Secondary Shear Waves From Source Boreholes

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the most important results of the thesis work of Meredith (1990) concerning radiation from seismic sources in boreholes. Previous studies of radiation from sources in boreholes have been far-field studies and have neglected the explicit contribution of the borehole. In general, this is fine for P-wave radiation and for S-wave radiation into high velocity rocks. However, tube waves "leak" shear conical waves (Mach waves) which propagate when the tube wave velocity is greater than the shear wave velocity of the surrounding medium. These Mach waves are of high amplitude because of the dominance of the tube wave and radiate away from the borehole in a fixed conical shape. The shape of the cone is dependent on the shear wave velocity of the medium and the tube wave velocity. This paper defines the conditions under which these Mach waves exist and thoroughly describes them in a physical sense and less so in a mathematical sense. Finally, the relationship of Mach waves to data sets is examined and how Mach waves may be confused with receiver borehole tube waves. To keep the presentation simple, radiation from axial or torsional sources or radiation from empty boreholes is omitted in this paper but fully addressed in Meredith (1990).Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Waveform Acoustic Logging Consortiu

Modelling Of Downhole Seismic Sources II: An Analysis Of The Heelan/Brekhovskikh Results And Comparison Of Point Source Radiation To Radiation From Boreholes

The work of Heelan (1952, 1953a,b) was one of the first studies of wave propagation from a cylindrical boundary. Heelan attempted to model the radiation emanating from a cylindrical shot hole filled with dynamite. To do so he applied a constant stress to a finite length of an empty infinite cylindrical cavity embedded in an infinite elastic, homogeneous medium. The stresses he considered were axial, torsional, and radial stresses. The radial and axial stresses were required to be proportional to each other and of the same duration. To date Heelan's work has been referenced in over 100 articles and 15 different journals including recent works (Paulsson, 1988) . His results have also been compared with results from the reciprocity theorem (White, 1953, 1960) and played an integral part of important books including those by Brekhovskikh (1960, 1980) and White (1965, 1983). His fundamental contributions were the description of shear wave lobes, the famous four-leaved rose, generated from a radial source in a borehole and that the radiation patterns for an axial source and a torsional source in a borehole have the same geometries as the point axial and torsional sources in infinite media. Despite the importance of this work, Heelan's results have been criticized by Jordan (1962) who dismissed the work as mathematically unsound and Abo-Zena (1977) who devoted an appendix of his 1977 paper to criticizing Heelan's results. The main point of contention has been the use of contour analysis in his first paper (Heelan, 1953a). Although Heelan's work did not include a fluid-filled borehole which is a crucial omission for our purposes, his work may nonetheless be seen as a starting point for the modelling of downhole seismic sources. For instance, Lee and Balch (1982) developed radiation patterns for fluid boreholes which were simple extensions of Heelan's results. Additionally, one particular application of Heelan's theory is in the preliminary development of downhole seismic Sources that often require dry holes until the electronics can be properly shielded. For that reason, an exhaustive examination of the mathematics and physics that went into Heelan's first paper was undertaken to determine if his formulation was correct. The fundamental basis of Heelan's work was a variant of the Sommerfeld integral, an integral of cylindrical waves, in which he unfortunately did not specify the contour. To overcome this obstacle of an unknown contour a parallel method suggested by Brekhovskikh (1960, 1980) was implemented. Brekhovskikh used the Weyl integral, an integral over plane waves, to duplicate Heelan's results for the radial and torsional stresses. However he does no justification of the extensive algebra or analysis involved and does not include the effects of axial stress. Thus in this paper, we have completed and elucidated the work that Brekhovskikh initiated and moreover indirectly verified that Heelan's results were correct. Additionally, we found that Abo-Zena's and Heelan's initial formulations were equivalent. The only difference was in a reversal of the separation of variables procedure necessary to replicate this work and also in Abo-Zena's USe of the Laplace transform where Heelan used the Fourier transform. However, Abo-Zena's results do extend Heelan's by allowing the source function to vary over the distance in which it is applied. The far field results of Abo-Zena and Heelan are equivalent (White, 1983) only if a 1/μ correction is applied to Abo-Zena's results. The first half of this paper is very involved mathematically but much of the algebra is relegated to Appendix A. Having verified that Heelan's results were correct we then proceed to compare Heelan's results with well established point source representations known in the literature (White, 1983) and also with radiation patterns from point sources and stress sources in a fluid-filled borehole (Lee and Balch, 1982). These comparisons will help us isolate the propagation effects of the fluid and the geometrical effect of the borehole. One unique aspect to our approach will be the consideration of radiation from boreholes surrounded by varying lithologies instead of just the Poisson solid as is commonly done. The lithologies to be considered include a soft sediment (Pierre shale) and two more indurated sediments, Berea sandstone and Solenhofen limestone. By following this approach we show that the effect on the radiation magnitude can be substantial due to changes in lithology in addition to isolating the relative effects of the borehole and the fluid.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Waveform Acoustic Logging Consortiu

Determining Shear Wave Velocities in Soft Marine Sediments

The inversion technique presented in this volume (Cheng, 1987) that simultaneously inverts full waveform acoustic logs for shear wave velocity (V[subscript 3]) and compressional wave attenuation (Q[subscript p]) was applied to selected full waveform acoustic logs taken in soft sediments from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 613. Besides V[subscript 3] and Q[subscript p], the sensitivity of the inversion to perturbations in the fixed parameters, P-wave velocity (V[subscript p]), fluid velocity (V[[subscript f]), borehole diameter, bulk density (P[subscript b]), and borehole fluid attenuation (Q[subscript f]), were tested. Our study shows that the inversion technique is most sensitive to the estimate of V[subscript p] because the inversion is based on the P leaky mode energy portion of the spectrum. The Poisson's ratio, however, which primarily controls the amplitude of the waveforms, is rather stable with different estimates in V[subscript p]. The inversion technique is less sensitive to small perturbations in borehole diameter, P[subscript b], V[subscript f], and Q[subscript f] The shear wave velocities inferred from these inversions correlate well with the attendant velocity logs run at Site 613 and the diagenetic changes identified by shipboard stratigraphers. For example, there is an increase in both V[subscript p] and V[subscript 3] at the diagenetic boundary between siliceous nannofossil oozes and porcellanite. This boundary is responsible for a sharp seismic reflector in a USGS. seismic line run nearby. Over the depth interval that we analyzed, from 390.0 to 582.0 meters below sea floor, we determined shear wave velocities ranging from 0.74 to 1.06 km/sec corresponding to compressional wave velocities from 1.70 to 2.20 km/sec.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Waveform Acoustic Logging ConsortiumNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE84-08761)Chevron (Fellowship

Evaluation And Prediction Of Shear Wave Velocities In Soft Marine Sediments

Shear wave velocities from full waveform acoustic logs were determined at DSDP Site 613 using the spectral ratio inversion method. Discrete shear wave velocities for a 350 meter interval at 0.5-2 meter depth increments were calculated. Shear wave velocities were not evaluated for the upper 130m of the log because of data recording problems. The sediments of Site 613 represent a progression from carbonaceous-siliceous oozes through partial lithification and cementation. A method for predicting shear wave velocities using Wood's equation, the bulk moduli of water and carbonate grains, the P-wave velocity and porosity from well logs will be described. The predictions of this method provided a theoretical maximum value for the shear wave velocity to compare with the inversion results. In general, the method works well for shear wave velocities greater than 800 m/s. The inverted data fall just below the predicted theoretical maximum value from Wood's equation and agree quite well with the trends. Below this velocity threshold, trends with depth and Poisson's ratio and the divergence of the inversion itself seem to indicate incorrect behavior.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Waveform Acoustic Logging ConsortiumNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE84-08761)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE87-10226)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE87-20032

Modelling Of Downhole Seismic Sources I: Literature Review, Review Of Fundamentals, Impulsive Point Source In A Borehole

This paper represents the first of a two paper sequence comprising a multi-faceted introduction to the numerical and analytical modelling of seismic sources in a borehole. Part one will present a literature review and a review of the fundamental mathematical descriptions of wave propagation outside a borehole. By listing the mathematical descriptions here we can show the equivalence and interrelationships of many treatments presented in the literature. Part one will conclude with an outline of the familiar discrete wavenumber technique as applied to modelling radiation outside a borehole from a point source inside a borehole. Part two will attempt to isolate the effects of the fluid-filled borehole on the radiation of a borehole source by comparing radiation patterns for three cases: a point source in an infinite medium, a stress applied to the wall of an empty borehole (Heelan's (1953) result) and a point source in a fluid-filled borehole (Lee and Balch, 1982). Heelan's results will also be analyzed and defended against criticism of them brought by Jordan (1962) and Abo-Zena (1978). The literature review will be thorough and will include the work done directly on modelling downhole seismic sources and the comparatively larger amount of work done on modelling sources for acoustic logging purposes which is directly applicable. Different authors publishing work on seismic sources have made widely different symmetry assumptions ranging from no symmetry to axisymmetry to symmetry along the z axis. These differences hamper the ability to directly compare results between the different treatments. Compounding the differences in symmetry are the use of different time dependencies ([superscript -iwl], [superscript iwl]) and the use of different Hankel function or modified Bessel function strategies. Therefore, the mathematical fundamentals of wave propagation in a borehole from the different symmetry systems are presented here in a consistent notation and are related to each other and treatments in the literature to help eliminate duplication of effort. Finally, wave propagation outside a borehole is examined using synthetic seismograms. For the synthetic seismograms, a point source inside the borehole is used as a source and the synthetics are calculated using the discrete wavenumber method. The synthetic seismograms are measured along vertical arrays of point receivers placed outside the borehole and for lithologies of Pierre shale, Solenhofen limestone, and Berea sandstone. The method and the resulting seismograms are outlined in this paper along with a brief description of the discrete wavenumber technique.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Waveform Acoustic Logging Consortiu

The experience of visual art for people living with mild-to-moderate vision loss

Background: Visual art can enhance wellbeing and quality-of-life; however, the experience of visual art for people with mild-to-moderate vision loss has not been examined. Methods: Eight participants (6 females, 2 males; Mean age = 81 years, SD = 7.9, range 70–91 years; 4 with mild vision loss and 4 with moderate vision loss based on binocular visual acuity) completed a mixed-methods study comprising: a semi-structured interview on visual art experience; an eye examination; and questionnaires about visual functioning and quality-of-life. Results: Various themes were identified: visual perception of art (e.g. altered colours, visual distortions, etc.), viewing conditions, elements of art, personal preference, deriving meaning, appreciation of art, impact of impaired visual perception, and social aspects of art. Conclusions: The overall experience of art is influenced by how an individual sees, perceives, and makes meaning from art. Even mild vision loss can impair this experience and impact emotional and social wellbeing.</p

The migration of physicians from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States of America: measures of the African brain drain

BACKGROUND: The objective of this paper is to describe the numbers, characteristics, and trends in the migration to the United States of physicians trained in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We used the American Medical Association 2002 Masterfile to identify and describe physicians who received their medical training in sub-Saharan Africa and are currently practicing in the USA. RESULTS: More than 23% of America's 771 491 physicians received their medical training outside the USA, the majority (64%) in low-income or lower middle-income countries. A total of 5334 physicians from sub-Saharan Africa are in that group, a number that represents more than 6% of the physicians practicing in sub-Saharan Africa now. Nearly 86% of these Africans practicing in the USA originate from only three countries: Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. Furthermore, 79% were trained at only 10 medical schools. CONCLUSIONS: Physician migration from poor countries to rich ones contributes to worldwide health workforce imbalances that may be detrimental to the health systems of source countries. The migration of over 5000 doctors from sub-Saharan Africa to the USA has had a significantly negative effect on the doctor-to-population ratio of Africa. The finding that the bulk of migration occurs from only a few countries and medical schools suggests policy interventions in only a few locations could be effective in stemming the brain drain

GWASdb: a database for human genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies

Recent advances in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled us to identify thousands of genetic variants (GVs) that are associated with human diseases. As next-generation sequencing technologies become less expensive, more GVs will be discovered in the near future. Existing databases, such as NHGRI GWAS Catalog, collect GVs with only genome-wide level significance. However, many true disease susceptibility loci have relatively moderate P values and are not included in these databases. We have developed GWASdb that contains 20 times more data than the GWAS Catalog and includes less significant GVs (P < 1.0 × 10−3) manually curated from the literature. In addition, GWASdb provides comprehensive functional annotations for each GV, including genomic mapping information, regulatory effects (transcription factor binding sites, microRNA target sites and splicing sites), amino acid substitutions, evolution, gene expression and disease associations. Furthermore, GWASdb classifies these GVs according to diseases using Disease-Ontology Lite and Human Phenotype Ontology. It can conduct pathway enrichment and PPI network association analysis for these diseases. GWASdb provides an intuitive, multifunctional database for biologists and clinicians to explore GVs and their functional inferences. It is freely available at http://jjwanglab.org/gwasdb and will be updated frequently

IGF-1, IGFBP-1, and IGFBP-3 Polymorphisms Predict Circulating IGF Levels but Not Breast Cancer Risk: Findings from the Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3)

IGF-1 has been shown to promote proliferation of normal epithelial breast cells, and the IGF pathway has also been linked to mammary carcinogenesis in animal models. We comprehensively examined the association between common genetic variation in the IGF1, IGFBP1, and IGFBP3 genes in relation to circulating IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels and breast cancer risk within the NCI Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3). This analysis included 6,912 breast cancer cases and 8,891 matched controls (n = 6,410 for circulating IGF-I and 6,275 for circulating IGFBP-3 analyses) comprised primarily of Caucasian women drawn from six large cohorts. Linkage disequilibrium and haplotype patterns were characterized in the regions surrounding IGF1 and the genes coding for two of its binding proteins, IGFBP1 and IGFBP3. In total, thirty haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNP) were selected to provide high coverage of common haplotypes; the haplotype structure was defined across four haplotype blocks for IGF1 and three for IGFBP1 and IGFBP3. Specific IGF1 SNPs individually accounted for up to 5% change in circulating IGF-I levels and individual IGFBP3 SNPs were associated up to 12% change in circulating IGFBP-3 levels, but no associations were observed between these polymorphisms and breast cancer risk. Logistic regression analyses found no associations between breast cancer and any htSNPs or haplotypes in IGF1, IGFBP1, or IGFBP3. No effect modification was observed in analyses stratified by menopausal status, family history of breast cancer, body mass index, or postmenopausal hormone therapy, or for analyses stratified by stage at diagnosis or hormone receptor status. In summary, the impact of genetic variation in IGF1 and IGFBP3 on circulating IGF levels does not appear to substantially influence breast cancer risk substantially among primarily Caucasian postmenopausal women

Physico-Chemical Evaluation of Rationally Designed Melanins as Novel Nature-Inspired Radioprotectors

Melanin, a high-molecular weight pigment that is ubiquitous in nature, protects melanized microorganisms against high doses of ionizing radiation. However, the physics of melanin interaction with ionizing radiation is unknown.We rationally designed melanins from either 5-S-cysteinyl-DOPA, L-cysteine/L-DOPA, or L-DOPA with diverse structures as shown by elemental analysis and HPLC. Sulfur-containing melanins had higher predicted attenuation coefficients than non-sulfur-containing melanins. All synthetic melanins displayed strong electron paramagnetic resonance (2.14.10(18), 7.09.10(18), and 9.05.10(17) spins/g, respectively), with sulfur-containing melanins demonstrating more complex spectra and higher numbers of stable free radicals. There was no change in the quality or quantity of the stable free radicals after high-dose (30,000 cGy), high-energy ((137)Cs, 661.6 keV) irradiation, indicating a high degree of radical stability as well as a robust resistance to the ionizing effects of gamma irradiation. The rationally designed melanins protected mammalian cells against ionizing radiation of different energies.We propose that due to melanin's numerous aromatic oligomers containing multiple pi-electron system, a generated Compton recoil electron gradually loses energy while passing through the pigment, until its energy is sufficiently low that it can be trapped by stable free radicals present in the pigment. Controlled dissipation of high-energy recoil electrons by melanin prevents secondary ionizations and the generation of damaging free radical species