cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-d-ribofuranoside causes acute hepatic insulin resistance in vivo

The infusion of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-d-ribofuranoside (AICAR) causes a rise in tissue concentrations of the AMP analog 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-d-ribofuranotide (ZMP), which mimics an elevation of cellular AMP levels. The purpose of this work was to determine the effect of raising hepatic ZMP levels on hepatic insulin action in vivo. Dogs had sampling and infusion catheters as well as flow probes implanted 16 days before an experiment. After an 18-h fast, blood glucose was 82 ± 1 mg/dl and basal net hepatic glucose output 1.5 ± 0.2 mg · kg −1 · min −1 . Dogs received portal venous glucose (3.2 mg · kg −1 · min −1 ), peripheral venous somatostatin, and basal portal venous glucagon infusions from −90 to 60 min. Physiological hyperinsulinemia was established with a portal insulin infusion (1.2 mU · kg −1 · min −1 ). Peripheral venous glucose infusion was used to clamp arterial blood glucose at 150 mg/dl. Starting at t = 0 min, dogs received portal venous AICAR infusions of 0, 1, or 2 mg · kg −1 · min −1 . Net hepatic glucose uptake was 2.4 ± 0.5 mg · kg −1 · min −1 (mean of all groups) before t = 0 min. In the absence of AICAR, net hepatic glucose uptake was 1.9 ± 0.4 mg · kg −1 · min −1 at t = 60 min. The lower-dose AICAR infusion caused a complete suppression of net hepatic glucose uptake (−1.0 ± 1.7 mg · kg −1 · min −1 at t = 60 min). The higher AICAR dose resulted in a profound shift in hepatic glucose balance from net uptake to a marked net output (−6.1 ± 1.9 mg · kg −1 · min −1 at t = 60 min), even in the face of hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia. These data show that elevations in hepatic ZMP concentrations, induced by portal venous AICAR infusion, cause acute hepatic insulin resistance. These findings have important implications for the targeting of AMP kinase for the treatment of insulin resistance, using AMP analogs.
A Liquid Crystal Based Gas Sensor Using Microfabricated Pillar Arrays as a Support Structure

We present principles for the design of a vapor-phase chemical sensor based on orientational transitions of nematic liquid crystals (LC) supported by a microfabricated pillar array structure. These principles are demonstrated by using the structure to detect vapor-phase Di-methyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) via change in the intensity of light transmitted through the LC (5CB: 4-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl). The micro-pillar support structure stabilizes a thin (-22 mum) LC film by capillary force. The structure offers easier filling of LC, reduced susceptibility to gravity and shock, and is capable of embedding different thicknesses of LC films. Concentrations down to 10 ppm of DMMP were detected.
Orographic Effects during a Severe Wintertime Rainstorm in the Appalachian Mountains

Abstract The evolution of precipitation features during a severe wintertime rainfall and flooding event associated with a cold front that crossed the central Appalachians on 19 January 1996 is illustrated through the analysis of radiosonde, rainfall, and streamflow gauge data, and WSR-88D images. Striking evidence of the linkage between heavy precipitation cells and orography was obtained by tracking the movement of the center of mass of storm precipitation, which closely followed the contours of regional orographic features. Higher intensity precipitation cells were consistently located windward of the orographic crest, and the trajectory described by the center of mass of precipitation was also consistent with the spatial arrangement of the river basins where hazardous flooding occurred. Persistent, low-intensity (⩽5 mm h−1) rainfall was registered in these basins during the 12-h period that preceded the arrival of frontal storm activity. It is argued that this prefrontal precipitation had a critical im...
Sherwood-Rayleigh Parameterization for Evaporation in the Presence of Surfactant Monolayers

Presented here is an experimental investigation of the effects of several surfactant monolayers on evaporation driven by natural convection in the air above a water surface. Experiments were performed in a controlled laboratory setting with tanks of heated water for the following cases: (1) a clean water surface, and for surfaces covered with monolayers of (2) oleyl alcohol, (3) stearic acid, and (4) stearyl alcohol. Evaporation rates were measured using a laser-based method, and the Sherwood and Rayleigh numbers, Sh and Ra, were computed from the data. Power law scalings of the form Sh = B·Ram were developed for each case which yielded, essentially, m = 1/3 for all four surface conditions. The oleyl alcohol and stearic acid conditions give essentially the same value for B as for the clean surface case. For stearyl alcohol, B is smaller than for all other surface conditions; this result is attributed to the ability of the stearyl alcohol monolayer to inhibit evaporation by blocking the passage of water molecules through the monolayer: the barrier effect. The surface temperature is measured in this work enabling a separation of the effect of surfactants on evaporation due to a reduction in surface temperature from their effect on evaporation due to a true barrier effect. This has not been accomplished heretofore. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 303–315, 2013
NEGOTIATING STATE PROVISION: State–Citizen Encounters in the Aftermath of the İzmit Earthquake

The Izmit Earthquake (August 17, 1999) was the most destructive disaster in the history of the Turkish Republic and a major trial for the Turkish state. This article draws on the sociological literature on social citizenship and welfare states to examine the state provision process that followed the disaster. On the basis of ethnographic data collected in the aftermath of the earthquake, I describe how state provision was shaped by the everyday encounters between state agents and survivors, and uncover the cultural repertoire employed in these encounters. I argue that state provision in Turkey is governed by the paternalistic state discourse. I then discuss the historical roots and implications of this finding.
Special Education Law: Illustrative Basics and Nuances of Key IDEA Components

Intended as professional development for both new and experienced special educators, this article provides both the basic requirements and nuanced issues for foundational, successive, and overlapping key components under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): (a) child find, (b) eligibility, and (c) free appropriate public education (FAPE). The introductory section identifies ensuing IDEA components along with relatively recent references for each of them. Next, the section for each component includes the pertinent IDEA statutory provisions or regulations, the basic criteria, one or more nuanced issues, and illustrative court decisions of recent vintage. This treatment shows that the key components are not mutually exclusive, scientifically or professionally precise, or clearly uniform in their case law interpretations and applications. The concluding section offers suggestions for teacher educators for improving the relevant and useful legal knowledge of future special educators. It also...
The Influence of Ionic Strength on Yttrium and Rare Earth Element Complexation by Fluoride Ions in NaClO4, NaNO3 and NaCl Solutions at 25 °C

Stability constants of the form F β 1(M)=[MF2+][M3+]−1[F−]−1 (where [MF2+] represents the concentration of a yttrium or a rare earth element (YREE) complex, [M3+] is the free YREE ion concentration, and [F−] is the free fluoride ion concentration) were determined by direct potentiometry in NaNO3 and NaCl solutions. The patterns of log10 F β 1(M) in NaNO3 and NaCl solutions very closely resemble stability constant patterns obtained previously in NaClO4. For a given YREE, stability constants obtained in NaClO4 were similar to, but consistently larger than F β 1(M) values obtained in NaNO3 which, in turn, were larger than formation constants obtained in NaCl. Stability constants for formation of nitrate and chloride complexes ( $_{\mathrm{NO}_{3}}\beta_{1}(\mathrm{M})=[\mathrm{MNO}_{3}^{2+}][\mathrm{M}^{3+}]^{-1}[\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-}]^{-1}$ and Cl β 1(M)=[MCl2+][M3+]−1[Cl−]−1) derived from F β 1(M) data exhibited ionic strength dependencies generally similar to those of F β 1(M). However, in contrast to the somewhat complex pattern obtained for F β 1(M) across the fifteen member YREE series, no patterns were observed for nitrate and chloride complexation constants: neither $_{\mathrm{NO}_{3}}\beta_{1}(\mathrm{M})$ nor Cl β 1(M) showed discernable variations across the suite of YREEs. Nitrate and chloride formation constants at 25 °C and zero ionic strength were estimated as log10 $_{\mathrm{NO}_{3}}\beta_{1}^{\mathrm{o}}(\mathrm{M})=0.65\pm 0.06$ and log10 Cl β 1 o (M)=0.71±0.05. Although these constants are identical within experimental uncertainty, the distinct ionic strength dependencies of $_{\mathrm{NO}_{3}}\beta_{1}(\mathrm{M})$ and Cl β 1(M) produced larger differences in the two stability constants with increasing ionic strength whereby Cl β 1(M) was uniformly larger than $_{\mathrm{NO}_{3}}\beta_{1}(\mathrm{M})$ .
A Radius Geocast Routing Protocol

We present a protocol, named RadGRPM, which runs on a distributed Delaunay triangulation of a set of nodes in Euclidean space. Given coordinates of the source node and a radius, RadGRPM multicasts a message to all nodes within the given radius from the source. Since the target nodes are all within a spherical region centered at the source, RadGRPM provides a special kind of geocast, which we call radius geocast. A multicast tree is not explicitly maintained in RadGRPM. Each node determines the next-hop nodes to forward a message solely using local information (the coordinates of its neighbors) together with the radius and coordinates of the center carried in the message. We prove that RadGRPM delivers a message to all nodes within the given radius. RadGRPM is also efficient in the sense that very few nodes within the radius receive duplicate messages, and nodes outside the radius receive no message. Extensive experimental results are presented to investigate the performance and characteristics of RadGRPM. Furthermore, we show that RadGRPM can be combined with unicast greedy routing to provide geocast to any spherical region not centered at the source node.
Complex rearrangement of chromosomes 1, 7, 21, 22 in Ewing sarcoma

The Ewing sarcoma (ES) family of tumors is characterized by nonrandom chromosomal translocations involving the EWSR1 gene on chromosome 22 with one of the members of the ETS family of transcription factors. The majority of ES tumors are characterized by a balanced translocation t(11;22)(q24;q12), which results in the fusion of the 5' portion of EWSR1 gene with the 3'end of the FLI1 gene. Fusions with ERG, another member of the ETS family, occur in less than 10% of ES tumors, and can arise through complex chromosomal rearrangements. Here, we report a case of a 5-year-old female with an ES tumor in the thoracic region. G-banding and spectral karyotyping analysis demonstrated 46,XX,t(1;21;7)(q25;q22.3;q22). Metaphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using the EWSR1 break-apart probe demonstrated a normal signal on both apparently normal chromosomes 22, and an additional EWSR1-5' signal on the derivative chromosome 21. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis of RNA isolated from the tumor demonstrated a EWSR1-ERG fusion transcript, fusing exon 7 of EWSR1 and exon 11 of ERG. These results are consistent with an additional copy of the 5' portion of EWSR1, which inverted and then inserted on chromosome 21 and fused to the 3' end of ERG. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a EWSR1-ERG fusion in an ES tumor with an apparently duplicated 5' portion of EWSR1, and with a complex translocation involving chromosomes 1, 7, and 21. This case adds to the spectrum of genetic rearrangements identified in ES tumors.
Developing Concept-Based User Interfaces for Scientific Computing

Although drawings and graphs can express complex concepts, such methods can't be computationally analyzed. Researchers have developed visual approaches and paradigms that scientists can use to capture and represent scientific models in a computational form that they can link to and integrate with data sets and applications. Our work in concept-based user interfaces is related to ideas and visions used in scientific visualization. This research encourages a transformation of the traditional roles between users and human-computer interaction (HCI) designers in the development of scientific computing systems, as user interfaces are designed to encapsulate more domain-specific and problem-specific ideas and concepts
Internal Phase Changes in Dense Si3N4 Associated with High‐Temperature Oxidation

The effects of oxidation at 1400°C for 100 h on both surface and internal composition of commercial and laboratory hot-pressed Si3N4 with MgO or ZrO2 additives as well as chemically vapor deposited (CVD) Si3N4 were studied using X-ray diffraction. Samples were also compared to the same temperature treatments in Ar. The results indicate the grain boundaries act as rapid diffusion paths for the transport of oxygen.
Mismeasuring Electricity Market Power

By studying average variable costs, researchers examining the California energy crisis were sure to find examples of market power - even if that power may not have existed. By studying average variable costs, researchers examining the California energy crisis were sure to find examples of market power - even if that power may not have existed. The approach taken in most empirical analyses of market power in electricity rests on a flawed application of a standard measure of market power: the fraction of a good's price exceeding its marginal production cost (known as the Lerner index or the price-cost margin). The flaw in those electricity market studies is not that the price-cost margin is theoretically inappropriate, but that it is inappropriately implemented. The proxy for "marginal cost" used to estimate price-cost margins is typically the average variable or operating cost of the last generator that would be dispatched to meet energy demand. The need to recover fixed costs can lead to prices substantially above average variable costs in peak periods. Real-world "noise" in the form of uncertainty regarding demand and supply shocks (e.g., unanticipated hot weather, generator outages) could lead to patterns of market bids that fail the average variable cost test without necessarily indicating market power.
La gnosis: perspectivas actuales

El estudio de la gnosis ayuda a cornprender el NT como un producto de sintesis de diversas ideas y para caer en la cuenta de la influencia de atros mundos religiosos asimilados por el judaismo anterior al NT y que prenaron este. Segun la hipotesis bastante verosimil del origen y primer expansion de la gnosis entre judios helenizados, puede considerarse "a la gnosis como un movimiento funndamentalmente exegetico, es decir, un ensayo de interpretacion de un texto ya sagrado que surge en la periferia de una religion del Libro, el judaismo, como consecuencia de la introduccion de elementos helenicos y orientales en la exegesis de los datos revelados" (Pinero, 2000, 112-113).
Some Situational Aspects of Race Relations in Puerto Rico

to be the biggest of all groups, including the mixed. That the Caucasians, who for a brief spell have surpassed the Japanese, will not hold their own, is based on the great difference in briths of the two groups, and on the fact that there is now more emigration than immigration of Caucasians. It must, however, be remembered that fairly soon (how uoos depends, as was noted at the outset, on economic factors) a balance between emigration and immigration will be reached. After that the Caucasians will maintain their population as much by immigration as by births, while the Japanese will have to maintain it by births exclusively. It has been shown by Dr. Lind that the Japanese birth rate has been coming down in the same manner as the birth rates of all immigrant groups who have entered America. Their crude birth rate is now (1947) 28.3 (births per thousand population), and is lower than that of the Part Hawaiians and Puerto Ricans, and about the same as that of the Chinese, Koreans, and Filipinos, but much higher than that of the Caucasians (16.2). In 1922 this rate was 48.1 for the Japanese. The crude birth rate is, however, not as good an index of fertility as a more refined rate, the number of births per 1,000 women, 15-44 years of age. Here the rate for the Japanese dropped from 170 in 1932 to 90 in 1940. The Filipinos in 1940 had the highest rate, 228; the Caucasians the lowest, 76. It is significant that the Japanese rate is much closer to the Caucasian rate than to the Filipino rate. These facts seem to indicate that the Japanese are gradually adopting the small family system character.stic of America and Western Europe. If this decline in Japanese birth rates and the increasing amount of Japanese out-breeding are given consideration, and it is remembered that immigration from Japan is impossible, we must come to the conc.usion that in a fairly short time the Japanese population, considered as a "pure" group, will have reached its highest point and will begin to decline. The effect of the war on the process was to add a "bumper crop" of children of mixed blood born in Hawaii. This added number will later when grown up have the effect of further hastening the process of mixing. We have not given any materials indicative of the attitudes of members of the various racial groups involved in these population changes, and particularly of the changes in attitudes the war has produced. The materials of the Social Research Laboratory bearing on these points will have to be presented elsewhere.
Hysterotomy facilitation of the vaginal delivery of the posterior arm in a case of severe shoulder dystocia

Abstract Background: Shoulder dystocia is an obstetric emergency that can be resolved usually with one or a series of maneuvers performed vaginally. On rare occasions these maneuvers may fail, and the obstetrician must employ less familiar techniques to achieve delivery. Case: A 30-year-old, gravida 6, developed a severe shoulder dystocia while delivering a 5970 g infant. Classical vaginal maneuvers failed due to the severity of the impaction. After general anesthesia was induced, additional maneuvers such as cephalic replacement and transabdominal rotation also failed. The dystocia was resolved ultimately by a transabdominally-facilitated vaginal posterior arm delivery followed by transabdominal shoulder rotation and vaginal extraction. Conclusion: In catastrophic cases of shoulder dystocia, transabdominal performance or facilitation of traditional vaginal maneuvers may lead to resolution.
Can Health Care Reform End Stigma Toward Mental Illness

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the destigmatization of mental health through health care reform by incorporating antistigma efforts—a destaining of mental illness—through prevention and early intervention in community-based programs that would be mandated and funded through the auspices of Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mental health care policies under the ACA and the Mental Health Parity Act are briefly described, following a definition of mental health stigma and its impacts. Recommendations for statutory mandates in stigma reduction at the community and federal levels and guidelines for mental health/behavioral health providers form the article’s conclusion.
Analysis on Matching of Low Excitation Limitation of Excitation Regulator and Loss-of-excitation Protection of Generators

In order to testify matching of parameters of loss-of-excitation protection and low excitation limitation,namely the action of loss-of-excitation protection of generators should follow low excitation limitation of excitation regulator,the paper proposes to put the two in the same plane for comparison.By discussing relationship between impedance circle of loss-of-excitation and power circle,the paper brings forward a specific approach to the transmission.Parameter of units in a power plant in Guangdong is taken as an example,and curve of low excitation limitation and asynchronous circle of loss-of-excitation protection are framed out.It is visually judged that sequence of operation meets matching requirement because curve of low excitation limitation is by the outside of asynchronous circle of loss-of-excitation protection.
Critical periods of early development created by the coordinate modulation of ion channel properties.

Abstract The development of ion channel properties in excitable cells begins in the very early embryo and continues throughout differentiation. The pattern of ion channel development in a given cell type is not a simple linear progression to the mature state, but rather is a complex sequence of modulatory events that create windows of time during which excitability is qualitatively different from that in the mature cell. These windows are likely candidates for critical periods when electrical activity influences later development.
Reconceptualizing Depression, and the Current Scene on Dimensionality and the RDoC

To determine the qualities of an ideal trial and its requirements, the foundation, i.e., the concept of the depressive disorder, must be reexamined. What has been learned about the concept during these past five decades? The “dimensional” concept based on years of research, developed in the author’s 2013 book “Depression and Drugs”, should replace the traditionally accepted core syndrome concept. This transformation can result in creating a trial model that generates a profile of drug-induced actions on the components or dimensions of the disorder. It thereby, extends the information obtained from such trials well beyond the currently limited information on treatment outcome obtained from the established model. The latter model rests solely on changes in the overall severity of the disorder. The chapter assesses developments on the current scene of the new DSM-5 and the RDoC, regarding the application of dimensions, and details the new behavioral targets for drugs aimed at resolving the disorder.
Symmetry: The Formalism

In Chapters 8–10 we study the general theory of symmetry in science via the conceptual approach. That approach is the best for understanding the concepts involved in symmetry and the significance of symmetry in science. But the application of symmetry considerations in science, and especially quantitative applications, require a general symmetry formalism. That formalism is developed in the present chapter and in Chapters 5–7 following. Mathematical concepts presented in the preceding two chapters are used extensively. Our road to symmetry starts with a state space of a system and proceeds through transformation, transformation group, equivalence relation for a state space, symmetry transformation, and symmetry group. The quantification of symmetry is discyssed, and a special section is devoted to symmetry of quantum systems.
Fluorination at the 4 position alters the substrate behavior of l-glutamine and l-glutamate: Implications for positron emission tomography of neoplasias

Two 4-fluoro-L-glutamine diastereoisomers [(2S,4R)-4-FGln, (2S,4S)-4-FGln] were previously developed for positron emission tomography. Label uptake into two tumor cell types was greater with [18F](2S,4R)-4-FGln than with [18F](2S,4S)-4-FGln. In the present work we investigated the enzymology of two diastereoisomers of 4-FGln, two diastereoisomers of 4-fluoroglutamate (4-FGlu) (potential metabolites of the 4-FGln diastereoisomers) and another fluoro-derivative of L-glutamine [(2S,4S)-4-(3-fluoropropyl)glutamine (FP-Gln)]. The two 4-FGlu diastereoisomers were found to be moderate-to-good substrates relative to L-glutamate of glutamate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase. Additionally, alanine aminotransferase was shown to catalyze an unusual γ-elimination reaction with both 4-FGlu diastereoisomers. Both 4-FGlu diastereoisomers were shown to be poor substrates, but strong inhibitors of glutamine synthetase. Both 4-FGln diastereoisomers were shown to be poor substrates compared to L-glutamine of glutamine transaminase L and α-aminoadipate aminotransferase. However, (2S,4R)-4-FGln was found to be a poor substrate of glutamine transaminase K, whereas (2S,4S)-4-FGln was shown to be an excellent substrate. By contrast, FP-Gln was found to be a poor substrate of all enzymes examined. Evidently, substitution of H in position 4 by F in L-glutamine/L-glutamate has moderate-to-profound effects on enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The present results: 1) show that 4-FGln and 4-FGlu diastereoisomers may be useful for studying active site topology of glutamate- and glutamine-utilizing enzymes; 2) provide a framework for understanding possible metabolic transformations in tumors of 18F-labeled (2S,4R)-4-FGln, (2S,4S)-4-FGln, (2S,4R)-4-FGlu or (2S,4S)-4-FGlu; and 3) show that [18F]FP-Gln is likely to be much less metabolically active in vivo than are the [18F]4-FGln diastereoisomers.
France: Further reforms exasperate physicists

As the French government outlines plans for yet another report on the future of research, physicists are protesting that their subject is being "paralysed" by the seemingly incessant series of probes. The latest investigation will examine the thorny question of the different employment conditions at the national research council (CNRS), the atomic energy commission (CEA) and universities. Plans to modernize the structure of the CNRS are already being hatched by its president Edouard Brezin, while university heads and the CNRS were told last year to find ways of working more closely with one another.
Current Contents on Diskette and Reference Update

Both Current Contents on Diskette and Reference Update provide an excellent mechanism for keeping abreast of the biomedical literature with a personal computer. Both systems are compatible with the two major database management programs for manipulating reprint files. Reference Update exports directly to Reference Manager (a choice on the main menu). Exporting to a file can also be done with one of four formats: Table of Contents, MEDLINE, Full, and One Line. To export Reference Update records into Pro-Cite, for example, the records must first be downloaded into MEDLINE format. Current Contents on Diskette also exports in four different formats: MEDLINE, Comma Delimited, Screen Image, and DIALOG. MEDLINE corresponds to Reference Manager format, and Comma Delimited corresponds to Pro-Cite format. Both products include reprint request systems that can be used directly from the programs. The two products share many features and differ primarily in terms of journal coverage. Current Contents on Diskette provides document delivery by means of the Genuine Article service, and Reference Update offers a synonym feature. Both programs are attractive alternatives to manual or on-line searching of the biomedical literature.
Can multispectral optoacoustic tomography replace sentinel lymph biopsy in melanoma

With the establishment of the concept of sentinel lymph in the draining regional nodes for melanoma by Morton (1) in 1992, the surgical world has undergone a revolution from therapeutically resecting regional nodes, an established approach since the days of Halsted (2) in 1898 to a much less morbid procedure of selectively removing the relevant sentinel lymph nodes in the regional basin (3) being indicated for primary invasive melanoma according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (4). Staging of the regional nodal basin by SLN biopsy has become the standard of care for assessing the status of the regional lymph node for melanoma (3) and breast cancer (5). About 80% of melanoma patients will be spared from a more radical regional lymph node dissection. The only way to assess the sentinel lymph nodes still requires a surgical intervention. The challenge is to assess the clinically non-palpable sentinel lymph nodes using a non-invasive method.
Self-Care for Nurse Leaders in Acute Care Environment Reduces Perceived Stress: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study Merits Further Investigation

Acute care practice settings are stressful. Nurse leaders face stressful demands of numerous competing priorities. Some nurse leaders experience unmanageable stress, but success requires self-care. This article presents a repeated measures intervention design study using mixed methods to investigate a self-care simple meditation practice for nurse leaders. Themes and subthemes emerged in association with the three data collection points: at baseline (pretest), after 6 weeks, and after 12 weeks (posttest) from introduction of the self-care simple meditation practice. An analysis of variance yielded a statistically significant drop in perceived stress at 6 weeks and again at 12 weeks. Conducting future research is merited.
Modeling of near-wellbore fracturing for wellbore strengthening

Abstract While drilling through depleted or partially depleted reservoirs, one may encounter a series of problems (e.g., lost circulation, non-productive time, etc.) due to narrow mud weight window (MWW). Fracture-based strengthening techniques used in the industry effectively increase fracture reopening pressure (FROP) and ultimately reduce the cost of associated problems. However, traditional analytical and numerical studies using these techniques do not consider the time effect and usually ignore the fluid dynamics. Thus, these deficiencies may result in inaccurate wellbore strengthening operations if no proper fracture diagnostic techniques are available to acquire the real-time fracture geometry. In this paper, a quasi-static, dislocation-based fracture model is extended using fluid mass conservation with leak-off. A fixed dimensionless fracture coordinate system is employed and a numerical simulation procedure is developed. The model is capable of predicting real-time fracture geometry (both fracture width and length) from given wellbore conditions. Hence, it could provide optimal particle size distribution (PSD) selection for wellbore strengthening applications. Two case studies are performed and results reveal different fluid controlling mechanisms during the fracture propagation, which are fluid storage in fractures and fluid leak-off to surrounding formation. Drilling through low permeability reservoirs (e.g., tight gas reservoirs or shale reservoirs) is different from drilling in conventional reservoirs because fast propagation of induced fractures may interact with natural fractures and result in severe lost circulation. This model is of critical importance in designing wellbore strengthening operations during drilling.
Instrumental Variable Methods for Continuous Outcomes That Accommodate Nonignorable Missing Baseline Values

Instrumental variable (IV) methods provide unbiased treatment effect estimation in the presence of unmeasured confounders under certain assumptions. To provide valid estimates of treatment effect, treatment effect confounders that are associated with the IV (IV-confounders) must be included in the analysis, and not including observations with missing values may lead to bias. Missing covariate data are particularly problematic when the probability that a value is missing is related to the value itself, which is known as nonignorable missingness. In such cases, imputation-based methods are biased. Using health-care provider preference as an IV method, we propose a 2-step procedure with which to estimate a valid treatment effect in the presence of baseline variables with nonignorable missing values. First, the provider preference IV value is estimated by performing a complete-case analysis using a random-effects model that includes IV-confounders. Second, the treatment effect is estimated using a 2-stage least squares IV approach that excludes IV-confounders with missing values. Simulation results are presented, and the method is applied to an analysis comparing the effects of sulfonylureas versus metformin on body mass index, where the variables baseline body mass index and glycosylated hemoglobin have missing values. Our result supports the association of sulfonylureas with weight gain.
Measure for Measure: The Uneasy Marriage of Tax Policy and Immigration Reform

The United States has deeply contradictory policies related to undocumented immigrant workers. America’s disparate immigration and tax policies include immigration directives that designate deportation proceedings for any immigrant living in the U.S. without proper authorization. Simultaneously, the government’s enforcement of its tax laws requires undocumented workers to apply for a tax identification number in order to file taxes because, as undocumented immigrants, they do not qualify for a valid Social Security Number. Additionally, undocumented workers do not qualify for Social Security benefits, but they are subject to mandatory Social Security and Medicare payroll tax with-holdings on their W-2 wages. This results in a schizophrenic existence for undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Undocumented immigrants financially contribute to their communities by way of income, employment and sales taxes. However, in their undocumented state, they possess no political power while the United States simultaneously enforces incongruent tax and immigration laws. The result is a fractured and tenuous marriage of opposing ideals. These ideals, manifest as tax and immigration policy, will be explored herein.
An evaluation of essential revenue management competencies: similarities and differences between practitioners and educators

This study explores the importance of revenue management (RM) competencies and identifies specific RM competencies that are consistently ranked as important in practice and in formalized university curriculum. The data from 195 surveys were analyzed revealing significant differences in what practitioners and educators deem to be the most essential competencies in the area of revenue management. On surveying hotel managers at several levels within various departments, as well as professors at a number of levels and terms, this research identifies a potential critical gap in what academicians are producing and what practitioners are utilizing in the area of revenue management.
Sex and Risk: Parental Messages and Associated Safety/Risk Behavior of Adult Children

The importance of both parent–child conversations about sex and general family communication climates has been emphasized in numerous studies. This study compared general family communication via family communication patterns (FCP) to specific parental communication about sex in understanding young adults’ sexual communication/risk (avoidance, threat, and risk behavior). Results suggest that FCP were stronger predictors of adult children’s perceptions of sexual communication as threatening and overall avoidance of sexual communication with their partners compared to the frequency of and overall quality of parent–child conversations about sex. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.
Efficient Attribute Recommendation with Probabilistic Guarantee

We study how to efficiently solve a primitive data exploration problem: Given two ad-hoc predicates which define two subsets of a relational table, find the top-K attributes whose distributions in the two subsets deviate most from each other. The deviation is measured by $\ell1$ or $\ell2$ distance. The exact approach is to query the full table to calculate the deviation for each attribute and then sort them. It is too expensive for large tables. Researchers have proposed heuristic sampling solutions to avoid accessing the entire table for all attributes. However, these solutions have no theoretical guarantee of correctness and their speedup over the exact approach is limited. In this paper, we develop an adaptive querying solution with probabilistic guarantee of correctness and near-optimal sample complexity. We perform experiments in both synthetic and real-world datasets. Compared to the exact approach implemented with a commercial DBMS, previous sampling solutions achieve up to 2× speedup with erroneous answers. Our solution can produce 25× speedup with near-zero error in the answer.
Selective electrogenerative oxidation of benzyl alcohol with platinum-graphite packed-bed anodes

The selective electrogenerative oxidation of benzyl alcohol in 1M sulfuric acid solutions was studied on several types of graphite supported platinum packed-bed anodes in a hybrid continuous-flow cell with an oxygen gas diffusion cathode. Benzaldehyde formed preferentially on all three catalytic packed-beds under electrogenerative conditions (Eanode<0.75V) where the platinum catalyst was not irreversibly oxidized. Tin–palladium chloride graphite-pretreatment before platinum deposition through ethanol reduction significantly enhanced catalytic activity. This electrocatalyst provided current densities as high as 77mAcm-2 (superficial packed-bed cross sectional area) with a platinum loading of 0.89wt% Pt on graphite at relative low polarization. The origin of the catalytic activity is discussed and evidence is presented on the roles of tin and palladium. Benzyl alcohol oxidation appears to provide a sensitive probe reaction for demonstrating the existence of special types of catalytic centres.
Rigorous Optimization-based Synthesis of Distillation Cascades without Integer Variables

Abstract In this paper we present a novel alternate model for distillation cascades without integer variables. This allows for optimization of highly nonlinear process flowsheets with embedded distillation columns, modeled with rigorous mass, equilibrium, summation and heat (MESH) equations. Instead of reformulating the famous MINLP distillation column model as an MPCC (mathematical program with complementarity constraints), bypass streams are added to the distillation cascade superstructure. If a tray is fully active the bypass streams are inactive (zero flow) and the standard MESH results are obtained. If a tray is completely inactive all of the flow bypasses the tray, resulting in no separation. As a result the interior of the bypass fraction (analogous to integer variables in the MINLP model) is well defined. In fact a partially bypassed stream is physically realizable (although inefficient). For this reason we postulate that this alternate model with bypass leads to well-behaved solution strategies.
Updated results from the phase II study of hyper-CVAD in combination with ofatumumab as frontline therapy for adults with CD20 positive (CD20+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

7042Background: Chemoimmunotherapy is standard of care for patients (pts) with CD20+ ALL. Ofatumumab targets a unique small-loop epitope on CD20 and is more potent in vitro than rituximab. The comb...
Laser-reduced graphene-oxide/ferrocene: a 3-D redox-active composite for supercapacitor electrodes

Supercapacitors are energy storage and conversion devices that display high power. In order to increase energy density, redox-active materials can be incorporated into the carbonaceous electrode(s). Although in recent years many studies have offered different redox-active candidates and composite methods, there is a constant search for an effective, easily producible and stable composite material. Here, we present a graphene/ferrocene composition as a redox active 3-D supercapacitor electrode material. The combination of highly reversible, conductive and strongly attached ferrocene with the high surface area and open porous structure of graphene results in high-power, high-energy density supercapacitors. The graphene scaffold is converted from graphene-oxide (GO) by laser irradiation, a facile, fast and eco-friendly method. The ferrocene is chemically bonded to the graphene by two different approaches that take advantage of the strong and stable pi–pi interactions between the carbon and the aromatic ligands. The excellent bonding between the components results in low internal resistance and high reversibility of the redox reaction. The composite demonstrated a 205% increase in specific capacitance from 87 F g−1 for pure laser reduced graphene oxide to 178 F g−1 for the composite with ferrocene. This is equivalent to an energy density of 6.19 W h kg−1 while maintaining a power density of 26.0 kW kg−1.
Iterative Search for Reconfigurable Accelerator Blocks With a Compiler in the Loop

Domain-specific reconfigurable accelerators achieve high performance and energy efficiency by using specialized processing elements (PEs) instead of general-purpose alternatives. However, the process of designing, selecting, and refining the reconfigurable PEs that compose the accelerator fabric has remained a manual and difficult task. This paper presents reconfigurable accelerator design using iterative search for hardware (Radish) which is a full-stack framework for automatically identifying and generating PEs from an application corpus. Radish uses a genetic algorithm to iteratively search for and refine the proposed PEs with a compiler-in-the-loop to guide the search. We show that Radish-generated PEs can generalize to both larger instances of the same application as well as other previously unseen applications within the same domain. We evaluate a coarse-grain reconfigurable array (CGRA) architecture using our Radish-generated PEs and show it achieves a geometric mean improvement of up to $2.14\times$ and $2.4\times$ power and area, respectively, over an arithmetic logic unit-based CGRA designs. In terms of energy, our generated designs achieve a geometric mean improvement of $2.5\times$ but can achieve gains up to $28.9\times$ .
Contextual compatibility of three empirically supported behavior therapies for cART adherence among patients with substance use disorders

Though substance use disorders complicate adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), contingency management (CM), and motivational interviewing (MI) each demonstrate efficacy to improve cART adherence among substance-using patients. To inform dissemination of these therapies, this mixed-method study was undertaken involving a full-day site visit to each of four HIV care settings. At each setting, an initial administrator interview elicited setting data. Paired focus groups with setting staff and patients then served as forums for open discussion and live polling of the therapies' respective contextual compatibility. Focus group recordings were subjected to a phenomenological narrative analysis by multidisciplinary investigators, and staff/patient compatibility ratings were analyzed via generalized linear models. Findings include: (1) emergent themes among staff of adaptability, patient-centeredness, and mission-congruence as desired therapy attributes, (2) emergent themes among patients of intrinsic motivation, respect for patient autonomy in illness management, and fairness among service recipients as desired therapy attributes; and (3) comparatively stronger staff perception of compatibility for MI than CBT or CM, and a similar albeit less robust or reliable pattern among patients. Collective findings support MI as a behavior therapy of choice for broad dissemination to HIV care settings to improve cART adherence of patients with substance use disorders.
Epithelial Membrane Protein-2 (EMP2) Antibody Blockade Reduces Corneal Neovascularization in an In Vivo Model.

Author(s): Sun, Michel M; Chan, Ann M; Law, Samuel M; Duarte, Sergio; Diaz-Aguilar, Daniel; Wadehra, Madhuri; Gordon, Lynn K | Abstract: PurposePathologic corneal neovascularization is a major cause of blindness worldwide, and treatment options are currently limited. VEGF is one of the critical mediators of corneal neovascularization but current anti-VEGF therapies have produced limited results in the cornea. Thus, additional therapeutic agents are needed to enhance the antiangiogenic arsenal. Our group previously demonstrated epithelial membrane protein-2 (EMP2) involvement in pathologic angiogenesis in multiple cancer models including breast cancer and glioblastoma. In this paper, we investigate the efficacy of anti-EMP2 immunotherapy in the prevention of corneal neovascularization.MethodsAn in vivo murine cornea alkali burn model was used to study pathologic neovascularization. A unilateral corneal burn was induced using NaOH, and subconjunctival injection of either anti-EMP2 antibody, control antibody, or sterile saline was performed after corneal burn. Neovascularization was clinically scored at 7 days postalkali burn, and eyes were enucleated for histologic analysis and immunostaining including VEGF, CD31, and CD34 expression.ResultsAnti-EMP2 antibody, compared to control antibody or vehicle, significantly reduced neovascularization as measured by clinical score and central cornea thickness, as well as by histologic reduction of neovascularization, decreased CD34 staining, and decreased CD31 staining. Incubation of corneal limbal cells in vitro with anti-EMP2 blocking antibody significantly decreased EMP2 expression, VEGF expression and secretion, and cell migration.ConclusionsThis work demonstrates the effectiveness of EMP2 as a novel target in pathologic corneal neovascularization in an animal model and supports additional investigation into EMP2 antibody blockade as a potential new therapeutic option.
Association between gaseous pollutants and emergency ambulance dispatches for asthma in Chengdu, China: a time-stratified case-crossover study

The association between concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and emergency ambulance dispatches (EADs) for asthma was explored in the central Sichuan Basin of southwestern China for the first time. EADs for asthma were collected from the Chengdu First-Aid Command Center. Pollutant concentrations were collected from 24 municipal environmental monitoring centers and including SO2, NO2, CO, daily 8-h mean concentrations of O3 (O3-8 h), and particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5). The climatic data were collected from the Chengdu Municipal Meteorological Bureau. All data were collected from years spanning 2013–2017. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used to analyze the data. After controlling for temperature, relative humidity, and atmospheric pressure, IQR increases in SO2 (13 μg/m3), NO2 (17 μg/m3), and CO (498 μg/m3) were associated with 18.8%, 11.5%, and 3.1% increases in EADs for asthma, respectively. The associations were strongest for EADs and SO2, NO2, and CO levels with 3-, 5-, and 1-day lags, respectively. This study provides additional data to the limited body of literature for potential health risks arising from ambient gaseous pollutants. The results of the study suggest that increased concentrations of SO2, NO2, and CO were positively associated with emergency ambulance dispatches for asthma in Chengdu, China. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects of individual air pollutants on asthma.