO HUMANO PARA FACILITAR EL APRENDIZAJE EN EL CURSO DE ANATOMÍA Y FISIOLOGÍA HUMANA EN EDP UNIVERSITY
Authors: Sánchez Román Anadeliz
Published: August 2015

Multiple intelligences are nine abilities in the human beings which allow them to see the world differently. The investigation is focused in discovering techniques that will help facilitate the process of learning and strengthen the intelligences of each individual. A research was conducted to analyze such effect in scale models of human systems. Besides, it was also presented to a group of students taking the course: Anatomy and Human Physiology. Taking into account that a scale model is a physical reproduction in scale of two or three dimensions; something real or fictitious in a reduced size. Concept test were developed on two systems in the human body, they consisted of three skills: memory, identification and analysis. One test was placed to students before making the scale model of the human body and the other one after, while the other test was placed before and after having discussed such human systems without using scale models.
The results of the research showed that the students demonstrate better understanding of the human systems when they were taught using scales of the human body, versus those taught by conferences only. When scales were used there was an increase of skills of 23% in memory, 46% in identification and a 38% in analysis. On the other hand students that did not have scale models only increased 17% in memory, 14% in identification and 9% in analysis. Therefore I conclude that there is a correlation between the techniques of evaluation and the process of learning in students. Finally, the use of scale models to teach was effective.
CÓMO IMPLEMENTAR UN DISEÑO CURRICULAR BASADO EN COMPETENCIAS
Authors: Martínez Barragán Nancy Dalida
Published: August 2015

El diseño curricular basado en competencias es una forma de organización académica que acerca la educación superior a las necesidades del entorno global. Los ambientes laborales, profesionales y sociales son cada vez más complejos, por lo cual requieren personas más competentes ante los nuevos paradigmas de la sociedad de la información, con economías basadas en gestión y construcción del conocimiento. El desarrollo de competencias genéricas — emprendimiento, gestión de recursos, trabajo en equipo, gestión de información, liderazgo, responsabilidad ambiental y manejo de la segunda lengua — implica un amplio dominio de desempeño. Tales competencias se acompañan de las específicas, orientadas al campo laboral, en un contexto educativo, investigador y propositivo que se planifica desde el currículo. La investigación realizada permitió la proyección del currículo con un marco especifico de competencias, las cuales, según Tuning, para América Latina, y el Ministerio de Educación Nacional, para Colombia, se clasifican en Instrumentales, Interpersonales y Sistémicas, a la vez que se adoptan como transversalidades que posibilitan avanzar desde el conocimiento universal al particular, creando nuevas formas, objetos de conocimiento y miradas complejas de la realidad.
Single-Session Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations Training in High-Anxious Adolescents
Authors: Fu Xiaoxue , Du Yasong , Au Shun , Lau Jennifer Y. F.
Published: August 2015

Anxiety disorders in youths are globally prevalent and carry impairing, long-lasting effects. Interpreting ambiguous cues negatively may be causally related to adolescent anxiety. Extending cognitive bias modification of interpretations (CBM-I) training, which counters anxiety by encouraging positive interpretations, to anxious adolescents could inform the design of new interventions. The study investigates whether single-session CBM-I training (a) altered interpretation biases and negative mood in adolescents selected for high anxiety and (b) whether these training-associated changes were larger than those reported in low-anxious adolescents. Seventy-seven Chinese adolescents received either positive or control training. Positive training encouraged endorsement of positive interpretations of ambiguous scenarios while on control training trials, half of the scenarios were resolved positively and half negatively. A single session of CBM-I altered interpretation biases across all individuals, F(1, 52) = 10.63, p < .01, η2 = .17. However, no training effects on mood measures emerged (all ps > .05). Training effects were not consistently moderated by baseline trait anxiety. Multisession CBM-I may be needed for mood changes to occur.
Feasibility Study on Flue Gas Assisted SAGD in Offshore Heavy Oil Reservoirs
Authors: Wu Yongbin , Sun Yongtao , Sun Yubao , Liu Xueqi , Xing Dongmei
Published: August 2015

Taking an offshore deep extra heavy oil reservoir from Bohai Bay as an example, the approach to determine gas-liquid phase equilibrium constants of multi-agent-heavy oil system is established, the nonlinear interpolation method of fluid viscosity considering the diffusion of gas molecules is proposed, and the numerical simulation model of typical FG-SAGD wellpair characterizing the FG-phase behavior is established. based on the actual operation parameters, the performance of pure-steam SAGD and FG-SAGD is compared, which indicates high heat utilization efficiency and oil/steam ratio by FG-SAGD, and 3 cycles of CSS followed by FG-SAGD is optimized. Further more, the key geological parameters of structure dip angle, distance from edge aquifer, distance from bottom aquifer, buried depth, distance from faults and effective thickness are integrally and quantitatively simulated and analyzed, upon which the screening criteria for FG-SAGD deployment is formed, which has significant guidance for the effective development of hardly recoverable deposits in deep extra-super heavy oil reservoirs.
A Novel Technique for Enhanced Oil Recovery: In-Situ CO2-Emulsion Generation
Authors: AlOtaibi Fawaz M. , Zhou Xianmin , Kokal Sunil L. , Senthilmurugan Balasubramanian , Alhashboul Almohannad A. , AlAbdulwahab Amin M.
Published: August 2015

Carbon dioxide miscible flooding is a proven EOR method. It faces two significant challenges: gravity override and early CO2 break through. Many researchers have investigated different methods to control CO2 mobility and improve its sweep efficiency. This paper, for the first time, investigates the use of a new and unique CO2-foam (emulsion) to control CO2 mobility and also as a conformance control technique in heterogeneous reservoirs with high permeability contrast within carbonate rocks.

The new CO2-emulsion system consists of 50-70 vol% supercritical CO2, 50-30 vol% of water-based polysaccharide linear polymer and a foaming agent (surfactant). Several experiments were conducted using HPHT visual cell to assess the CO2-emulsion stability as a function of temperature, pressure and time. In addition, the rheological properties of the CO2-emulsions were investigated at different shear rates, different pressures and mixing ratios, and at an operating temperature of 220°F. Special dual core flooding experiments were conducted using live oil at reservoir conditions to investigate the effectiveness of CO2-emulsion system in enhancing oil recovery. Several experiments were conducted to explore the effect of injection rate, injection mode and slug volume on incremental oil recovery. These experiments were performed using dual core holders with different permeable carbonate composite stacks, and permeability contrasts up to 35.

Results based on this study have shown that the CO2-emulsion system is stable at 210°F for extended periods of time without any emulsion breakage or phase separation. The effective viscosity of CO2 was increased by 3-4 orders of magnitude and approached 100 cP at reservoir conditions. Results also show the emulsion's ability to severely reduce permeability of the higher permeable cores resulting in significant incremental oil recovery from the lower permeable cores. This new and unique emulsion system has the ability to be created in-situ to provide better mobility control of the injected CO2. Additionally, this paper provides optimal design parameters of the new emulsion system to behave as a conformance control agent, and also to enhance the recovery of oil following water and CO2 floods.
Comprehensive Effects on the Propagation of Surfactant and Polymer Flow in Carbonate Porous Media
Authors: Cao Dongqing , Wang Jinxun , Han Ming , Alshehri Amar J.
Published: August 2015

Chemical propagation in an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process involves various fluid-rock interactions, such as adsorption, dispersion, inaccessible pore volume (IPV), viscous fingering and chromatographic separation. In this paper, comprehensive effects on the propagation of surfactant and polymer in carbonate porous media were investigated experimentally and analytically in order to study the mechanism and quantify the contribution of each effect.

Single phase flow tests of surfactant, polymer and surfactant-polymer mixture were conducted on reservoir carbonate core plugs at reservoir conditions (high temperature and high salinity). A convection-dispersion model was used to interpret the effluent chemical concentration profiles. The effect of different factors on chemical propagation was taken into account in the model. The dynamic adsorptions of two amphoteric surfactants at 2,000 mg/L concentration were 0.21 and 0.17 mg/g-rock, respectively. The dynamic adsorptions of a sulfonated polymer at 2,000 and 5,000 mg/L were 0.11 and 0.17 mg/g-rock, respectively. Surfactant and polymer were co-injected to evaluate their competitive adsorption, and the surfactant adsorption was reduced by about 50%. The dispersion coefficient of the chemicals in carbonate cores was in the magnitude of 10–3 cm2/s. Both dispersion and adsorption caused chemical concentration reduction during the propagation in porous media. IPV and viscous fingering occurred during polymer injection or the subsequente water injection. IPV affected the calculation of adsorption/desorption process of polymer injection and IPV value cannot be solely determined by the model simulation. Chromatographic separation took place in the surfactant/polymer co-injection scheme, which was predicted by the model as well. The model results were compared with the chemical flood simulator of UTCHEM.
Practice of the Early Stage Polymer Flooding on LD Offshore Oilfield in Bohai Bay of China
Authors: Kuiqian Ma , Yanlai Li , Lilei Wang , Xiaolin Zhu
Published: August 2015

Literature survey shows that polymer flooding was generally conducted during high water-cut stage (WCT>80%-90%). Even the first China Offshore polymer flooding project was carried out in SZ when water cut was 60%. By then, conduction of polymer flooding in early phase (WCT<10%) was just discussed in theory. For offshore oilfield, the treatment of water could be costly. Because polymer improves mobility ratio of replacement fluid over oil and sweep efficiency, less water is injected and less water is produced. So we did enormous research about the polymer flooding on early stage by theoretical analysis, series of experiments and chemical flooding simulation. Based on these researches, we carried out the first field test of polymer flooding on early stage in LD. Single well polymer injection test was started in Mar 2006 when the water cut in the pattern was lower than 10%. After the trial, there were other 5 water injectors being converted to polymer injectors from 2007 to 2009. The polymer flooding controlled reserve was about 25,250,000 m3. For the early stage polymer flooding, the characteristics of the responses on producers were different from the case in which polymer flooding was conducted during high water cut stage. The water producing of the producers continued to rise up after polymer flooding, but the simulation research showed that the water cut increasing rate was lower than the rate during merely water flooding. In addition, we observed the drop-down on the water cut in some wells, such as A11, A12, A13, A15, etc. For the well A11, the highest water cut reduction reached 41% after the injectors (A5/A10) profiles controlled, and net incremental oil for A11 even reached 154,510 m3. By Dec 2014, the total incremental oil by polymer flooding was about 754,650 m3, and the stage oil recovery efficiency was enhanced by 3.0%. The polymer flooding is still effective, and we will get more oil from the polymer flooding.
Potential Evaluation of Ion Tuning Waterflooding for a Tight Oil Reservoir in Jiyuan OilField: Experiments and Reservoir Simulation Results
Authors: Xie Quan , Ma Desheng , Wu Jiazhong , Liu Qingjie , Jia Ninghong , Luo Manli
Published: August 2015

Low salinity waterflood (LSF) is a promising improved oil recovery (IOR) technology. Although, it has been demonstrated that LSF is an efficient IOR method for many sandstone reservoirs, the potential of LSF in tight oil reservoir is not well-established. This paper presents a systematic evaluation of the potential of low salinity waterfloding for the tight reservoirs in Jiyuan Oilfield, China. This investigation pushes the application envelope of low salinity waterflooding towards the reservoir with low permeability (lower than 0.5mD), formation salinity of up to 45,180ppm, reservoir temperature of 70°C and in-situ oil viscosity of 0.6 cp.

Our laboratory evaluation included zeta potential tests for interface of oil/brine and brine/rock, thermodynamic analysis through disjoining pressure calculation, corefloods using representative core samples.

Thermodynamic analysis showed that decreasing divalent cations and salinity makes the electrical charges at both oil/brine and brine/rock interfaces become strongly negative, which enhanced the repulsive forces between oil and rock due to the double electric layer expansion. As a result, the rock turns more water-wet. Secondary corefloods were conducted with two different brines, which include shallow aquifer water and ion tuning water with consideration of field application. Coreflooding Experimental results were history matched to obtain the relative permeability curves. Results showed that compared to shallow aquifer water, low-salinity water exhibited a higher oil relative permeability and lower water relative permeability at the same water saturation and a lower residual oil saturation to water.

Laboratory results were input into a reservoir simulator to investigate the potential of low-salinity water flood in Jiyuan oilfield. It showed that suitably formulated ion tuning water (ITW) has the potential to accelerate oil production and improve displacement efficiency, thus resulting in a higher recovery factor with only a fraction of pore volume of low-salinity water injected.

To conclude, this paper demonstrates that ITWF has a good potential as an IOR/EOR technology in tight reservoirs, the key points are described as follows. Firstly, the mechanism of ITWF was interpreted by thermodynamics of wettability. Secondly, laboratory experiments have shown that ITWF could improve oil recovery by accelerating the oil production rate and decrease the residual oil production. Thirdly, the potential of ITWF in a tight oil reservoir in Jiyuan oilfield is investigated using a mechanistic model based on input data of laboratory experiments.
Effects of Permeability, Heterogeneity and Gravity on Supercritical CO2 Displacing Gas Under Reservoir Conditions
Authors: Liu Keyu , Yu Zhichao , Saeedi Ali , Esteban Lionel
Published: August 2015

Three coreflooding experiments were conducted using sandstone core samples from the Gippsland Basin with contrasting poroperm and heterogeneities. The core samples were initially saturated with formation water and then displaced using N2. Supercritical CO2 was subsequently injected to displace N2 and formation water. The coreflooding experiments were carried out at a temperature of 50 °C, a confining pressure of 30 MPa and an injection and production pressure of 21 MPa. Constant injection rate of 2 cc/min was used for both the N2 and scCO2 injection. The experiments were monitored with a fourth generation medical X-ray CT scanner. A number of phenomena were observed during the coreflooding experiments: Both the N2 and scCO2 displacement processes under reservoir conditions were captured in all samples at sub-mm resolution.At a 2 cc/min injection rate, gravity segregation effect for scCO2 displacing N2 was notably observed in the porous and permeable (16%, >250 mD) core, but not in the tight and low permeable (10%, <2 mD) core, nor in the porous but less permeable (18%, 60 mD) core.The relative porous and permeable core show strong gravity segregation in the core plug during both N2 displacing formation water and scCO2 displacing N2.For the less permeable core, the pore network appears to be “compartmentalised” as in the case of the strongly cross bedded sandstone. The heterogeneity effect becomes dominant over the gravity effect.
Alkyl Ether Carboxylate Surfactants for Chemically Enhanced Oil Recovery in Harsh Field Conditions
Authors: Jürgenson G. Alvarez , Bittner C.. , Kurkal-Siebert V.. , Oetter G.. , Tinsley J..
Published: August 2015

Chemically enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) technologies are among the most attractive EOR methods because of the significant amount of incremental oil could be produced by their use. A challenge is that often the chemicals cannot be applied in demanding reservoirs with high salinities and high temperatures due to their limited stability.

Our objective is to introduce a novel alkyl ether carboxylate (AEC) based surfactant which exhibits both an outstanding tolerance against high temperatures and high salt concentrations, while delivering high interfacial activity.

The solubility and the interfacial properties of the surfactant alone as well as its formulations are investigated under harsh conditions; the performance is determined by characterizing the interfacial properties through spinning drop measurements and phase behavior studies. Chemical stability of the surfactant is also probed by storing a solution at high temperatures; conservation of the chemical structure is followed by analytical testing with HPLC.

The chemical stability of the surfactant has been investigated and demonstrated. Ultra low interfacial tensions between crude oil and saline water (up to 140,000 ppm total dissolved salt including 5,000 ppm hardness ions) were observed at surfactant concentrations of about 2,000 ppm at temperatures of 60°C and far above.

A novel alkyl ether carboxylate (AEC) with outstanding performance under harsh conditions, e.g. high salinity, is presented as an alternative for unlocking the possibility of chemical EOR for challenging reservoirs.
Experiments on Three-Phase Relative Permeability in CO2 Flooding for Low Permeability Reservoirs
Authors: Wang Rui , Lv Chengyuan , Zhao Shuxia , Lun Zengmin , Wang Haitao , Cui Maolei
Published: August 2015

The three phase relative permeability is one of the most crucial parameters in reservoir engineering. Generally, experimental oil samples used in three phase flow are pure hydrocarbon samples instead of crude oil. Experiments are mostly carried out at low pressure with no chance of miscibility between the gas and oil phases. Because three phase lab data obtained by the steady-state method is expensive and time consuming, it is more common to use unsteady-state method to acquire two phase data. Many methods have been developed to calculate three phase relative permeability from two phase curves. However, there are no well recognized methods to perform the calculation, especially for carbon dioxide flooding due to the strong interaction among CO2, brine and oil phases. Diffusion coefficient and solubility of CO2 in crude oil and brine were measured. Furthermore, all parameters including viscosities, densities, volume factors and interfacial tensions of three phases in CO2 flooding were obtained. On the basis of these parameters, JBN method was revised to include the effects of CO2 on brine and oil. Relative permeabilities of oil and water phases were measured at conditions of oil and water two phases. Oil and gas relative permeabilities at different reservoir pressures were obtained at oil and gas phases, which show the effects of interfacial tension on relative permeabilities. Furthermore, Corey method and Stone Ⅱ method were improved and applied to calculate three phase relative permeability. Mathematic models of three phase relative permeability were proposed. The results show that oil phase isoperms is concave to 100% oil saturation. Water phase isoperms and gas phase isoperms are straight lines. Additionally, the scope of oil phase isoperms indicates that three phase flow zone is very narrow in CO2 flooding for low permeability reservoirs. The displacement effect is related to the saturation path, which contributes to oil recovery. All the production parameters can be illustrated through the ternary diagram combining three phase isoperms and saturation path change.
Full Field Offshore Surfactant-Polymer Flooding in Bohai Bay China
Authors: Lu Qiong , Ning Yonggen , Wang Jianghong , Yang Xue
Published: August 2015

This paper presents full field offshoresurfactant-polymer (SP) floodingapplied in JZ 9–3 Oilfield, Bohai Bay, China. Followed by 3-year polymer flooding which produced 4% incremental oil, the field turned to surfactant-polymer flooding. In the first stage, SP flooding was implemented in 4 injection wells. Then full field SP flooding was conducted in 8 injectors and 23 correspondent producers were involved. The injection scheme is designed as a slug of 0.23 pore volume (PV) of polymer solution at 0.120% polyacrylamide and second slug of 0.3 PV mixture of 0.20–0.24% of HDS surfactant and 0.12–0.15% of 3640C polymer and third slug of 0.035 PV of 0.12% 3640C polymer solution.

By monitoring injection characteristics, oil increasing and water content decreasing, and development index, the results show significant effect in incremental oil recovery compared to polymer flooding since 2010 when the SP flooding started.By 1st, Dec, 2014, the SP flooding has been improving oil production for 42 million tons with composite water cut 73.5% which declined by about 6.5%. There are 11 wells in 23 producers has obviously responded. The daily oil production of the center correspondent producer was doubled and water content decreased from 81% to 42%. The SP flooding effects lasted for about 2 years and could be extended further. This paper presents the feasibility of SP flooding in offshore environment.