bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Preferred options for receiving sexual health screening results: a population and patient survey
Authors: Brown L , Copas A , Stephenson J , Gilleran G , Ross J D C 
Published: March 2008

Summary Current genitourinary medicine patients (202) and potential future patients (542) completed a questionnaire-based survey to determine their preference for obtaining test results, their acceptability of including a named infection on contact slips and to report expectations about the acceptable length of an appointment. Overall, most respondents (78% [n = 582]) felt it unacceptable to be only contacted if their results were positive (‘no news is good news’). In the clinic, a majority preferred a contact slip to be coded (68% [n = 137]), in the general public views were balanced. Significantly, more people in the general population expected an appointment to last no longer than 30 min (32% [n = 173] cf. 10% [n = 21], P < 0.001). A clear preference was expressed to receive sexually transmitted infection test results even if they are negative. Telephone and face-to-face contact were most popular with relatively few choosing mobile telephone text messaging or email as their preferred option.
Asymptomatic urethral infection in male sexually transmitted disease clinic attendees
Authors: Yu J T H T , Tang W Y M , Lau K H , Chong L Y , Lo K K 
Published: March 2008

Summary The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic male patients with urethral infections attending a government sexually transmitted infection clinic in Hong Kong and their microbiological profile. A total of 274 consecutive male patients without any symptoms for urethral infections were recruited. A questionnaire was used to record the symptoms, sexual history and demographics. Further assessment, including urethral smear for Gram stain, gonococcal culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) and Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) were performed. In 274 asymptomatic patients, 36 patients had non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU) and two patients had positive gonoccocal culture. Among the asymptomatic patients with NGU, there were 6 (16.6%), 10 (22.8%) and five (13.9%) patients with positive PCR for CT, UU and MG, respectively. In addition, there were 14 asymptomatic patients with positive PCR for CT but without evidence of NGU. In conclusion, urethral infections were identified in a significant number of asymptomatic male patients and therefore, routine screening for this group is warranted.
Occult hepatitis B virus infection in HIV-infected Lebanese patients with isolated antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen
Authors: Ramia S , Mokhbat J , Ramlawi F , El-Zaatari M 
Published: March 2008

Summary The presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) serological markers have been investigated in 101 Lebanese patients (69 men, 32 women; mean age 32.7 ± 1.7 years) infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Seven patients (6.9%) were HBsAg carriers compared with 54 patients (53.5%) who had no evidence of exposure to HBV infection. Twenty-four patients (23.8%) had anti-HBc alone as a serological marker compared with four patients who were positive for anti-HBs alone and 12 patients (11.9%) who were anti-HBc and anti-HBs-positive. Occult HBV infection (presence of HBV DNA in the absence of HBsAg) is found to be relatively high (28.7%) in HIV-infected Lebanese patients and the overwhelming majority (83.3%) of those who were positive for anti-HBc alone had a detectable HBV DNA in their serum. However, none of our HIV-positive patients with occult HBV infection had abnormal alanine aminotrasferase level, which also raises the question as to whether occult HBV plays a role in the aetiology of liver disease in HIV-infected patients. Further, studies on the association between HBV DNA levels and markers of liver function in addition to data on liver biopsy would help in answering this question.
Venous tonus enhancement after a short cycle of intermittent pneumatic compression
Authors: Harfouche J N , Theys S , Hanson P , Schoevaerdts J C , Sturbois X 
Published: March 2008

Objectives To test if intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) used with a short cycle could reproduce and confirm the 30 min vasoconstriction effect observed after a long cycle of pressure. Methods Eighteen subjects took part in the study, 12 with venous insufficiency (VI) and six without VI (NonVI). Duplex scanner was used to evaluate the diameter of six sites of veins on each of both lower limbs before and after the treatment. The IPC was applied to only one limb. Results The control limb showed no change in venous diameter. The treated limb, showed in the NonVI group one vasoconstriction: the greater saphena at the knee level (GS) ( P < 0.05). In the VI group, four sites out of six showed a vasoconstriction: the common femoral ( P < 0.005), the GS at its cross ( P < 0.001), the GS ( P < 0.001) and the lesser saphena ( P < 0.05). Conclusions Both long and short cycle of IPC are suitable to enhance the venous tone in VI patients for at least 30 min after the end of the treatment.
Superficial venous interventions: assessing the risk of DVT
Authors: Vedantham S 
Published: March 2008

Objectives Understand the potential consequences of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients undergoing superficial venous interventions, the proper way to assess DVT risk in patients with superficial venous disease and the appropriate management of patients stratified by risk level. Methods Review of published literature Results Because DVT can have major long-term consequences, DVT risk should be assessed as a routine part of the preprocedure evaluation of venous disease. Chronic venous disease may have multiple contributing factors amenable to treatment in both the superficial and deep venous systems. Conclusion Superficial venous interventions should be deferred in patients at particularly high risk for DVT, but may be performed with appropriate countermeasures for DVT prophylaxis in patients at moderate risk.
Application of Subsize Specimens for Irradiation Embrittlement Monitoring of VVER-440/213 RPV Steels
Authors: Nikolaev Yu. A. , Nikolaeva A. V. 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
Results of VVER-440/213 reactor pressure vessel (RPV) surveillance specimens studies showed that all surveillance impact bend specimens were irradiation with a lead factor more than 20 compared to irradiation of the pressure vessel inner surface. This is a special problem of radiation embrittlement assessment for VVER-440/213 RPV materials. Prediction of radiation embrittlement of RPV materials using surveillance specimens is efficient on the basis of accelerated irradiation compared to irradiation of the RPV inner surface. However, the lead factor, which is the ratio of neutron flux affecting surveillance specimens to neutron flux affecting the RPV inner surface in the maximum irradiated zone, should be not too high, when acceleration of steel irradiation would not cause qualitative changes in physical processes of irradiation damage. It is generally assumed that irradiation with a lead factor less than 3–6 provides adequate assessment of radiation embrittlement dependence on the damage dose. In the top part of the chains with VVER-440/213 surveillance specimens, fast neutron flux decreases ∼20 times and the top capsules are irradiated with a neutron flux range close to the flux maximum on the inner surface of the reactor pressure vessel; i.e., the lead factor there is around 1. This concerns both reactors with full core and with dummies on the periphery of the core. The gradient of the neutron flux in the top and bottom parts of chains is great enough; hence, the volume of homogeneously irradiated metal is low. However, there is an opportunity to use material from the top capsules of irradiation sets for correct evaluation of the transition temperature using subsize specimens. As surveillance specimens in the top capsules are irradiated at the same conditions as the pressure vessel, their study allows precise determination of radiation embrittlement of RPV materials. The results of studies of irradiation embrittlement of VVER-440/213 RPV steels using subsize specimens are discussed.
Assessing the Loading Rate for a Fracture Toughness Test in the Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Region
Authors: Lucon Enrico , Scibetta Marc 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
For fracture toughness tests in the ductile-to-brittle transition region, ASTM E1921-05 requires specimens to be loaded using a loading rate dK/dt between 0.1 and 2 MPa√m/s during the initial elastic portion. It has been proposed that the standard allow testing at higher loading rates, including precracked Charpy specimens tested on an instrumented pendulum machine (impact toughness tests). The revised standard would require test results (KJc or To) to be reported along with the relevant loading rate, and should therefore provide guidance on how to assess the value of dK/dt in a relatively simple but reliable manner. Various options for measuring the loading rate have been investigated in this paper for several fracture toughness tests performed at different loading rates (quasi-static, dynamic, and impact). For each loading rate, three different toughness levels have been considered: low, medium, and high. Three considerably different materials have been selected: two RPV steels (JRQ, JSPS) and a ferritic/martensitic 9 % chromium steel (EUROFER97). It is found that the preferable option is given by the ratio between KJc and time at the onset of cleavage, whereas the elastic value Kel/tel or the average dK/dt can be used when partial unloadings are performed.
The Effect of Pressure Decline Rate and Pressure Gradient on the Behaviour of Solution Gas Drive in Heavy oil
Authors: Sheikha Hussain , Pooladi-Darvish Mehran 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
Heavy oil recovery under solution-gas drive is affected by several interacting factors. Among such factors are pressure decline rate and pressure gradients. It has been suggested that a high pressure decline rate (dp/dt) generates larger super- saturation and faster nucleation that leads to more dispersed gas bubbles, while a high pressure gradient (∇p) increases the viscous forces acting on the gas phase enhancing bubble break up and gas dispersion. Both effects lead to lower gas mobility affecting oil recovery; however the relative importance of each is not known. Finding this is important for development of mathematical models and to allow extrapolation of experimental results to field conditions, where the relative importance of these factors changes with time and space. Previous experimental studies were affected by a combination of the two effects.
In this paper we distinguish between the effect of pressure decline rate and pressure gradient on gas mobility and oil recovery, by varying these independently. In the experimental work reported in this paper, change in confining pressure is used to create a change in pressure decline rate, and a change in production rate is used to change the pressure gradient. Several depletion experiments at varying pressure decline rate and production rate are reported here.
At a constant pressure decline rate, the recovery factor tripled when the flow rate was increased by one order of magnitude. Similar experiments were conducted when the pressure decline rate was increased by one order of magnitude but flow rate was kept constant. In this case, the recovery factor did not change significantly. The results of this study clearly indicate that the effect of pressure gradient on gas mobility and oil recovery is much more than the effect of pressure decline rate. This paper presents the experimental results and their analysis, and the implications of these findings on modelling of solution-gas drive in heavy oils.
Well Spacing and Recovery Optimization of One of Iranian Oil Fields by Using Streamline and Reservoir Simulation
Authors: Dehdari V. , Aminshahidy B. , Tabatabaei-nejad A. 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
In development phase of a reservoir and drilling the production wells, it is necessary to drill these wells in appropriate points in order to have no interference in their drainage areas, or have minimum value of interference. In this case, we can produce oil/gas in high flow rate; And in the presence of favorite conditions, recovery factor of the reservoir can be increased.
The objective of this work is to develop a methodology for one of Iranian oil fields by combining the utilization of two important tools: traditional simulation (using of different property maps) and streamline simulation. The conventional simulation (based on finite difference) is used to do the main reservoir simulation by compositional modeling. All the economic analysis is made based on conventional simulations output. Computation of different property maps by this simulator are used for investigation of oil volume, permeability, porosity, reservoir thickness and finally oil saturation maps of our reservoir. The streamline simulation is a supporting tool employed to give more reliability and to bring up insights about the optimization process and speedup to the process, mainly in the identification of best locations of news wells and drainage volume. Also streamline simulation is used to study the fluid flow pattern in the field and determining the efficiency of infill wells.
In this work we use threshold for different property maps of our reservoir in order to find best location of infill wells, then streamline simulation help us to confirm and optimize these locations based on streamline tracing and drainage volume calculations. We defined several scenarios in order to maximize oil production of our reservoir. Results show that by using streamline technique we can improve recovery of reservoir respect to conventional methods.
Properties of Polymer Solution and Gel with Different Electrolytes
Authors: Lu X. G. , Wang W. , Li J. Sh. 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
The polymer clews and flow performance under the effect of electrolytes have been studied. Laboratory experiments were used to determine macroscopic pressure and flow resistance. Optical microscope was used to examine dimensions and shapes of polymer clews.
Experimental results showed that polymer clews and flow resistance force were influenced by the type and concentration of electrolytes. The curling of polymer clews had different optimal concentration scope for different types of electrolytes. Molecular clews became smaller when the concentration of electrolytes was higher under certain concentration scope, and became larger when the concentration of electrolytes exceeded the scope. And the effect of Ca2+ to polymer clews was bigger than Mg2+,both were bigger than that of K+ and Na+. With coagulant it was more likely to form intra-molecular cross-linked reaction when the concentration of electrolytes was higher, which provided a higher flow resistance force and helped to attain a high recovery. When the succeeding water salinity was lower, the polymer Clews would swell, and pressure and resistance force would be further enhanced.
Mechanisms of polymer clews curling and stretching under the influence of electrolyte and coagulant have been analyzed by Stern- Grahame Double-Layer Model and catching and re-catching theory in stratum through coordinating microscopic and macroscopical experiment. The polymer clews would curl and stretch because of the compression of the double layer by ion binding of electrolytes. When succeeding water was diluted, the decrease of electrolyte concentration resulted in the swelling of clews of polymer molecules, re-catching process took place, thus flow resistance in porous media increased.
The objectives of this study was to perform in-depth profile modification by changing molecular clews shape and dimensions, as well as to recycle the produced water in the oilfield for improved oil production.
Optimization of Asphaltene Deposition and Adsorption Parameter in Porous Media Search
Authors: Kariznovi M. , Nourozieh H. , Jamialahmadi M. , Shahrabadi A. 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
The deposition of asphaltene is considered to be one of the most difficult problems during oil production. The mechanism of Asphaltene precipitation and deposition is not fully understood until now. Asphaltene deposition in the reservoir is a complex problem and due to high depth of reservoir, it is impossible to do field experiments. Laboratory tests are expensive and time consuming. In order to study effects of asphaltene deposition, it is be necessary to rely on different models which are developed for Asphaltene adsorption and deposition. These models consist of several matching parameters. Iteration method was used to obtain an acceptable match for experimental data. Deposition equations are highly coupled therefore deposition parameters cannot be optimized independently. Due to dependency of parameters, ordinary optimization methods are not applicable for deposition.
In this paper we introduce a new model for asphaltene deposition in porous media and corresponding numerical method was developed using implicit scheme, then a procedure for matching the asphaltene deposition and adsorption parameters was described and a new optimization method was introduced .In this method genetic algorithm was applied and the result of it was used as input for direct search to obtain an acceptable match for experimental data.
Assessment of Dynamic Filtration Formation Damage for Alaskan North Slope Drilling Fluids
Authors: Kerkar Prasad B. , Patil Shirish L. , Chukwu Godwin A. , Dandekar Abhijit Y. , Khataniar Santanu 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
The recent drive towards open hole completions and highly deviated or horizontal wells in the Alaskan North Slope has emphasized the need for evaluating drilling or completion fluids suitability from a perspective of formation damage. A significant decrease in well productivity near the wellbore can occur due to the invasion of fine solids from drilling fluids, forming external and internal filter cake under dynamic conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate formation damage caused by drilling fluids typically used for drilling gas hydrate zones. Alaska has vast reserves of gas hydrate, which is a source of energy with great potential for future development. Drilling through gas hydrates results in heat transfer into the formation, leading to dissociation of hydrates. Chilled drilling fluids and high circulation rates are commonly used to minimize this effect. An experimental setup for the evaluation of formation damage at in-situ conditions was designed. At the confining pressure of 1500 psi, chilled drilling fluids at 41-50°F are circulated across the Berea sandstone core for 10 hours in a dynamic filtration core holder. KCl/polymer water-based base mud, flocculated mud, flocculated mud with starch based filtration control material (Mackenzie Delta mud) and dispersed mud are tested at 30, 40, 80 sec−1 and 100/200 psi overbalance with absolute permeability measurement both before and after the drilling fluid circulation. The drilling fluid type, its flow rate, and shear rate, effective particle size, additive concentration, and the amount of static and dynamic overbalance were characterized to establish their influence on drilling mud leak-off volume and the post mud circulation permeability. The results showed that permeability impairment was strongly dependent on annular fluid velocity, amount of overbalance, mud salinity, and state of dispersion of the mud. Dynamic filtration showed significantly higher formation damage than static filtration.
Tax Holidays and Tax Noncompliance: An Empirical Study of Corporate Tax Audits in China's Developing Economy
Authors: Chan K. Hung , Lan Mo Phyllis Lai 
Published: March 2008

Many developing economies use tax holidays to attract foreign investment by providing a limited period of tax exemptions and reductions for qualified investors. This paper investigates the effect of tax holidays on foreign investors' tax noncompliance behavior in China's developing economy. We measure noncompliance in terms of tax audit adjustments the Chinese tax authorities require in response to avoidance and evasion. The results indicate that a company's tax-holiday position affects noncompliance. Companies are least compliant before entering a tax holiday, and most compliant while in a tax-exemption period. In addition, domestic market-oriented companies, service-oriented companies, and joint ventures are less compliant than export-oriented companies, manufacturing-oriented companies, and wholly foreign-owned enterprises, respectively.
Our evidence is relevant to policymakers designing tax incentives to attract foreign investors. Our evidence on noncompliance should also help tax authorities and field auditors plan more effective and efficient tax audits. In addition, the results should provide researchers an interesting perspective to study the effect of tax-rate incentives on corporate tax noncompliance.
The Economic Dilution of Employee Stock Options: Diluted EPS for Valuation and Financial Reporting
Authors: Core John E. , Guay Wayne R. , Kothari S. P. 
Published: March 2008

In this paper, we derive a measure of diluted EPS that incorporates the economic implications of the dilutive effects of employee stock options. We show that the existing FASB treasury-stock method of accounting for the dilutive effects of outstanding options systematically understates the options' dilutive effect, and thus overstates reported EPS. Using firm-wide data on 731 employee stock option plans, our proposed measure suggests that economic dilution from options is, on average, 100 percent greater than dilution in reported diluted EPS using the FASB treasury-stock method.
We examine the implications of our analysis for stock price valuation, the price-earnings relation, and the return-earnings relation. We demonstrate analytically that when firms have options outstanding, empirical applications of equity valuation models that use reported per-share earnings as an input (e.g., Ohlson 1995) yield upwardly biased estimates of the market value of common stock. We predict that when the difference between our measure of economic dilution from options and the FASB treasury-stock method dilution from options is greater, the observed return-earnings and price-earnings coefficients will be smaller, and we provide some (albeit weak) empirical support for this prediction.