Finding Yourself

It is during the high school period that the stage in one\u27s education is or should be reached, when he realizes that the universe is full of good. No kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but thru his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he until he has tried

Stratigraphy and Depositional Systems of the Frontier Formation and Their Controls on Reservoir Development, Moxa Arch, Southwest Wyoming

By controlling sandstone continuity and detrital clay content, depositional systems influence reservoir development in low-permeability gas-bearing sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation along the Moxa Arch in the Green River Basin, southwest Wyoming. Original depositional porosity and permeability are highest in clean Frontier sandstones, which even after diagenetic modification comprise the most prolific reservoirs. The Frontier was deposited in a fluvial-deltaic system, in which most reservoirs lie in fluvial channel-fill and marine shoreface sandstone facies. The fluvial channel-fill sandstones form southeast-trending belts, which are a few miles wide, several tens of feet thick, and separated by interchannel shale and sandy shale. Within the channel belts, clean sandstone occurs as discontinuous lenses up to 20 feet thick that are interlayered and laterally gradational with mud-clast-rich shaly sandstone. The marine shoreface facies forms a continuous northeast-thinning sheet of sandstone, 40 to 120 feet thick. Clean sandstone is best developed near the top of the shoreface facies in northeast-thinning trends 5 to 40 feet thick.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Hydrocarbon Production and Potential of the Distal Frio Formation, Texas Coastal Zone and Shelf

The distal Frio Formation along the Texas Coastal Zone and offshore has yielded 680.85 million barrels of oil and 6.54 trillion ft3 of gas from 153 fields that range in size from 1 to 140 million barrels of oil equivalent. To evaluate the exploration potential of the distal Frio extending deep beneath the Federal Outer Continental Shelf, petroleum production data, regional reservoir-quality and temperature/pressure conditions, and characterization of typical fields were integrated with Galloway's (1986) description of stratigraphy, depositional systems, and structural framework. The most prospective locations for distal Frio exploration are in the Mustang Island and northeastern Galveston offshore areas, extending as far as 15 mi (24 km) seaward of the 3-league line (Outer Continental Shelf boundary). The North Padre Island offshore area has moderate exploration potential. Significant new discoveries will be deep (9,000 to 16,000 ft [2,740 to 4,880 m]), high-pressure, dry-gas-dominated reservoirs in thin, distal deltaic, strike-reworked delta-margin and distal shoreface/shelf sandstones that will potentially yield 1 to 100 billion ft3 of gas annually for as long as 10 years.Bureau of Economic Geolog

NASA-FAA helicopter Microwave Landing System curved path flight test

An ongoing series of joint NASA/FAA helicopter Microwave Landing System (MLS) flight tests was conducted at Ames Research Center. This paper deals with tests done from the spring through the fall of 1983. This flight test investigated and developed solutions to the problem of manually flying curved-path and steep glide slope approaches into the terminal area using the MLS and flight director guidance. An MLS-equipped Bell UH-1H helicopter flown by NASA test pilots was used to develop approaches and procedures for flying these approaches. The approaches took the form of Straight-in, U-turn, and S-turn flightpaths with glide slopes of 6 deg, 9 deg, and 12 deg. These procedures were evaluated by 18 pilots from various elements of the helicopter community, flying a total of 221 hooded instrument approaches. Flying these curved path and steep glide slopes was found to be operationally acceptable with flight director guidance using the MLS

Evolution of the Fermi surface of BiTeCl with pressure

We report measurements of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in the giant Rashba semiconductor BiTeCl under applied pressures up to ~2.5 GPa. We observe two distinct oscillation frequencies, corresponding to the Rashba-split inner and outer Fermi surfaces. BiTeCl has a conduction band bottom that is split into two sub-bands due to the strong Rashba coupling, resulting in two spin-polarized conduction bands as well as a Dirac point. Our results suggest that the chemical potential lies above this Dirac point, giving rise to two Fermi surfaces. We use a simple two-band model to understand the pressure dependence of our sample parameters. Comparing our results on BiTeCl to previous results on BiTeI, we observe similar trends in both the chemical potential and the Rashba splitting with pressure.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Consolidation of Geologic Studies of Geopressured-Geothermal Resources in Texas

The Pleasant Bayou C-zone geopressured-geothermal reservoir is currently undergoing long-term production testing. Using all available deep-well data and building on broad-based previous work, we constructed a detailed geologic characterization of the C-zone reservoir, including sandstone geometry and continuity, porosity distribution, depositional facies interpretation, and structural configuration. This characterization formed the basis for calculating total sandstone volume and effective pore volume of the reservoir and for constructing models for use in numerical simulations. Total effective pore volume of the C-zone reservoir is estimated to be between 6.2 and 6.6 billion barrels. With respect to the test well, one-third of this volume is proximal (within about 3 mi), and two-thirds are remote. Geologically based reservoir volume and models will be useful in predicting long-term well performance and interpreting pressure and production trends during the testing program. We are monitoring pressures in deep gas wells in Chocolate Bayou field to detect possible changes that can be related to production at the Pleasant Bayou test well. No wells produce gas directly from the C-zone reservoir, but several do produce from thin, overlying sandstones, which may be in contact with the perforated interval. Gas well pressure data are reported semiannually and must be monitored for several years to obtain meaningful trends. At a depth of 20,200 ft, the DOE Hulin No. 1 well in southwestern Louisiana penetrates a 550-ft-thick sandstone, which is the deepest known Gulf Coast geopressured-geothermal reservoir. Although the lack of deep well control has precluded detailed mapping, regional stratigraphic context and log response suggest that the Hulin reservoir was deposited in a submarine canyon or proximal submarine fan on the lower Miocene continental slope. Testing the Hulin reservoir will offer a unique opportunity for research and resource evaluation.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Can fitness tests be used to predict the vascular health of physically active older adults?

Objective There is an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases among older adults. This research aimed to determine which fitness tests could predict the vascular health of older adults using the gold standard pulse wave velocity (PWV) (applanation tonometry). Methods This cross-sectional study analysed 81 physically active adults (n=57 females) aged 64-91 (M=78±6.42) residing in independent living communities. A four-component fitness test included the 4-stage balance test (balance and falling assessment), six-minute walk test (SMWT) (aerobic exercise capacity), 30-second sit-to-stand test (postural hypotension and falling assessment), and the grip strength test (upper body strength) along with a PWV measurement. A regression use the four fitness tests as predictors of PWV for all participants. Pearson correlations then analysed these variables by subgroups of sex and age. Results When including all 81 participants, the four component fitness test significantly accounted for 20% of the variance in PWV (R2=.20; F(4,76)=4.70, p=.002) among older adults. Of the four components, higher sit-to-stand scores correlated with having healthy arteries (β=-.27, p=.027), but higher grip strength scores correlated with having unhealthy arteries (β=.23, p=.036). Neither the SMWT nor the balance test significantly contributed to the regression model. Pearson correlations indicated for men that better balance correlated significantly with healthy arteries (r=-.47, p=.011). For women, higher sit-to-stand scores (r=-.43, p ≤.001) and better balance (r=-.23, p=.045) correlated significantly with healthy arteries. Among 70-79 year olds, higher sit-to-stand scores (r=-.41, p =.002) and better balance (r=-.32, p=.014) correlated significantly with healthy arteries. Among 80-89 year olds, higher SMWT (r=-.40, p =.024) correlated significantly with healthy arteries. Conclusions The four-component fitness test did significantly predict arterial stiffness in older adults, but grip strength scores were unexpectedly negatively related to healthy arteries whereas sit-to-stand was positively related. In most groups, better balance and higher sit-to-stand scores were correlated to healthy arteries which was somewhat surprising. Finally, older participants were the only subgroup which showed a correlation between healthier arteries and higher SMWT scores. Given the SMWT is an aerobic exercise capacity assessment, it is surprising it did not correlate stronger to PWV

Investigating the relationships between lifestyle physical activity and diet on vascular health among older adults

Purpose This research aimed to investigate how behaviours of lifestyle physical activity (PA) and diet predict and correlate with vascular health in older adults using the gold standard measure of pulse wave velocity (PWV). Methods This cross-sectional study analysed 83 adults aged 64-91 years (M=78±6.44) residing in independent living communities. Dietary questions were taken from the Harvard disease risk tool. The Yale physical activity survey allowed the calculation of metabolic equivalents of task (METmins). PWV was collected using a non-invasive device (applanation tonometry). A hierarchical regression was calculated whereby covariates of taking blood pressure medication (BPM) and age (both known to affect PWV) were controlled in model 1 and diet and METmins were added into model 2. Pearson correlations were then calculated to determine individual correlations with PWV by subgroups of sex and age. Results The model 1 regression (R²=.29; F(2,79)=16.00, p<.001) indicated that covariates of BPM and age accounted for 29% (p≤.000) of the variance in PWV, but when diet and METmins were added in model 2 (R²=.31; F(4,77)=8.56, p<.001) they only contributed 2% more (non-significant change, p=.35) to the prediction of PWV. Healthier arteries in males correlated significantly with higher METmins (r=-.54, p=.004) and younger participants (r=.40, p=.027). Healthier arteries in females correlated significantly with younger participants (r=.49, p=.000), no BPM (r=.36, p=.002), and higher METmins (r=-.25, p=.029). Among 64-78 year olds, healthier arteries were correlated with no BPM (r=.35, p=.011), and healthier diets (r=-.26, p=.046), but not with METmins. Alternatively, 79-91 year-olds showed healthier arteries correlated with higher METmins (r=-.36, p=.012), but not with diet. Conclusions After controlling for age and BPM (model 1) in the regression, diet and METmins (model 2) were unable to significantly contribute to the prediction of arterial stiffness in older adults. Both males and females showed correlations between healthier arteries and higher METmins, but not between arterial health and diet, suggesting LPA is more correlated to arterial health than diet. Those aged 64-78 had healthy arteries in correlation with a healthy diet, whereas 79-91 year olds had healthy arteries in correlation with higher METmins