Geomechanical Modeling for Creating New Technologies of Deep Hydrocarbon Fields Development

Abstract— The paper presents the results of the experimental investigation of the rock physical properties in relation to issues of creating scientific fundamentals for new hydrocarbon production technologies. Nowadays easily accessible deposits of oil and gas which lies at depths of 2-3 km are gradually being depleted. The production of hydrocarbons from unconventional sources becomes all the more urgent. These include shale gas and oil, Arctic hydrocarbon resources, gas hydrates, coal bed methane, oil and gas from deep horizons. The development of such deposits requires the creation of new technologies. The knowledge of mechanical and filtration properties of rocks lying at great depths is needed for creation of the new oil production technologies. The investigation of the dependence of well stability and permeability of rocks on the stress-strain state which is determined by the pressure in the well and its bottom hole design in conditions of high rock pressure is required also. For the first time the tests of reservoir rocks from the depths of more than 6 km were carried out on the true triaxial load system. The real conditions that occur in the vicinity of the borehole for various bottom designs at lowering pressure were experimentally simulated on the unique experimental facility, Triaxial Independent Load Test System built in the Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Science. It is found that the possibility to improve the production rate of a well by increasing pressure drawdown in a well exists despite the low permeability and high strength of such rocks.   Index Terms— deep reservoirs, rock, well, the test facility, deformations, stresses, strength, elastic moduli. &nbsp

Microwave Spin-Pumping from an Antiferromagnet FeBO3

Recently, canted antiferromagnets offer great potential for fundamental research and applications due to their unique properties. The presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction leads to the existence of a weak ferromagnetic moment at room temperature. We study both theoretically and experimentally microwave spin pumping by the quasi-ferromagnetic mode from a canted easy plane antiferromagnet with weak ferromagnetism FeBO3. The conversion of a microwave signal into the constant voltage is realized using the inverse spin Hall effect in an iron borate/heavy metal heterostructure. We use an additional bias magnetic field to selectively tune the resonance frequency of such a microwave detector over a wide range up to 43.5 GHz with potential sensitivity near 2.5 microV/W. We confirm the pure spin current nature by changing polarity of the detected via inverse spin Hall effect voltage by switching the direction of the bias magnetic field. We believe that our results will be useful for the development of highly tunable, portable and sensitive microwave antiferromagnet-based functional devices.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 3 pages supplementary informatio

Haplotype analysis of APOE intragenic SNPs

BACKGROUND: APOE epsilon4 allele is most common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and cognitive decline. However, it remains poorly understood why only some carriers of APOE epsilon4 develop AD and how ethnic variabilities in APOE locus contribute to AD risk. Here, to address the role of APOE haplotypes, we reassessed the diversity of APOE locus in major ethnic groups and in Alzheimer\u27s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset on patients with AD, and subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and control non-demented individuals. RESULTS: We performed APOE gene haplotype analysis for a short block of five SNPs across the gene using the ADNI whole genome sequencing dataset. The compilation of ADNI data with 1000 Genomes identified the APOE epsilon4 linked haplotypes, which appeared to be distant for the Asian, African and European populations. The common European epsilon4-bearing haplotype is associated with AD but not with MCI, and the Africans lack this haplotype. Haplotypic inference revealed alleles that may confer protection against AD. By assessing the DNA methylation profile of the APOE haplotypes, we found that the AD-associated haplotype features elevated APOE CpG content, implying that this locus can also be regulated by genetic-epigenetic interactions. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that SNP frequency profiles within APOE locus are highly skewed to population-specific haplotypes, suggesting that the ancestral background within different sites at APOE gene may shape the disease phenotype. We propose that our results can be utilized for more specific risk assessment based on population descent of the individuals and on higher specificity of five site haplotypes associated with AD

A transitional fossil mite (Astigmata: Levantoglyphidae fam. n.) from the early Cretaceous suggests gradual evolution of phoresy-related metamorphosis

Abstract Metamorphosis is a key innovation allowing the same species to inhabit different environments and accomplish different functions, leading to evolutionary success in many animal groups. Astigmata is a megadiverse lineage of mites that expanded into a great number of habitats via associations with invertebrate and vertebrate hosts (human associates include stored food mites, house dust mites, and scabies). The evolutionary success of Astigmata is linked to phoresy-related metamorphosis, namely the origin of the heteromorphic deutonymph, which is highly specialized for phoresy (dispersal on hosts). The origin of this instar is enigmatic since it is morphologically divergent and no intermediate forms are known. Here we describe the heteromorphic deutonymph of Levantoglyphus sidorchukae n. gen. and sp. (Levantoglyphidae fam. n.) from early Cretaceous amber of Lebanon (129 Ma), which displays a transitional morphology. It is similar to extant phoretic deutonymphs in its modifications for phoresy but has the masticatory system and other parts of the gnathosoma well-developed. These aspects point to a gradual evolution of the astigmatid heteromorphic morphology and metamorphosis. The presence of well-developed presumably host-seeking sensory elements on the gnathosoma suggests that the deutonymph was not feeding either during phoretic or pre- or postphoretic periods

One-Pot Synthesis of Menthol Starting from Citral over Ni Supported on Attapulgite-H-Beta-38 Extrudates in a Continuous Flow: Effect of Metal Location

The one-pot synthesis of menthol from citral in a continuous mode was investigated over three different types of extrudates, namely Ni supported on H-Beta-38 and extruded with attapulgite, Ni supported on attapulgite and extruded with H-Beta 38, and the extrudates, which were shaped after deposition of Ni on both H-Beta-38 and attapulgite in the powder form. These composite catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, temperature-programmed reduction of H-2, mechanical strength, and pyridine adsorption desorption. These three types of extrudates exhibited different metal particle sizes and acidity. The most promising catalyst in the one-pot menthol synthesis was Ni supported first on H-Beta-38 and then extruded with attapulgite giving a 45% yield of menthols in a trickle bed reactor. This catalyst exhibited 10 nm nickel particles and a rather high amount of strong Bronsted acid sites