bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From precocious fame to mature obscurity: David Walker (1837–1917) MD, LRCSI, surgeon and naturalist to the Fox Arctic Expedition of 1857–59
Authors: Froggatt Peter , Walker Brian M
Published: November 2012

The Belfast-born David Walker was the 19-year-old surgeon and naturalist on the epic Fox Arctic Expedition (1857–59) that established the fate of Sir John Franklin's unsuccessful (1845) search for the North-West Passage. On return the crew were fêted as heroes and decorated, and shared in a £5000 government bounty: Walker was also received by the Queen and (in Ireland) by the Lord Lieutenant, was honoured by the principal British and Irish natural history societies and his portrait was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, London. This paper describes his adventurous life, including the Fox Expedition, which from 1862 was spent abroad and included time in the Cariboo gold fields, service in the United States Army, practice in a notorious Californian frontier town and, in later life, the comparative quiet of general and occupational medical practice in Portland, Oregon. Once a household name, his death went unrecorded in the British and Irish medical and lay press.
Medical memorials in Antarctica: a gazetteer of medical place-names
Authors: Sullivan Peter , Pearn John
Published: November 2012

In Antarctica an astonishing more than 300 ‘medical’ place-names record the lives of surgeons and physicians who have served as leaders, clinicians and scientists in the field of polar medicine and other doctors memorialized for their service to medicine. These enduring medical memorials are to be found in the names of glaciers, mountains, capes and islands of the vast frozen Southern Continent. This Antarctic Medical Gazetteer features, inter alii, doctor-expedition leaders, including Jean-Baptiste Charcot (1867–1936) of France and Desmond Lugg (b. 1938) of Australia. The Medical Gazetteer lists 43 geographical features on Brabant Island that were named after famous doctors. This Gazetteer also includes a collection of medical place-names on the Loubet Coast honouring Dr John Cardell (1896–1966) and nine other pioneers who worked on the prevention of snow blindness and four islands of the Lyall Islands Group, including Surgeon Island, named after United States Antarctic Medical Officers. Eleven geographic features (mountains, islands, nunataks, lakes and more) are named after Australian doctors who have served with the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions based at Davis Station. Biographic memorials in Antarctica comprise a collective witness of esteem, honouring in particular those doctors who have served in Antarctica where death and injury remains a constant threat.
Shear Behaviour of Ligthweight Sandwich Reinforced Concrete Slabs
Authors: Wahyuni Ade S. , Vimonsatit Vanissorn , Nikraz Hamid
Published: November 2012

A new lightweight sandwich reinforced concrete (LSRC) section has been developed using prefabricated autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks as infill in the section where concrete is considered ineffective under bending. This paper presents an investigation into the strength and behaviour of LSRC slabs subjected to shear. Eight tests were conducted on four slabs, one solid and three different types of LSRC slabs. Based on the test results, all LSRC slabs exhibited similar behaviour to the equivalent solid slab and had varying shear capacities depending on the profile of AAC blocks infill. The obtained shear capacities were compared with the design values based on several major design codes and found to be within the safety predictions of the codes. ANSYS was employed to develop nonlinear finite element models of LSRC slabs. The numerical results agree well with the experimental one.
Human Capital Investments and Employee Performance: An Analysis of IT Services Industry
Authors: Bapna Ravi , Langer Nishtha , Mehra Amit , Gopal Ram , Gupta Alok
Published: November 2012

The rapid pace of technological innovation necessitates that information technology (IT) services firms continually invest in replenishing the skills of their key asset base, the human capital. We examine whether human capital investments directed toward employee training are effective in improving employee performance. Our rich employee level panel data set affords us the opportunity to link formal training with performance at the individual employee level. Using a dynamic panel model, we identify a significant positive impact of training on employee performance. A unit increase in training is linked to a 2.14% increase in an employee's performance. Interestingly, we find that in the IT sector, skills atrophy and consequently high-experience employees reap higher returns from training, which highlights the uniquely dynamic nature of IT knowledge and skills. We also find that general training that an employee can utilize outside the focal firm improves employee performance. However, specific training pertinent to the focal firm is not positively linked to performance. On the other hand, although domain and technical training both enhance employee performance individually, the interaction between the two suggests a substitutive relationship. Thus, our findings suggest that the value of training is conditional on a focused curricular approach that emphasizes a structured competency development program. Our findings have both theoretical and practical significance. Most important, they justify increased human capital investments to fuel future growth in this important component of the global economy.

This paper was accepted by Lorin Hitt, information systems.
Price Dispersion and Loss-Leader Pricing: Evidence from the Online Book Industry
Authors: Li Xinxin , Gu Bin , Liu Hongju
Published: November 2012

In this paper, we develop a theoretical model to analyze the pricing strategies of competing retailers with asymmetric cross-selling capabilities when product demand changes. Our results suggest that retailers with better opportunities for cross-selling have higher incentives to adopt loss-leader pricing on high-demand products than retailers with low cross-selling capabilities. As a result, price dispersion of a product across retailers rises when its demand increases. The predictions of our model are consistent with the empirical evidence from the online book retailing industry. Using product breadth as a proxy for cross-selling capability, we find that retailers with high cross-selling capabilities reduce prices on best sellers more aggressively than retailers with low cross-selling capabilities. As a result, price dispersion increases when a book makes it to the best-seller list, and the increase is mainly driven by the difference in pricing behavior between retailers with different cross-selling capabilities. Our empirical results are robust against a number of alternative explanations.

This paper was accepted by Sandra Slaughter, information systems.
On Kusuoka Representation of Law Invariant Risk Measures
Authors: Shapiro Alexander
Published: November 2012

In this paper we discuss representations of law invariant coherent risk measures in a form of integrals of the average value-at-risk measures. We show that such an integral representation exists iff the dual set of the considered risk measure is generated by one of its elements, and this representation is uniquely defined. On the other hand, representation of risk measures as a maximum of such integral forms is not unique. The suggested approach gives a constructive way for writing such representations.
Robust Markov Decision Processes
Authors: Wiesemann Wolfram , Kuhn Daniel , Rustem Berç
Published: November 2012

Markov decision processes (MDPs) are powerful tools for decision making in uncertain dynamic environments. However, the solutions of MDPs are of limited practical use because of their sensitivity to distributional model parameters, which are typically unknown and have to be estimated by the decision maker. To counter the detrimental effects of estimation errors, we consider robust MDPs that offer probabilistic guarantees in view of the unknown parameters. To this end, we assume that an observation history of the MDP is available. Based on this history, we derive a confidence region that contains the unknown parameters with a prespecified probability 1-β. Afterward, we determine a policy that attains the highest worst-case performance over this confidence region. By construction, this policy achieves or exceeds its worst-case performance with a confidence of at least 1-β. Our method involves the solution of tractable conic programs of moderate size.
Using Open Captions to Revise Writing in Digital Stories Composed by d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
Authors: Strassman Barbara K. , O’Dell Katie
Published: November 2012

U sing a nonexperimental design , the researchers explored the effect of captioning as part of the writing process of individuals who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing. Sixty-nine d/Deaf and hard of hearing middle school students composed responses to four writing-to-learn activities in a word processor. Two compositions were revised and published with software that displayed texts as captions to digital images; two compositions were revised with a word processor and published on paper. Analysis showed increases in content-area vocabulary, text length, and inclusion of main ideas and details for texts revised in the captioning software. Given the nonexperimental design, it is not possible to determine the extent to which the results could be attributed to captioned revisions. However, the findings do suggest that the images acted as procedural facilitators, triggering recall of vocabulary and details.
Edward Bysshe and The Art of English Poetry : Reading Writing in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Bernard Stephen Jarrod
Published: November 2012

First published in 1702, Edward Bysshe's The Art of English Poetry presents us with the reading and associational world of an almost unknown man. Coming in three parts: "Rules," "A Dictionary," and "A Collection," The Art of English Poetry was the pre-eminent prosodic handbook, rhyming dictionary and dictionary of quotations of the eighteenth century, being expanded and reprinted nine times. This essay focuses in particular on "A Collection"—a commonplace book of literary quotations—showing its history, construction, and what it has to tell us about the reading habits of the 1690s and the early decades of the eighteenth century.
Name Hunting, Visual Characteristics, and "New Old Masters": Tracking the Taste for Paintings at Eighteenth-Century Auctions
Authors: Lyna Dries
Published: November 2012

In research on the historical formation of the art canon, market valuations are usually perceived as mere reflections of the constant reexamination of the canon that took place elsewhere, in art theoretical treatises and artists' biographies. Questions on the exact relationship between market forces, individual preferences, and theoretical art canons have not been part of the research agenda. The article addresses this complex interplay by examining buyers' behavior at eighteenth-century auction sales in the Southern Netherlands. Over 5000 lots of paintings allow us to map out taste patterns for art, compare the market's ranking of artists with the canon, and detect specific buyer behavior at art auctions in the late eighteenth century.
Interrogating the "Gap" Between Law and Justice: East Timor's Serious Crimes Process
Authors: Kent Lia
Published: November 2012

War crimes trials are claimed to hold the capacity to contribute to a range of ambitious justice goals in post-conflict societies, such as the public recognition of victims' experiences, the promotion of respect for the rule of law, and the fostering of reconciliation. This article unsettles these claims through a case study of the UN-sponsored Serious Crimes Process in East Timor. It charts the practical and political constraints upon the Serious Crimes Process which undermined its ability to achieve its own goals. In addition, it draws on interviews with East Timorese survivors to demonstrate the difficulties faced by the Serious Crimes Process in fully meeting locally grounded demands for justice. This analysis illustrates the inherent limits of war crimes trials in responding to calls for justice, which transcend the possibilities of the criminal law.
A Geography of Human Rights Abuses
Authors: Selya Roger Mark
Published: November 2012

What can geography as a discipline contribute towards a better understanding of human rights issues? Based on an analysis of three maps, selected from a larger set of thirty-two generated from data abstracted from 720 Amnesty International Freedom Writers Letters, this study finds that the number and frequency of human rights abuses over the past twenty years has remained stable at best. A set of ten confounding factors are indentified to explain this lack of progress towards improving worldwide human rights. This article concludes that geographers and human rights scholars could profit in their work by collaborating and consulting with one another's research.
Massacres and Morality: Mass Killing in an Age of Civilian Immunity
Authors: Bellamy Alex J.
Published: November 2012

The norm of civilian immunity, which holds that civilians must not be intentionally targeted in war or subjected to mass killing, is widely supported and considered a jus cogens principle of international law. Yet not only does mass killing remain a recurrent feature of world politics, but perpetrators sometimes avoid criticism or punishment. This article argues that the paradox can be explained by understanding that civilian immunity confronts a protracted struggle with competing ideologies, some of which have proven resilient, and that decisions about how to interpret the norm in specific cases are subject to intervening contextual variables.
The Performance of Information Flows in the Art of Stephen Willats
Authors: Irish Sharon
Published: November 2012

In the 1970s artist Stephen Willats wanted to explore participation and interaction within an art context. He viewed participation and interaction as ways to help those involved in art gain control of their environments. With that in mind, he created the means to collect, sort, code, process, and use data to foster exchanges, essentially performing information flows using computers to help examine social systems. Willats expanded his art beyond any particular fixed object to stress the process of change. Meta Filter and the Edinburgh Social Model Construction Project enacted exchanges of information among groups, instantiating Willats’s cybernetic way of thinking.
Computer Science in French Universities: Early Entrants and Latecomers
Authors: Mounier-Kuhn Pierre
Published: November 2012

How do new disciplines develop in certain universities more than in others? The history of computing in France suggests a model to describe the development process that shapes the geography of science. In the 1950s a few professors of numerical analysis, often associated with a school of electrical engineering, created threefold structures comprising courses in applied mathematics, a computing facility, and a research laboratory. Such local configurations initiated a cumulative development process, attracting more resources and opening the field to novel investigations in computer science. In other universities, these configurations were not completed, and computing remained confined to technical training. In the 1960s pioneers became leaders in the growing field and controlled the definition of computer science curricula. As the institutes they had created reached considerable size, these leaders began to spin off junior professors toward other universities. The centers remain major academic institutions in the discipline today.
Libri Nigromantici: The Good, the Bad, and the Ambiguous in John of Morigny's Flowers of Heavenly Teaching
Authors: Fanger Claire
Published: November 2012

John of Morigny is one of a scant handful of fourteenth-century authors who admit to using several kinds of magic including necromancy, yet the evidence offered by his major work, the Flowers of Heavenly Teaching, about late medieval construction of of these darker magical categories remains largely unexplored. This article takes a closer look at evidence in this text for John's construction of nigromantia, in particular the middle ground of the nigromancia that was on occasion construed as licit, or at least not as sinful as practices involving deliberate and conscious demonic invocation.
"Guarding the Guards": The Failure of the Colonial State to Govern Police Violence in Sudan, ca. 1922-1956
Authors: Berridge William
Published: November 2012

This article explores the nature and causes of police violence in Condominium Sudan. It contends that rather than demonstrating the sheer strength of the British colonial state and its distance from Sudanese society, police violence provided evidence of its weakness, its limited technical capacity, and its general social porosity. The British administration was unable or unwilling to develop a systematically regulated and heavily institutionalized police force, and thus struggled to prevent the police being manipulated to serve the interests of particular ethnic, religious, or political factions. The technical fragility and limited resources of the police also placed them in a position where they were forced to employ immediate and physical forms of coercion rather than more pervasive and indirect ones.
The Making of the 1990 Manifesto: Somalia's Last Chance for State Survival
Authors: Ingiriis Mohamed Haji
Published: November 2012

The Somali elites' attempt in 1990 to save their society from dissolution has been all but forgotten since Somalia's government collapsed in 1991; their failure remains a neglected theme in Somali studies. This study examines an attempt made months before the fall of the Somali military regime in January 1991. The study treats such a community-led endeavor as a missed chance that Somalia could have been prevented from plunging into a complete collapse, the phenomenon of all against all that is yet prevalent in Somalia. It departs the question of what can the history of the final months before the 'civil' war tell us about the alternatives that local actors envisioned? The study argues that to seek a solution to what is currently occurring in Somalia, a glance of history is necessary.
Thought in the Strenuous Mood: Pragmatism as a Philosophy of Feeling
Authors: Shusterman Richard
Published: November 2012

One striking way that William James characterized pragmatism was in terms of “the strenuous mood,” a mood of energetic striving and willingness to endure difficulties and risks in the melioristic effort to improve experience. This paper explores the different ways that such mood (along with affect more generally) was central not only to James’s pragmatism but that of C. S. Peirce and John Dewey and also finds important expression in Richard Rorty’s neopragmatism. Examining the philosophical functions of mood and affect in the theories of these philosophers, this paper also articulates some of the differences between mood and other varieties of affect, while arguing that pragmatism can be usefully described as a prominently affective philosophy as well as a practical philosophy of action, where moods of energetic feeling provide the effective motor for meliorative action.
Art Moods and Human Moods in Narrative Cinema
Authors: Plantinga Carl
Published: November 2012

This essay examines the usefulness of the concept of mood in studying the emotional impact of narrative cinema, arguing that moods are a neglected but important aspect of affect in cinema. It provides a broad overview of various approaches taken toward the study of affect and settles on a cognitive approach. Moods are defined as the affective character of a film, an expression of emotion and point of view, but also capable of eliciting affect in the viewer. The essay goes on to examine the most important aesthetic and cognitive implications of mood in cinema, providing many examples of how moods function in specific films.
How A Revolutionary Counter-Mood Is Made
Authors: Flatley Jonathan
Published: November 2012

This essay proposes that affect theory, and in particular the concept of mood in the sense of Martin Heidegger’s Stimmung , is essential for understanding the formation of politically active collectives. Its topic is the emergence of revolutionary counter-moods, those world-altering moments where new alliances, new enemies, and new fields of action become visible and urgently compelling. I argue that one way to bring such counter-moods into being is by way of what Daniel Stern calls an affective attunement, his term for the way that people share affective states with others. In order to ground these ideas in specific events, I consider the formation of the explicitly Marxist-Leninist Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (or DRUM), in Detroit in 1968. I examine a central and highly effective aspect of their organizational approach, one inspired by a reading of Lenin by the group’s organizers: the production of a modest, weekly factory newspaper or newsletter, also called DRUM , distributed by hand, that mainly reported on the poor conditions at the plant and the often racist mistreatment of workers. In order to understand how the newspaper invoked a revolutionary counter-mood by way of an affective attunement, I also draw on Vladimir Lenin’s discussion, in What is to be Done? , of the transformative effects of the party newspaper, and his suggestion that the most powerful agitational effects are achieved by straightforward reporting on the mistreatment of other persons.
In the Mood for Thought: Feeling and Thinking in Philosophy
Authors: Rosfort René , Stanghellini Giovanni
Published: November 2012

For more than a decade, emotions have been a hot topic in philosophy as well as in most other areas of the humanities. While the emotional dimension of thinking, deliberation, and behavior is more closely examined than ever before, rarely is the emotional aspect of philosophy itself the topic of philosophical inquiry. This essay argues that there is much to be gained from an investigation of the emotional aspect of philosophical texts. Drawing on two major figures
in history, Descartes and Kant, it examines some of the methodological obstacles to such an investigation in the comtemporary philosophy of emotions, proposing the concept of mood as a key a point of entry into the emotional texture of philosophical thinking. The essay concludes with the suggestion that an examination of the loss of ambivalence and the obdurate quest for answers that characterizes the mood of contemporary philosophy might help explain why the curiosity of so few people outside the narrow circle of professional philosophers is aroused by the discussions going on in academic philosophy today.
Where Sign Language Studies Has Led Us in Forty Years: Opening High School and University Education for Deaf People in Viet Nam through Sign Language Analysis, Teaching, and Interpretation
Authors: Woodward James , Hoa Nguyen Thi
Published: November 2012

This paper discusses how the Nippon Foundation-funded project “Opening University Education to Deaf People in Viet Nam through Sign Language Analysis, Teaching, and Interpretation,” also known as the Dong Nai Deaf Education Project, has been implemented through sign language studies from 2000 through 2012. This project has provided deaf adults in Viet Nam with their first opportunity for higher educational programs (junior high school, senior high school, and university). Major topics for discussion include the impact of the project, the high level of success of the project, and how the findings of sign language studies have been specifically utilized to ensure the success of the project.
Bringing the Field into the Classroom: A Field Methods Course on Saudi Arabian Sign Language
Authors: Stephen Anika , Mathur Gaurav
Published: November 2012

The methodology used in one graduate-level linguistics field methods classroom is examined through the lens of the students’ experiences. Four male Deaf individuals from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia served as the consultants for the course. After a brief background information about their country and its practices surrounding deaf education, both successful and less-than-successful attempts at elicitation are discussed, providing the impetus for the current article. The article concludes with constructive suggestions for future field methods classes. The article also serves as a preface to the other articles on Saudi Arabian Sign Language in this volume. The references for all the articles herein on Saudi Arabian Sign Language are at the end of this special section.
Scandium triflate-catalyzed one-pot multi-component synthesis of 2-amino-6-thiopyridine-3,5-dicarbonitriles
Authors: Kottawar Shrinivas S. , Siddiqui Shapi A. , Bhusare Sudhakar R.
Published: November 2012

Scandium triflate efficiently promotes a one-pot, three-component condensation of aldehydes, malononitrile, and thiophenols to produce highly substituted pyridines in good yields. This reaction does not involve any hazardous organic solvent and toxic catalyst.
THERAPY OF ENDOCRINE DISEASE: Hungry bone syndrome: still a challenge in the post-operative management of primary hyperparathyroidism: a systematic review of the literature
Authors: Witteveen J E , van Thiel S , Romijn J A , Hamdy N A T
Published: November 2012

Hungry bone syndrome (HBS) refers to the rapid, profound, and prolonged hypocalcaemia associated with hypophosphataemia and hypomagnesaemia, and is exacerbated by suppressed parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels, which follows parathyroidectomy in patients with severe primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and preoperative high bone turnover. It is a relatively uncommon, but serious adverse effect of parathyroidectomy. We conducted a literature search of all available studies reporting a ‘hungry bone syndrome’ in patients who had a parathyroidectomy for PHPT, to identify patients at risk and address the pitfalls in their management. The severe hypocalcaemia is believed to be due to increased influx of calcium into bone, due to the sudden removal of the effect of high circulating levels of PTH on osteoclastic resorption, leading to a decrease in the activation frequency of new remodelling sites and to a decrease in remodelling space, although there is no good documentation for this. Various risk factors have been suggested for the development of HBS, including older age, weight/volume of the resected parathyroid glands, radiological evidence of bone disease and vitamin D deficiency. The syndrome is reported in 25–90% of patients with radiological evidence of hyperparathyroid bone disease vs only 0–6% of patients without skeletal involvement. There is insufficient data-based evidence on the best means to treat, minimise or prevent this severe complication of parathyroidectomy. Treatment is aimed at replenishing the severe calcium deficit by using high doses of calcium supplemented by high doses of active metabolites of vitamin D. Adequate correction of magnesium deficiency and normalisation of bone turnover are required for resolution of the hypocalcaemia which may last for a number of months after successful surgery. Preoperative treatment with bisphosphonates has been suggested to reduce post-operative hypocalcaemia, but there are to date no prospective studies addressing this issue.
Using the HIV Surveillance System to Monitor the National HIV/AIDS Strategy
Authors: Mahle Gray Kristen , Tang Tian , Shouse Luke , Li Jianmin , Mermin Jonathan , Hall H. Irene
Published: November 2012

Objectives. To report on indicators of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, we analyzed data collected through the national HIV surveillance system.

Methods. We analyzed data from adults and adolescents aged 13 years or older diagnosed with HIV in 13 US jurisdictions that have laboratory reporting of CD4+ T-lymphocyte (CD4) and viral load (VL) test results and enter CD4 and VL test results into the national surveillance system.

Results. Of 4899 people diagnosed in 2009, 81.7% had at least 1 CD4 or VL test performed within 3 months of diagnosis. A higher proportion of Whites (86.2%) than Blacks (78.4%) and Hispanics (82.6%) had a CD4 or VL test. Of 53 642 people diagnosed through 2008 and living with HIV at the end of 2009 who had a VL test, 69.4% had a most recent VL of 200 copies per milliliter or less. The proportion of people with suppressed VLs differed among Blacks (60.2%), Hispanics (70.3%), and Whites (77.4%) and among people aged 13 to 24 years (44.3%) compared with people aged 65 years or older (84.2%). Of men who have sex with men, 74.2% had a suppressed VL.

Conclusions. The findings highlight disparities in access to and success of care.
Individual and Network Factors Associated With Prevalent Hepatitis C Infection Among Rural Appalachian Injection Drug Users
Authors: Havens Jennifer R. , Lofwall Michelle R. , Frost Simon D. W. , Oser Carrie B. , Leukefeld Carl G. , Crosby Richard A.
Published: November 2012

Objectives. We determined the factors associated with hepatitis C (HCV) infection among rural Appalachian drug users.

Methods. This study included 394 injection drug users (IDUs) participating in a study of social networks and infectious disease risk in Appalachian Kentucky. Trained staff conducted HCV, HIV, and herpes simplex-2 virus (HSV-2) testing, and an interviewer-administered questionnaire measured self-reported risk behaviors and sociometric network characteristics.

Results. The prevalence of HCV infection was 54.6% among rural IDUs. Lifetime factors independently associated with HCV infection included HSV-2, injecting for 5 or more years, posttraumatic stress disorder, injection of cocaine, and injection of prescription opioids. Recent (past-6-month) correlates of HCV infection included sharing of syringes (adjusted odds ratio = 2.24; 95% confidence interval = 1.32, 3.82) and greater levels of eigenvector centrality in the drug network.

Conclusions. One factor emerged that was potentially unique to rural IDUs: the association between injection of prescription opioids and HCV infection. Therefore, preventing transition to injection, especially among prescription opioid users, may curb transmission, as will increased access to opioid maintenance treatment, novel treatments for cocaine dependence, and syringe exchange.
Using Science to Improve Communications About Suicide Among Military and Veteran Populations: Looking for a Few Good Messages
Authors: Langford Linda , Litts David , Pearson Jane L.
Published: November 2012

Concern about suicide in US military and veteran populations has prompted efforts to identify more effective prevention measures.

Recent expert panel reports have recommended public communications as one component of a comprehensive effort. Messaging about military and veteran suicide originates from many sources and often does not support suicide prevention goals or adhere to principles for developing effective communications.

There is an urgent need for strategic, science-based, consistent messaging guidance in this area. Although literature on the effectiveness of suicide prevention communications for these populations is lacking, this article summarizes key findings from several bodies of research that offer lessons for creating safe and effective messages that support and enhance military and veteran suicide prevention efforts.
Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States: A Health Equity Perspective
Authors: Purtle Jonathan
Published: November 2012

Approximately 13% of African American men are disqualified from voting because of a felony conviction. I used ecosocial theory to identify how institutionalized racism helps perpetuate health disparities and to explore pathways through which felon disenfranchisement laws may contribute to racial health disparities in the United States. From a literature review, I identified 2 potential pathways: (1) inability to alter inequitable public policies that differentially allocate resources for health; and (2) inability to reintegrate into society by voting, which contributes to allostatic load.
Adjudicating Outcomes: Fundamentals
Authors: Vannabouathong Christopher , Saccone Michel , Sprague Sheila , Schemitsch Emil H. , Bhandari Mohit
Published: November 2012

The adjudication of outcomes has rarely been reported in the orthopaedic literature, although this process is commonly used and reported in clinical trials of other medical disciplines. Adjudication of outcomes provides more reliable and valid outcome assessment, especially when the outcome is subjective as in the case of fracture-healing. The successful implementation of adjudication in a clinical trial is an important and complex process. The process requires a substantial infrastructure of research personnel to oversee data collection at the clinical sites. The development of an adjudication charter specific to the study is a critical aspect of adjudication as it outlines the adjudication committee membership as well as their roles and responsibilities and defines the adjudication process and the decision rules. Web-based adjudication has facilitated the process as it allows rapid, efficient, and timely adjudication. This article provides an overview of the adjudication process, along with details on the common pearls and pitfalls associated with this method of outcomes assessment.
Overcoming the Funding Challenge: The Cost of Randomized Controlled Trials in the Next Decade
Authors: Shore Benjamin J. , Nasreddine Adam Y. , Kocher Mininder S.
Published: November 2012

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) represent the gold standard of evidence-based medicine. However, over the last several decades, the cost associated with conducting RCTs has increased dramatically. Several factors contribute to higher costs associated with clinical trials. This paper describes important barriers to conducting surgical RCTs, identifies funding sources available to finance RCTs, and suggests strategies to maintain cost-efficient study practices as we move into the next decade.
Orthopaedic Trial Networks
Authors: Rangan Amar , Brealey Stephen , Carr Andrew
Published: November 2012

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the most robust design for evaluating health care interventions. However, it is difficult to acquire funding for RCTs, and they are complex to set up. Threats to their successful conduct and impact on clinical practice, particularly in surgical trials, include problems with recruitment, notably in terms of clinical equipoise and patient acceptability. Historically, RCTs are less common in surgical specialties, and their contribution to the orthopaedic literature remains small. Orthopaedic networks, such as orthopaedic associations, specialist societies, travel fellowships, and clinical research networks, provide an opportunity to meet the challenges of promoting RCTs in orthopaedic clinical practice. This can include identifying important research questions to help prioritize funding; educating and training surgeons in the design and practice of RCTs; helping to promote and coordinate RCTs; and disseminating the findings of RCTs. Orthopaedic trial networks should be encouraged to promote a research culture in which RCTs are feasible and to ensure that scarce resources utilized to support their funding are used most efficiently and to best effect. In particular, the use of networks is encouraged to support the conduct of RCTs in achieving patient recruitment, which is crucial in providing the evidence base to inform orthopaedic practice. Furthermore, to improve generalizability, acceptance of study findings and communication between orthopaedic surgeons, as well as international collaboration in trials, should be part of the strategy for the future.
Optimized Drilling by Improved Well Control Using MPD in Narrow Pressure Window
Authors: Mathew Sangeeth , Nasr G. G.
Published: November 2012

Towards the later part of the 20thcentury, the oil industry has been looking for more safer and beneficial drilling methods, especially in deep waters. The high well/field costs pushed the need for attractive technologies which would optimize drilling. Also ever since the catastrophic events of April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil industry has been constantly scrutinized for the health and safety standards or rather the lack of it. The consequences of the blowout highlighted the need for improved kick detection and well control. In deepwater wells, there exists a narrow window between the fracture pressure and the pore pressure. This narrow margin poses a safety hazard both for the well and the crew operating on it. Drilling in these sort of fields require distinctive methodologies to achieve both objectives of safe and optimized drilling.

Thus one such method which would optimize drilling and improve well control is Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD). This has been defined as "an adaptive drilling process to accurately control the annular pressure profile throughout the well". This technique would create a pressure profile in the well to be within tolerance and close to the boundaries or limits controlled by the pore and fracture pressure.

For the understanding of kick detection, well control and circulation when MPD is being employed, a hypothetical well data with a narrow pressure window is selected and a kick is simulated to be controlled using MPD. The pump rate & mud density is studied and kick detection, well control and circulation is analyzed and interpreted. Obviously with the usage of the MPD tools and equipments during drilling, there would be a difference from conventional kick detection, which could probably be enhanced well control. MPD would thus, be able to properly manage any influxes from the formations thereby protecting the system and structure above and have a telling effect on the Non Productive Time (NPT).

This paper aim to differentiate the conventional and MPD method of kick circulation based on simulations of lost time and lost circulation. By obtaining the desired result, we can justify the usage of MPD in a narrow pressure window field/reservoir for improved kick detection, control and circulation and thus drilling optimization.
Integrating Reservoir Modelling, High-Precision Temperature Logging and Spectral Noise Logging for Waterflood Analysis
Authors: Al Marzouqi A. R. , Keshka A. , Bahamaish J. N. , Aslanyan A. , Aslanyan I. , Filenev M. , Barghouti J. , Sudakov V. , Andreev A.
Published: November 2012

Today, geological and hydrodynamic models are widely used for efficient development and monitoring of oil and gas fields. These models are designed to handle a wide range of tasks. Their reliability directly affects the quality of results and any uncertainties should, therefore, be minimised. The use of additional techniques can enhance the reliability and predictive ability of the models and minimise risks. This paper describes how integrating accurate description of flow geometry with reservoir properties and reservoir models to achieve this objective and, to generate a more reliable picture of the reservoir performance. The study included running HPT-PLT-SNL high precision logging tools, and covered a pilot area with five wells in a Cretaceous carbonate reservoir. The wells were completed in the lower and tighter Sub-reservoirs units F1 and F2 and the objective of this pilot is to identify the flow geometry in wells’ neighborhood, particularly identify channeling, fracture flows or other types of communication. The objective of the associated simulations and study is to correlate the acquired and interpreted data with those suggested by simulations and come up with consistent description of reservoir flow geometry within the pilot pattern.

The most challenging point of this flooding campaign is the complexity of the reservoir in this area. The flooding pilot sets the targets for tight Sub-reservoir carbonates Unit F1 and Unit F2. It's important to know if the flow ensues exactly within these units and does not communicate with other reservoirs with better permeability.
First Trial in the UAE for Proving Hydrocarbon Productivity Potential of Unconventional Source Rocks in Abu Dhabi: a Case Study
Authors: Al Ameri Fahed , Al-Kaabi Musabbeh , Al Zarouni Asim , Al Shateri Abdulla , Al-Zaabi Mohammed , Mahmoud Gehad
Published: November 2012

Producing hydrocarbon directly from the early mature source rock is becoming a subject of interest for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in recent years. The maturation modeling done in ADNOC for the Cenomanian Shilaif formation indicated the presence of early mature kitchens in the offshore and southern onshore synclines. Another maturation modeling showed that the Oxfordian Diyab Formation is also prospective mainly in the northwestern offshore area of Abu Dhabi.

Several conventional stimulation attempts were made in order to produce hydrocarbon from these source rock intervals encouraged by strong hydrocarbon shows while drilling and high hydrocarbon saturation from interpreted logs. Unfortunately, no successful results were obtained during all previous trials.

A volumetric calculation showed that the estimated volume of the hydrocarbon available in these new areas is significant and once a successful production method is implemented, an economical hydrocarbon recovery can be obtained.

In 2011, ADNOC drilled one well in the onshore area of Abu Dhabi. A secondary objective of the well was to test productivity of Diyab source rock and for the first time in Abu Dhabi a new approach was planned and implemented to produce these source rock intervals.

Due to logistical issues, the original testing design was not excuted, and a re-designed program was performed with the available equipments on site to prove the concept of producing hydrocarbon from such formations.

Promising results of gas and condensate were obtained and assuming much better results if the well is drilled in the optimum potential location in the most northwestern onshore area of Abu Dhabi.

In this paper, we will explain both the geological aspects of the potential Diyab source rocks in Abu Dhabi and the planned program, difficulties, executions and results of the new approached stimulation.
First Deep Slim Hole Design Well in Kuwait: Significant Achievement and Cost Optimization Drilling/Completing a 9.25-in Hole Section
Authors: Al-Kandari Ayad , Al-Baghli Waleed , Al-Khaldy Ali , Al-Mekhyal Abdullah Naser , Al Mutawa Faisal , Maliekkal Harish , Ghoneim Osama , Saleh Mustafa
Published: November 2012

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) launched North Kuwait Gas Development Project in 2007 to fast track production of gas/light oil from deep HPHT Jurassic reservoirs in six fields. The exploratory wells require a large-hole casing design to isolate problematic formations and allow the operator to reach the deep HPHT target zones with maximum hole size.

One of the most difficult/problematic hole sections is Zubair to Hith, traditionally drilled with 16-in bits. The formations are interbedded and consist of abrasive/pyritic sandstone, reactive shale, limestone and anhydrites with UCS that varies between 5-30kpsi. Historically, to complete the 3900ft section required more than three PDC bits or a combination of 4-5 PDC/TCI.

To reduce costs, the drilling team developed the first slim hole well plan and casing string design to explore Cretaceous formations in Northern Kuwait. The objective would be to downsize the hole section from Zubair to Hith to 9¼-in and drill to section TD with three PDC bits. The production casing would then be run from surface to TD instead of the conventional liner tie-back and cementing process.

The section was completed using the latest motor/PDC technologies in two bit runs saving 55% drilling time and the expense of a third bit. The operation set a new Kuwaiti record for the single longest 7¾-in production casing string (13,625ft) and cementing back to surface. Cement log indicated a good bond over all three zones of interest. The downsizing strategy and change in casing string design saved the operator over $1 million USD compared to a large hole and liner-string design. Production testing in Zubair, Ratawi and Makhul was positive, indicating a significant new oil discovery. The entire operation was completed with zero HSE related complications.
3-D Geomechanical Modeling and Wellbore Stability Analysis in Abu Butabul Field
Authors: Qiuguo Li , Zhang Xing , Al-Ghammari Khalid , Mohsin Labib , Jiroudi Fadi , Al Rawahi Ahmed
Published: November 2012

Abu Butabul Field is located within onshore Oman Block 60 in the Western region of the Central Oman Desert (Figure 1). Gas-condensate was discovered in the field in 1998. The main reservoir is the Cambro-Ordovician clastic Bank formation, which is buried over 4200 m below sea level with very low porosity and permeability. Wellbore instability related drilling problems were encountered while drilling most of the appraisal wells in the field. The problems were mainly in the shallower Natih and Nahr Umr formations, Gharif formation and deeper Safiq, Ghudun and Mabrouk formations. A geomechanical modeling study was conducted in the field to understand the causes of the wellbore instability problems and to provide recommendations for drilling new wells.

Data from nine wells were analyzed and used for the construction of 1-D mechanical earth models. Rock mechanical testing data on core samples and pressure and stress memasurement were integrated in the models. Wellbore stability analysis of those wells provided insight into the causes of the wellbore instability problems. To predict wellbore stability at any location in the field more efficiently and capturing the lateral formation property variation as indicated by the seismic data, a 3-D geomechanical model was constructed and subsequently used for predicting wellbore stability for new wells to be drilled in the field and hydraulic fracturing pressures for fracturing stimulation of horizontal wells.

This paper describes the process of constructing the 1-D mechanical earth models, performing wellbore stability analysis for the appraisal wells, Integeration of 3D seismic Inversion, constructing the 3-D geomechanical model, predicting wellbore stability for new wells using data contained in the 3-D model and post-drill wellbore stability analysis of the planned wells.