bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cost-effectiveness of Augmenting Universal Hepatitis B Vaccination With Immunoglobin Treatment
Authors: Chen Solomon Chih-Cheng , Toy Mehlika , Yeh Jennifer M. , Wang Jung-Der , Resch Stephen
Published: March 2013

OBJECTIVE:

To compare the cost-effectiveness of hepatitis B virus (HBV) control strategies combining universal vaccination with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) treatment for neonates of carrier mothers.

METHODS:

Drawing on Taiwan's experience, we developed a decision-analytic model to estimate the clinical and economic outcomes for 4 strategies: (1) strategy V—universal vaccination; (2) strategy S—V plus screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBIG treatment for HBsAg-positive mothers' neonates; (3) strategy E—V plus screening for hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg), HBIG for HBeAg-positive mothers' neonates; (4) strategy S&E—V plus screening for HBsAg then HBeAg, HBIG for all HBeAg-positive, and some HBeAg-negative/HBsAg-positive mothers' neonates.

RESULTS:

Strategy S averted the most infections, followed by S&E, E, and V. In most cases, the more effective strategies were also more costly. The willingness-to-pay (WTP) above which strategy S was cost-effective rose as carrier rate declined and was <$4000 per infection averted for carrier rates >5%. The WTP below which strategy V was optimal also increased as carrier rate declined, from $1400 at 30% carrier rate to $3100 at 5% carrier rate. Strategies involving E were optimal for an intermediate range of WTP that narrowed as carrier rate declined.

CONCLUSIONS:

HBIG treatment for neonates of HBsAg carrier mothers is likely to be a cost-effective addition to universal vaccination, particularly in settings with adequate health care infrastructure. Targeting HBIG to neonates of higher risk HBeAg-positive mothers may be preferred where WTP is moderate. However, in very resource-limited settings, universal vaccination alone is optimal.
Transition From Pediatric to Adult Care for Youth Diagnosed With Type 1 Diabetes in Adolescence
Authors: Lotstein Debra S. , Seid Michael , Klingensmith Georgeanna , Case Doug , Lawrence Jean M. , Pihoker Catherine , Dabelea Dana , Mayer-Davis Elizabeth J. , Gilliam Lisa K. , Corathers Sarah , Imperatore Giuseppina , Dolan Lawrence , Anderson Andrea , Bell Ronny A. , Waitzfelder Beth ,   for the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study Group
Published: March 2013

OBJECTIVE:

Youth with type 1 diabetes mellitus are at risk for poor glycemic control as they age into adulthood. The aim of this study was to describe sociodemographic and clinical correlates of poor glycemic control associated with the transfer of care from pediatric to adult diabetes providers among a cohort of youth with type 1 diabetes diagnosed in adolescence.

METHODS:

Analyses included 185 adolescent participants with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study with pediatric care at baseline who were age ≥18 years at follow-up. Demographic and clinical factors were measured by survey and laboratory results. Survival analysis was used to estimate the age of transition. Logistic regression analysis assessed the association of demographic and clinical factors with the transition of care and poor glycemic control at follow-up.

RESULTS:

Fifty-seven percent of participants had transitioned to adult diabetes care providers by the follow-up visit. The estimated median age of transition of care was 20.1 years (95% confidence interval 19.8–20.4). Older age, lower baseline glycosylated hemoglobin, and less parental education were independently associated with increased odds of transition. The odds of poor glycemic control at follow-up were 2.5 times higher for participants who transitioned to adult care compared with those who remained in pediatric care.

CONCLUSIONS:

Transferring from pediatric to adult care, experienced by more than half the sample, was associated with an increased risk of poor glycemic control at follow-up. These findings suggest that young adults need additional support when moving to adult care.
Prevalence and Reasons for Introducing Infants Early to Solid Foods: Variations by Milk Feeding Type
Authors: Clayton Heather B. , Li Ruowei , Perrine Cria G. , Scanlon Kelley S.
Published: March 2013

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the prevalence of, and mothers’ self-reported reasons for, introducing solid foods to infants earlier than recommended (aged <4 months) and the variation in reasons for early introduction by milk feeding type.

METHODS:

The study included 1334 mothers who participated in the national longitudinal Infant Feeding Practices Study II (2005–2007). Monthly 7-day food-frequency questions throughout infancy were used to determine infant age at solid food introduction and to classify infant’s milk feeding at introduction as breast milk only, formula only, or mixed. Reasons for introducing solid foods at age <4 months were assessed through maternal responses to a list of 12 potential reasons. Analyses included descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression.

RESULTS:

Overall, 40.4% of mothers introduced solid foods before age 4 months. Prevalence varied by milk feeding type (24.3%, 52.7%, and 50.2% for breastfed, formula-fed, and mixed-fed infants, respectively). The most commonly cited reasons for early introduction of solid food were as follows: “My baby was old enough,” “My baby seemed hungry,” “I wanted to feed my baby something in addition to breast milk or formula,” “My baby wanted the food I ate,” “A doctor or other health care professional said my baby should begin eating solid food,” and “It would help my baby sleep longer at night.” Four of these reasons varied by milk feeding type.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our findings highlight the high prevalence of early introduction of solids and provide details on why mothers introduced solid foods early.
Determining Factors and Establishment of Social Relations
Authors: Farkas Zoltán
Published: March 2013

A társadalmi viszony – egy korábban megjelent tanulmányban meghatározott – fogalmához kapcsolódva, ebben a tanulmányban a társadalmi viszonyok meghatározó tényezőivel és létrehozásával foglalkozunk. A tanulmány első részében a társadalmi viszonyok létrehozásában szerepet játszó tényezőkön belül először megkülönböztetjük a társadalmi viszonyok hordozóit, illetve belső meghatározóit és a társadalmi viszonyok külső meghatározó tényezőit, majd kiemeljük a legfőbbeket. A tanulmány második részében elemezzük a társadalmi viszonyokat létrehozó mechanizmust. A társadalmi viszonyokat létrehozó valóságos folyamat igen összetett; e folyamatot alkotó leglényegesebb hatásokat emeljük ki a szóban forgó mechanizmus elemzése során: (1) az intézmények kialakítása, (2) a viszonylag állandó dologi-technikai körülmények kialakítása, (3) az ellenőrzés megvalósítása és bizonyos dologi-technikai körülmények változtatása; e hatásokkal összefüggésben (4) a két fél cselekvési lehetőségeinek és érdekeinek a létrehozása, valamint (5) a két fél társadalmi képességeinek és társadalmi erőinek a létrehozása; mindezekkel összefüggésben (6) az érdekeket és az erőket alkotó cselekvési lehetőségek és képességek összekapcsolása a két fél között.
A New Paradigm for the Study of Religion
Authors: McMullin Steve
Published: March 2013

The assumptions of traditional secularization theory continue to be applied to contemporary religious experience. In an increasingly individualized society, and especially since the advent of the internet, it may be quite pointless to use such theory to explain religious life by comparing current religious experience with a more traditional religious past. This paper argues that the old secularization paradigm fails to consider ways that religious groups reflexively react to changing

social circumstances, and that it does not explain ways that religion itself has changed in a globalized world. The idea of a new paradigm is re-examined with regard to its potential to understand contemporary religious life.
You don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian
Authors: Walker David , Francis Leslie , Robbins Mandy
Published: March 2013

The notion that you don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian is accepted as an indicator of the form of implicit religiosity espoused by those who (in Bailey’s analysis) say that they “believe in Christianity.” The prevalence of this belief was examined in a sample of 1226 individuals attending harvest festival services in Anglican churches in rural Worcestershire. The data demonstrate that around two out of every three attenders (63%) endorsed this view of Christianity. The levels were highest among those who attended church less than six times a year (84%), and among those who never prayed (81%). Such high levels of endorsement among those who attend church for harvest festival services suggest that de-institutionalized implicit religion may be superseding commitment to conventional explicit religious attendance. This form of implicit religion could erode further the already weak connection between the rural church and rural society.
Protagoras's Assertion Revisited
Authors: Baggett Jerome P.
Published: March 2013

How scholars (and others) culturally frame what we mean by atheism matters when it comes to our analysis of it. Because we tend to frame it as something quite simple and certain—as a firm conviction that God does not exist, in other words—we seldom examine our presumptions in doing so or truly appreciate atheism’s connection to the oft-underestimated degree of religious uncertainty among Americans. We also tend to overlook the fact that the variety of atheism with which Americans are most familiar is actually one among conceivable others, a reality that this article examines with respect to its “official” iterations and then more fully in terms of what I call “non-official” or “lived” atheism. For this latter category, I explore two strands of atheist literature—atheist conversion accounts and atheist spirituality books—to argue that, at this popular level, atheists’ cultural frames are surprisingly similar to those deployed by other Americans, including religious ones, when thinking about their own lives.
"A Quaint and Dangerous Anachronism"? Who Supports the (Dis)Establishment of the Church of England?
Authors: Field Clive D.
Published: March 2013

This article synthesizes the contemporary evidence base for attitudes towards the Establishment of the Church of England, both as a principle and in terms of some of its specific manifestations. Secondary analysis is undertaken of 59 surveys of the general population, initially at headline level and subsequently by demographic sub-groups. Results from 22 studies of committed Anglicans (laity and clergy) are then summarized, for comparative purposes. Establishment and disestablishment do not emerge from this review as pressing issues, about which the majority of people feel especially strongly or are very knowledgeable. Nor are they necessarily holistic concepts, individual components being “picked and mixed” at will. There is no obvious groundswell of opinion for radical and urgent change, and thus little prospect of early steps to sever church-state links completely. Establishment is part of England’s religious furniture which is, in large measure, taken for granted or grudgingly accepted. It no longer entails much commitment and thus fails to meet the classic definition of implicit religion.
On the Totems of Science and Capitalism
Authors: Martin Craig
Published: March 2013

In Totemism, Claude Levi-Strauss alleges that the modern scientific world is just as marked by “totemism” as were so-called primitive societies. Despite the fact that the modern distinction between “science” and “religion” (or even between “civilized religions” and “primitive religions”) is premised on the idea that “they” have totems while “we” are rational and scientific, this distinction is itself totemic, so to speak. In a sense, Levi-Strauss is claiming that we are all (perhaps implicitly) religious, even we secular moderns. In making this claim, Levi-Strauss seems to want to close the gap between modern western culture and its “others”—“we” are not, upon reflection, so different from “them.”1 Although coming from a radically different theoretical position, Marshall Sahlins picks up the thesis of Totemism and extends it to argue that the modern western world is totemic, although our totems are imbricated with the means of production in late capitalism rather than kinship systems. In this paper I will reflect on Levi-Strauss’ and Sahlins’ theses by considering the extent to which it is useful to think of late capitalism as totemic or religious. This bears on the concept of “implicit religion,” insofar as it contributes to the argument that fundamental distinctions between “secularism” and “religion” fall apart upon close scrutiny, as many “implicit religion” theorists (and others within the Durkheimian tradition) have been claiming for years.
Clear cell acanthoma of the areola and nipple: clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical features of two Brazilian cases*
Authors: Veiga Rossana Ruth Garcia da , Barros Renata Silva , Santos Josie Eiras Bisi dos , Abreu Junior José Maria de Castro , Bittencourt Maraya de Jesus Semblano , Miranda Mario Fernando Ribeiro de
Published: March 2013

Clear cell acanthoma or Degos' acanthoma is a distinct disease concerning its clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical features. Its pathologic nature - whether neoplastic or reactive - is still under dispute among researchers. The disease shows a chronic course and often presents with a single papulonodular lesion on the lower limbs of adults. However, cases with multiple lesions, sometimes occurring in an eruptive fashion, and with clear variation in the size and shape of the cutaneous lesions have been reported. So far, five cases in which the lesions were exclusively located in the nipple area have been reported, all in Korean women. Four of these cases mimicked eczema and one, a polypoid nodule. The aim of this article is to present clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical features of two additional cases in Brazilian women with similar nipple topography.
Scanning electron microscopy of molluscum contagiosum*
Authors: Almeida Jr Hiram Larangeira de , Abuchaim Martha Oliveira , Schneide Maiko Abel , Marques Leandra , Castro Luis Antônio Suíta de
Published: March 2013

Molluscum contagiosum is a disease caused by a poxvirus. It is more prevalent in children up to 5 years of age. There is a second peak of incidence in young adults. In order to examine its ultrastructure, three lesions were curetted without disruption, cut transversely with a scalpel, and routinely processed for scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The oval structure of molluscum contagiosum could be easily identified. In its core, there was a central umbilication and just below this depression, there was a keratinized tunnel. Under higher magnification, a proliferation similar to the epidermis was seen. Moreover, there were areas of cells disposed like a mosaic. Under higher magnification, rounded structures measuring 0.4 micron could be observed at the end of the keratinized tunnel and on the surface of the lesion.
Allopurinol in the treatment of acquired reactive perforating collagenosis*
Authors: Tilz Hemma , Becker Jürgen Christian , Legat Franz , Schettini Antonio Pedro Mendes , Inzinger Martin , Massone Cesare
Published: March 2013

Acquired reactive perforating collagenosis is a perforating dermatosis usually associated with different systemic diseases, mainly diabetes mellitus and/or chronic renal insufficiency. Different therapies have been tried but treatment is not standardized yet and remains a challenge. In the last few years, allopurinol has been reported as a good therapeutic option for acquired reactive perforating collagenosis. We describe the case of a 73-year-old man affected by acquired reactive perforating collagenosis associated with diabetes type 1 and chronic renal failure with secondary hyperparathyroidism. The patient was successfully treated with allopurinol 100mg once/day p.o..
The use of nested Polymerase Chain Reaction (nested PCR) for the early diagnosis of Histoplasma capsulatum infection in serum and whole blood of HIV-positive patients*
Authors: Dantas Katia Cristina , Freitas Roseli S. , Moreira Adriana Pardini Vicentini , Silva Marcos Vinicius da , Benard Gil , Vasconcellos Cidia , Criado Paulo Ricardo
Published: March 2013

The aim of the study was to detect the rDNA sequences and their regions in Histoplasma capsulatum, which could be considered species-specific and used as a molecular method for this diagnosis by the technique of nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR), employing specific sequences (primers) for H. capsulatum: 18S rDNA region (HC18), 100 kDa (HC100) and the sequence 5.8 S-ITS rDNA (HC5.8). The PCR sequences HC18, HC100 and HC5.8 resulted in a specificity of 100%. The molecular assays may increase the specificity, sensitivity and speed in the diagnosis of Histoplasmosis.
The Portuguese Translation of Oyono'sUne vie de boy:José Saramago's Invisible Postcolonial Intervention
Authors: Ferreira Ana Paula
Published: March 2013

Translators are Typically invisible, noticed only when they blunder. how might one interpret, then, a book translated by a now very visible Nobel laureate, especially when the underlying text confronts controversial subjects that the laureate's own works avoid? Such is the case of the Portuguese writer José Saramago (1922-2010), who in 1981 translated Ferdinand Oyono's 1956Une vie de boy.In its press release announcing the 1998 Nobel for literature, the Swedish Academy called him a writer “who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality” (“Nobel Prize”). It is this ability to communicate what refuses fixed meaning that Walter Benjamin famously restored to the art of translation, endowing it with a philosophical and artistic distinction: “Even when all the surface content can be extracted and transmitted, the primary concern of the genuine translator remains elusive” (19). “Escrever é traduzir” (“To write is to translate”), Saramago would state years after he gained world visibility thanks to the translations of his works. In both cases, he argues, the objective is to pursue what lies beyond language, but the translator strives to communicate what may have been beyond not only the language of the original but also that of the translation (“Traduzir”). Saramago's translation of Oyono'sUne vie de boy, a text that readers of Saramago's oeuvre generally overlook along with his other translations, invites a consideration of how the elusive as an artistic value with broad appeal may relate to the local cultural contingencies informing the translator's language choices.
Ferdinand Oyono'sFlüchtige Spur Tundi Onduaand Germany's Cameroon
Authors: Langbehn Volker
Published: March 2013

Almost anyone who reads ferdinand oyono'sune vie de boy(1956) in any language will conclude that the novel focuses on French colonialism. But is it only about colonialism by the French? An analysis of the many German resonances throughout the text—as well as an engagement with the German translation ofUne vie de boy—suggests that it is about much more. Oyono'sUne vie de boyenables the reader to reflect on Europan colonialism more broadly beyond the role of France. The novel offers a lens onto Germany's colonial history because Cameroon was a former colonial “protectorate” of the German empire. This historical context, therefore, placesUne vie de boyin both national and transnational contexts. While my reading addresses possible connections or similarities between French and German colonialism, the publication in German itself adds an important layer to the understanding ofUne vie de boyin Germany. In consideration of the political activism of the novel's German publisher, Johann (Hans) Fladung (1898-1982), the publication of Oyono's novel can be read as a criticism of German historiography in the 1950s, which frequently avoided Germany's colonial history, a history that has been linked with the crimes of the Holocaust (Zimmerer).
Race and Revolution: Blackness in China's Long Twentieth Century
Authors: Shih Shu-Mei
Published: March 2013

It is in the context of race and revolution during china's long twentieth century that we can best understand the many implications of Ferdinand Oyono's Une vie de boy (1956) in China, where it was translated into the standard Sinitic script as (“The Life of a Boy Servant”) in 1984.

The cycle that had begun as a national strengthening movement in the 1890s achieved some kind of completion or vindication with the early-twenty-first-century rise of China on the world stage. Chinese sovereignty was not only achieved during this century but flaunted; revolutions were not only won but largely put aside. Throughout this process, racial thinking played a crucial role, but its significance has been largely ignored because of an all-consuming nationalism that justified itself through a discourse of wounding: China was the victim of Western imperialism and the object of racism. Racism was and is supposed to be a problem for other, principally Western nations, with tainted histories of slavery and imperialism—hence the failure to acknowledge that Chinese nationalism actually has a distinct, though shifting, racial character. Chinese racial nationalism, and, for a time, racial internationalism under Mao, was a major undercurrent in China's revolutionary sequence in the long twentieth century: the late Qing reform and the ensuing republican revolution of 1911, which overthrew the Manchu Qing dynasty; the communist revolution of 1949, which drove out Western and Japanese imperialism and overthrew the republican government; and the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, the end of which started China on the path to postsocialism, or “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Ferdinand Oyono in Vietnamese: Translation after Socialism and Colonialism
Authors: Tran Ben
Published: March 2013

Of the fourteen translations of Ferdinand Oyono's une vie de boy published to date, the Vietnamese translation, Đới Làm bồi, dates last, despite Vietnam and Cameroon's shared past under French colonialism. Nguyễn Như đat, the novel's Vietnamese translator, had anticipated that his version, published in 1997, would not find much of a market. The translator's pessimism was warranted, since the Vietnam of the late 1990s drastically differed from the two Vietnams of 1956, when Oyono's novel was originally published. Partitioned after the 1954 Geneva Accords and fighting against each other in the Second Indochina War, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and the Republic of Vietnam in the south were unified at the war's end, in 1975, under a socialist government. But since 1986 Vietnam has been engaged in the capitalist world market, albeit under the banner of socialism. Given this context of market socialism, the Vietnamese translation of Oyono's anticolonial novel seems to have lagged temporally: it was published at a time when literary translations in Vietnam began trending away from anticolonialism and toward, for example, Raymond Carver's minimalism, Haruki Murakami's surreal handling of alienation, and, more recently, Vladimir Nabokov's perversely defamiliarizing style.
“Monsieur Toundi—the Man”: The Soviet Life of Ferdinand Oyono's Une vie de boy in Russian Translation
Authors: Valentine Sarah
Published: March 2013

Most literary scholars based in the united states think of the postcolonial as a largely first and third world affair, neglecting the vast Second World and the socialist dynamics that shaped the postcolonial world in the decades after World War II. The Soviet Russian translation of Ferdinand Oyono's 1956 literary classic Une vie de boy highlights the sustained and complex interactions between the Soviet world and colonial and postcolonial Africa that have played an important role in the development of postcoloniality.
Bede's Liberation Philology: Releasing the English Tongue
Authors: Dumitrescu Irina A.
Published: March 2013

In his tale of the miraculous healing of a mute youth inThe Ecclesiastical History of the English People(bk. 5, ch. 2), Bede figures language pedagogy as poetic emancipation. The tongue's loosening is an escape from physical disability and a figurative deliverance from the bonds of pagan sin through baptismal gesture. It also signifies liberation from the desolation of being trapped in one's own consciousness, a freeing into communion with other people. Bede uses the figure of a linguistically disabled youth to explore the grammatical underpinnings of all language, spoken or written. While he depicts the sacramental aspects of Latinate language learning, he also makes a startling move, hinting that English, a tongue ideologically and geographically peripheral, can adopt the pedagogies of Latin for its own secular uses. The story is an interpretative capstone to Bede's accounts of Cædmon, Imma, and Gregory I's encounter with English slaves in a Roman marketplace.
Whitman's Children
Authors: Coviello Peter
Published: March 2013

Looking at Walt Whitman's Civil War writings—especially his memoirMemoranda during the Warand his letters of consolation—this essay argues that Whitman discovered in the war a way to enlarge the vision of sex and sexual possibility he had initiated in the “Calamus” poems of 1860. Taking as a point of departure the babies named Walt that were born after the war to soldiers for whom Whitman had cared, the essay describes the multiplicity of roles the poet inhabits in the war writing (mother, father, nurse, lover, confidant, scribe) and reads his acts of surrogacy as efforts to restore carnality, in its world-making force, to family and, in particular, to parenthood. Whitman's project of queer generation, the essay argues, usefully complicates recent scholarship on sex, time, and futurity.
Shear strength of microfine cement grouted sands
Authors: Markou Ioannis N. , Droudakis Alexandros I.
Published: March 2013

Unconsolidated–undrained (single and multi-stage) triaxial compression tests were conducted to evaluate the shear strength of microfine cement grouted sands. Microfine cements of three different types were obtained by pulverising ordinary cements produced in Greece. Multi-stage triaxial compression tests can be used dependably for determination of the shear strength parameters of cement grouted sands. It has been observed that the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion represents adequately the behaviour of the grouted sands. Grouting with microfine cement suspensions improves the strength of sands significantly, and the improvement is primarily controlled by the water-to-cement (W/C) ratio of the suspensions. The positive effect of microfine cement grouting on the shear strength of sands is mainly the addition of cohesion, which is substantial even at a distance of 1·2 m from the injection point. Grouting with suspension, using W/C = 1 provides the sand with cohesion of about 2·6 MPa. The shear strength parameters vary with axial strain, and cohesion attains a maximum value well before failure.
Five-phase composite sphere model for chloride diffusivity prediction of recycled aggregate concrete
Authors: Ying Jingwei , Xiao Jianzhuang , Shen Luming , Bradford Mark A.
Published: March 2013

A five-phase composite sphere model for the matrix in recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is proposed and a closed-form solution for chloride diffusivity is calibrated with available experimental data. Based on a parametric study, it is found that the chloride diffusivity of RAC with Fuller gradation is always smaller than that with an equal volume fraction gradation. Furthermore, the chloride diffusivity of RAC decreases with an increase in minimum aggregate diameter whereas it increases with the old residual mortar content, recycled aggregate replacement rate and thickness of the old interfacial transition zone.
Bottom outlet dam flow: physical and numerical modelling
Authors: Daneshmand Farhang , Adamowski Jan , Liaghat Tahereh
Published: March 2013

This paper presents an analysis of flow parameters through a bottom outlet conduit with gated operation using physical and numerical models. A physical model of the regulating bottom outlet of Shahryar dam in Iran was used to investigate the hydraulic forces on the service radial gate and flow patterns within the conduit. The model was constructed from Plexiglas, and discharge and pressure data were recorded for different gate openings. The Froude law of similarity was satisfied in the hydraulic modelling, allowing for an investigation of the dynamic similarity of inertial and gravitational forces. The numerical scheme was based on using the natural-element method to study hydraulic forces and flow parameters within the conduit and the finite-element method to evaluate the natural frequencies of the radial gate. The results of the calculations for different radial gate openings showed good agreement with those from physical modelling for the pressure distributions throughout the flow domain and on the gate.
Restoring Monobore Well Life with Novel Coiled Tubing Gas Lift Dip Tube in a Highly Corrosive Environment
Authors: Manatrakool Chaipayong , Dyer Stephen , Son Nguyen Hoang
Published: March 2013

Monobore wells have been a staple of the oil and gas industry for many years due to their simplicity and flexibility for common intervention techniques. One downside comes when a producing interval or intervals start depleting, compromising lift performance. Velocity strings have been successfully deployed in monobore gas wells to improve lift performance. Retrofitting oil wells, such as presented here, with a gas lift string can significantly enhance the productive life of a well. Performing this retrofit rig less offers additional opportunities in maintaining field production from more marginal wells not especially suited to full work over operations.

Retrofitting completions rig less presents a number of technical and operational challenges. Gas lift utilizing a coiled tubing (CT) dip tube and the associated valve sizing, setting depths, and lift gas optimization are discussed in the context of the reservoir conditions and well parameters. The mechanical aspects associated with the hanging of the dip tube, thermal effects, and corrosion inhibition present specific challenges similar to conventional completions, but with the complexity of deployment under live well conditions.

Well control aspects associated with deployment, retrieval, and production are important considerations both technically and operationally. The Pressure Control Equipment (PCE) stack must be suited to the dip tube completion components, while providing effective barriers to secure well during deployment and emergency scenarios. The ability to connect, test, and deploy several gas lift mandrels suitably spaced with coil tubing "tubing" are operationally challenging. The deployment aspects are thus fundamental to the success of the concept.

During a job in Thailand, a corrosive, high-CO2, nonproducing monobore oil well was revived using a corrosion-resistant CT dip-tube gas lift completion. The project successfully restored well production from zero flow to 900 B/D. Conceptual design, tool selections, key technical decisions, and operational aspects are discussed.
Electric-Line Pipe-Cutting Operation Optimizes Completion Removal, Offshore Russia
Authors: Otten Howard , Connon Bill , McKay Alex , Kirsanov Kirill , McGillivray Moray
Published: March 2013

In 2012, in its first field trial, an electric-line-conveyed mechanical cutting tool was used to cut completion tubing in a well off the east coast of Russia. This e-line cutting tool required no explosives, no chemicals, and no subsequent run to dress the top of the cut, as is typically the case with conventional pipe-cutting methods. With these characteristics, the operator did not have to address any of the operational and administrative concerns or costs associated with conventional explosive methods such as: extra procedures, time for safe handling, limited vessel traffic, added security, nor additional operational rig time to dress off the flaired cut end before removal.

On a previous workover, the operator had experienced problems pulling a packer, debris was suspected in the annulus resulting from an explosive cut then subsequent run to dress off the flaired end. Therefore, they were looking for a different method for tubing cutting operations, one with reduced risk, reduced debris, and fewer post-cutting tasks prior to removing the tubing and completion.

In the first trial, the tool was used to successfully cut 4-1/2-inch, 12.6-lb/ft tubing in a 57° deviated well, at a depth of more than 2,133.6 m. Total operating time was six hours and actual cutting time approximately 80 minutes. The e-line cutting tool cut the tubing cleanly without flairing or creating substantial debris, leaving a smooth, beveled interior which can be fished without dressing off the cut using a conventional overshot.
Solids Cleanout Analysis Reduces Screen Out Risk
Authors: Aitken B. , Li J.
Published: March 2013

A mechanical packer and abrasive perforator, conveyed by Coiled tubing(CT), grants great flexibility to the design of an annular fracturing treatment. On the downside the solids from a previous fracture treatment, or abrasive perforation cut, can be picked up by the subsequent pad fluid leading to a screen out. This is complicated by the fact that tolerance to solids varies between formations. To avoid this, solids transport during abrasive perforating, fracturing, displacement, and cleaning must be considered. Unique to this analysis is the ability to model the distribution of solids at any point in time, and the subsequent pick up of solids by the clean pad fluid. This leads to an unprecedented job optimization opportunity for reservoirs that can tolerate some solids in the initial pad stage, and risk mitigation for those which can’t.

The model considers a transient mass balance for the solids bed and slurry. Non-uniform distribution of solids in the slurry is considered, which means the solids are not transported with the average slurry velocity. A drift flux model relates solids velocity in the slurry to the average slurry velocity. The difference between these is described by two terms. The first term accounts for variation in the cross sectional profiles of liquid velocity and solids concentration. This considers turbulent diffusion, settling velocity, and a liquid velocity profile based on Prandtl mixing length theory. The second term accounts for the interaction of gravity and buoyancy.

Experiments to measure cleaning time involved a transparent pipe with a smaller pipe located eccentrically inside and a known amount of solids. Water is then injected through the smaller pipe and circulated in the annulus to clean the solids. The time required to remove all solids from the annulus is measured for a number of deviation angles and flow rates.

Simulation results are compared to experimental data at all deviation angles. A field case is presented for a well that initially screened out during the pad after abrasive perforating. Finally a sample simulation details the solids transport for the entire process and a cleanout that was required following a screen out in the fracturing stage. This highlights how the model can be used to predict the axial distribution of solids in coiled tubing and wellbore at any time, for uphill and downhill flows, at all deviation angles.
Selectively Retrievable Coiled-Tubing Whipstock Provides Retrieval Options Without Loss of Production
Authors: Mack Anthony , Glaser Mark , Rossing Mike
Published: March 2013

Coiled-tubing (CT) intervention services involving casing exits require the use of a whipstock assembly, which consists of a milling assembly, concave, and anchor. The anchor secures the concave, keeping it from traveling downhole while performing the sidetrack. The self-orienting packer and latch system provides the option to retrieve the packer on the same trip as the concave and latch or leave the packer in the well as a datum for a lateral or re-entry. The system also allows for torque transmittal from the milling assembly to the packer’s slips. The packer has an open bore that allows production to flow through the packer when it is left in the well.

The retrievable whipstock packer and latch system is deployed on coiled-tubing or wireline in normal or sour-service applications for wells that require the flexibility to retrieve the packer or drill additional laterals or re-entries using an adjustable, self-orienting whipstock.

The packer and latch whipstock have been used in several lab and function tests. This paper describes the lab tests and results that this self-orienting, trip-saving whipstock packer and latch system has successfully completed.

The selective retrievability of the whipstock packer and latch system provides the option of retrieving the packer on the same trip as the whipstock or leaving it downhole for additional laterals or re-entries. It shears out of the packer after the lateral has been drilled, immediately giving the operator the option to re-engage and retrieve the packer. By reducing the number of trips needed for total tool retrieval, the time needed to begin producing from the lateral, as well as the time required to employ a crew for such tasks, is reduced. The bore of the packer allows for the flow of oil and/or gas from existing lower zones to prevent a loss of production. The 360° adjustability of the latch allows adjustment of the trip-in orientation of the whipstock for a lateral in any direction.
Coiled-Tubing Jet Cutting Multiple Stage Fracture Treating Improves Fracture Treatment Techniques to Unlock Bypassed Reserves in Cotton Valley Sands, Dorcheat Macedonia Field, Magnolia Arkansas
Authors: Pomrenke R. W. , Strain Jim , Davis R. , Bell Chuck
Published: March 2013

Coil Tubing Jet Cutting-Multiple Stage Fracture Treating in SW Arkansas Lower Cotton Valley Sands is the key to economic development of previously bypassed reserves in layered Cotton Valley reservoir. Changes from previous hydraulic fracture treatments are categorized as follows: (1) focus fracture coverage per stage by sand jet cutting each stage with treatment fluids pumped via coil tubing and using sand plugs or packer assembly for zonal isolation between stages, (2) annular fracture treatments using reduced pump rates to limit fracture height growth, (3) proppant with higher strength and conductivity, and (4) environmental friendly chemicals to enhance flow back and increase oil production.

Bonanza Creek Energy, due to increased environmental considerations, changed to an environmental friendly fluid system. Substitutions which provide improved environmental chemistry, while supporting formation stability of clay, offer reduced environmental risk eliminating conventional polymeric chemistry. Recovery of fracture treatment fluids approach 30% of treatment volumes. The fracture fluid is a cross-linked 30# system, borate guar, loaded with optimized breaker schedule and enhanced surfactants. The high viscosity allows for adequate fracture width generation for placement of preferred 16/30 proppant at low pump rates.

The past hydraulic fracture treatments of the Lower Cotton Valley Sands separated the 500 ft gross Cotton Valley/Haynesville interval into two (2) treatment stages with limited entry perforating of sands in each stage Fracture treatments in 2007 typically used 150,000# of 20/40 Ottawa Sand per stage pumped at 30-50 BPM down the casing. Tracer surveys and production logging have shown that these treatments were not effective in treating all the reservoir layers of sand.

The new method of fracture treatment has unlocked previously bypassed reserves. Credit for the higher initial flow rates and ultimate recoveries are estimated to be 70% due the contributions of coil cutting technology, 20% due the improved proppant strength and conductivity and 10% due the improvements in the fluid system. One hundred six (106) wells have been drilled and stimulated using the new method of fracturing and 100+ wells are in inventory at 10-acre spacing.
Reducing Water Volume in Multistage Fracturing Using Sliding Sleeves and Coiled-Tubing-Deployed, Resettable Frac Isolation
Authors: Schlosser Daniel , Lane Craig , Laun Lyle
Published: March 2013

The volume of fresh water being used to fracture oil and gas wells is of growing concern to operating companies because it is a significant expense that involves purchase, transportation, onsite storage, heating, chemical additives, and post-treatment disposal. Reducing frac water volumes is important to reducing the environmental impact and improving the economics of multistage completions.

Current multistage methods include plug-and-perf and ball-drop frac sleeves. Both of these methods bullhead frac fluids and sand down the casing and consume large quantities of water. In recent years, fracturing techniques using coiled tubing have dramatically reduced the amount of frac water required while delivering equivalent or superior results. These techniques combine coiled tubing with sliding sleeves and resettable frac isolation. The coiled tubing provides a means of circulating fluids to the frac zone, as opposed to bullheading, and enables the sliding sleeves to be shifted mechanically without using pump-down balls.

When the frac is pumped down the annulus between the casing and coiled tubing (annular fracturing), water use is reduced by as much as 20% compared to methods that do not use coiled tubing during the fracturing process. For many multistage completions, water volume can be reduced up to 50% by pumping frac fluids through the coiled tubing. This paper describes these systems and their deployment and includes a case history describing how one operator reduced water use significantly through the application of this method without compromising treatment volumes or stimulation design parameters, while still achieving all of the original completion objectives.
Electric-Line Milling System Removes Stuck Frac Sleeve without Damaging the Subsurface Safety Valve Landing Nipple
Authors: Igwe Josiah , Diller Carl , Harris Robert (Bob) , Albright Jeremy , Lykkebo Jesper
Published: March 2013

This is a case study for a well intervention job that was conducted in the Prudhoe Bay Unit field, Alaska. It describes the successful use of an electric line milling system to remove a protective frac sleeve that was stuck in a subsurface safety valve (SSSV) landing nipple.

Past attempts to remove the sleeve with conventional methods were unsuccessful. Those attempts included slickline, coiled tubing (CT), and pulling 110,000 lbf with a workover rig using a through-tubing work string. At the time, the sleeve did not interfere with production, so it was left in the well.

However, an unrelated tubing leak developed below the stuck frac sleeve. The well had to be shut in until the frac sleeve could be pulled to allow installation of a tubing patch.

Milling the frac sleeve with coiled tubing or replacing the entire tubing string with a workover rig was considered. However, cost and time could be reduced if the frac sleeve could be milled with an electric-line (e-line) conveyed bottomhole assembly (BHA).

The e-line tool string included a wireline release device, an electric-over-hydraulic tractor with stroking tool, electric milling motor, and burning shoe with integral centralizer and no-go. The burning shoe was designed to reduce the outside diameter (OD) of the frac sleeve but preserve the packing bore inside diameter (ID) of the SSSV landing nipple. The tractor-stroker-miller tool string was run in the well and tagged the sleeve at 2,119 ft measured depth (MD) where milling continued for approximately 4 ½ hours. After E-line milling was completed, slickline was rigged up for fishing operations and successfully pulled the frac sleeve. The tubing repair was completed and the well was returned to production.

This intervention technology can be used in other wellbores requiring precision milling. The solution proved successful and is a cost-effective alternative to conventional methods for milling obstructions.
Retrieval of an Inflatable Plug Using Only Slickline and Electric-Line Technology
Authors: Smith Ben , Stricker Jeffrey , Reckert Kevin , Thibodeaux Floyd , Luviano Angel , Kent Duane
Published: March 2013

When changing out completions in producing wells, inflatable tubing plugs are frequently used to control fluid loss and to protect equipment below the work area from the debris that results from pipe recovery and workover operations. To navigate the narrow inside diameter (ID) of production tubing, the plug is run deflated; it is inflated at the desired measured depth to create a barrier during workover operations; and then, when work is complete, deflated again for removal.

To protect the inflatable plug—especially its retrieval mechanism—from falling-debris damage during workover, a common practice is to use a protective fill, such as sand or proppant, on top of the plug. Of course, before the plug can be removed, both the debris and the sand must first be removed. Traditionally a slickline bailer is used to remove the debris and sand up to the top of the plug's external fishing neck. Then coiled tubing (CT) is used to wash away enough of the remaining sand from around the neck of the plug so that a slickline-deployed retrieving tool can latch onto the plug and retrieve it.

The operator had learned about a new electric-line, high-pressure suction tool that could be used instead of CT to remove the fill from around the plug's external neck, thereby eliminating the extra time, cost, and HSE risks associated with CT use. During workover operations on a Gulf of Mexico well, the operator decided to put the electric-line suction tool to the test to determine its viability as a cost-effective alternative to CT.

This paper describes the successful use of the electric-line power suction tool to clean sand from around the inflatable packer's external neck, which allowed the plug to be removed and production to resume.
Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) and Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease: Is There a Link?
Authors: Tugnet Nicola , Rylance Paul , Roden Denise , Trela Malgorzata , Nelson Paul
Published: March 2013

Autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as RA and SLE, are caused by genetic, hormonal and environmental factors. Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) may be triggers of autoimmune rheumatic disease. HERVs are fossil viruses that began to be integrated into the human genome some 30-40 million years ago and now make up 8% of the genome. Evidence suggests HERVs may cause RA and SLE, among other rheumatic diseases. The key mechanisms by which HERVS are postulated to cause disease include molecular mimicry and immune dysregulation. Identification of HERVs in RA and SLE could lead to novel treatments for these chronic conditions. This review summarises the evidence for HERVs as contributors to autoimmune rheumatic disease and the clinical implications and mechanisms of pathogenesis are discussed.