The 2017 Oslo conference report on neglected tropical diseases and emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases - focus on populations underserved

BACKGROUND: In 2017, the Centre for Global Health (CGH) at the University of Oslo in collaboration with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) held a meeting to discuss together with leading figures in disease control, research and development the issue of neglected tropical diseases and emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases. This commentary has taken up this discussion and the conclusions drawn at this meeting to make a case for the opportunity the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide in highlighting the interconnectedness of factors that are relevant in the successful fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and emerging infectious diseases (EIDS). MAIN BODY: Despite NTDs being endemic and EIDS being epidemic, in order to prevent both disease groups effectively, it is important to appreciate that they share essential health determining factors, namely: neglect, poverty, a lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities and an absence of or severely limited provision of healthcare as well as in many cases a zoonotic nature. Instead of looking to "simple disease management" for the answer, the SDGs help to understand the interplay of multiple priority areas and thereby help to promote a more holistic approach to addressing these two disease groups. CONCLUSIONS: Their commonalities mean that the Global Health community should leverage opportunities and efforts in the prevention and elimination of both NTDs and EIDs. Doing so using a One Health approach is considered to offer a "public health best-buy". Concrete solutions are proposed

Hydrocarbon production optimization in fields with different ownership and commercial interests

A main field and satellite fields consist of several separate reservoirs with gas cap and/or oil rim. A processing facility on the main field receives and processes the oil, gas and water from all the reservoirs. This facility is typically capable of processing only a limited amount of oil, gas and water per unit of time. In order to satisfy these processing limitations, the production needs to be choked. The available capacity is shared among several field owners with different commercial interests. In this paper we focus on how total oil and gas production from all the fields could be optimized. The satellite field owners negotiate processing capacities on the main field facility. This introduces additional processing capacity constraints (booking constraints) for the owners of the main field. If the total wealth created by all owners represents the economic interests of the community, it is of interest to investigate whether the total wealth may be increased by lifting the booking constraints. If all reservoirs may be produced more optimally by removing the booking constraints, all owners may benefit from this when appropriate commercial arrangements are in place. We will compare two production strategies. The first production strategy optimizes locally, at distinct time intervals. At given intervals the production is prioritized so that the maximum amount of oil is produced. In the second production strategy a fixed weight is assigned to each reservoir. The reservoirs with the highest weights receive the highest priority