Reservoir heterogeneity in a carbon sequestration target: The Donovan Sand member of the Rodessa Formation, Citronelle field, Alabama

The Citronelle field, located in Mobile County, Alabama, has been chosen as a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) pilot site, and supercritical CO2 has been injected for the combined purposes of long-term storage testing and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The target formation for injection is the Early Cretaceous Donovan Sand of the Rodessa Formation, and is characterized by discontinuous fine- to medium-grained, heterogeneous arkosic fluvial sandstones interbedded with fissile mudstones and micaceous silts. Based upon core analysis of the Donovan Sand, depofacies indicate a fluvio-deltaic/estuarine depositional environment for the Donovan Sand. Probable sources of the Donovan sediments are the Motts Gneiss and the Hospilika Granite, both of which are exposed within the Pine Mountain Window at the Georgia/Alabama state border and into central Georgia. Through synthesis of core, thin section, and well log analysis, reservoir heterogeneity and porosity development within the Upper Donovan Sand is highly variable, with porosity averages of ∼2-5%, but locally can be up to ∼13%. In more porous zones there is more evidence of grain alteration and creation of secondary porosity, while in the lower porosity sections cementation or high matrix content fill interstitial space and the main pore type is primary pores. Porosity and cement percentages, rather than mineralogic composition, were used to categorize sandstones into petrofacies due to the consistent mineral composition of the Donovan Sand. According to petrofacies-to-well log correlations, the most porous petrofacies are present within the same stratigraphic zone (defined herein as a high porosity zone ) and this zone is interpreted to represent a porous (\u3e 5% &phis;) fluid migration pathway in the subsurface. An Upper Donovan Sand structure map, thickness map, and average porosity map generated using transform equations from SP and bulk density curves show that the thickest portions of the Upper Donovan do not directly correlate with the most porous areas within the formation. This research may serve as an analog for other mature oil and gas fields and CCS sites targeting fluvial-deltaic reservoirs

Colorectal cancer: Cost-effectiveness of screening and chemoprevention in average risk males

This study is an economic evaluation of currently recommended colorectal cancer (CRC) screening procedures, and strategies that incorporate chemopreventive options such as aspirin or a cycooxygenase-2 inhibitor. A decision analysis model was constructed to compare alternative CRC screening strategies. A Markov model was employed to simulate the natural history of CRC. Quality adjusted life years were used as the primary outcome measure. The base case analysis represents the overall cost and effectiveness associated with each screening strategy. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated for each screening strategy. One-way sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the factors that have the greatest effect on the cost-effectiveness of screening. The most cost-effective screening strategy was Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT); followed by FOBT plus aspirin, colonoscopy, and colonoscopy plus aspirin. The ICER of FOBT was {dollar}13,014.85 compared to Natural History. The model was sensitive to the costs of FOBT, colonoscopy, and aspirin

Strawberry growth and fruit characteristics in response to coal bottom ash root media

Commercial production of strawberry fruit during the off season offers greenhouse operators an alternative crop. Quality of such fruit may be influenced by production system. A series of studies evaluated various aspects of greenhouse production of strawberry fruit. In a study of commercially available strawberry seed rate of germination for cv. \u27Sweetheart\u27, was enhanced by cutting the seed coat. Total germinated after 20 days was equal for the cut, the 4x and 8x sand paper scarification treatments. For cv. \u27Fresca\u27 the germination percentage was higher in plugs with Sunshine plug mix and Grodan Orchid Greenmix when compared to rockwool (RW) and rockwool plus coal bottom ash (CBA). In a nutriculture study of cv. \u27Fresca\u27 strawberries, vegetative growth was enhanced in CBA compared to RW. The next study of nutriculture grown cv. \u27Fresca\u27 found no significant differences in production measurements (days to first flower, days to first fruit, total number of flowers, and primary fruit fresh weight) due to substrate or nutrient solution strength. This study also found that color characteristics, internal/external chroma and hue, were responsive to both substrate and nutrient solution strength. The cv. \u27Fresca\u27 leaf and petiole tissue analysis showed above the recommended levels for calcium, boron, iron, manganese. Boron increased significantly in the Ft. Martin CBA grown plants. Repeating the nutriculture study with Ft. Martin CBA and RW control with commercially available cultivars (Cardinal, Crimson King, Earliglow, Honeoye, Surecrop, and Ozark Beauty) the number of crowns, number of leaves per plant, and fruit color measurements were determined by cultivar. Leaf area, leaf fresh weight, and leaf dry weight were reduced by the CBA. Leaf and petiole tissue analysis found supra-optimal levels of boron in all samples except \u27Earliglow\u27 in rockwool which had reduced boron. Gas chromatography flavor analysis for cv. \u27Fresca\u27 found the Pleasants and Ft. Martin CBA grown strawberries to be completely different from those grown in Albright CBA and the RW control. Cultivars, Cardinal and Honeoye, exhibited interaction with the media for flavor profiles. These studies show strawberry plant responses to varied cultural conditions and indicate the need for further nutrient/media studies and their link with flavor compound production

The Utopianism of Children: An Empirical Study of Children\u27s Neighborhood Design Preferences

Little is known about the environmental preferences of children. While planners have taught children about planning, relatively little academic research has been conducted on what children can teach the discipline about planning. This paper summarizes the results of a survey of the planning preferences of 248 children in kindergarten through second grade. The content analysis revealed a preference for land use variety and for places associated with activity and social interaction. Children tended to favor diversity and accessibility, as opposed to homogeneity and privacy. Further, the children\u27s plans were different in terms of age and particularly in terms of gender. Children were able to conceptualize neighborhood even at the kindergarten level, and many of their conceptualizations were not dissimilar from the traditional view of neighborhood espoused by planners

Text, graphics, and multimedia materials employed in learning a computer-based procedural task

The present research study investigated the interaction of graphic design students with different forms of software training materials. Four versions of the procedural task instructions were developed (A) Traditional Textbook with Still Images, (B) Modified Text with Integrated Still Images, (C) Onscreen Modified Text with Silent Onscreen Video and (D) Onscreen Narrated Video for four computer tasks. Two research questions guided the study: Research Question 1: Are there any significant differences in student learning of a computer-based procedural task due to the format of the training materials? Research Question 2: Do individual differences in prior knowledge and spatial abilities make a significant difference in student learning? This study included quantitative research methods. The population for the study consisted of sophomore and junior graphics students enrolled in the Computer Applications in Graphics (GRAPHICS 1150) course in the Department of Graphics Technology at a Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community and Technical College during the 2009 spring semester. One section had 8 participants and the other 11 (N=19). The six instruments used to collect data for this study were a Prior Knowledge pre-test, the MRT (a Mental Rotations Test), and 4 counterbalanced graphics image-manipulation tasks. The findings indicate that high spatial ability and high prior knowledge positively affected student\u27s scores on the graphics image-manipulation tasks and that Training Condition B (Modified Text with Integrated Still Images) was a positive contributor to test scores on the counterbalanced image manipulation tasks. The participants experienced shorter task completion times for any task trained with the Modified Text with Integrated Still Images materials