bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Application of an oligonucleotide microarray-based nano-amplification technique for the detection of fungal pathogens
Authors: Lu Weiping , Gu Dayong , Chen Xingyun , Xiong Renping , Liu Ping , Yang Nan , Zhou Yuanguo 
Published: July 2010

Abstract

Background: The traditional techniques for diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in the clinical microbiology laboratory need improvement. These techniques are prone to delay results due to their time-consuming process, or result in misidentification of the fungus due to low sensitivity or low specificity. The aim of this study was to develop a method for the rapid detection and identification of fungal pathogens.

Methods: The internal transcribed spacer two fragments of fungal ribosomal DNA were amplified using a polymerase chain reaction for all samples. Next, the products were hybridized with the probes immobilized on the surface of a microarray. These species-specific probes were designed to detect nine different clinical pathogenic fungi including Candida albicans, Candida tropocalis, Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilosis, Candida krusei, Candida lusitaniae, Candida guilliermondii, Candida keyfr, and Cryptococcus neoformans. The hybridizing signals were enhanced with gold nanoparticles and silver deposition, and detected using a flatbed scanner or visually.

Results: Fifty-nine strains of fungal pathogens, including standard and clinically isolated strains, were correctly identified by this method. The sensitivity of the assay for Candida albicans was 10 cells/mL. Ten cultures from clinical specimens and 12 clinical samples spiked with fungi were also identified correctly.

Conclusions: This technique offers a reliable alternative to conventional methods for the detection and identification of fungal pathogens. It has higher efficiency, specificity and sensitivity compared with other methods commonly used in the clinical laboratory.
Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:1507–14.
The effect of pre-analytical variables on light transmittance aggregometry in citrated platelet-rich plasma from healthy subjects
Authors: Stegnar Mojca , Kneževič Anja , Božič-Mijovski Mojca 
Published: July 2010

Abstract

Background: Although light transmittance aggregometry is considered the gold standard for platelet function testing, it is poorly standardized. The effect of several pre-analytical variables on this assay was investigated.

Methods: Light transmittance aggregometry was performed with an automated coagulation analyzer using arachidonic acid (1.6 mmol/L), adenosine-5-diphosphate (ADP) (11 μmol/L) and collagen (11 mg/L, all final concentrations). The results were reported as maximum aggregation (in %) in 10 min. Twenty apparently healthy subjects were tested three times on two consecutive days: on day 1, fasting samples were collected in the morning and mid-day; on day 2, samples were collected in the morning after a light breakfast. Light transmittance aggregometry was performed immediately after preparation of platelet-rich-plasma (PRP), after stabilization (30 min) of non-adjusted and platelet count (225–275×109/L) adjusted PRP, and at 2 and 4 h after blood collection.

Results: Maximum aggregation was higher in the non-adjusted compared to the adjusted PRP with all three agonists used (all p<0.05). Arachidonic acid and ADP, but not collagen, induced maximal aggregation was significantly decreased after 4 h (arachidonic acid from 84%, 73%–90% to 71%, 28%–85%, p<0.001; ADP from 79%, 62%–87% to 66%, 50%–79%, p<0.001, medians with inter-quartile ranges). Short-term stabilization of PRP, consumption of breakfast and sampling at mid-day had no significant effect on maximal aggregation.

Conclusions: Blood collection and plasma preparation can be simplified by omitting short-term stabilization of PRP and adjustment for platelet count. The subjects can be tested from morning to mid-day, and a light breakfast is acceptable. However, the analyses should not be postponed for more than 2 h if arachidonic acid or ADP are used as agonists.
Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:1463–5.
Moisture induced stresses perpendicular to the grain in glulam: Review and evaluation of the relative importance of models and parameters
Authors: Angst Vanessa , Malo Kjell A. 
Published: July 2010

Abstract
Stresses perpendicular to the grain arising from moisture changes might cause cracks and thereby severely affect the load bearing capacity and serviceability of timber structures. The present paper reviews parameters and mathematical models commonly applied for numerical simulation of moisture-induced stresses in glulam members. The basis of the calculations is a hygro-mechanical model coupled with a moisture transport model. Several models and ranges of parameters reported in the literature are compared and the significance of the parameter selection is evaluated. It was found that geometrical properties as well as material parameters have a significantly stronger effect on the outcome of the simulations than the selection of a certain numerical formulation of mechanosorption.
Crystal structure of the incommensurate modulated composite ruthenate [Ba]1.30[(Ru,Cu)O3]
Authors: Schüpp-Niewa Barbara , Shlyk Larysa , Akselrud Lev , Prots Yurii , Niewa Rainer 
Published: July 2010

Abstract
[Ba]1.30[(Ru,Cu)O3] crystallizes in a modulated composite crystal structure previously observed for [Ba]
x
[(Pt,Cu)O3], x = 1.317. The composite structure is refined in one centrosymmetric and one non-centrosymmetric model in the superspace groups P-31c(00γ) and P31c(00γ), respectively, with a = 10.135(1) Å, c = 4.2902(3) Å and
q
= 1.601(1)
c
*. The centrosymmetric case was refined using Crenel functions. The first substructure is formed by Ba cations located in channels of the second substructure, which consists of one-dimensional chains of face-sharing polyhedra ∞
1[O3/2(Ru,Cu)O3/2]: alternating blocks of mostly three octahedra and trigonal prisms. DC-susceptibility measurements result in typical spin-glass behavior, an effective magnetic moment of μ
eff = 2.55μB, and a Weiss temperature of θ
p = -202 K.
Fecal Hormones Measured within Giant Pacific Octopuses Enteroctopus dofleini
Authors: Larson Shawn E. , Anderson Roland C. 
Published: July 2010

Abstract
The captive husbandry of giant Pacific octopuses Enteroctopus dofleini is well understood, but their endocrine signatures are not well documented. The major vertebrate reproductive hormones—estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone—and the stress-related hormone corticosterone are relatively well known for many vertebrate species. However, few studies on these hormones within invertebrates have been conducted. Our hypothesis was that endocrine signatures within octopuses are similar to those found within vertebrates in response to reproductive activity and stress. Using standard immunoassay techniques, we measured fecal steroids within fecal samples collected from five female and three male giant Pacific octopuses housed at the Seattle Aquarium. The mean estrogen level ranged from 3.67 to 99.39 ng/g of feces, progesterone ranged from 44.35 to 231.71 ng/g feces, testosterone ranged from 9.30 to 18.18 ng/g feces, and corticosterone ranged from 10.91 to 22.14 ng/g feces. The results suggest that octopus fecal hormones are similar to those in vertebrates and may be useful in measuring ovarian activity and stress within captive female giant Pacific octopuses.
A Model for Water Injection Into Frac-Packed Wells
Authors: Suri Ajay , Sharma Mukul M. 
Published: July 2010

Summary
Frac packs are increasingly being used for sand control in injection wells in poorly consolidated reservoirs. This completion allows for large injection rates and longer injector life. Many of the large offshore developments in the Gulf of Mexico and around the world rely on these completions for waterflooding and pressure maintenance. The performance of these injectors is crucial to the economics of the project because well intervention later in the life of the field is expensive and undesirable.
For the first time, we present a model for water injection in frac-packed wells. The frac pack and the formation are plugged because of the deposition of particles from the injected water, and their effective permeability to water is continuously reduced. However, as the bottomhole pressure (BHP) reaches the frac-pack widening pressure, the frac-pack width increases and a channel that accommodates additional injected particles is created.
Injectivity depends on the interstitial velocity of the injected water in the frac pack, volume concentration of the solids in the injected water, injection rate, injection-water temperature, size of proppants in the frac pack, width and length of the frac pack, and the initial minimum horizontal stress. In case of frac packs with large proppant size and high injection rates, the plugging of the frac pack is found to be negligible except in the building of a filter cake at the frac-pack walls. In the case of narrow frac packs with small proppant, significant plugging is expected, which leads to sharp permeability decline of the frac pack and a rapid rise in the BHP. The long-term injectivity of a frac-packed injector depends primarily on the filtration coefficient value of the frac pack, solids concentration in the injected water, and the injection rate. Frac packs are expected to maintain higher injectivities compared to any other completions such as openhole, cased-hole, perforated, or gravel packs.
Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Water-in-Oil Transverse Dispersion in Porous Media
Authors: Duan Shengkai , Wojtanowicz Andrew K. 
Published: July 2010

Summary
Water production is controlled by the size and distribution of water saturation around wells. A recent discovery shows that not employing hydrodynamic mixing in numerical simulators may underestimate the water transition zone (Duan and Wojtanowicz 2006). This paper reports continuing research into mechanisms causing expansion of the water-saturation transition zone (transverse dispersion) in a segregated flow of oil and water approaching a vertical well's completion. The mechanisms—including nonlinear flow, turbulence, shear rate, and flow baffling at grains—all contribute to the instability of the oil/water interface, resulting in hydrodynamic mixing. Interface instability because of shearing rate has been demonstrated in our recent study on the Hele-Shaw model (Duan and Wojtanowicz 2007). In this paper, we mathematically model the effect of flow baffling and demonstrate transverse dispersion experimentally using a linear physical sandpack.
A simple model of tortuous flow was developed to demonstrate the effect of two-phase-flow baffling in granular porous media. The model shows that the change in flow momentum of the two fluids at the point of collision with rock grains becomes the major factor causing water dispersion.
A series of segregated-flow runs (top, oil; bottom, water) was carried out using a physical model packed with different porous media at a constant pressure drop. The runs were videotaped and analyzed for saturation distribution using a color-intensity-recognition software. The results clearly demonstrate onset of transverse dispersion of water into the flowing oil. Further dispersion, however, was overshadowed by the dimensional and end-point effects of the model. With a numerical estimation procedure, the initial dispersion rate—computed from the 1D flow model—is the essential data needed to estimate total dispersion in radial inflow to wells.
Parallelization of a Commercial Streamline Simulator and Performance on Practical Models
Authors: Batycky R.P.. P. , Förster M.. , Thiele M.R.. R. , Stüben K.. 
Published: July 2010

SummaryWe present the parallelization of a commercial streamline simulator to multicore architectures based on the OpenMP programming model and its performance on various field examples. This work is a continuation of recent work by Gerritsen et al. (2009) in which a research streamline simulator was extended to parallel execution.We identified that the streamline-transport step represents approximately 40-80% of the total run time. It is exactly this step that is straightforward to parallelize owing to the independent solution of each streamline that is at the heart of streamline simulation. Because we are working with an existing large serial code, we used specialty software to quickly and easily identify variables that required particular handling for implementing the parallel extension. Minimal rewrite to existing code was required to extend the streamline-transport step to OpenMP. As part of this work, we also parallelized additional run-time code, including the gravity-line solver and some simple routines required for constructing the pressure matrix. Overall, the run-time fraction of code parallelized ranged from 0.50 to 0.83, depending on the transport physics being considered.We tested our parallel simulator on a variety of large models including SPE 10, Forties-a UK oil/water model, Judy Creek-a Canadian waterflood/water-alternating-gas (WAG) model, and a South American black-oil model. We noted overall speedup factors from 1.8 to 3.3x for eight threads. In terms of real time, this implies that large-scale streamline simulation models as tested here can be simulated in less than 4 hours. We found speedup results to be reasonable when compared with Amdahl's ideal scaling law. Beyond eight threads, we observed minimal speedups because of memory bandwidth limits on our test machine.
Analysis of the Effect of Residual Oil on Particle Trapping During Produced-Water Reinjection Using X-Ray Tomography
Authors: Saraf A.. , Zwart A.H. de , Currie Peter K. , Ali Mohammad A.J. 
Published: July 2010

Summary
Recently, it has been shown that the presence of residual oil in a formation can have a considerable influence on the trapping mechanisms for particles present in reinjected produced water (Ali 2007; Ali et al. 2005, 2007, 2009). This article reports on a further set of extensive coreflow experiments that confirm and extend these results. The tests were conducted in a computerized-tomography (CT) scanner, allowing direct observation of the buildup of particle deposition along the core.
These experiments are relevant to operational issues associated with produced-water reinjection (PWRI). In many cases, produced water is injected into formations containing oil, so reduced oil saturation is achieved rapidly in the area around the well. Even if the well is outside the oil zone, trapped oil droplets are always present in produced water, and a residual-oil zone will gradually build up around the well.
Major differences are found between the deposition profiles for fully water-saturated cores and the cores having residual-oil saturation. In particular, particles penetrate deeper into the core with residual-oil saturation, and considerably more particles pass completely through the core without being trapped. The X-ray technique allows direct observation during the experiment of the deposition process inside the core, eliminating the complicating effect of any external filter cake. As a result, an analysis can be performed of the deposition parameters relevant inside the core using deep-bed-filtration theory, and the results of this analysis are presented. In particular, it is shown that the values of the filtration function determined from the CT-scan (X-ray) data are consistent with those obtained from analysis of the effluent concentration. Moreover, both methods of analysis find quite clearly that the filtration coefficient increases with decreasing flow rate.
The results indicate that formation damage near a wellbore during water injection will be reduced by the presence of residual oil, and that particles will penetrate deeper into the formation. The result is also relevant to injection under fracturing conditions because particle deposition in the wall of the fracture (where residual oil may be present) is one of the mechanisms governing fracture growth.
Bringing the First BP-Operated Subsea-to-Shore Gas Field Into Production: Flow-Assurance Lessons Learned
Authors: Harun A.F.. F. , Watt N.. 
Published: July 2010

Summary
Taurt field, located in the Mediterranean Sea in 108-m water depth, is the first BP-operated subsea-to-shore gas development. Phase 1 of the project consists of two subsea wells producing directly from the subsea manifold to the onshore gas-processing plant with a 68-km, 20-in. pipeline. The field has been brought into production and was successfully ramped up to 230 MMscf/D despite facility constraints during initial startup. The main flow-assurance issues experienced during the initial startup are hydrate risks because of Joule-Thomson (J-T) cooling and liquid-production handling onshore, particularly because of potential completion-brine return.
The experience during initial startup highlights the importance of collecting good fluid samples during exploration and appraisal, and obtaining downhole and wellhead pressures and temperatures during flowback. Confirming the condensate yield helps prediction of liquid holdup in the pipeline that will affect the prediction of liquid production coming onshore during ramp up. More-accurate prediction of the wellhead temperature affects the requirement for hydrate inhibitor, which also affects the liquid holdup in the pipeline and liquid production coming onshore.
Transient simulations help in selecting the dewatering strategy to be either a pigged or a pigless operation by predicting the amount of remaining water and how it impacts the production ramp up. Simulations also help prediction of the liquid production for setting up temporary liquid-handling facilities to prevent the possibility of completion-brine return upsetting the processing plant.
Comparison with the actual liquid-production data suggests that simulations should have been performed with less-conservative condensate yield, although predicting the completion-brine return onshore is still difficult. After obtaining the latest fluid composition and the actual operating conditions, the hydrate-management strategy was revisited, and this resulted in cost savings and simpler operating procedures.
Analysis of Threaded Connection Reliability for Compression Application
Authors: Alves Paul , Forcinito Mario , Xu Jason , Ferguson Matthew , Tardif Philip , Jensen Paul 
Published: July 2010

Summary
The objective of this paper is the investigation and evaluation of the performance and life expectancy of NPT threaded connections as applied to a particular type of reciprocating compressor unit.
The study focused on the assessment of the levels of excitation forces acting on the threaded connections and the resulting stress. These forces and stresses were determined from field vibration measurement results applied to a mechanical model of the system.
As an extensive literature search did not yield satisfactory data for specific fatigue properties of NPT connections, we applied a first-principles approach to the problem and calculated the stress concentration factors from a detailed finite element study of the thread engagement under axial and circumferential loads. The results and details are reported here.
Stress levels determined by this methodology were compared to the allowable fatigue limits for the piping and valves materials and a life expectancy was calculated.
The same methodology can be applied to other situations involving threaded connections.
Devonian Gas Exploration in Northeastern British Columbia: Geology, Operations and Economics
Authors: Gray F.F. , Kassube J.R. , Van de Venter J.H. 
Published: July 2010

Abstract
Following indications of Devonian gas in several widely scatterednortheastern British Columbia wildcats drilled between 1954 and 1956, anaggressive programme of exploration for Middle Devonian gas was begun in the Fort Nelson area in the winter of 1956–57. Since this time the explorationeffort for Devonian gas has steadily increased, with new operators entering theplay, and new discoveries being added each year.
All of these discoveries to date are in Middle Devonian beds, with theexception of the Pacific-Imperial Parkland well, which produces from the Upper Devonian Wabamun formation on the Peace River Arch. The discoveries lieentirely in the Plains area with the exception of Beaver River, which is in thefolded belt at the extreme northern edge of the Province.
Most of the Middle Devonian fields discovered to date are in reefalcarbonates associated with the rim of a shale embayment which extends southeastinto British Columbia from the Yukon territory. Exploration for these fields isguided by a combination of seismic and subsurface stratigraphic methods. Faciesanalysis is particularly important to delineate favourable carbonateenvironments.
Seismic operations and costs run about $70,000.00 per month and are affectedsignificantly by local terrain and weather conditions. Construction andmaintenance of access roads and trucking of rigs and supplies into the bush arealso major exploration expenses. In the drilling of exploratory wells for Middle Devonian gas, it has been common practice to set 300 feet of 13 3/8"surface casing, 2000 to 2500 feet of 9 5/8"intermediate casing through upper Mississippian porous carbonates, 7" casing to the top of the Slave Pointformation, and a 5" liner through the productive zone. Development wells can becompleted in open hole beneath the 7" casing, usually giving higher absoluteopen flow and deliverability rates.
With increasing activity drilling costs have been steadily reduced. In theimmediate area of Fort Nelson wells can now be drilled to the Slave Point in 20to 25 days for as little as $100,000.00 and an open hole completion made for$150,000.00. At more remote locations, costs have been appreciably higher.