bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Common Sense Reconditioning Experiences with Idle Wells in California
Authors: Tehrani Nima Fotouhi , Ershaghi Iraj
Published: April 2015

This paper examines producers' success in application of some new and some old workover technologies on 70 idle and orphan wells in California. Wells selected represent different producing regions in California. The study shows, while economic incentives have played a key role, the guiding light has been focusing on the in-place oil rather than dismal production records, before wells were placed on idle or orphan conditions. For each of the wells, we reviewed the well production potential including water production, well completion data and remedial actions taken after putting the wells back on production.

Using publicly available data sources from DOGGR, we traced the workover history of 70 wells in different producing regions of California that were shut down or became orphan wells during the last 20 years mostly because of poor economics. These wells during the last 1-15 years have been revitalized by small producers and in many cases have shown significant rebound in productivity of oil with also reduced water production. Our observation highlighted the significant of weighing the remaining oil in place over poor well productivity as a basis for well abandonment and or work overs on idle wells. But we also noted cases that attending to wellbore cleanup, and/or fixing the lifting mechanism and/or re-perforation of neglected intervals resulted in rehabilitation of poor wells.
Optimization of Gravity-Stable Surfactant Flooding
Authors: Lu Jun , Pope Gary A.
Published: April 2015

Horizontal surfactant floods are inherently unstable without mobility control. However, a vertical surfactant flood can be stabilized by gravity provided the velocity is below the critical velocity. A modified stability theory was validated by comparison with a series of surfactant displacement experiments. These experiments also demonstrate that the critical velocity can be increased by optimizing the viscosity of the microemulsion that forms when the surfactant solution mixes with the oil in the porous medium. The microemulsion viscosity is sensitive to formulation variables such as the amount and type of co-solvent added to the surfactant solution. By changing surfactant components, cosolvents, and the concentration of the co-solvents, we were able to successfully control the microemulsion viscosity at optimum salinity in order to optimize the critical velocities in each surfactant flood. The experiments using optimized microemulsions show that the surfactant flood velocity can be significantly inceased and still recover nearly 100% of the oil.
Predicting Compressor Valve Failures from Multi-Sensor Data
Authors: Patri Om Prasad , Reyna Nabor , Panangadan Anand , Prasanna Viktor
Published: April 2015

As the number of sensors deployed in the oilfield increases, there is a corresponding need to develop methods for fast, automated processing of large-scale sensor data streams. This problem is aggravated when the streams of sensor data are from multiple sensors with different characteristics and applicability to specific tasks of interest to the oilfield operator. Predictive analytics and data mining approaches have been proven to improve production efficiency, reduce downtime and identify safety hazards in real-world scenarios.

One of the most common failures in rotating equipment such as compressors is the breakdown of valves. This issue is of great value because a large proportion of production is dependent on rotating equipment. The aim of our undertaking is to find signature(s) in sensor data collected from compressors, which are predictive of valve failures. The first step towards achieving this is to rank the sensors themselves and use data from only those sensors that provide useful information. The resulting information can be used to prioritize and monitor maintenance schedules for compressors, which are often on remote platforms. The data used in our evaluation is from a large number of sensors that measure various physical properties of compressors, ranging from compressor vibrations and motor winding temperatures to pressure and temperature for both suction and discharge at the various compression stages.

We frame this failure prediction problem as a feature selection and time-series classification task. We use several evaluation methods for feature selection to identify the highly ranked sensors, and obtain insights about them. Once feature selection is complete, we propose to build a classifier based on time series shapelets. In particular, we adopt feature selection methods to automatically rank sensor streams in order of usefulness for the specific prediction tasks. Our results demonstrate that feature selection and time series approaches can be extended to handle multi-sensor Big Data streams from the oil and gas industry provided that accurate labeling of these datasets is possible.
Predicting Frac Stage Differential Stress and Microseismicity Using Geomechanical Modeling and Time Lapse Multi-Component Seismic - Application to the Montney Shale
Authors: Ouenes A. , Smaoui R. , Aimene Y. , Nairn J.A.
Published: April 2015

This paper describes the application of a workflow that uses Geophysics, Geology, and Geomechanics (3G) for completion optimization. The 3G workflow relies on the modeling of the interaction between hydraulic and natural fractures to estimate key reservoir properties that could be used to better understand data such as microseismicity or to plan an engineering completion. The 3G workflow uses geomechanical simulation that combines the meshless Material Point Method (MPM) with Continuous Fracture Modeling (CFM). The distribution of the natural fracture density is estimated from G&G data and in this paper it uses a time lapse 3C seismic that was processed for Shear Wave Velocity Anisotropy (SWVA). The geomechanical workflow uses this as an input to predict quickly over a large area the Normalized Differential Horizontal Stress (NDHS) and the Maximum Horizontal Stress Direction (MHSD) maps. Both these properties are used to improve the interpretation of microseismicity and to provide valuable information for the completion engineer to optimize his frac design. When using this approach on a Montney two wells pad, it appears that high values of NDHS are directly correlated to the fracture density estimated from the shear wave splitting parameter. While the local direction of maximum horizontal stress generally follows the direction of the imposed regional stress, large stress rotations of up to 90 degrees could occur in areas where the NDHS is very high. This observation is validated with microseismic data that confirms the local development of axial fracs instead of the desired transverse hydraulic fractures. Combining the NDHS and MHSD maps will be a very valuable completion optimization tool that would assist the completion engineer in adapting his frac design and treatment to the local geomechanical environment. The same 3G workflow will also provide to the completion engineer with quantitative tools such as the strain distribution and the J integral to predict or evaluate the efficiency of multiple fracing sequences and understand what is happening in the field experiments frequently showing zipper fracs outperforming other fracing sequences.
Completion Optimization Under Constraints - An Eagle Ford Shale Case Study
Authors: Okeahialam Ikenna , Yang Mei , Shinde Dnyaneshwar B , Sahai Vivek , Araque-Martinez Aura , Rai Rakesh
Published: April 2015

The Eagle Ford Shale (EFS) is the largest single economic development in the history of the state of Texas and ranks as the largest oil & gas development in the world based on capital invested. Between 2008 and the present, the EFS has become one of the most heavily drilled rock units in the United States and is the most active shale play in the world.

This paper presents a completion optimization framework for unconventional plays. The framework utilizes well production performance analysis to estimate the fracture characteristics and assists in diagnosing potential low productivity issues. The framework enables pre-completion planning, real time completion operations monitoring and post-completion evaluation to evaluate design effectiveness and optimize future design.

The key components of the framework are Prospectivity Analysis, Completions Optimization and Well Performance Analysis. Prospectivity analysis provides the map of Reservoir Quality (RQ) and Rock Quality (RkQ) across the play. Pre-completion planning, a component of Completions Optimization, is driven by Prospectivity Analysis with the goal to design the best completion based on the Rock Quality data available. During completions monitoring, the designs are updated based on actual field pump rates and quantities of proppant pumped to estimate actual hydraulic and propped fracture characteristics. The effective fracture geometry is determined based on well production calibration. Wellbore and completion problems could be diagnosed in this analysis, including damage of fractures, fluid behavior, and well interference.

We applied this framework to wells completed in the Eagle Ford Shale. The Reservoir Quality variability is based on petrophysical evaluation of logs acquired on all study wells. The characteristics of propped fractures were estimated based on geomechanical modeling of actual field pumping measurements. Even though the fractures extended above and below the target interval of Eagle Ford Shale, they were successful in creating the desired half-length from a design aspect. It was also observed that not all the clusters matured because of the stress shadow effect. The produced fluids in these wells ranged from black oil to gas condensate. Well interference was observed as a production penalty factor in well performance analysis. The behavior of current wells was used to design optimal completion for wells planned to be completed.

This framework utilizes common data sets collected by majority of operators. It provides intelligence for completion optimization of future wells after thorough investigation into fracture design, completion operation, and effective fracture characteristics. It is a systematic approach to optimized single well design as well as field development (multiple wells, pad drilling).
A Predictive Model for Improving the Efficiency of Frac Jobs
Authors: Korjani Mohammad M. , Mendel Jerry M. , Ershaghi Iraj
Published: April 2015

This paper presents a new method for forecasting post-fracturing responses in a tight oil reservoir using historical hydraulic fracturing data. The methodology is based on a nonlinear regression method called Variable Structure Regression (VSR). Data for 80 frac jobs were used to calibrate and predict responses. Information per fracturing job included feet of perforation, number of perforations per stage, number of stages, pad volume, slurry volume and sand volume. Information for a set of hydraulically fractured vertical wells was used to test the proposed technique.

The VSR method establishes the optimal nonlinear dependencies of variables to predict the cumulative liquid production after fracturing. This method determines the relationships between fracturing parameters and post-fracturing productions in the form of linguistic terms, thereby providing a physical understanding of the process. The exact mathematical structure of these linguistic terms and the number of terms are established simultaneously, thereby freeing the end user from time-consuming trial and error studies. Meanwhile, the knowledge of domain experts can be preserved as qualitative expert knowledge and may be combined with quantitative data.

A Monte Carlo simulation of 5-fold cross-validation method on fracture optimization data set shows the practical accuracy of the VSR model on forecasting post-fracturing performance. The VSR method achieved satisfactory prediction accuracy as well as statistical performance given the relatively small training data size and the complexity of the problem. The final result shows increase prediction accuracy for all the wells that outperforms other existing methods.
Analysis of Wellbore Failures and Re-Design of Slotted Liners for Horizontal Wells Applied in a Heavy Oilfield
Authors: Hallman T. , Yung V.Y.B. , Albertson A.
Published: April 2015

The Patos-Marinza Heavy Oil Field, located in Albania, was discovered in 1928. The field contains approximately 7.7 billion barrels of oil in place. The field consists of approximately 27 different sandstone formations. Over 2,700 wells have been drilled throughout the field and the cumulative oil production to date is more than 160 million barrels. Albania is a tectonically active region with earth quakes occurring regularly. Beginning in 2008 horizontal wells completed with slotted liners were drilled to redevelop the field. Starting in 2011 the wellbores started to fail with approximately 10% of the slotted liners failing per year severely impacting production performance. A review was undertaken to understand the cause of the wellbore failures from both a statistical analysis point of view including relating slotted liner failures to sand production, oil production, drilling practices and earth quakes. This paper presents the results of that review and summarizes the most likely failure mechanisms. The slotted liners were re-designed to limit sand production and to increase collapse strength to sustain the geo-mechanical forces associated with CHOPS production in an unconsolidated sand stone reservoir. The re-designed liner performed significantly better and a program was undertaken to re-drill the lateral sections of wells with failed liners. This paper details the liner design methodology, changes and the associated results.
Association between ambient air pollution, meteorological conditions and exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adult citizens of the town of Smederevo
Authors: Stevanovic Ivan , Jovasevic-Stojanovic Milena , Stosic Jovic
Published: April 2015

Introduction. Smederevo is the only town in Serbia with a steel factory,
whose exhausts contribute to air pollution. Therefore, the city conducts
continuous monitoring of air quality. In recent years, high levels of
particulate matter (PM), including coarse (PM10) and fine (PM2.5) particles
in the air have frequently been recorded. The aim of this study was to assess
association between exacerbation of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) in adults and air pollution or meteorological conditions.
Methods. The study was conducted in the secondary care General Hospital in
Smederevo covering approximately 81, 000 inhabitants living in the area of
about 7 km around the automatic station for air quality monitoring from which
the verified data were collected. Data on patients were obtained from medical
records. The correlation between the incidence of diseases exacerbation and
the number of days with exceedance of air pollutants limit level per month,
as well as meteorological conditions, was tested with parametric Pearson
bivariate correlation test in program SPSS. Results. The study population
consisted of adults registered as asthma or COPD suffering patients (n =
1,624) with 570 episodes of remarkable exacerbations (moderate or severe) of
the disease in 2011. Asthma exacerbation was significantly more frequent in
women than in men. The number of days with high levels of PM2.5 per month was
statistically significantly associated with the total number of exacerbation
(moderate and severe of both asthma and COPD) episodes among the female
patients. There was also a statistically significant association between the
number of days with PM2.5 exceedance and the number of moderate exacerbations
in the subgroups of nonsmokers and obese patients. A significant correlation
of the number of days with the exceedance of PM10 limit level was shown only
for the subgroup of obese, non-smoking patients with moderate exacerbation. A
significant negative association with the average ambient temperature was
proven for the obese female patients and obese non-smoking patients with
moderate asthma exacerbations. The number of COPD exacerbation was in
positive correlation with the average air pressure for the subgroup of female
smokers, but the connection with air pollution was not proven. Conclusion.
Exposure to airborne particles in the town of Smederevo, mainly to PM2.5, and
to low temperature may trigger asthma exacerbation requiring emergency care.
The most vulnerable may be women and obese patients.
Radiocarbon Analysis of Modern Skeletal Remains to Determine Year of Birth and Death—A Case Study
Authors: Cook G T , Ainscough L A N , Dunbar E
Published: April 2015

To aid in the development of a biological profile for human remains found in Collyhurst (Manchester, England), we undertook radiocarbon analysis of tooth enamel, tooth collagen, and bone collagen on behalf of the Greater Manchester Police. On the basis of the analyses of the teeth, we concluded that the person was born between 1950 and 1954, while on the basis of our analyses of cortical and trabecular bone we estimated the year of death to be between 1969 and 1974. This would make the maximum age range around 15 to 24 yr. Analyses of the dentition and other skeletal parameters can eliminate the younger part of the range, so an age of around 18 to 24 yr at death would seem most likely. The δ13C and δ15N values for the bone collagen were higher than would be expected for someone subsisting on a purely terrestrial diet, implying some consumption of marine resources, which could lead to reduced 14C activities. Taking any potential marine effect into account could reduce this age range to around 18 to 21 yr.
Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese
Authors: Trovato Gabriele , Zecca Massimiliano , Sessa Salvatore , Jamone Lorenzo , Ham Jaap , Hashimoto Kenji , Takanishi Atsuo
Published: April 2015

As witnessed in several behavioural studies, a complex relationship exists between people’s cultural background and their general acceptance towards robots. However, very few studies have investigated whether a robot’s original language and gesture based on certain culture have an impact on the people of the different cultures. The purpose of this work is to provide experimental evidence which supports the idea that humans may accept more easily a robot that can adapt to their specific culture. Indeed, improving acceptance and reducing discomfort is fundamental for future deployment of robots as assistive, health-care or companion devices into a society. We conducted a Human- Robot Interaction experiment both in Egypt and in Japan. Human subjects were engaged in a simulated video conference with robots that were greeting and speaking either in Arabic or in Japanese. The subjects completed a questionnaire assessing their preferences and their emotional state, while their spontaneous reactions were recorded in different ways. The results suggest that Egyptians prefer the Arabic robot, while they feel a sense of discomfort when interacting with the Japanese robot; the opposite is also true for the Japanese. These findings confirm the importance of the localisation of a robot in order to improve human acceptance during social human-robot interaction.
An Outlier Robust Filter for Maritime Robotics Applications
Authors: Indiveri Giovanni
Published: April 2015

Navigation systems of autonomous vehicles often exploit range measurement information that may be affected by outliers. In marine application the presence of outliers in sonar bathymetry, for instance, can be particularly severe due to multipath phenomena in the acoustic propagation. This paper describes a possible approach to process range measurements highly contaminated by outliers. The proposed solution builds on a robust parameter identification algorithm minimizing a nonlinear cost function that exploits the mathematical properties of Gibbs entropy. Numerical examples on simulated data are provided to illustrate the method and its performance. The use of simulated data allows to vary the amount of noise and outliers contamination while knowing the ground truth values of the parameters to be identified. For the sake of experimental validation, the method is also applied to third party (publicly available) upward looking sonar ice draft data collected by submarines in the Arctic Ocean.
Attitudes towards service robots in domestic environments: The role of personality characteristics, individual interests, and demographic variables
Authors: Reich Natalia , Eyssel Friederike
Published: April 2015

The majority of EU citizens report a positive view about robots in general according to recent EU-level survey data. However, does this also hold true for attitudes towards service robots in particular? To investigate this research question, we conducted a survey on a representative sample from Germany. Importantly, we explored the role of demographic variables, interest in science and technology, and personality traits associated with psychological anthropomorphism in determining perceived acceptance of service robots in everyday life. Overall, attitudes towards service robots turned out to be relatively positive. Moreover, demographic variables (e.g., gender, occupation), interest in science and technology, and dispositional correlates of anthropomorphism had a significant impact on attitudes towards such assistive technology.
Application of the Novint Falcon haptic device as an actuator in real-time control
Authors: Block Daniel J. , Michelotti Mark B. , Sreenivas Ramavarapu S.
Published: April 2015

This paper describes the development of an embedded system whose purpose is to control the Novint Falcon as a robot, and to develop a control experiment that demonstrates the use the Novint Falcon as a robotic actuator. The Novint Falcon, which is a PC input device, is “haptic” in the sense that it has a force feedback component. Its relatively low cost compared with other platforms makes it a good candidate for academic application in robot modeling and control. An embedded system is developed to interface with the multiple motors and sensors present in the Novint Falcon, which is subsequently used to control three independent Novint Falcons for a “ballon- plate” experiment. The results show that the device is a viable solution for high-speed actuation of small-scale mechanical systems.
Cooperative localization of underwater robots with unsynchronized clocks
Authors: Bethencourt Aymeric , Jaulin Luc
Published: April 2015

This paper proposes an interval based approach for localizing a group of underwater robots with unsynchronized clocks. We use sonar communication and consider that the travel time of the sonar waves cannot be neglected, e.g. when the robots are fast and far-spaced. Therefore we cannot suppose that we measure a true distance between robots at the same time, but between robots at di􀉼erent times. Moreover, as the clocks of the robots are unsynchronized, the emitting and receiving times of the sonar waves are uncertain. To solve this problem, we cast the state equations of our robots as a constraint satisfaction problem and consider the sonar measurements as intertemporal constraints on uncertain times. We introduce the notion of interval of function to encompass the robots trajectory and clock with their uncertainty. We then use interval propagation to successively contract these intervals around the true position and clock of the robots. Several test cases are provided, with both simulated and experimental results.
Genotypic differences in response to Hygromycin effect on untransformed calli death and rice germination
Authors: Sultana Shahanaz , Ho Chai Ling , Namasivayam Parameswari , Napis Suhaimi
Published: April 2015

Hygromycin is an efficient selective agent in transformation studies of wide ranges of crop. In this study, different concentrations of hygromycin were used to observe the effect on untransformed calli death, percent germination and seedling growth of three rice varieties (Oryza sativa L.) viz BRRI dhan29, MR219 and Taipei309. Hygromycin killed the untransformed calli and inhibited the germination of tested varieties in a concentration dependent manner. Among the tested varieties, the lowest and the highest calli death was observed in MR219 and Taipei309 respectively in all the concentrations of hygromycin. Whereas, the highest and the lowest percent germination were observed in MR219 and Taipei309 respectively. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) for selection of calli were calculated as 42, 40 and 47 mg/L hygromycin for BRRI dhan29, MR219 and Taipei309 respectively. During germination, 35, 62 and 32 mg/L hygromycin were suitable for the selection of BRRI dhan29, MR219 and Taipei 309 respectively. Shoot and root growth reduction after germination was increased with the increased concentration of hygromycin. Besides, root growth was more sensitive to hygromycin than the shoot. These results suggest that hygromycin increases calli death, decreases percent germination, and shoot and root growth in all varieties with the increasing rate of hygromycin. But these characteristics vary with different degrees in different genotypes as well as different stages.Bangladesh Rice j. 2014, 18(1&2): 38-43
Problems and prospects of rice based cropping patterns in Chittagong areas
Authors: Biswas Jatish C , Biswas JK
Published: April 2015

Eight districts represent Chittagong and Rangamati agricultural regions having 30637 sq km areas. These regions face natural calamities like Sidr, Aila, Resmi, salinity and soil erosion. Crops are grown in 852436 ha of land. Single crop is grown in 58.48% areas in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region, while in Chittagong agriculture region two crops are grown in about 51% areas. Rice production or its expansion is hindered because of factors like excessive or no rainfall in pre-monsoon season, soil and water salinity, water stagnation in wet season, lack of suitable rice varieties and fresh water in dry season, good income source other than farming, soil erosion, absentee farmers etc. Growing of salt tolerant varieties, organic amendments, use of cover crop, improved irrigation system can be adopted among others for land productivity improvement in coastal areas. Sorjan or ditch and pyramid or ridge systems can be utilized in coastal tidal areas. Installing subsurface drainage system and floating beds could be used in water stagnant conditions. Zero or minimum tillage following dibbling/pegging method, rain water harvesting, improved Jhum, community based seepage water harvesting, homestead gardening and floriculture are the adaptation options in hill agriculture.Bangladesh Rice j. 2014, 18(1&2): 54-64
Just-in-time research: a call to arms for research into mobile technologies in higher education
Authors: Byrne-Davis Lucie , Dexter Hilary , Hart Jo , Cappelli Tim , Byrne Ged , Sampson Ian , Mooney Jane , Lumsden Colin
Published: April 2015

Mobile technologies are becoming commonplace in society and in education. In higher education, it is crucial to understand the impact of constant access to information on the development of the knowledge and competence of the learner. This study reports on a series of four surveys completed by UK-based medical students (n=443) who received tablet computers (iPads) from their medical school during their 4th year of study. Students were surveyed prior to receiving the iPads and again regarding their usage and experiences at 2, 6 and 12 months post receipt of tablets. Findings indicate that students differed in their use of iPads but that the majority felt that tablets had impacted on their learning and the majority were using them frequently (at least once a day) during learning. Almost half of the students reported that clinical supervisors had raised the possibility of tablets changing patient care. These results, although only descriptive, raise important questions about the impact of mobile technologies on learning.Keywords: clinical learning; just-in-time technology; mobile technologies; survey; tablet computers; undergraduate medical educationCitation: Research in Learning Technology 2015, 23: 25653 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v23.25653
Economic Evaluation of Hormonal Therapies for Postmenopausal Women with Estrogen Receptor–Positive Early Breast Cancer in Canada
Authors: Djalalov S. , Beca J. , Amir E. , Krahn M. , Trudeau M.E. , Hoch J.S.
Published: April 2015

Background: Aromatase inhibitor (ai) therapy has been subjected to numerous cost-effectiveness analyses. However, with most ais having reached the end of patent protection and with maturation of the clinical trials data, a re-analysis of ai cost-effectiveness and a consideration of ai use as part of sequential therapy is desirable. Our objective was to assess the cost-effectiveness of the 5-year upfront and sequential tamoxifen (tam) and ai hormonal strategies currently used for treating patients with estrogen receptor (er)–positive early breast cancer. Methods: The cost-effectiveness analysis used a Markov model that took a Canadian health system perspective with a lifetime time horizon. The base case involved 65-year-old women with tam-positive early breast cancer. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses were used to incorporate parameter uncertainties. An expected-value-of-perfect-information test was performed to identify future research directions. Outcomes were quality-adjusted life-years (qalys) and costs. Results: The sequential tam–ai strategy was less costly than the other strategies, but less effective than upfront ai and more effective than upfront tam. Upfront ai was more effective and less costly than upfront tam because of less breast cancer recurrence and differences in adverse events. In an exploratory analysis that included a sequential ai–tam strategy, ai–tam dominated based on small numerical differences unlikely to be clinically significant; that strategy was thus not used in the base-case analysis. Conclusions: In postmenopausal women with er-positive early breast cancer, strategies using ais appear to provide more benefit than strategies using tam alone. Among the ai-containing strategies, sequential strategies using tam and an ai appear to provide benefits similar to those provided by upfront ai, but at a lower cost.
Adherence to and Uptake of Clinical Practice Guidelines: Lessons Learned from a Clinical Practice Guideline on Chemotherapy Concomitant with Radiotherapy in Head-and-Neck Cancer
Authors: Hall S.F. , Irish J.C. , Gregg R.W. , Groome P.A. , Rohland S.
Published: April 2015

Background: Clinical practice guidelines (cpgs) are systematically developed statements designed to assist practitioners and patients in making decisions about appropriate heath care interventions. Clinical practice guidelines are expensive and time-consuming to create. A cpg on concurrent chemotherapy with radiation therapy (ccrt) was developed in Ontario at a time when treatment approaches for head-and-neck cancer were changing significantly. Methods: An assessment of treatments and outcomes based on electronic and chart data obtained from a population-based study of 571 patients with oropharynx cancer treated in Ontario (2003–2004) was combined with a review of relevant knowledge transfer (publications and presentations at major meetings) to understand variation in adherence to a cpg. Results: In 9 Ontario cancer treatment centres, ccrt was used for 55% of all patients with oropharyngeal cancer; however, at the centres individually, that proportion ranged from 82% to 39%. Furthermore, there was no agreement on the chemotherapy regimen: 2–4 years later (a period during which newer regimens were emerging), only 4 of 9 centres were following the guideline for most patients. When outcomes of treated patients were compared for centres with “higher” and “lower” use of ccrt, no difference in survival was observed (p = 0.64). Conclusions: At a time of treatment evolution, the new guideline was controversial, and there are many reasons for the mixed adherence. An estimation of adherence should be included during both development and review of guidelines.
A Population-Based Study of Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis in Ontario
Authors: Ginsburg O.M. , Fischer H.D. , Shah B.R. , Lipscombe L. , Fu L. , Anderson G.M. , Rochon P.A.
Published: April 2015

Background: Breast cancer stage at diagnosis is an important predictor of survival. Our goal was to compare breast cancer stage at diagnosis (by American Joint Committee on Cancer criteria) in Chinese and South Asian women with stage at diagnosis in the remaining general population in Ontario. Methods: We used the Ontario population-based cancer registry to identify all women diagnosed with breast cancer during 2005–2010, and we applied a validated surname algorithm to identify South Asian and Chinese women. We used logistic regression to compare, for Chinese or South Asian women and for the remaining general population, the frequency of diagnoses at stage II compared with stage I and stages II–IV compared with stage I. Results: The registry search identified 1304 Chinese women, 705 South Asian women, and 39,287 women in the remaining general population. The Chinese and South Asian populations were younger than the remaining population (mean: 54, 57, and 61 years respectively). Adjusted for age, South Asian women were more often diagnosed with breast cancer at stage II than at stage I [odds ratio (OR): 1.28; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08 to 1.51] or at stages II–IV than at stage I (OR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.48); Chinese women were less likely to be diagnosed at stage II than at stage I (OR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.92) or at stages II–IV than at stage I (OR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.65 to 0.82). Conclusions: Breast cancers were diagnosed at a later stage in South Asian women and at an earlier stage in Chinese women than in the remaining population. A more detailed analysis of ethnocultural factors influencing breast screening uptake, retention, and care-seeking behavior might be needed to help inform and evaluate tailored health promotion activities.
Canadian consensus recommendations on the management of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer. Part 2: treatment
Authors: Easaw J.C. , Shea-Budgell M.A. , Wu C.M.J. , Czaykowski P.M. , Kassis J. , Kuehl B. , Lim H.J. , MacNeil M. , Martinusen D. , McFarlane P.A. , Meek E. , Moodley O. , Shivakumar S. , Tagalakis V. , Welch S. , Kavan P.
Published: April 2015

Patients with cancer are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (vte). Anticoagulation therapy is used to treat vte; however, patients with cancer have unique clinical circumstances that can often make decisions surrounding the administration of therapeutic anticoagulation complicated. No national Canadian guidelines on the management of established cancer-associated thrombosis have been published. We therefore aimed to develop a consensus-based, evidence-informed guideline on the topic.PubMed was searched for clinical trials and meta-analyses published between 2002 and 2013. Reference lists of key articles were hand-searched for additional publications. Content experts from across Canada were assembled to review the evidence and make recommendations.Low molecular weight heparin is the treatment of choice for cancer patients with established vte. Direct oral anticoagulants are not recommended for the treatment of vte at this time. Specific clinical scenarios, including the presence of an indwelling venous catheter, renal insufficiency, and thrombocytopenia, warrant modifications in the therapeutic administration of anticoagulation therapy. Patients with recurrent vte should receive extended (>3 months) anticoagulant therapy. Incidental vte should generally be treated in the same manner as symptomatic vte. There is no evidence to support the monitoring of anti–factor Xa levels in clinically stable cancer patients receiving prophylactic anticoagulation; however, levels of anti–factor Xa could be checked at baseline and periodically thereafter in patients with renal insufficiency. Follow-up and education about the signs and symptoms of vte are important components of ongoing patient care.
Erratum: Tumour Inflammatory Response: Adding Fuel to the Fire?
Authors: Valdes M. , Chasen M.R.
Published: April 2015

[This corrects the article on p. 7 in vol. 22, PMID: 25684982.].
Multiscale modeling of lithium ion batteries: thermal aspects
Authors: Latz Arnulf , Zausch Jochen
Published: April 2015

The thermal behavior of lithium ion batteries has a huge impact on their lifetime and the initiation of degradation processes. The development of hot spots or large local overpotentials leading, e.g., to lithium metal deposition depends on material properties as well as on the nano- und microstructure of the electrodes. In recent years a theoretical structure emerges, which opens the possibility to establish a systematic modeling strategy from atomistic to continuum scale to capture and couple the relevant phenomena on each scale. We outline the building blocks for such a systematic approach and discuss in detail a rigorous approach for the continuum scale based on rational thermodynamics and homogenization theories. Our focus is on the development of a systematic thermodynamically consistent theory for thermal phenomena in batteries at the microstructure scale and at the cell scale. We discuss the importance of carefully defining the continuum fields for being able to compare seemingly different phenomenological theories and for obtaining rules to determine unknown parameters of the theory by experiments or lower-scale theories. The resulting continuum models for the microscopic and the cell scale are numerically solved in full 3D resolution. The complex very localized distributions of heat sources in a microstructure of a battery and the problems of mapping these localized sources on an averaged porous electrode model are discussed by comparing the detailed 3D microstructure-resolved simulations of the heat distribution with the result of the upscaled porous electrode model. It is shown, that not all heat sources that exist on the microstructure scale are represented in the averaged theory due to subtle cancellation effects of interface and bulk heat sources. Nevertheless, we find that in special cases the averaged thermal behavior can be captured very well by porous electrode theory.
On the strong difference in reactivity of acyclic and cyclic diazodiketones with thioketones: experimental results and quantum-chemical interpretation
Authors: Mereshchenko Andrey S , Ivanov Alexey V , Baranovskii Viktor I , Mloston Grzegorz , Rodina Ludmila L , Nikolaev Valerij A
Published: April 2015

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of acyclic 2-diazo-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds (DDC) and thioketones preferably occurs with Z,E-conformers and leads to the formation of transient thiocarbonyl ylides in two stages. The thermodynamically favorable further transformation of C=S ylides bearing at least one acyl group is identified as the 1,5-electrocyclization into 1,3-oxathioles. However, in the case of diazomalonates, the dominating process is 1,3-cyclization into thiiranes followed by their spontaneous desulfurization yielding the corresponding alkenes. Finally, carbocyclic diazodiketones are much less reactive under similar conditions due to the locked cyclic structure and are unfavorable for the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition due to the Z,Z-conformation of the diazo molecule. This structure results in high, positive values of the Gibbs free energy change for the first stage of the cycloaddition process.
Proposal of Innovative Approaches of Relationship Marketing in Business
Authors: Lendel Viliam , Varmus Michal
Published: April 2015

The aim of this paper is to propose innovative approaches to relationship marketing that affect the process of building relationships with customers, based on a detailed analysis of the literary sources and the research. This proposal is supported by the information technology e-CRM and social CRM. The paper contains a detailed description of the procedure for successfully implementing innovative approaches to relationship marketing in business. This should serve mainly to marketing managers as a valuable tool in their use of innovative approaches to relationship marketing, especially in the process of obtaining innovative ideas from customers, in order to identify their needs and requirements. Furthermore, the paper contains the main results of our research aimed at identifying the extent of utilization of innovative approaches to relationship marketing in Slovak businesses. A total of 207 respondents were involved in the research (medium and large businesses and following methods were used: comparative method of qualitative evaluation method, the method of structured and structured interview method, observation, document analysis method (method of content analysis) and questionnaire method.
Venture Capitalists’ Investment Selection Criteria in CEE Countries and Russia
Authors: Zinecker Marek , Bolf David
Published: April 2015

This article deals with findings of a survey in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) and Russian venture capital markets. The main aim of this study is to explore the following issues: Which criteria play an essential role in the selection of business proposals by firms investing venture capital in the CEE and Russian markets? What are the key characteristics of an investment selection process? And, in addition: Who are the investors in these markets? The nature of this study is explorative. It relies on primary data that were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The data were processed by statistical methods reflecting their nature and quantity. Descriptive methods served as basic statistical analyses. The survey results, which provide a number of unique insights into the field, are subsequently compared with findings which were published in similar studies undertaken in well-developed capital markets. This study supports the thesis that, when considering business proposals, above-average attention has been paid to criteria concerning the competitive advantage of the product and its potential to generate high returns. Our survey also confirms conclusions drawn from other studies which identify the size of the market and its growth rate as the most significant criteria characterizing the market. The crucial criterion in the category dedicated to management’s experience in the initial stage of the business life cycle is the management’s familiarity with the target market although investors emphasize its lower significance compared to the product and market characteristics. By publishing empirical data, an important signal regarding up-to-date evaluative criteria and their weight is sent both to prospective venture capitalists and investee companies operating under specific conditions of the CEE countries and Russia.
Fatigue Behavior of K447A Superalloy under Low Cycle Fatigue and Creep-Fatigue Interaction Conditions
Authors: Yu Hui Chen , Dong Cheng Li , Li Ying
Published: April 2015

Strain-controlled low cycle fatigue (LCF) and creep-fatigue interaction (CFI) tests of K447A are conducted at 760oC in order to investigate the effects of different dwell times and strain ratios on the fatigue behavior and life. For the cases of stain ratioRε=-1 with balanced hold time, the tensile and compressive mean stresses will generate. For the case of stain ratioRε=-1 with compressive holding 60s, the tensile mean stress will produce. For the case of stain ratioRε=-1 with tensile holding 60s, the compressive mean stress will produce. For the cases of stain ratioRε=0.1 andRε=-1with no hold time, the tensile mean stress will produce. The cyclic damage accumulation (CDA) method and modified CDA method were employed to predict the fatigue life for K447A, respectively. The fatigue life predicted by CDA method is within the scatter band of 18.2X. The fatigue life predicted by the modified CDA method agrees very well with the experimental life and the predicted life is well within the scatter band of 3.1X, which means that the modified CDA method is able to consider the influences of dwell time and strain ratio on the fatigue life of K447A.
Research on Stress Intensity of Variable Cross-Section H-Type Structure in Heat Exchanger with Longitudinal Flow of Shell Side
Authors: Liu Zun Chao , Wang Ke , Gu Xin , Liu Min Shan
Published: April 2015

The variable cross-section H-type structure, which is used in the new type of heat exchanger with longitudinal flow of shell side, could reduce the scour action of imports fluid on the tube bundle and prevent vibration of the tube bundle. It could also improve the state of the shell side fluid flow, reducing the flow dead zone, allowing for a more efficient use of the heat transfer area and improving the energy efficiency. The new structure will make the temperature and stress distribution in the heat distribution more complex, so it is necessary to analyze the stress intensity of the variable cross-section H-type structure. A three-dimensional finite element model of the variable cross-section H-type structure is established in this paper, and the surface temperature of the various parts of the heat exchanger are determined through temperature analysis. Using ANSYS Workbench software, thermal-stress analysis of the H -type structure with different structural parameters is tested, and the temperature and stress field are obtained. The results show that a Ring plate of H-type structure has a larger temperature gradient along the thickness direction. The maximum stress of the heat exchanger is 203.13 MPa, which occurred on the connections of the ring plate and jacket in the lower temperature side. The ring plate thickness of the H-type structure has a significant influence on its maximum stress. Therefore, a reasonable selection of ring plate thickness is important for the safety of the heat exchanger.
Thermo-Mechanical Simulation of Reheat Cracking in Welding CGHAZ of Vanadium-Modified 2.25Cr1Mo Steel
Authors: Han Yi Chun , Chen Xue Dong , Fan Zhi Chao , Bu Hua Quan
Published: April 2015

The reheat cracking, also known as stress relief cracking, has occurred many times in the welding coarse grained heat affected zones (CGHAZ) of Vanadium-modified (V-mod) 2.25Cr1Mo steel, but seldom researches on this problem have been conducted until now. In this paper, reheat cracking in welding CGHAZ of V-mod 2.25Cr1Mo steel was studied by the thermo-mechanical simulation methods. A screening test was carried out for simulating similar material to the real CGHAZ. The high temperature ductility of simulated CGHAZ was measured in the range of 600~705°C for determining the most sensitive temperature to reheat cracking. And then, the reheat cracking phenomena at the sensitive temperature was reproduced by Isothermal stress relaxation test and the micro-morphology of cracks was observed and analyzed. The results show that the thermal simulation parameters for acquiring the most similar materials to real CGHAZ are heat input of 35kJ/cm, heating rate of 1000°C/s and holding time at 1320°C of 1s. The reduction of area (RoA) of the simulated CGHAZ specimen first decreases and then increases with increasing temperature. It exhibits a minimum value at 675°C, corresponding to the most sensitive temperature to reheat cracking. In the stress relaxation test, the sample failure typically occurs with very low stress relaxation proportion (less than 15%) and extremely poor ductility (less than 5% in RoA). Both microvoid coalescence along the PAGB and intergranular wedge type cracks were observed in the fractured sample, proposing a mixed cracking mode of W-type and R-type in stress relaxation.