bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of indigenous interferon - alpha on Hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid level in hepatitis b e antigen-positive chronic Hepatitis B patients
Authors: Rathi Pravin M. , Jain Samit S.
Published: March 2017

Background and Objective: HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients have high serum HBV DNA level showing high viral replication. Goal of treatment of hepatitis B is to prevent cirrhosis, hepatic failure and hepatocellular carcinoma by serum alanine transaminase (ALT) normalization, decrease in serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and loss in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). Interferons (IFNs) have antiviral, anti-proliferative, and immunomodulatory effects. IFN-α is effective in suppressing HBV replication and in inducing remission of liver disease. Materials and Methods: In this prospective, single treatment arm study, HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis patients without decompensated liver disease were enrolled to receive indigenous recombinant IFN-α 2b in the dose of 5 MU daily for 6 days a week subcutaneously for 16 weeks. Quantitative HBV-DNA, HBeAg, and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were assessed at baseline and at the end of treatment. ALT level assessment was done at baseline and during therapy at week 1, week 2, week 8, week 12, and week 16. Results: Out of 37 patients enrolled in the study, 8 patients (21.62%) did not complete study due to lost to follow-up (3 patients), discontinuation due to adverse event (3 patients), and consent withdrawal (2 patients). Among 29 patients who completed the study, 10 patients (34.48%) had clearance of HBeAg and 1 patient (3.44%) had lost HBsAg after 16 weeks of therapy. Mean ALT level started decreasing after 4 weeks of therapy but did not come to normal range till 16 weeks of therapy. At least 2 log decreases in HBV DNA was observed in 9 (31.03%) patients and at least 1 log decrease in 18 (62.06%) patients. Overall decline in HBV DNA level was observed in 62% patients after 16 weeks of therapy. Conclusion: IFN-α treatment does result in HBeAg and HBsAg loss and decreases HBV-DNA levels in chronic hepatitis B patients. Most of adverse events were mild to moderate in intensity. So, interferon-α therapy was well tolerated, safe, and efficacious to treat HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients without decompensated liver disease.
EDITORIAL
Authors: Amoras Fernando Castro
Published: March 2017

Editorial da edição n.º 3, vol. 06, de 2016
Mães acompanhantes de crianças cardiopatas: repercussões emocionais durante a hospitalização
Authors: Pavão Thiago Leite , Montalvão Tatiana Carvalho de
Published: March 2017

A hospitalização infantil gera mudanças na rotina de vida da criança e seus familiares. Diante desse contexto, objetivou-se compreender e identificar as repercussões emocionais em mães acompanhantes de crianças cardiopatas hospitalizadas. Como método, foi realizado um estudo qualitativo por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, o qual contou com a participação de seis mães, sendo utilizada a Análise de Conteúdo para estudo dos dados obtidos. Identificou-se que as mães apresentaram diversas reações subjetivas ao longo da internação, tais como medo, tristeza, estresse, ansiedade, impotência, angústia, solidão e culpa. Além disso, demonstraram como mecanismos de enfrentamento a espiritualidade e a religiosidade. Diante dessas demandas, o psicólogo pode atuar junto à equipe multiprofissional, proporcionando uma assistência humanizada.Palavras-chave: Mães acompanhantes; Hospitalização; Cardiopatia; Repercussões Emocionais; Enfrentamento.
O sentido do trabalho educativo no campo social
Authors: Santos Karine , Lemes Marilene Alves
Published: March 2017

O cenário contemporâneo em que se apresentam as organizações não governamentais tem sido visualizado como um campo fértil para o estudo das práticas educativas desenvolvidas no campo social. Essas organizações incluem um conjunto de entidades diversas em concepções, metodologias de trabalho, entendimentos da política pública e do direito. Estão envoltas em uma multiplicidade de intenções, fazendo com que suas práticas permeiem um campo nebuloso, difícil, inclusive, de serem explicadas por quem as desenvolve. Com o objetivo de conhecer a dimensão educativa dessas práticas, analisamos entrevistas e memórias de encontros com trabalhadores sociais, procurando responder à seguinte questão: que tipo de orientações coletivas e visões de mundo emergem das práticas desenvolvidas por profissionais que atuam em ONGs? As reflexões empreendidas neste estudo nos fazem inferir que tais práticas estão impregnadas de intencionalidades, ora emancipatórias, ora conformatórias.Palavras-chave: campo social, práticas educativas, ONGs.
Ser professor: elementos consensuais das representações sociais de docentes em início de carreira
Authors: Machado Laeda Bezerra , Pimentel Raposo Mirella Maria , Lima e Silva Marcella Thaine , Albuquerque Castro Thaiz Reis
Published: March 2017

O artigo identifica os elementos de consenso das representações sociais do ser professor construídos pelos docentes iniciantes de educação infantil e de ensino fundamental. A investigação se baseia nos fundamentos da abordagem societal, protagonizada por Willem Doise. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório para o qual se utilizou um questionário com questões abertas, respondido por 70 professores de escolas municipais e estaduais da Região Metropolitana do Recife. Os resultados sinalizam elementos consensuais de uma representação social da profissão docente associada a fatores negativos, marcada pelo pessimismo que se vincula a diversos aspectos, que precarizam o trabalho docente. É possível admitir que o contexto de precarização concorre para que o consenso representacional da profissão esteja articulado a um sentimento de mal-estar docente
Qualidade nutricional de barras de chocolate adicionadas de castanhas de baru
Authors: Lubas Cristina Correa da Silva , Cândido Camila Jordão , Souza Suene Vanessa Da Silva , Guimarães Rita de Cássia Avellaneda
Published: March 2017

Chocolate é definido como produto obtido a partir da mistura de derivados de cacau com outros ingredientes, contendo no mínimo 25 % de sólidos totais de cacau. A castanha de baru (Dipteryx alata Vog.) é amplamente encontrada do Cerrado brasileiro podendo ser apreciada na alimentação. Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a qualidade do produto na questão microbiológica e composição centesimal do produto. Barras de chocolates acrescidas de castanhas de baru foram testadas em diferentes concentrações do fruto. As análises microbiológicas e composição centesimal foram realizadas. Os produtos foram analisados e considerados aptos para o consumo. O estudo da composição centesimal foi satisfatório, especialmente para carboidratos nas formulações contendo 35% de amêndoa, assim como baixo teor de lipídios e calorias nas formulações contendo 15% de amêndoa. Os resultados obtidos foram muito satisfatórios, tendo em vista que as chances de contaminação aumentam quando o alimento é produzido artesanalmente.
Effects of silane application on the shear bond strength of ceramic orthodontic brackets to enamel surface
Authors: Pudyani Pinandi Sri , Widiarsanti Setiarini
Published: March 2017

Background: Fixed orthodontic appliances with ceramic brackets are used frequently to fulfill the aesthetic demand of patient through orthodontic treatment. Ceramic brackets have some weaknesses such as bond strength and enamel surface damage. In high bond strength the risk of damage in enamel surfaces increases after debonding. Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effect of silane on base of bracket and adhesive to shear bond strength and enamel structure of ceramic bracket. Method: Sixteen extracted upper premolars were randomly divided into four groups based on silane or no silane on the bracket base and on the adhesive surface. Design of the base on ceramic bracket in this research was microcrystalline to manage the influence of mechanical interlocking. Samples were tested in shear mode on a universal testing machine after attachment. Following it, adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores were used to assess bond failure site. Statistical analysis was performed using a two-way Anova and the Mann-Whitney test. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a magnification of 2000x was used to observe enamel structure after debonding. Result: Shear bond strength was increased between group without silane and group with silane on the base of bracket (p<0,05). There was no significance different between group without silane and group with silane on adhesive (p<0,05). Conclusion: Application of silane on base of bracket increases shear bond strength, however, application of silane on adhesive site does not increase shear bond strength of ceramic bracket. Most bonding failure occurred at the enamel adhesive interface and damage occurred on enamel structure in group contains silane of ceramic bracket.
The Index System for the Development Level Evaluation of Regional Construction Industrialization: a Case Study in Jiangsu, China
Authors: Liu Ping , Li Qiming , Song Liangliang , Jia Ruoyu
Published: March 2017

In recent years, there have been concerns raised about construction industrialization in China, which have initiated a wave of policy change in both governmental and industrial organizations in order to change the mode of conventional construction. However, the current development level of regional construction industrialization (RCI) in China has not been well-characterized. This study screened preliminary index systems in five dimensions: technical, economic, sustainable, enterprise development and development environment. Based on the data gathered from the questionnaire surveys and subsequently analyzed, twenty-two critical evaluation indicators were identified. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was then employed to determine the weighting of each indicator. The evaluation method of the development level was formulated on the basis of the evaluation criteria. Jiangsu Province was used as an example in this study, with the development level of this province being comprehensively examined using a combination of the index system and evaluation method. The results show that Jiangsu has a relatively high RCI development level. The data from analysis scores of five dimensions and twenty-two indicators show that the index system is feasible, with evaluation results being consistent with actual practice. These findings provide a good practical reference for making decisions about how best to guide the development of RCI.
PHENOLIC PROFILE OF Centaurea aegyptiaca L. GROWING IN EGYPT AND ITS CYTOTOXIC AND ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITIES
Authors: Bakr Riham Omar , Mohamed Shaza Abd El Halim , Ayoub Nahla
Published: March 2017

Background: Centaurea aegyptiaca L (Asteraceae), is one of the most attractive plants growing wildly in Sinai, and is not well

investigated for its phytochemical constituents. This study represents the first in-depth characterization of the phenolic profile of the

aerial parts of C. aegyptiaca methanolic extract utilizing liquid chromatography (LC) combined with electrospray ionization (ESI)

tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS).

Material and Methods: Phenolic profile was researched utilizing LC-HRESI-MS-MS. Assessment of cytotoxic activity against four

human cancer cell lines (Hep-G2; hepatocellular carcinoma cells, MCF-7; breast adenocarcinoma cells, and HCT-116; colon

carcinoma and HELA; cervical carcinoma cells) was performed using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium

bromide (MTT) assay. Antiviral activity was surveyed utilizing cytopathic effect inhibition assay.

Results: A total of sixty-one compounds were tentatively distinguished (twenty-one phenolic acids and their derivatives, thirty-one

flavonols and nine flavones) in the negative and positive modes. Centaurea aegyptiaca demonstrated outstanding results against

Hep-G2, MCF-7, HCT-116 and HELA cell lines with IC50 of 12.1, 30.9, 11.7 and 19.5 μg/mL respectively compared and

doxorubicin as a reference drug. Weak antiviral activity was seen against hepatitis A virus (HAV) and no impact against herpes

simplex virus type 1 (HSV 1).

Conclusion: This study provides a better understanding of the chemistry of C. aegyptiaca that announces itself as a promising

cytotoxic agent.
NITRIC OXIDE INHIBITORY ACTIVITY OF STRYCHNOS SPINOSA (LOGANIACEAE) LEAF EXTRACTS AND FRACTIONS
Authors: Isa AI , Dzoyem JP , Adebayo S.A , Suleiman M.M , Eloff JN.
Published: March 2017

Background: The study was aimed at determining the anti-inflammatory activity of fractions and extracts obtained from Strychnos

spinosa leaves on a mediator of inflammation nitric oxide (NO).

Materials and Methods: Leaves were extracted with acetone and separated into fractions with different polarities by solventsolvent

fractionation. The Griess assay was used to determine the nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activity. Cellular toxicity was

determined by "using the MTT reduction assay".

Results: With the exception of the ethyl acetate fraction which had an IC50 >750 μg/mL, all extracts and fractions had significant

nitric oxide-inhibitory activity. The most active being the water fraction, chloroform fraction and the dichloromethane/methanol

extracts with IC50 values of 88.43 μg/mL, 96.72 μg/mL and 115.62 μg/mL, respectively. The extracts and fractions had low

cytotoxicity on macrophage U937 cell lines.

Conclusion: Extracts and fractions of Strychnos spinosa leaves may be promising sources of natural anti-inflammatory agents.

Findings obtained from this study showed that Strychnos spinosa leaves possess promising anti-inflammatory action and could be

used in the treatment of inflammation-related conditions.
A Study on Various Factors Affecting the Need for Industry Institute Interaction
Authors: Jones T. Mary , Kiran K. Prasanth
Published: March 2017

“Education is the process of facilitating learning or the process of acquiring knowledge, skills and attitude. Education enlightens the people and empowers them towards many issues. An institute is a place where the student is equipped with all the required skills to face the external world. But in the present days there is a wide gap between the needs of the industry and the employability skills of graduates coming out of various professional colleges. Only 3.84% of engineering students are possessing employability skills and there is no much difference in the other courses. Thus there is a need for industry institute interaction to bridge the gap. This interaction should help the institutes to develop professionals and the industry should get the required personnel.
Social Responsibility and Petroleum Engineering Education: Lessons from Field-Based Education
Authors: Smith Nicole M. , Smith Jessica M. , Battalora Linda A. , Teschner Benjamin A.
Published: March 2017

The energy and extractive industries present unique challenges to engineers and geoscientists, who must navigate sometimes competing responsibilities and codes of conduct, such as personal senses of right and wrong, professional ethics codes, and their employers’ social responsibility (SR) policies. However, most engineering curriculums do not include courses specifically focused on SR, and many new hires do not learn about SR until employment begins. Students are familiar with industry phrases such as "social license to operate," "stakeholder engagement," and "be a good neighbor," yet they often lack understanding of the broader context of these goals. By exploring the context of hydrocarbon development projects, through field exercises, students can gain an awareness of the health, safety, security, environment and social responsibility risks. In this paper, we report on research that seeks to understand the relationship between petroleum engineering and SR, the current dominant framework used by industry to conceptualize firms’ responsibilities to their stakeholders. We also share results from a study of pedagogical enhancements in required petroleum engineering field sessions at the Colorado School of Mines (Mines). These enhancements were designed to better prepare undergraduate petroleum engineering students to critically appraise the strengths and limitations of SR as an approach to reconciling the interests of industry and communities. The analysis suggests that SR may be a fruitful arena from which to illustrate the profoundly sociotechnical dimensions of the engineering challenges relevant to students’ future careers.
Characterization of Accidental Spills and Releases Affecting Groundwater in the Greater Wattenberg Area of the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Northeastern Colorado
Authors: Armstrong Katherine J. , Rogers Jessica D. , Burke Troy L. , Ryan Joseph N. , Sherwood Owen A.
Published: March 2017

Public concern about the potential effects of unconventional oil and gas development on water quality has grown in recent years. In this study, we considered accidental spills and releases that occurred from 2007 to 2014 in the Greater Wattenberg Area (GWA), an area of intensive oil and gas extraction located within the Denver-Julesburg Basin in northeastern Colorado. Our objective was to quantify the occurrence rates of (1) all spills and (2) spills determined by the operator to have caused groundwater impacts. Additionally, for spills affecting groundwater, we analyzed characteristics including facilities and equipment involved, causes, and resolution times in order to identify recommendations for improved regulatory or operational practices.

Spills and releases were identified from publicly-available reports collected by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). Spills were identified as having potentially impacted groundwater based on an operator-reported field present on the reports. Groundwater impacts were verified for this subset of spills by reviewing the narrative description of the incident and the supporting documents (e.g., consultant reports, laboratory data) available in the COGCC database. Additional information collected included the causes of the spills, the facility types, and the time required for resolution of spills. To determine spill occurrence rates, the number of annual spills was compared to several annual indicators of oil and gas development, including the volumes of oil and water produced and the number of active producing wells in the GWA.

The annual spill count remained relatively stable from 2007 to 2011, but increased each year from 2011 to 2014. From 2007 to 2014, spill occurrence rates decreased or remained steady when compared to oil and water production volumes, respectively; however, the occurrence rate increased compared to the number of active producing wells. These trends suggest that fewer spills occurred for a greater volume of fluids produced and handled in the GWA, but that more spills occurred per active well. For all three normalization metrics, we observed that the occurrence rate of groundwater-impacting spills remained steady or decreased. The percentage of spills impacting groundwater compared to total spills decreased by a factor of two from 2010 (54%) to 2014 (27%). Among groundwater-impacting spills, the most common facility types were tank batteries and lines (including flow lines, gathering lines, load lines, and pipelines), and the most common cause was equipment failure. Based on our observations of spills in the GWA from 2007 to 2014, we have suggested several strategies for regulators and operators to improve spill reporting practices and to reduce the likelihood of surface spills that result in persistent impacts to shallow groundwater.
Social Performance SP in Challenging Times: Lessons Learned Regarding Major Projects, Non-Technical Risk, and SP in the Lean Years
Authors: Moore E. , Buchman A.
Published: March 2017

In the process of exploring for and bringing new hydrocarbon resources to market, oil and natural gas companies frequently rely on social performance elements as a means to help secure social license to operate. Such elements—including social impact assessment and management, stakeholder engagement, community and ‘flagship’ social investments, et al—are used by operators as a means of establishing themselves as a preferred ‘good neighbor’. The non-technical risks associated with oil and natural gas projects suggest that responding to project timing challenges and down-turn budget reduction pressure is far from a simple calculation. In this paper, the authors consider recent projects and present lessons learned regarding the difficult choices facing project managers.
Managing Non-Technical Risk in Oil and Gas Operations: The Stakeholder Alignment Imperatives
Authors: Adekoya Adebanji
Published: March 2017

Non-technical risks (NTR) refer to all risks and opportunities that arise from the interactions of a business with its broad range of external stakeholders (Adekoya & Ekepnyong, 2016). Interactions that could potentially result in stakeholders discontent represent the downside risk dimension while interactions that could potentially result in stakeholders satisfaction represent the upside opportunity dimension. The oil and gas industry is faced with significant NTRs at project and portfolio levels due to the complex operating environment and challenging stakeholder interfaces in regions and geographies where natural resource reserves are found.

This paper discusses stakeholder misalignment as being the root cause of key NTRs that oil industry operations have to contend with. The stakeholder web around oil and gas business has become more complex and closely knit with conflicting/overlapping interests. Added to this is the increased sophistication of external stakeholders in terms of real time access to information and the ease with which they build coalition/alliances to challenge oil companies. This is further accentuated by increased public scrutiny. Dealing with NTRs to prevent value erosion in oil and gas operations will require a strategic retrofit of the way the industry currently views and manages stakeholder issues.

As the frontier of oil & gas exploration move to very challenging geographies including deepwater, the artic, other pristine environments and countries and regions with complex socio-political structures, management of non-technical risk is increasingly defining the ability of oil companies to extract and sustain value in their portfolio. A number of authors, including Ernst & Young (2014) and Goldman Sachs (2008) have tried to quantify the value erosion suffered by the oil and gas industry in recent years due to poor management or inability to anticipate non-technical risks.
Sustainability Aspects of Water Infrastructure
Authors: Dunkel M. R.
Published: March 2017

This paper analyzes the benefits of water infrastructure in various onshore regions as it relates to stakeholders and sustainability. Companies’ and stakeholders’ benefits, impediments and other trends are discussed, as well as the sustainability aspects of water infrastructure for specific projects. Business sustainability is often defined as managing the triple bottom line - a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. (Financial Times. 2017.)

The evaluation process included analyzing public disclosures and interviews with oil and gas companies, regulators, service companies and other stakeholders.

The oil and gas industry continues to move a significant percentage of water by trucks in most U.S. basins. Discussions with leading companies suggest that more infrastructure is being planned by operators and third parties. In many cases, companies are sharing water infrastructure and planning to use infrastructure jointly. The benefits of water infrastructure include lower costs, more flexibility to use multiple sources of water, aggregation of larger volumes of produced water to allow efficient water recycling facilities, reducing community impacts by reducing trucks on the road, reducing air emissions, reducing freshwater use and reducing water disposal due to ability to recycle more effectively. Impediments to building water infrastructure include: up front capital costs, regulatory constraints, obtaining right-of-way and the planning cycle for producing companies. In spite of the impediments, successful infrastructure projects are being planned and developed. In fact, a new trend is showing multi-company projects where several producers may share the infrastructure. Specific projects are highlighted for their sustainability.

What is striking about the different regions of the U.S. is how their water challenges vary. Key limitations and parameters include insufficient source water, limited disposal capacity, regulatory variation, amount of contiguous acreage held by companies, topography, proximity to urban centers and availability of public roads. Additionally, variations in the targeted formation depth, rock properties and formation fluids necessitate different hydraulic fracturing practices which put different constraints on water management plans. Because of these variations, generalized strategies are not practical; rather, customized solutions are best designed and engineered to meet an area's unique and specific needs.
Next Generation Compliance for Organic Liquid Storage Vessels
Authors: McBrayer Mitchell
Published: March 2017

EPA testing has suggested that actual storage tank emissions are higher than reported. As a result, the EPA has proposed the Next Generation Compliance document that has significant impacts on hazardous air pollutant (HAP) storage tanks in a wide range of industries.

The Next Generation Compliance document presents areas in which the EPA will focus their attention to strengthen compliance strategies by means of regulatory overhaul, increased monitoring programs, and innovative enforcement strategies. The EPA's focus on tanks has been spurred by violations resulting from design flaws, inadequate maintenance procedures and emission controls, and deficient monitoring techniques. Recent enforcement settlements have resulted in multi-million dollar fines for these facilities and have required costly equipment modifications. With such high potential settlement costs, it has become more important than ever to have a robust compliance program.

The upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry all include storage tanks containing HAPs. The EPA's Next Generation Compliance plan will scrutinize sites with HAPs storage tanks and will disproportionately affect the oil and gas industry due to its relatively large number of storage tanks. Consequently, it is important for these sites to ensure storage tank emissions are accurately estimated and in compliance. This paper will investigate strategies and present methods for sites with storage tanks to ensure compliance.
Impacts of Inland Response Techniques on Plant Growth Field Test Study
Authors: Barston Mr. Tristan
Published: March 2017

This study was developed to compare the effects that four commonly used onshore diesel oil spill response techniques (natural degradation, in-situ burning, flooding and bioremediation) have on the ability of soil to sustain plant life following an oil spill.
Enhancing Offshore Safety Culture Through Continuous Management of Barriers and Success Paths
Authors: Nelson William R. , Ahluwalia Amar I.
Published: March 2017

Safety culture is a critical factor for reducing risks for offshore drilling and production operations. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued a Safety Culture Policy Statement based on "Nine Characteristics of a Robust Safety Culture" providing guidance for safety culture programs. Similar programs are implemented in other industries including nuclear, commercial aviation, space operations, and maritime. Many of these programs are based on abstract concepts including management leadership, safety attitudes, and personal accountability that can't demonstrate a direct, measurable influence on major accident risk. A complementary approach has been developed based on the premise that the most effective way to reduce major accident risks and enhance safety culture is to provide workers the information and tools they need to make correct decisions and take correct actions to prevent and mitigate major accidents. The critical issue is to provide information to assess safety barrier health and make correct decisions and implement corrective actions when barriers are degraded or failed. The approach uses bow tie diagrams to identify and monitor barriers for preventing and mitigating accidents, success paths to restore degraded barriers, and information requirements analysis to continuously assess barrier and success path health. Decision criteria specify when corrective actions are needed and provide clear guidance for actions that are required for implementing alternative success paths. This approach has been used to develop decision support systems for offshore drilling and production operations, and to assess safety culture and control room management for nuclear power plant and pipeline operations.

This paper summarizes lessons learned from major accidents in the nuclear, aerospace, and offshore industries. The Decision Support for Dynamic Barrier Management approach is described, and experience gained from application of the approach to nuclear power plants, pipeline operations, and offshore drilling and production are described. Finally, the potential benefits of the approach for enhancing safety culture for offshore operations are summarized.
A Unique Approach to Comply with the New Source Performance Standards NSPS for Methane Emissions for Hydrocarbon Producing Wells
Authors: Smith Steve , Denney Tommy
Published: March 2017

For decades, downstream hydrocarbon production facilities have been faced with compliance with the EPA Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) fugitive emissions program. Now the upstream business must comply with the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for VOC emissions for the oil and natural gas industry per EPA's proposed rules that would require that the industry reduce methane emissions. Specifically, the EPA intends on reducing fugitive methane and VOC emissions from new and modified oil and natural gas production well sites.

Wellhead Emissions Management Systems, LLC of Houston, Texas has a developed a patent pending approach for the remediation of Methane and VOC emissions for gas production wellheads at a significantly lower cost than currently estimated by the EPA. Per the EPA - Regulatory Analysis Engineering Compliance Cost Estimates, the second most expensive item to comply with under the proposed regulation is fugitive emissions. The 2020 capital cost of compliance is estimated to range from $15MUSD to $22M increasing to $95M to $140M by 2025. The annualized cost of compliance is estimated to be between $29M and $47M swelling to $180M to $290M by 2025. Additional annual cost compliance estimates developed by the EPA state the cost to control wellhead fugitive emissions to be $310MUSD or $2,237 per well per year. Industry estimates for compliance have placed the cost at 0.65 cents per 1,000 SCF of gas produced. The containment and remediation system currently in field testing by Wellhead Emissions Management Systems, LLC expects to reduce the annualized cost by 30% per wellhead, while at the same time eliminating the need for immediate maintenance on wellheads when emission levels exceed the EPA NSPS allowable levels.
Deploying Human Performance: Where Do We Start?
Authors: Cook Matt
Published: March 2017

This paper shares Chevron's human performance initiative, and the role human performance plays in reducing serious incidents and fatalities. The paper defines what human performance is at Chevron, and how it is being integrated in the organization at the local and corporate levels. The gap analysis and prioritization tool (GAAP) has been developed to provide snapshots of the culture throughout a local organization and provide local leadership with specific actions to include in their integration planning. The GAAP takes the complex task of integrating human performance and targets areas where human performance can have the greatest impact.

The GAAP is made up of 19 statements derived from the United Kingdom (UK) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Human Factors Inspector Toolkit and the Step Change in Safety Human Factors Toolkit. The statements describe attributes of an integrated human performance organization and include statements from each of Chevron's human performance focus areas: leadership engagement; incident investigation, reporting and learning; managing safe work; process safety; human factors engineering; and physical and psychological well-being. The GAAP is administered in facilitated small group discussions at varying levels throughout an organization (i.e. operations, front-line supervisors and leadership).

Participants in the discussion are asked to compare the GAAP statement against their current perspective of the organization and provide a ranking for each statement based on level of implementation. During the ranking process participants are asked to justify their ranking and provide examples where applicable. Comments and rankings are captured by a facilitator who analyzes the raw data and comments to identify themes and opportunities for the organization. The feedback is presented to the organization's leadership along with a recommendation of where to apply specific human performance tools and solutions based on the GAAP responses and data.

Results from the GAAP have proven to be valuable at the local and enterprise levels. At the local level, the feedback allows the organization to identify low hanging fruit and provide specific inputs into the organization's integration plan. At the enterprise level the information has help shape the corporate strategy and influenced the next steps along the human performance initiative for Chevron.
Technology and Innovation For Environmental Monitoring on Alaska's North Slope
Authors: Febbo E. , Payne K. , Reep B.
Published: March 2017

Alaska's North Slope is a unique environment, located above the Arctic Circle. Despite harsh weather conditions and logistical challenges, oil and gas development has been a part of this environment for many decades and environmental management and monitoring continues to be a significant aspect of development and operating facilities. Several innovative approaches to environmental monitoring will be highlighted, including early detection of polar bears using radar, caribou monitoring using satellites, and vegetation and hydrology monitoring using unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
Environmental Concerns and Quality of Life Following the Gulf Oil Spill: Factors Contributing to Behavioral Health
Authors: Osofsky Howard , Hansel Tonya Cross , Speier Anthony , Osofsky Joy , Savage Nicole
Published: March 2017

Objectives/Scope

An individual's connection to their environment is evident in Southeastern Louisiana, as this area represents a major economic hub for the United States port, petroleum, and fishing industries. The location also exposes the population to both natural and technological disasters that impact life on many levels, with residents' behavioral health being particularly vulnerable. Areas situated along the Gulf Coast are repeatedly experiencing and recovering from disasters with efforts to improve both preparedness and response being much needed. Specifically we need to improve our understanding of behavioral health factors, both positive and negative, that influence disaster recovery. There is an increasing amount of literature on negative health risks following disaster exposure, however little is known about how connection to one's environment and resilience contribute to or protect against negative behavioral health effects.

Methods, Procedures, Process

To better understand how both risk and protective factors contributing to post disaster behavioral health effects, this study assessed the association among environmental quality of life, environmental concerns, resilience, disaster experiences, and mental health symptoms. A total of 859 residents that reported some impact from the Gulf Oil Spill and lived along the Louisiana Gulf Coast were sampled. Structural Equation Modeling techniques were used to test the association among factors predicting mental health.

Results, Observations, Conclusions

The overall model demonstrated acceptable fit and disaster experiences were predictive of both environmental quality of life and mental health. Environmental quality of life was predictive of resilience and environmental quality of life and resilience were predictive of mental health.

Novel/Additive Information

This study found that disaster experiences were an important contributor, not only to one's post disaster mental health, but also to one's perceived environmental quality of life. Importantly environmental quality of life contributed to resilience or the perceived ability to overcome challenges. These findings can assist with development of post disaster recovery community response efforts that build on underutilized strengths, such as resilience and enhanced environmental quality of life.
History Matching of Reservoirs by Updating Fault Properties Using 4D Seismic Results and Ensemble Kalman Filter
Authors: Etienam Clement , Mahmood Intesar , Villegas Rossmary
Published: March 2017

This work focuses on the improvement of an integrated methodology for the automatic history matching of compartmentalised reservoirs using 4D seismic results, stochastic initialization and the Ensemble Kalman Filter method. We show the comparison of two different history matching approaches using the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) to update the Fault Transmissibility Multipliers (FTM) initially estimated with and without considering the 4D seismic results. In this study, the parameters updated during the history matching are two-phase fault transmissibility multipliers (FTM), absolute permeability and effective porosity of a synthetic realistic 3D reservoir. The true impedance map and the changes in reservoir pressure and saturation were previously computed from 4D seismic results. The systematic estimation of two-phase fault transmissibility multipliers is based on the integration of the collected 4D seismic results and an established method validated in our previous work based on a deterministic model, using the gradient-based History Matching, Levenberg Marquardt method (LM). We present the history matching of a synthetic reservoir using the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) considering the 4D seismic results to update the models and geostatistical techniques to produce the initial geological models. The stochastic method used is the Sequential Gaussian Simulation (SGS) technique to generate 100 initial models. During history matching using the EnKF, the saturation distributions are computed from the forward modelling of a two-phase system (oil-water). The impedance maps are then estimated using the Gassmann equation and compared with the true impedance map as part of the History Matching process. To validate the results, the cost function consisting of two components is calculated, the first is the structural similarity index of the two reconstructed impedance images to the real impedance image and the second is the RMS cost function value, l2 – norm of the difference between the true (real) and the simulated pressure-production data. The EnKF history matching using the two-phase FTM values considering 4D seismic results produced lower cost function values compared with the model using the initial FTM multiplier without considering 4D seismic results. The EnKF history matching algorithm using 4D seismic presented in this work produced results closer to the true reservoir impedance map compared to our previous 4D gradient based history matching method.
A Compositional Model for CO2 Storage in Deformable Organic-Rich Shales
Authors: Olorode O. M. , Akkutlu I. Y. , Efendiev Y.
Published: March 2017

Increased development of resource shales near industrial areas is spawning interests in storing CO2 generated from the neighboring industries in depleted organic-rich resource shales. This work presents a compositional model for the flow of a multi-component hydrocarbon gas and CO2 in a deformable porous medium consisting of an inorganic and an organic matrix. The fully-coupled equations for fluid transport and geomechanics are solved using the Control Volume Finite Element Method.

This work presents a mathematical model for CO2 storage in shales. The model accounts for the dispersed nature of kerogen in shale and can describe the advective and diffusive transport of the hydrocarbon components and CO2. The pressure- dependence of diffusion is modeled using the Maxwell-Stefan model, while desorption of the hydrocarbon species and adsorption of CO2 in kerogen is modeled with the Extended Langmuir Isotherm. The governing equations are solved implicitly for coupled geomechanics and flow. The developed simulator is used to model the primary depletion of a representative Barnett shale-gas reservoir, as well as the storage of CO2 in this depleted reservoir under various conditions.

The simulation results from this work indicate that the storage capacity of organic-rich shales could be overestimated if we do not account for the pore-volume reduction due to the pore space occupied by the adsorbed gas. During primary recovery from organic-rich shales, the pore-pressure drops and some of the gases adsorbed on the surface of the organic pore walls are produced. This results in an increase in the pore volume available for subsequent CO2 storage. However, the pore-pressure drop also results in an increased effective stress, which could lead to a reduction in fracture conductivity and cumulative production. The model and simulator presented is capable of modeling the relative contributions of these coupled phenomena and the attending effect on CO2 storage.
Chromatography Effects in Alkali Surfactant Polymer Flooding
Authors: Lüftenegger Markus , Clemens Torsten
Published: March 2017

Phase experiments were performed to determine an Alkali Surfactant Polymer solution leading to low interfacial tensions for oil produced from the 16 TH reservoir of the Matzen field in Austria.

Core flood experiments with the ASP solution were conducted to investigate the incremental oil recovery. Experimental data was history matched utilizing numerical simulation.

Results show that at laboratory scale, the various chemicals travel at different speeds owing to the different retardation. Owing to the short distance travelled, the location of the various chemical fronts is close together. Hence, the conditions in the core floods resemble the conditions in the phase experiments.

At reservoir scale, however, even after only 0.2 Pore Volumes (PV) injected, a significant separation of the species is seen. Owing to the difference of the reservoir and core scale, chemical compositions need to be used which are leading to sufficient incremental oil for a wide range of compositions. The incremental oil production from ASP flooding can be substantially overestimated if the separation of the chemicals owing to retardation is not accounted for in the design of the chemical flood.

In case that pseudo components are used in reservoir simulation, the components should have similar retardation characteristics to ensure that incremental recovery is not overestimated.
A Simultaneous Bayesian Estimation of Channelized Facies and Reservoir Properties under Prior Uncertainty
Authors: Zhao Yu , Forouzanfar Fahim
Published: March 2017

In this work, a Bayesian data assimilation methodology for simultaneous estimation of channelized facies and petrophysical properties (e.g., permeability fields) is explored. Based on the work of Zhao et al. (2016a,b), common basis DCT is used for the parameterization of facies fields in order to achieve model feature extraction and reduce the inverse problem dimensionality. An iterative ensemble smoother method along with a post-processing technique are employed to simultaneously update the parameterized facies model, i.e., DCT coefficients, and the permeability values within each facies in order to match the reservoir production data. Two synthetic examples are designed and investigated to evaluate the performance of the proposed history matching workflow under different types of prior uncertainty. One example is a 2D three-facies reservoir with sinuous channels and the other example involves a 3D three-facies five-layer reservoir with two different geological zones. The computational results indicate that the posterior realizations calibrated by the proposed workflow are able to correctly estimate the key geological features and permeability distributions of the true model with good data match results. It is known that the reliability of prior models is essential in solving dynamic inverse problems for subsurface characterization. However, the prior realizations are usually obtained using data from various sources with different level of uncertainty which results in great challenges in the history matching process. Thus in this paper, we investigate several particular cases regarding different prior uncertainties which include fluvial channels conditioned to uncertain hard data information or generated by diverse geological continuity models. The proposed methodology presents desirable robustness against these prior uncertainties that occur frequently in the practical applications.
Infill Well Portfolio Management under Uncertainty – Application to the 8 TH Reservoir, Austria
Authors: Sieberer Martin , Peisker Jörg , Clemens Torsten , Thiele Marco R.
Published: March 2017

The risk of economic failure of infill drilling campaigns increases with the increasing maturity of an oil field. The increased risk is due to the lower remaining movable oil in the late stages of a field's life compared to earlier phases. Despite the additional information owing to drilling of wells and production history, substantial geological and dynamic uncertainties remain. In this paper, an approach is presented for selecting an infill well portfolio of 10 wells from a total of 96 that explicitly accounts for these uncertainties.

The geological uncertainty can be exposed by generating a multitude of geological models conditioned to known log/correlation data. These models need to be classified and a subset of representative models extracted that in turn are calibrated (history matched) to past field performance and then used for forecasting. Calibration using a suitable ensemble of representative geological models aims to maintain geological diversity while reducing the error to historical data through an objective function.

Probabilistic Property Maps can then be generated to identify potential infill well locations. Probabilistic maps offer a major improvement compared to selection of infill well locations using a single geological realization. For mature assets, forecasting requires simulation of incremental oil recovery since infill wells represent incremental projects over a base case. Using an appropriate ensemble of models allows probabilistic representation of the incremental oil production and associated economics.

First, individual infill well performances are forecasted. Next, the individual infill well locations are evaluated taking the history matching error into account and using utility theory to cover the risk adverseness attitude of the company. Doing so enables selection of an infill well portfolio under uncertainty and leads to a selection of well locations carrying lower risk compared to a selection of locations neglecting history match error and/or disregarding the risk attitude of a company.