Oilfield in a box : the Hutton Field Dataset

Data from the now decommissioned Hutton field were deposited with the National Hydrocarbon Data Archive which was operated by the British Geological Survey (BGS). This data is being made available for the use in academic research and training, The report describes the stratigraphic setting of the Hutton field, and brief details of the field’s engineering and navigation information for the associated data files. This is not intended to be a definitive report on the geology of Hutton; rather a summary to allow the associated data files to be understood. Data release is a complex process, and data sets provided to end-users without charge require significant effort to prepare. Such resources are often hard to justify. Therefore, please cite this report and all associated DOI’s for the data to allow its value and usage to be tracked. The dataset can be accessed through the following link: https://dx.doi.org/10.5285/e7901156-cf98-4a83-af7e-640f05213ad

Hybrid Ionic Liquid And Polymer Electrolytes For Nanocrystalline Dyesensitized Tio2 Solar Cells

Alternative electrolytes for application in dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cells were investigated. The electrolytes were prepared with NaI and I2 as redox couple in a matrix consisting of poly(ethylene oxide-co-diethyleneglycolglicidyl methylether) and/or the ionic liquid N-methyl-N-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide. Cyclic Voltammetry and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy revealed that, increasing the relative amount of ionic liquid in the electrolytes, the impedance decreased and the ionic conductivity and the reversibility for the redox pair increased. For solar cells assembled with the polymer electrolytes, the efficiency for energy conversion decreased with light intensity, ranging from 3.2 to 1.4 % under 10 to 100 mW cm-2. Using the ionic liquid electrolyte, the efficiency was ca. 1.8 %, independent of irradiation. For hybrid electrolytes, the best performance, considering mechanical stability and electrochemical properties, was achieved for an electrolyte consisting of 2:1 relative amount of polymer and ionic liquid. Solar cells assembled with this hybrid electrolyte presented, under 100 mW cm-2, short-circuit current of 4.1 mA cm-2 and 1.4 % for overall efficiency (ca. 3.0 % under 10 mW cm-2).6656O'Reagan, B., Grätzel, M., A low-cost high efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films (1991) Nature, 353 (6346), pp. 737-740Longo, C., De Paoli, M.-A., Dye-sensitized solar cells: A successful combination of materials (2003) J. Braz. Chem. Soc, 14 (6), pp. 889-901Nogueira, A.F., Longo, C., De Paoli, M.-A., Polymers in dye sensitized solar cells: Overview and perspectives (2004) Coordin. Chem. Rev, 248 (13-14), pp. 1455-1468Solarska, R., Augustynski, J., Sayama, K., Viewing nanocrystalline TiO2 photoelectrodes as three-dimensional electrodes: Effect of the electrolyte upon the photocurrent efficiency (2006) Electrochim. Acta, 52 (2), pp. 694-703Kim, D.W., Jeong, Y.B., Kim, S.H., Lee, D.Y., Song, J.S., Photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cell assembled with gel polymer electrolyte (2005) J. Power Sources, 149, pp. 112-116Wang, P., Zakeeruddin, S.M., Moser, J.-E., Grätzel, M., A new ionic electrolyte enhances the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (2003) J. Phys. Chem. B, 107 (48), pp. 13280-13285Klingshirn, M.A., Spear, S.K., Subramanian, R., Holbrey, J.D., Huddleston, J.G., Rogers, R.D., Gelation of ionic liquids using a cross-linked poly(ethylene glycol) gel matrix (2004) Chem. Mater, 16 (16), pp. 3091-3097Li, F., Cheng, F., Shi, J., Cai, F., Liang, M., Novel quasi-solid electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells (2007) J. Power Sources, 165, pp. 911-915Stathatos, E., Jovanoviski, V., Orel, B., Jerman, I., Lianos, P., Dye-sensitized solar cell made by using a polysilsesquioxane polymeric ionic fluid as redox electrolyte (2007) J. Phys. Chem. C, 111 (17), pp. 6528-6532Wang, M., Xiao, X., Zhou, X., Li, X., Lin, Y., Investigation of PEO-imidazole ionic liquid oligomer electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells (2007) Solar Energy Material & Solar Cells, 91 (9), pp. 785-790Berginc, M., Krašovec, U., Jankovec, M., Topič, M., The effect of temperature on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells based on a propylmethylimidazolium iodide electrolyte (2007) Solar Energy Material & Solar Cells, 91 (9), pp. 821-828Wang, P., Wegner, B., Baker, R.H., Moser, J.E., Teuscher, J.I., Kantlehner, W., Mezger, J., Grätzel, M., Charge separation and efficient light energy conversion in sensitized mesoscopic solar cells based in binary ionic liquids (2005) J. Am. Chem. Soc, 127 (18), pp. 6850-6856Wang, L., Fang, S., Lin, Y., Zhou, X., Li, M., A 7.72% efficient dye-sensitized solar cell based on novel necklace-like polymer gel electrolyte containing latent chemically cross-linked gel electrolyte precursors (2005) Chem. Commun, 45, pp. 5687-5689Shin, J.-H., Henderson, W.A., Passerini, S., PEO-based polymer electrolytes with ionic liquids and their use in lithium metal-polymer electrolyte batteries (2005) J. Electrochem. Soc, 152 (5), pp. A978-A983Shin, J.-H., Henderson, W.A., Passerini, S., Ionic liquids to the rescue? Overcoming the ionic conductivity limitations of polymer electrolytes (2003) Electrochem. Commun, 5 (12), pp. 1016-1020De Paoli, M.-A., Gazotti, W.A., Electrochemistry, polymers and opto-electronic devices: A combination with future (2002) J. Braz. Chem. Soc, 13 (4), pp. 410-424Longo, C., Nogueira, A.F., De Paoli, M.-A., Cachet, H., Solid-state and flexible dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cells: A study by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (2002) J. Phys. Chem. B, 106 (23), pp. 5925-5930Papageorgiou, N., Barbé, C., Grätzel, M., Morphology and absobate dependency of ionic transport in dye sensitized mesoporous TiO 2 films (1998) J. Phys. Chem. B, 102 (21), pp. 4156-4164Papageorgiou, N., Maier, W.F., Grätzel, M., An iodine/triiodine reduction electrocatalyst for aqueous and organic media (1998) J. Electrochem. Soc, 144 (21), pp. 4156-416

Method Families Concept: Application to Decision-Making Methods

International audienceThe role of variability in Software engineering grows increasingly as it allows developing solutions that can be easily adapted to a specific context and reusing existing knowledge. In order to deal with variability in the method engineering (ME) domain, we suggest applying the notion of method families. Method components are organized as a method family, which is configured in the given situation into a method line. In this paper, we motivate the concept of method families by comparing the existing approaches of ME. We detail then the concept of method families and illustrate it with a family of decision-making (DM) methods that we call MADISE

Experimental Study on Demountable Shear Connectors in Composite Slabs with Profiled Decking

yesThis paper presents an experimental study on shear strength, stiffness and ductility of demountable shear connectors in metal decking composite slabs through push-off tests. Twelve full-scale push-off tests were carried out using different concrete strength, number of connectors and different connector diameter. The experimental results showed that the demountable shear connectors in metal decking composite slabs have similar shear capacity and behaviour as welded shear studs and fulfilled the minimum ductility requirement of 6mm required by Eurocode 4. The shear capacity was compared against the prediction methods used for the welded shear connections given in Eurocode 4, AISC 360-10, ACI 318-08 and method used for bolted connection in Eurocode 3. It was found that the AISC 360-10 method overestimated the shear capacity while the ACI 318-08 method underestimated the shear capacity of specimens with single shear connector per trough. The Eurocodes method was found to provide a safe prediction for specimens with single and pair demountable connectors per trough. In addition, prediction methods given in both AISC 360-10 and ACI 318-08 for welded shear studs overestimated the shear capacity of specimens with 22 mm diameter demountable connectors that failed in concrete crushing.PhD work from EPSRC studentshi

Leptonic and Semileptonic Decays of Charm and Bottom Hadrons

We review the experimental measurements and theoretical descriptions of leptonic and semileptonic decays of particles containing a single heavy quark, either charm or bottom. Measurements of bottom semileptonic decays are used to determine the magnitudes of two fundamental parameters of the standard model, the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements $V_{cb}$ and $V_{ub}$. These parameters are connected with the physics of quark flavor and mass, and they have important implications for the breakdown of CP symmetry. To extract precise values of $|V_{cb}|$ and $|V_{ub}|$ from measurements, however, requires a good understanding of the decay dynamics. Measurements of both charm and bottom decay distributions provide information on the interactions governing these processes. The underlying weak transition in each case is relatively simple, but the strong interactions that bind the quarks into hadrons introduce complications. We also discuss new theoretical approaches, especially heavy-quark effective theory and lattice QCD, which are providing insights and predictions now being tested by experiment. An international effort at many laboratories will rapidly advance knowledge of this physics during the next decade.Comment: This review article will be published in Reviews of Modern Physics in the fall, 1995. This file contains only the abstract and the table of contents. The full 168-page document including 47 figures is available at http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu/papers/slrevtex.p

Assessing inter-beach differences in semi-terrestrial arthropod assemblages on Maltese pocket sandy beaches (Central Mediterranean)

The distinctiveness of macrofaunal assemblages on different sandy beaches in the Maltese Islands was previously suggested by different single-season studies. A multi-seasonal sampling programme using pitfall trapping was implemented on four Maltese beaches to test the occurrence of this phenomenon. A total of 29,302 individuals belonging to 191 species were collected over a 2-year period, during which the beaches were sampled once per calendar season. A total of 77 species were recorded from single Maltese beaches only, of which nine were psammophiles. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analyses of pitfall trap species-abundance data resulted in a weak separation pattern, with samples grouping mainly in terms of beach and island rather than in terms of season or year of sampling, No physical variable could conclusively explain these patterns. It is concluded that although operating on Maltese beaches, macrofaunal assemblage distinctiveness is weaker than originally thought and can be attributed to the presence/absence or abundance of just a few psammophilic species. It is postulated that this phenomenon may be related to the ‘pocket beach’ nature of Maltese beaches, where headlands on either side of the beach to a large extent prevent the occurrence of longshore currents, resulting in semi-isolation of the populations of psammophilic species. A large number of single-beach records reported in this study highlight the high degree of beta diversity and spatial heterogeneity of Maltese beaches, and the conservation importance of the individual beach macrofaunal assemblages.peer-reviewe

Tight-binding parameters for charge transfer along DNA

We systematically examine all the tight-binding parameters pertinent to charge transfer along DNA. The $\pi$ molecular structure of the four DNA bases (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine) is investigated by using the linear combination of atomic orbitals method with a recently introduced parametrization. The HOMO and LUMO wavefunctions and energies of DNA bases are discussed and then used for calculating the corresponding wavefunctions of the two B-DNA base-pairs (adenine-thymine and guanine-cytosine). The obtained HOMO and LUMO energies of the bases are in good agreement with available experimental values. Our results are then used for estimating the complete set of charge transfer parameters between neighboring bases and also between successive base-pairs, considering all possible combinations between them, for both electrons and holes. The calculated microscopic quantities can be used in mesoscopic theoretical models of electron or hole transfer along the DNA double helix, as they provide the necessary parameters for a tight-binding phenomenological description based on the $\pi$ molecular overlap. We find that usually the hopping parameters for holes are higher in magnitude compared to the ones for electrons, which probably indicates that hole transport along DNA is more favorable than electron transport. Our findings are also compared with existing calculations from first principles.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 7 table

Functional characterisation of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk locus GPX3/TNIP1

Background Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex, late-onset, neurodegenerative disease with a genetic contribution to disease liability. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified ten risk loci to date, including the TNIP1/GPX3 locus on chromosome five. Given association analysis data alone cannot determine the most plausible risk gene for this locus, we undertook a comprehensive suite of in silico, in vivo and in vitro studies to address this. Methods The Functional Mapping and Annotation (FUMA) pipeline and five tools (conditional and joint analysis (GCTA-COJO), Stratified Linkage Disequilibrium Score Regression (S-LDSC), Polygenic Priority Scoring (PoPS), Summary-based Mendelian Randomisation (SMR-HEIDI) and transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) analyses) were used to perform bioinformatic integration of GWAS data (Ncases = 20,806, Ncontrols = 59,804) with ‘omics reference datasets including the blood (eQTLgen consortium N = 31,684) and brain (N = 2581). This was followed up by specific expression studies in ALS case-control cohorts (microarray Ntotal = 942, protein Ntotal = 300) and gene knockdown (KD) studies of human neuronal iPSC cells and zebrafish-morpholinos (MO). Results SMR analyses implicated both TNIP1 and GPX3 (p < 1.15 × 10−6), but there was no simple SNP/expression relationship. Integrating multiple datasets using PoPS supported GPX3 but not TNIP1. In vivo expression analyses from blood in ALS cases identified that lower GPX3 expression correlated with a more progressed disease (ALS functional rating score, p = 5.5 × 10−3, adjusted R2 = 0.042, Beffect = 27.4 ± 13.3 ng/ml/ALSFRS unit) with microarray and protein data suggesting lower expression with risk allele (recessive model p = 0.06, p = 0.02 respectively). Validation in vivo indicated gpx3 KD caused significant motor deficits in zebrafish-MO (mean difference vs. control ± 95% CI, vs. control, swim distance = 112 ± 28 mm, time = 1.29 ± 0.59 s, speed = 32.0 ± 2.53 mm/s, respectively, p for all < 0.0001), which were rescued with gpx3 expression, with no phenotype identified with tnip1 KD or gpx3 overexpression. Conclusions These results support GPX3 as a lead ALS risk gene in this locus, with more data needed to confirm/reject a role for TNIP1. This has implications for understanding disease mechanisms (GPX3 acts in the same pathway as SOD1, a well-established ALS-associated gene) and identifying new therapeutic approaches. Few previous examples of in-depth investigations of risk loci in ALS exist and a similar approach could be applied to investigate future expected GWAS findings

Significant out-of-sample classification from methylation profile scoring for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

We conducted DNA methylation association analyses using Illumina 450K data from whole blood for an Australian amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) case–control cohort (782 cases and 613 controls). Analyses used mixed linear models as implemented in the OSCA software. We found a significantly higher proportion of neutrophils in cases compared to controls which replicated in an independent cohort from the Netherlands (1159 cases and 637 controls). The OSCA MOMENT linear mixed model has been shown in simulations to best account for confounders. When combined in a methylation profile score, the 25 most-associated probes identified by MOMENT significantly classified case–control status in the Netherlands sample (area under the curve, AUC = 0.65, CI95% = [0.62–0.68], p = 8.3 × 10−22). The maximum AUC achieved was 0.69 (CI95% = [0.66–0.71], p = 4.3 × 10−34) when cell-type proportion was included in the predictor

Laboratory adapted Escherichia coli K-12 becomes a pathogen of Caenorhabditis elegans upon restoration of O antigen biosynthesis

Escherichia coli has been the leading model organism for many decades. It is a fundamental player in modern biology, facilitating the molecular biology revolution of the last century. The acceptance of E.?coli as model organism is predicated primarily on the study of one E. coli lineage; E. coli K-12. However, the antecedents of today's laboratory strains have undergone extensive mutagenesis to create genetically tractable offspring but which resulted in loss of several genetic traits such as O antigen expression. Here we have repaired the wbbL locus, restoring the ability of E. coli K-12 strain MG1655 to express the O antigen. We demonstrate that O antigen production results in drastic alterations of many phenotypes and the density of the O antigen is critical for the observed phenotypes. Importantly, O antigen production enables laboratory strains of E. coli to enter the gut of the Caenorhabditis elegans worm and to kill C. elegans at rates similar to pathogenic bacterial species. We demonstrate C. elegans killing is a feature of other commensal E.?coli. We show killing is associated with bacterial resistance to mechanical shear and persistence in the C. elegans gut. These results suggest C. elegans is not an effective model of human-pathogenic E. coli infectious disease