bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Three Key Thinkers in the Study of Religion
Authors: Davis Jennifer
Published: March 2013

Key Thinkers in the Study of Religion, series editor Steven Engler. London, UK; Oakville, CT: Equinox Publishing.

The three texts considered in this review article are part of a series on important contributors to the study of religion. The series is aimed at providing an in-depth overview of the careers and influences of particular thinkers, before going on to engage critically with each author’s work.

Lévi-Strauss on Religion: The Structuring Mind, by Paul-François Tremlett. Equinox Publishing, 2008, 132pp. Pb. £14.99/$24.95, ISBN-13: 9781845532789; Hb £45.00/$65.00, ISBN-13: 9781845532772.

Dumont on Religion: Difference, Comparison, Transgression, by Ivan Strenski. London, UK: Equinox Publishing, 2008. 192pp., Pb. £14.99/$24.95, ISBN-13: 9781845532741; Hb. £45.00/$65.00, ISBN-13: 9781845532734.

Derrida on Religion: Thinker of Difference, by Dawne McCane. London, UK: Equinox Publishing, 2009. 160pp., Pb. £14.99/$24.95, ISBN-13: 9781845532765; Hb £45.00/$65.00, ISBN-13: 9781845532758.
Boots, Indecency, and Secular Sacred Spaces
Authors: Wilson Andrew
Published: March 2013

In this paper I shall draw on the distinction between “decent” and “indecent”, a pair of concepts highlighted in religious studies by Althaus-Reid (2000), and also on the role of ritual in delimiting the sacred in a secular context (Smith 1987, Knott 2005, 2007, Knott and Franks 2007), in order to show how the former can be seen to underlie a small part of the (female) flight attendant dress codes of commercial passenger airlines. It will be my argument that a widely adopted move away from allowing flight attendants to wear knee-high boots, especially inside the aircraft, stems from a growing cultural evaluation of these boots as “indecent,” and a simultaneous conceptualization of the aircraft’s interior as a secular sacred space. Using this case study, I hope to illustrate that at least one aspect of the contemporary culture of air travel can be usefully explored in terms of implicit religion (Bailey 1998), and a spatial approach to the sacred. I shall also suggest that the airline example has clear parallels in some other secular contexts.

In section 1, I shall outline the relevant aspects of the theory of implicit religion and show how they relate to the notions of “decency” and “indecency.” I shall then, in section 2, sketch out a brief history of knee-high boots within airline dress codes, before moving on to argue, in section 3, that they have become progressively entangled in a largely unconscious associative relationship with “indecency.” In section 4, I shall draw attention to the requirement of many airlines that their flight attendants should remove their knee-high boots once they have boarded the aircraft, and I shall argue that this, in conjunction with other boundary markers and rituals, underlines the implicit sacrality of the aircraft cabin. Finally, in section 5, I shall anticipate and respond to some possible objections to this analysis.
Charles
Authors: Grainger Roger
Published: March 2013

Just as acceptance of explicitly religious systems and membership of officially religious organizations can give rise to psychological conflict, as well as helping to resolve it, so implicitly religious conformity can produce epistemological conflict and confusion, in the event of cognitive dissonance. The case of Charles, employed by a large international bank, illustrates this, and draws attention to the ethical dimension of organizational religions—and of Implied Religion itself.
Criminalized Women and Twelve Step Programs
Authors: Sered Susan , Norton-Hawk Maureen
Published: March 2013

Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous hold a uniquely institutionalized status within the United States correctional system. Twelve Step meetings are held in rehabilitation and detoxification programs and inside prisons; Courts often mandate Twelve Step participation for parolees; and women who have been under correctional supervision may need to show proof of attending Twelve Step meetings in order to regain custody of their children. Drawing on four years of fieldwork with a community of criminalized women in Massachusetts, this paper highlights the convergence of cultural categories of illness, crime and sin as well as the interpenetration of social institutions of medicine, law and religion in the United States’ response to drug addiction. Arguing that AA / NA should properly be seen as a religious movement, this paper questions common contemporary assumptions regarding non-denominational “spirituality” as a vaguely universal and benign therapeutic modality.
Family Resemblances Twixt Implicit Religion and Post-modernity
Authors: Keenan William J. F.
Published: March 2013

This article explores parallels and convergences between implicit religion and post-modernity. The elective affinity between them is considered as a constructive combined “take” on late modern religion, culture and society. The aim is primarily to identify some overlap, some family resemblances, between key post-modern concepts and a number of the central themata of implicit religion, construed as a perspective or point of view on the human social and cultural condition. Drawing upon a variety of contributors to post-modern theory and implicit religion studies, this meta-analysis illuminates ways in which the “third way” conception of sacrality (cf. Bailey), inherent in the implicit religion (IR) perspective, resonates with the “liquidity” (cf. Bauman) of post-modernity (POMO). This holistic IR-POMO point of view, it is suggested, offers a challenging heuristic alternative to the “static polarities” (cf. Elias) of “gnostic thought” (cf. Jonas), and a “post-secular” mode of creative resistance to modernist hyper-secularism.
We Have an Imaginary Friend in Jesus
Authors: Mackendrick Kenneth G.
Published: March 2013

This article investigates the plausibility of using studies of imaginative play to illuminate and explain the contemporary prevalence and popularity of religious imaginal dialogue. Emphasis is given to conceptual considerations arising from the application of recent findings in the neuroscience of social cognition and cognitive theories of childhood development to the study of religion.
Believing Beyond Religion
Authors: Hey John
Published: March 2013

Theologians have traditionally sought to correlate the transcendent and the secular. I identify three models; the Revelation, the Immanentist and the Ethical. All three I judge to be lacking in some important aspects: the Revelation and

Immanentist models because they presuppose a metaphysical transcendence without justification; the Ethical because its exponents either do not explain the significance of human valuing, or because they seek to move back to a more traditional metaphysical concept. The secular transcendence which I am arguing for allows a primacy to believing in the creation of meaning. Such meaning cannot be derived directly from a random and contingent world. We create meaning on the basis of our own self-awareness, the cultural contexts in which we are nurtured, and the natural world. We create an existential reality which we inhabit “as if” it were real, believing it to be so. Such a believing, while wholly secular, recognizes religion as an important tool in the creation of meaning, provided that its epistemological limitations are acknowledged.
Political Geography and Palatial Crete
Authors: Bevan Andrew
Published: March 2013

The political geography of Crete during the period of the Bronze Age palaces has been a subject of widespread debate, not only with respect to the timing of the island’s move towards greater social and political complexity, but also with regard to the nature of the political institutions and territorial configurations that underpinned palace-centred society, as well as their longer-term stability over the course of the second millennium bc. As such, the region provides an ideal context in which to consider the broader question of how we develop robust political geographies in pre- and protohistoric contexts. This paper proposes the need for a more deliberate interlocking of computational, comparative and material approaches, as a means of guiding our political model-building efforts.
Globalization and Colonization
Authors: Hodos Tamar
Published: March 2013

The seeming discrepancy between postmodern diversity and contemporary concepts of globalization reflects a misunderstanding of the nature of globalization, which should not be taken to imply that there is a uni- fied world society or culture. The process of globalization actually serves to highlight and reinforce cultural heterogeneities. It is the balance between shared sets of practices and local heterogeneities that enables the globalization model to be an extremely powerful tool in highlighting identity expressions, especially those exhibited through material culture choices in mixed cultural contexts. Using such a framework, this paper explores in particular the engagement between Sicilian populations of the seventh and sixth centuries BC and their Greek colonial neighbors, the Greek world and the Mediterranean at large, as a demonstration of how such a model might be used most effectively in interpreting cultural interactions in the past.
Evaluating the effectiveness of the customized Unna boot when treating patients with venous ulcers*
Authors: Luz Bruna Suelen Raymundo , Araujo Cristina Souza , Atzingen Dênia Amélia Novato Castelli Von , Mendonça Adriana Rodrigues dos Anjos , Mesquita Filho Marcos , Medeiros Mauricéia Lins de
Published: March 2013

BACKGROUND: Lower limb ulcers are a serious medical and socioeconomic problem throughout the world. One type of chronic wound of the lower extremities is the venous ulcer. Therapeutic methods for treating venous ulcer include the use of the Unna boot. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of the customized Unna boot in the treatment of venous ulcers and to monitor the subsequent development and healing of the lesions. METHODS: Prospective exploratory and quantitative longitudinal study, conducted at the "Outpatients Department (Wound Care) of the Grupo da Fraternidade Espírita Irmão Alexandre" in the city of Pouso Alegre (MG), Brazil, in 2008. The sample consisted of 32 patients with venous ulcers who underwent treatment with the Unna boot and 11 patients (control group), who used a simple bandage application. The patients'lesions were monitored over a three month period. RESULTS: The average age of the predominently female (65.1%) patients was 61.88. From observing the differences in healing times at the three evaluation stages, it was clear that after the initial evaluation the wound area decreased in Groups 1 and 2 (p>0.05). CONCLUSION:The use of the customized Unna boot contributes to quicker healing. However, over a period of three months the simple bandage applications were seen to be just as effective as the Unna boot method.
Mechanisms regulating melanogenesis*
Authors: Videira Inês Ferreira dos Santos , Moura Daniel Filipe Lima , Magina Sofia
Published: March 2013

Skin pigmentation is an important human phenotypic trait whose regulation, in spite of recent advances, has not yet been fully understood. The pigment melanin is produced in melanosomes by melanocytes in a complex process called melanogenesis. The melanocyte interacts with endocrine, immune, inflammatory and central nervous systems, and its activity is also regulated by extrinsic factors such as ultraviolet radiation and drugs. We have carried out a review of the current understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulating skin pigmentation, the melanogenesis stages and related gene defects. We focused on melanocyte-keratinocyte interaction, activation of melanocortin type 1 receptor (MC1-R) by peptides (melanocyte-stimulating hormone and adrenocorticotropic hormone) resulting from proopiomelanocortin (POMC) cleavage, and mechanisms of ultraviolet-induced skin pigmentation. The identification and comprehension of the melanogenesis mechanism facilitate the understanding of the pathogenesis of pigmentation disorders and the development of potential therapeutic options.
Cutaneous tuberculous gummas in a patient with polymyositis*
Authors: Silva Guilherme Almeida Rosa da , Motta Rogério Neves , Carvalho Ricardo de Souza , Lupi Omar , Azevedo Marcelo Costa Velho Mendes de , Ferry Fernando Raphael de Almeida
Published: March 2013

Metastatic tuberculous abscesses or cutaneous tuberculous gummas occur mostly by reactivation of ancient cutaneous foci and is triggered mainly by pharmacological immunosuppression, diabetes mellitus, alcoholism or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The present case report refers to a 33-year-old male patient with polymyositis and a previous diagnosis of treated pulmonary tuberculosis. He presented cutaneous abscesses and fever months after the tuberculosis regimen. The patient was diagnosed as metastatic tuberculous abscesses associated with immunosuppression as result of polymyositis treatment.
Biopsy guided by dermoscopy in cutaneous pigmented lesion - Case report
Authors: Bomm Lislaine , Benez Marcela Duarte Villela , Maceira Juan Manuel Piñeiro , Succi Isabel Cristina Brasil , Scotelaro Maria de Fatima Guimarães
Published: March 2013

It may be clinically difficult to differentiate early-stage melanoma from benign tumors, specially pigmented seborrheic keratosis. Dermoscopy can help; however, the findings are not always conclusive. Therefore, histopathology may be necessary for a correct diagnosis. We describe a melanocytic lesion with dubious clinic and dermoscopic findings. An incisional biopsy of a suspicious area, guided by dermoscopy, was performed to clarify the findings.
A humanização do nascimento: percepção dos profissionais de saúde que atuam na atenção ao parto
Authors: Souza Taísa Guimarães de , Gaíva Maria Aparecida Munhoz , Modes Priscilla Shirley Siniak dos Anjos
Published: March 2013

Estudo exploratório qualitativo, cujo objetivo foi conhecer a percepção dos profissionais de saúde que atuam na assistência ao parto sobre a humanização do processo de nascimento. Foram entrevistados 17 profissionais da área da saúde que atuavam na atenção ao parto. Os dados foram coletados por entrevistas semi-estruturadas e analisados com a técnica de análise temática. Na análise dos dados emergiram três categorias: o significado da humanização do nascimento; a prática da humanização nos serviços estudados e elementos dificultadores da humanização. Os resultados mostram que a humanização na assistência ao nascimento ainda não é uma prática presente na maioria dos hospitais estudados e que os profissionais não estão preparados para prestar um atendimento humanizado e com qualidade tanto para a mãe quanto para o recém-nascido. Conclui-se que é indispensável que ocorram mudanças no modelo biomédico, essencialmente técnico, para um modelo que valorize os aspectos sociais e culturais da gestação e parto.
When Oyono's “Boy” Speaks Dutch: Two Readings in One Language
Authors: Dewulf Jeroen
Published: March 2013

De Huisjongen, The dutch translation of ferdinand oyono's une vie de boy, was published in 1980 by kosmos and released in two cities: Amsterdam, where the publisher had its headquarters, and Antwerp, the site of its Belgian branch. For Flemish (Dutch-speaking Belgian) readers, the Catholic and French colonial environment described in the novel represented a world that in many ways felt familiar. In the once deeply Catholic Flanders, where French used to be the language spoken by the elite and where the memories of the former colony Belgian Congo are still vivid, people could easily identify with Oyono's main character, Toundi.

In the Netherlands, however, the memories of the nation's colonial history are characterized by a predominantly Protestant world-view that primarily evokes images from Southeast Asia. There, in the former Dutch East Indies, it was not the masculine “boy” but the feminine babu who took care of the household. This explains the decision by the then twenty-seven-year-old Dutch translator of Oyono's novel, today's best-selling author Herman Koch, not to use boy in the title but to opt for huisjongen (lit., “house youth”). The idea of having a “boy” as housekeeper clearly sounded strange to this Dutch translator.

In view of the different associations the novel must have evoked among Dutch and Flemish readers, this article presents two separate analyses of the same translation. One reflects a Dutch perspective on De huisjongen and interprets Toundi, a child diarist doomed to die at the hands of oppressors, as an African Anne Frank. The other reads the novel from a Flemish perspective and interprets Toundi as an African variant of Manneken Pis, the roguish street boy from Brussels who derides the authorities.
The Afterlife of Oyono's Houseboy in the Swahili Schools Market: To Be or Not to Be Faithful to the Original
Authors: Waliaula Ken Walibora
Published: March 2013

Africa, the world's second-largest continent, speaks over two thousand languages but rarely translates itself. it is no wonder, therefore, that Ferdinand Oyono's francophone African classic Une vie de boy (1956), translated into at least twelve European and Asian languages, exists in only one African translation—that is, if we consider as non-African Oyono's original French and the English, Arabic, and Portuguese into which it was translated. Since 1963, when Obi Wali stated in his essay “The Dead End of African Literature” that African literature in English and French was “a clear contradiction, and a false proposition,” like “Italian literature in Hausa” (14), the question of the language of African literature has animated debate. Two decades later, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o restated Wali's contention, asserting that European languages led to African “spiritual subjugation” (9). Ngũgĩ argued strongly that African literature should be written in African languages. On the other hand, Chinua Achebe defended European languages, maintaining that they could “carry the weight of African experience” (62).
Reading, in a Digital Archive of One's Own
Authors: Collins Jim
Published: March 2013

WHAT ARE WE REALLY TALKING ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE STATE OF READING? AND WHAT DO WE HOPE TO LEARN FROM THE Answers to that question? Confirmation of deeply held prejudices, or a better understanding of what reading means in digital cultures? We need to pose those questions right up front because the debate about the state of reading has been precipitated by the increasing ubiquity of the e-book, even though reading culture has been undergoing massive infrastructural changes for over a decade in the United States. The public discourse on the state of reading and on whether it has a viable future has focused on the future of the book and of literary reading now that e-books have apparently changed everything. The state of reading, as such, is not at stake because it doesn't seem likely that firemen from Ray Bradbury'sFahrenheit 451will be swinging by your place anytime soon to torch your books and replace them with a well-appointed wall screen, eliminating reading forever in favor of mindless viewing. People will keep reading, if only to take in the endless text that comes at them on their various screens, from the ones on the wall to the ones they carry around with them everywhere on their portable devices. Try looking at those screens without reading. No, it's clear from the assumptions that underpin the end-is-near pronouncements about the e-book that there's reading and then there'sreadingand that when people talk about the future of reading, they're worried about whether readers worthy of the name will continue reading literary fiction in the twenty-first century. But that isn't a very interesting question because it imagines the act of reading in such an ahistorical manner, curled up in a well-upholstered time warp, far from the unruliness of contemporary reading cultures.
Reading Interface
Authors: Drucker Johanna
Published: March 2013

Interface, we think, is the screen, the display, the portal into the online world or computer. The GUI (Graphical User Inter-face), with its menu bars and navigational buttons, is so familiar that we tend to overlook the “gooeyness” of it—the mutable, mediating activity—and take interface for a thing, static, stable, and fixed. Or we take it as a representation of computational processes, a convenient translation of what is “really going on” inside. Neither could be further from actuality.
Structural, thermodynamic and electronic properties of GaPxSb1–x and InPxSb1–x alloys
Authors: Chen Dongguo , Ravindra N. M.
Published: March 2013

In this study, the authors have investigated the properties of GaPxSb1–x and InPxSb1–x for various structures and compositions using first-principles method. The authors found that GaPxSb1–x is less relaxed than InPxSb1–x compounds, with respect to their respective binary compounds, due to the larger lattice mismatch. The formation enthalpy decreases from Ga to In compounds and increases with the increasing degree of alloy mixture. The crystal field splitting and band gap are larger in GaPxSb1–x than in InPxSb1–x. All the properties, investigated in this study, are strongly dependent on structure and composition. Good accord between the calculated results of this study and the experimental values in the literature is obtained.
‘Green’ fluorine-free mesoporous iron(III) trimesate nanoparticles for drug delivery
Authors: Agostoni Valentina , Horcajada Patricia , Rodriguez-Ruiz Violeta , Willaime Hervé , Couvreur Patrick , Serre Christian , Gref Ruxandra
Published: March 2013

A comparison of the properties of the highly porous iron(III) trimesate MIL-100 nanoparticles (nano-MOFs) obtained through a hydrofluoric acid-free ‘green’ synthesis route with those obtained from the ‘conventional’ HF procedure is reported, in terms of particle crystallinity, porosity and space time yield (STY). It appears that the use of more concentrated reaction conditions have led to the highest STY values while maintaining a good degree of purity. As the fluorinated nano-MOFs, the F-free solids are able to encapsulate high payloads of a challenging antiviral drug, azidothymidine triphosphate, and to release it on a progressive manner. Furthermore, the F-free nano-MOFs were shown to be highly taken up by macrophages, targets for antiviral therapy, without inducing any detectable toxic side effects. This study opens up novel perspectives for the large-scale synthesis of ‘green’ MIL-100 nano-MOFs for biomedical applications. Supplementary information will be available at http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/upload/10.1680gmat.13.00001_SupplementaryInformation.pdf
Bee diversity effects on pollination depend on functional complementarity and niche shifts
Authors: Fründ Jochen , Dormann Carsten F. , Holzschuh Andrea , Tscharntke Teja
Published: March 2013

Biodiversity is important for many ecosystem processes. Global declines in pollinator diversity and abundance have been recognized, raising concerns about a pollination crisis of crops and wild plants. However, experimental evidence for effects of pollinator species diversity on plant reproduction is extremely scarce. We established communities with 1–5 bee species to test how seed production of a plant community is determined by bee diversity. Higher bee diversity resulted in higher seed production, but the strongest difference was observed for one compared to more than one bee species. Functional complementarity among bee species had a far higher explanatory power than bee diversity, suggesting that additional bee species only benefit pollination when they increase coverage of functional niches. In our experiment, complementarity was driven by differences in flower and temperature preferences. Interspecific interactions among bee species contributed to realized functional complementarity, as bees reduced interspecific overlap by shifting to alternative flowers in the presence of other species. This increased the number of plant species visited by a bee community and demonstrates a new mechanism for a biodiversity–function relationship (“interactive complementarity”). In conclusion, our results highlight both the importance of bee functional diversity for the reproduction of plant communities and the need to identify complementarity traits for accurately predicting pollination services by different bee communities.
Successful Application of Aqueous-Based Formation Consolidation Treatment Introduced to the North Sea
Authors: Bhasker R. , Foo-Karna A. F. , Foo I.
Published: March 2013

Sand production presents a major challenge for many operators in unconsolidated formations. The production of formation sand and fines can cause erosion damage to surface and downhole equipment, resulting in major well intervention and sand disposal costs. This has a significant negative impact on hydrocarbon production and revenue in terms of decline in production and downtime for intervention.

The oil industry encounters severe costs each year attempting to control sand production by methods such as gravel packing, frack packing, and screen-only completions, which are designed to inhibit the movement of sand from the formation into the wellbore. Resin consolidation is an alternative cost-effective solution to mechanical methods. Resin consolidation increases the cohesion forces between sand grains, resulting in high-strength consolidation of the formation grains while maintaining most of the permeability of the rock. Historically, chemical treatments for sand control have been solvent-based, applicable only in relatively short intervals, and with low flash points; as a result, they can be challenging to manage in an offshore environment and difficult to register for use in the North Sea. Recent developments in aqueous-based resin (ABR) technology have resulted in resin consolidation that provides additional benefits, such as improved health, safety, and environmental (HSE) characteristics, and also allow longer heterogeneous intervals to be treated.

This paper discusses the application of an ABR treatment that was used successfully for the first time in the North Sea for Shell. Job planning, laboratory analysis, execution, and well performance are discussed. Subsequent sand monitoring has shown that the sand production in this well decreased by more than 80%, with no impairment to oil production.
Hydrate Remediation during Well Testing Operations in the Deepwater Campos Basin, Brazil
Authors: Vitor de Assis Joao , Mohallem Raphael , Trummer Sascha , Franco Ernesto
Published: March 2013

One of the most common challenges in deepwater environments is hydrate formation during drilling or well testing operations. A hydrate is generated in the presence of a combination of the following four elements: water, natural gas, low temperatures and elevated pressures. The hydrate has the appearance of ice structures and can form very quickly. Hydrates are normally generated during operations such as startup, shutdown, blowdown, and bleeding.

In the deepwater oilfields of Brazil, operators have been faced several challenges during hydrate remediation interventions, including:Effectively removing the hydrate plug formed in the riser without damaging the tubing, downhole valves, and subsea tools across the blowout preventerReducing risk of hydrate formation due to unpredictable behavior because the hydrates can be very hard and very strong, holding high-differential pressures, potentially making a projectile of the formerly plugged objectLimiting pressure losses through the umbilical and maintaining injection rates of methanol and monoethylene glycol (MEG)Resuming well testing operations with the least amount of lost rig time.

From a drillship, we applied a combination of chemicals pumped through a high-pressure rotating nozzle deployed with coiled tubing (CT). The hydrate plug was breached in less than 4 hr. This cleaning operation effectively removed the hydrate plug and cleaned the tubing, enabling the Operator to resume pressure/volume/temperature testing operations of the deepwater well.
Qualification of Specialized Cement to Inflate Bridge Plug for Water Shutoff Application in Horizontal Wells
Authors: Taoutaou Salim
Published: March 2013

In mature oil and gas fields, excess water production often threatens the economic viability of a well. Excess water production can cause an increase in production cost and a decrease in productivity. Moreover, in an offshore environment, this water creates a burden in terms of the treatment facilities and the increased disposal cost.

There are different techniques and fluids that are used today for water shutoff. One of the techniques is wireline dump bailers used with cement, but this technique cannot be used in horizontal wells because of wireline limitations. To counter that, the industry witnessed the development of a "reservoir carrying fluid" that can be used with coiled tubing (CT) in horizontal wells for water shutoff.

Water or glycol can be used to inflate the plug to enable the rubber elements to conform to the setting inside diameter (ID) in which it is being conveyed. However, using these fluids means that long-term isolation is compromised. To accomplish long-term isolation, the inflation of the system must be done using a specialized sealant.

An operator in the North Sea interested in the technique asked a service company to provide a cementing solution to the system. This paper describes the different stages of this qualification process including the laboratory procedures that have been developed especially for this application, explains the sealant selection criteria and the field qualification of both the CT cement-filled reservoir and the specialized expanding cement slurry, and, finally, reviews a case history.
Through-Tubing Inflatable Straddle Packer Assembly Enables Selective Treatment of Multiple Zones and Improves Productivity
Authors: Kothiyal M. D. , Parasher A. , Qutob A. H. , Cooper R. J. , Forsyth G. R.
Published: March 2013

The subject well is an onshore oil producer located in Cairn Energy India’s Rajasthan block. The well had stratified sand sections completed with 4-inch inflow control device (ICD) screens and isolated by swellable packer assemblies. The well was put into production at a rate of approximately 1,000 bopd; however, due to formation damage – notably paraffin and scale - the well could not sustain production and eventually ceased.

Our objective was to selectively stimulate 15 ICDs using coiled tubing. The well had a minimum restriction and a larger setting diameter which warranted the usage of coiled tubing deployed inflatable straddle packer system. This enabled passage through the restriction and setting in the larger outer diameter to selectively treat each zone by mechanically diverting the stimulation fluid.

The challenge was significant. Multiple zones required treatment in a single run by performing 15 multi-settings, maintaining seal integrity following each set, and returning the tool to its original outer diameter for retrieval. The well was deviated at 74 degree which challenged accessibility.

The assembly was run successfully and managed to selectively stimulate all required zones in one trip. Using this application, we confirmed that all treatment fluid was effectively sealed and treated by diverting the treatment fluid directly into the required zone, preventing more permeable sections absorbing most of the fluid, and ensuring the treatment chemicals were used in a cost effective manner. The single coiled tubing run avoided multiple runs to isolate sections using plugs. The well subsequently began to flow once lifted with nitrogen, positively indicating that the ICDs were effectively cleaned and the zones successfully treated.

This case demonstrates the innovative use of thru-tubing wellbore isolation techniques to effectively enhance production in wells with challenging configurations and operating parameters. This study further paves the way for similar interventions in wells with similar characteristics.
Evolution of a Pinpoint Stimulation Technology and the Benefits Thereafter
Authors: Hartley J. , Holden D.
Published: March 2013

The buildup of the energy services industry in recent years has led to an unprecedented amount of hydraulic horsepower (HHP) available to energy producing organizations. This, combined with the decline of natural gas prices in North America during recent months, has made the energy services market (specifically, pressure pumping) more competitive than ever. Energy services companies must not only provide HHP, but also innovative, efficient solutions and technologies to satisfy the energy producers’ hydraulic fracturing needs. Pinpoint stimulation that uses hydrajet perforating is one such technology that provides both innovation and efficiency.

Historically, setting proppant plugs for interval isolation in horizontal/deviated wells by means of traditional techniques has proven to be challenging for various reasons. As energy producers began drilling more of these types of wells, they created a need for a reliable proppant plug setting technique for multi-interval Pinpoint stimulation operations. The traditional method of setting a proppant plug is by simply reducing the downhole pump rate and increasing the proppant concentration, thereby inducing a near wellbore (NWB) screenout. By starting with a proven Pinpoint stimulation solution and adding a new coiled tubing (CT) deployed bottomhole assembly (BHA), Pinpoint stimulation process efficiencies were increased in many ways, proppant plug setting being just one.

The new BHA enables the proppant plug to be set while hydrajet perforating the next interval, minimizing the time and materials required. It also assists in anchoring and centralizing the hydrajetting tool during perforating operations to help ensure that the jets remain on target with the proper standoff distance. These new developments, as well as those included in the operational procedures for using this new BHA, elevate fracturing treatment efficiencies to a new level.

This paper presents the development of the new BHA from its inception to its current form, including information on its operation. It also details how the new BHA can provide North American energy producers with the process efficiencies they are seeking, and how this BHA can assist energy producers in other areas of the world that are underserved in the area of HHP reach their goals.
First Field Application of 2-7/8" Scale Removal Tool for Offshore Well Abandonment
Authors: Birk Navneet
Published: March 2013

In June 2010, as part of an operation in a producing well, offshore eastern Canada, a junk basket on wireline tagged its depth and became stuck. The bottomhole assembly (BHA) was disconnected and left in the well. When the wireline was back at surface, scale was determined to be the reason for getting stuck. This became more evident after an attempt was made to bait the fish, which was unsuccessful because loose scale had settled on top of the disconnected tool. A run was made with a lead impression block (LIB) to understand better the fish neck, but it returned with no impression. Previously, in 2005, naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) was detected in this well, having been observed on logging tools returned back to surface. Similarly, a few years later, NORM scale concerns appeared in another producing well on the platform. Due to the inability to handle large amounts of NORM (mostly loose scale) on surface, no intervention work to date had been performed on this platform.

The proposed solution was to perform a scale removal operation using coiled tubing (CT). Initially, a pilot hole was drilled with a motor and mill, but the main focus was the use of a 2 7/8-in. scale-removal tool that employed jetted beads. For optimal pump rates and suspension capabilities, a specific gelled fluid system was recommended. A shaker system was sourced to remove and contain solid cuttings on surface and to recycle the gelled fluid on surface by using two large fluid containment tanks.

The operation was completed successfully and without any issues or concerns. Client was able to recover the slot for future sidetrack drilling, which is a priority on a fixed platform.
First Real-Time DTS Inversion Job Worldwide
Authors: Lopez Victor H. , Castillo Marco A. , Custodio Rafael , Worden Sarah , Romandia Miguel Gerardo , Ramondenc Pierre , Rueda Felipe L.
Published: March 2013

The production curve of the main Mexican offshore fields has been decreasing rapidly year-on-year, representing a challenge to the eighth-largest oil producer country and an opportunity to implement new techniques for workover (WO) operations to increase production recovery.

Within the most common WO activities developed in offshore Mexico is acid stimulation of carbonates, which was developed as pumping a large volume of fluids (solvents, HCl 15%, etc.) with minimum control for zonal coverage. Conventional coiled tubing (CT) jobs have improved this technique with the use of impact jetting tools to remove damage at the tubular and perforation holes and placing the treatment in the desired area. The estimation of fluid injection per zone has been evaluated using radioactive traces. However, the estimates of where the fluids go lack accuracy, and the radioactivity poses additional risks related to hazardous material handling.

In 2009, a new interpretation technique to evaluate the treatment zonal coverage appeared that used CT with fiber optics. This distributed temperature sensing (DTS) enables the equipment to record temperature readings at several predetermined depths over time creating a survey that identifies, qualitatively, the admittance of the treated pay zones based on the formation’s cold-down/heat-up effects. Unfortunately, this technique had some limitations as the data recorded needed to be converted, interpreted, and then translated into common oilfield language in the form of graphics and data tables. The time to get a final result from the readings to the customer was so long that the window to modify the current treatment to improve the well response was, on most occasions, already closed.

DTS inversion brings a "real-time DTS matrix stimulation evaluation product" by using an inversion algorithm coupled with a fluid placement model to accurately quantify the amount of treatment placed across the treated zones of the well. A detailed case history from an offshore Mexico well describes the first worldwide real-time DTS inversion job and illustrates the workflow and advantages of this technique. The results from the technique showed a direct match with a previous evaluation of the formation through production logging conveyed on Wireline tools.
The First Implementation of Well Interventions by a Full Catenary Coiled-Tubing System With a Dynamic Positioning Vessel with Compensated Gangway
Authors: Wattanasuwankorn R. , Ashby S. , Hammer F. , Long N. , Song Y. , Ahmed J. A.
Published: March 2013

An offshore operator in Brunei faced the challenge of increasing the injectivity in water-flooded fields to improve hydrocarbon production. The solution chosen was to use a stimulation vessel with coiled tubing (CT), nitrogen, and pumping capability to perform well interventions to achieve the injection targets. The operation faced challenging offshore weather conditions, limited platform access, lack of crane facilities, aging offshore facilities, and had to provide an emergency disconnect system, while improving the operational efficiency from existing methods.

The stimulation vessel was used in conjunction with some new concepts to the CT offshore operation. These novel concepts included using a full catenary system for CT operations, a dynamic positioning vessel, a knuckle boom crane, and a heave compensated gangway. The full catenary system was selected for the CT operation to minimize lifting hazards, improve equipment installation lead times, and improve the stimulation vessel operating efficiency. The dynamic positioning vessel eliminated anchoring requirements and provided enhanced efficiency for evacuation and approach to offshore facilities. The knuckle boom crane provided the capability to lift in different angles for equipment placement in difficult positions, even underneath a platform helideck. The heave compensated gangway provided extremely safe transfer of personnel between the stimulation vessel and the offshore facilities. It also provided a safe emergency response and evacuation facility in the event of sudden severe weather, platform emergency, or worsening sea conditions.

The advantages and benefits of using these concepts for offshore operation have resulted in a significant improvement in terms of operational efficiency and safety for the stimulation vessel.
Real-Time Abrasive Perforation on Coiled Tubing Saves Operation Time, Improves Cost Efficiency and Boots Reservoir Production in Delta Mahakam Field's Low-Porosity Reservoirs
Authors: Purwitaningtyas I. M. , Mezie-Okoye S. O. , Sugiarto T. , Wardhana R. A.
Published: March 2013

The Delta Mahakam’s geology is characterized by multiple layers of thin, heterogeneous reservoirs separated by a few meters. These wells are traditionally perforated with the conventional wireline method. However, at reservoir porosities less than 11%, perforations yielded less than 60% of flowing probability. With the increase in drilling activity and the number of reservoirs with low porosities, we began to evaluate the effectiveness of perforating these reservoirs with abrasive jets perforation conveyed on coiled tubing (CT).

To improve depth accuracy and monitor real-time bottomhole conditions, the abrasive jet perforating tool was run on fiber-optic CT. Pressure measurements inside and outside the coiled tubing enabled the pumping rate of the abrasive fluid to be adjusted as necessary, improving perforating efficiency as well as the GR/CCL reading for the depth correlation.

This abrasive perforation method was applied in six different wells in Delta Mahakam field; the design, execution, and evaluation of this method is presented. From the first well to the last, this alternative perforating strategy helped increase reservoir production, improve cost efficiency, and by adding the real time monitoring system on coiled tubing it is proved of reducing the operational time by up to 45%. This method proved to be a viable alternative to wireline-conveyed perforating in the Delta Mahakam field.
Job Planning and Execution when Fishing Live Perforating Guns with 8,000-psi Surface Pressure
Authors: Sredensek E. , Sanders H.
Published: March 2013

An operator had live perforating guns stuck in the casing at 14,100 ft. The wireline had been pulled out of the rope socket, leaving 67 ft of wireline tools, perforating guns, and plug assembly stuck in the wellbore with 8,300-psi surface pressure. To remediate this issue, a 144-ft tall snubbing unit rigup was employed using eleven 7 1/16-in. 15K-psi blowout preventer (BOP) cavities and 78 ft of riser spool. Job preparation included standard prejob planning analysis to help resolve work string buckling risks and to establish the work string’s maximum safe load limits based on the well conditions and operational requirements.

This challenging high-pressure fishing job was executed as planned and without incident. The snubbing unit was rigged up, pressure tested, and operational within five days of equipment arriving on location. The snubbing unit crew successfully latched and recovered 97 ft of fish and work string bottomhole assembly (BHA) to surface under high pressure without incident.

This paper explores the level of prejob due diligence analysis required for the basic planning of high-pressure snubbing work. Surface buckling analysis, work string condition, and pipe tension/collapse considerations are applied and discussed in this case history.
Real-Time Evaluation of a Velocity String: Case History of a Suitable Solution for Well Recovery
Authors: Castaño D. A. , Ruiz N. , Zabala R. , Mora E. , Nava D. J.
Published: March 2013

Cupiagua field, Colombia, is a condensate gas field with typical completions of large tubing sizes, 7in. and 5 ½ in., and some wells experience a serious problem for lifting fluids due to the high water cut and low gas rate. This document presents the case history of a well with complex reservoir damage and a challenging well integrity situation that narrowed the options for well interventions. An operation with coiled tubing(CT) in conjunction with real time telemetry through fiber optics was performed to evaluate the remaining potential of the formation and assess the velocity string option using a 1 ¾ in. CT to reduce the wellbore transverse flow area, thus improving the vertical lift performance. Also, nitrogen was injected at gas rates between 1and 2 MMscf/D to simulate the combination of the velocity string and a gas injection system. The surface and downhole data collected allowed the engineering team to select the best ofseveral options for the recovery of the well.
Zone Abandonment with E-Line Inflatable Bridge Plug Provides Work-Around for Platform with Coiled-Tubing Access Limitations
Authors: Osorio Alejandro , Frisby Ray
Published: March 2013

An operator working in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada required a downhole barrier to permanently abandon a set of depleted perforations. Platform limitations restricted the use of traditional methods to abandon the zone located in a nearly horizontal lateral well. The operator elected to set a high expansion inflatable bridge plug on wireline in a highly deviated section and spot cement on top of it to abandon the zone.

There were several challenges involved in this application including the requirement for the bridge plug to expand by more than 200% of its run-in diameter due to wellbore restrictions and deviation. E-line was required to provide power for the wireline tractor because a coiled tubing unit could not access the well slot due to the positioning of the rig on the platform. Additionally, the bridge plug had to withstand a 3,000 psi differential pressure test and hold for several weeks without the aid of cement until coiled tubing could be deployed to place cement on top.

The plug was successfully set and held the required pressure. Three weeks after, the platform derrick was moved to another slot and coiled tubing access was again available. The plug was again tested to 3,000 psi and cement was placed on top of it to establish a permanent barrier. A high expansion inflatable bridge plug setting system run in conjunction with a wireline tractor provided an optimal solution for this application.

Using this inflatable bridge plug setting system in conjunction with a wireline tractor represented substantial savings in rig time and operational costs. The operator was able to perform all necessary integrity tests to confirm hydraulic isolation and successfully abandon the zone. The bridge plug deployment system is capable of pumping downhole wellbore fluids to set the plug without a coiled tubing unit or pumps on location. E-line was used to support the tractor through high deviation however; the bridge plug deployment system can alternatively be deployed on slick-line or with a coiled tubing tractor.