The application of fluid level measurements to oil wells in Kansas

The mechanics of determining fluid levels and a knowledge of the depth-to-fluid in a well are matters of general interest. To the oil-producer, however, such information is of value only as it may affect the operation of a well or reservoir --Uses of Fluid-Level Measurements, page 9

The multisensory attentional consequences of tool use : a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Background: Tool use in humans requires that multisensory information is integrated across different locations, from objects seen to be distant from the hand, but felt indirectly at the hand via the tool. We tested the hypothesis that using a simple tool to perceive vibrotactile stimuli results in the enhanced processing of visual stimuli presented at the distal, functional part of the tool. Such a finding would be consistent with a shift of spatial attention to the location where the tool is used. Methodology/Principal Findings: We tested this hypothesis by scanning healthy human participants’ brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging, while they used a simple tool to discriminate between target vibrations, accompanied by congruent or incongruent visual distractors, on the same or opposite side to the tool. The attentional hypothesis was supported: BOLD response in occipital cortex, particularly in the right hemisphere lingual gyrus, varied significantly as a function of tool position, increasing contralaterally, and decreasing ipsilaterally to the tool. Furthermore, these modulations occurred despite the fact that participants were repeatedly instructed to ignore the visual stimuli, to respond only to the vibrotactile stimuli, and to maintain visual fixation centrally. In addition, the magnitude of multisensory (visual-vibrotactile) interactions in participants’ behavioural responses significantly predicted the BOLD response in occipital cortical areas that were also modulated as a function of both visual stimulus position and tool position. Conclusions/Significance: These results show that using a simple tool to locate and to perceive vibrotactile stimuli is accompanied by a shift of spatial attention to the location where the functional part of the tool is used, resulting in enhanced processing of visual stimuli at that location, and decreased processing at other locations. This was most clearly observed in the right hemisphere lingual gyrus. Such modulations of visual processing may reflect the functional importance of visuospatial information during human tool use

Doing International Business: From Cultural Perspectives

The remarkable growth of the global economy over the past 50 years has been shaped by the dynamic interplay of various driving and restraining forces. From business and HRD (Human Resource Development) aspects, an understanding of globalization as it applies to the field of training and educational programs enables organizations to develop competencies and skills to respond to these emerging challenges faced by globalization. In recent reports (Yager, 2001; O’Regan, 2001), employers are increasingly having trouble finding workers who have excellent (1) soft skills, (2) business etiquette, (3) interpersonal communication skills, and (4) intercultural communication skills. An international business organization cannot succeed if cultural factors are ignored, and the same is true for educational programs. The central goal of this study was to explore the aspects needed for cultural understanding in formal course offerings such as language courses, as well as possible activities/subjects that could improve culture understanding. Significant differences regarding how students’ academic profiles affected their attitudes toward culturally related issues were discovered in this study. Recommendations were made for changes in language courses taught to Hospitality majors

Rod Outer Segment Structure Influences the Apparent Kinetic Parameters of Cyclic GMP Phosphodiesterase

Cyclic GMP hydrolysis by the phosphodiesterase (PDE) of retinal rod outer segments (ROS) is a key amplification step in phototransduction. Definitive estimates of the turnover number, kcat, and of the Km are crucial to quantifying the amplification contributed by the PDE. Published estimates for these kinetic parameters vary widely; moreover, light-dependent changes in the Km of PDE have been reported. The experiments and analyses reported here account for most observed variations in apparent Km, and they lead to definitive estimates of the intrinsic kinetic parameters in amphibian rods. We first obtained a new and highly accurate estimate of the ratio of holo-PDE to rhodopsin in the amphibian ROS, 1:270. We then estimated the apparent kinetic parameters of light-activated PDE of suspensions of disrupted frog ROS whose structural integrity was systematically varied. In the most severely disrupted ROS preparation, we found Km = 95 microM and kcat = 4,400 cGMP.s-1. In suspensions of disc-stack fragments of greater integrity, the apparent Km increased to approximately 600 microM, though kcat remained unchanged. In contrast, the Km for cAMP was not shifted in the disc stack preparations. A theoretical analysis shows that the elevated apparent Km of suspensions of disc stacks can be explained as a consequence of diffusion with hydrolysis in the disc stack, which causes active PDEs nearer the center of the stack to be exposed to a lower concentration of cyclic GMP than PDEs at the disc stack rim. The analysis predicts our observation that the apparent Km for cGMP is elevated with no accompanying decrease in kcat. The analysis also predicts the lack of a Km shift for cAMP and the previously reported light dependence of the apparent Km for cGMP. We conclude that the intrinsic kinetic parameters of the PDE do not vary with light or structural integrity, and are those of the most severely disrupted disc stacks

Protocol for a mixed-methods study to develop and feasibility test a digital system for the capture of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) in patients receiving Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies (The PRO-CAR-T Study)

Introduction: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies are novel, potentially curative therapies for haematological malignancies. CAR T-cell therapies are associated with severe toxicities, meaning patients require monitoring during acute and postacute treatment phases. Electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs), self-reports of health status provided via online questionnaires, can complement clinician observation with potential to improve patient outcomes. This study will develop and evaluate feasibility of a new ePRO system for CAR-T patients in routine care. Methods and analysis: Multiphase, mixed-methods study involving multiple stakeholder groups (patients, family members, carers, clinicians, academics/researchers and policy-makers). The intervention development phase comprises a Delphi study to select PRO measures for the digital system, a codesign workshop and consensus meetings to establish thresholds for notifications to the clinical team if a patient reports severe symptoms or side effects. Usability testing will evaluate how users interact with the digital system and, lastly, we will evaluate ePRO system feasibility with 30 CAR-T patients (adults aged 18+ years) when used in addition to usual care. Feasibility study participants will use the ePRO system to submit self-reports of symptoms, treatment tolerability and quality of life at specific time points. The CAR-T clinical team will respond to system notifications triggered by patients’ submitted responses with actions in line with standard clinical practice. Feasibility measures will be collected at prespecified time points following CAR T-cell infusion. A qualitative substudy involving patients and clinical team members will explore acceptability of the ePRO system. Ethics and dissemination: Favourable ethical opinion was granted by the Health and Social Care Research Ethics Committee B(HSC REC B) (ref: 23/NI/0104) on 28 September 2023. Findings will be submitted for publication in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals. Summaries of results, codeveloped with the Blood and Transplant Research Unit Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement group, will be disseminated to all interested groups. Trial registration number: ISCTRN11232653

The spread of marine anoxia on the northern Tethys margin during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Records of the paleoenvironmental changes that occurred during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) are preserved in sedimentary rocks along the margins of the former Tethys Ocean and Peri-Tethys. This paper presents new geochemical data that constrain paleoproductivity, sediment delivery, and seawater redox conditions, from three sites that were located in the Peri-Tethys region. Trace and major element, iron speciation, and biomarker data indicate that water column anoxia was established during episodes when inputs of land-derived higher plant organic carbon and highly weathered detrital clays and silts became relatively higher. Anoxic conditions are likely to have been initially caused by two primary processes: (i) oxygen consumption by high rates of marine productivity, initially stimulated by the rapid delivery of terrestrially derived organic matter and nutrients, and (ii) phosphorus regeneration from seafloor sediments. The role of the latter process requires further investigation before its influence on the spread of deoxygenated seawater during the PETM can be properly discerned. Other oxygen-forcing processes, such as temperature/salinity-driven water column stratification and/or methane oxidation, are considered to have been relatively less important in the study region. Organic carbon enrichments occur only during the initial stages of the PETM as defined by the negative carbon isotope excursions at each site. The lack of observed terminal stage organic carbon enrichment does not support a link between PETM climate recovery and the sequestration of excess atmospheric CO2 as organic carbon in this region; such a feedback may, however, have been important in the early stages of the PETM

The geological history of the Latimojong region of western Sulawesi, Indonesia

We present an updated geological map and revised stratigraphy of the Latimojong region of central-western Sulawesi. This work includes new biostratigraphic ages from the Latimojong Metamorphic Complex, Toraja Group, Makale Formation and Enrekang Volcanics, together with whole-rock geochemical data and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb analyses from zircons extracted from igneous rocks in the region. Previous work on the study region and in other parts of Sulawesi have discussed the age and character of two different rock sequences with similar names, the Latimojong Complex and the Latimojong Formation. One would assume that the type location for these two sequences is in the Latimojong Mountains. However, there is considerable confusion as to the character and location of these sequences. We make a distinction between the Latimojong Formation and the Latimojong Complex, and propose that the Latimojong Complex be renamed the Latimojong Metamorphic Complex to minimise the confusion associated with the current nomenclature. The Latimojong Metamorphic Complex is an accretionary complex of low- to high-grade metamorphic rocks tectonically mixed with cherts and ophiolitic rocks, while the Latimojong Formation consists of Upper Cretaceous weakly deformed, unmetamorphosed sediments or very low-grade metasediments (previously interpreted as flysch or distal turbidites that unconformably overlie older rocks). Our work indicates that the Latimojong Formation must be restricted to isolated, unobserved segments of the Latimojong Mountains, or are otherwise not present in the Latimojong region, meaning the Latimojong Formation would only be found further north in western Sulawesi. Radiolaria extracted from chert samples indicate that the Latimojong Metamorphic Complex was likely assembled during the Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) and was later metamorphosed. Ages obtained from benthic and planktonic foraminifera were used to differentiate and map the Toraja Group (Ypresian to Chattian: 56-23 Ma), Makale Formation (Burdigalian to Serravallian: 20.5-11.5 Ma) and Enrekang Volcanic Series (8.0-3.6 Ma) across the study area. U-Pb isotopic data collected from magmatic zircons record several phases of volcanism (∼38 Ma, ∼25 Ma and 8.0-3.6 Ma) in the region. Each phase of magmatism can be distinguished according to petrology and whole-rock geochemical data. The isotopic ages also show that dacites from the Enrekang Volcanic Series are contemporaneous with the emplacement of the Palopo Granite (6.6-4.9 Ma). Miocene to Proterozoic inherited zircons within these igneous rocks support earlier suggestions that Sulawesi potentially has a Proterozoic-Phanerozoic basement or includes sedimentary rocks (and therefore detrital zircons) derived from the erosion of Proterozoic or younger material. Some earlier work proposed that the granitic rocks in the region developed due to crustal melting associated with plate collision and radiogenic heating. Our observations however, support different interpretations, where the granites are associated with arc magmatism and/or crustal extension. The region was cross-cut by major strike-slip fault zones during the Pliocene. This deformation and the buoyancy associated with relatively young intrusions may have facilitated uplift of the mountains