Innovation Culture, R&D Intensity, and Firm Innovation

This paper aims to investigate the value of two types of innovation culture, namely employee-perceived and firm-proclaimed innovation culture. We quantify how employees perceive innovation culture by analyzing the text of 191542 employee reviews on Glassdoor and identifying the presence of firm-proclaimed innovation culture from their official websites. The results indicate that employee-perceived innovation culture has a positive influence on innovation output whereas firm-proclaimed innovation culture does not. Moreover, R&D intensity negatively moderates the effect of employee perceived innovation culture on firm innovation, such that the effect of employee perceived innovation culture is lower when R&D intensity is higher. This finding contradicts the observation of previous studies that used cross-sectional survey data. Nevertheless, our finding is consistent with the view that innovation culture cultivates the intrinsic motivation of employees, but the symbiotic control that comprises the increase of R&D intensity weakens it

Applied Technologies and Prospects of Conformance Control Treatments in China

China is the largest user of chemical-based conformance control treatments and a series of technologies have been successfully developed and deployed in recent years. This paper first shows the milestones of development and application of conformance control technologies in China. Then integrated conformance control technologies are reviewed followed by the lessons we have learned, and then a few major specific conformance control technologies are addressed, including tracer injection and channels explanation, potentiometric testing to identify areal sweep efficiency, Pressure Index (PI) decisionmaking technology to select well candidate, complementary decision-making technology to select well candidate and design application parameters, and major chemicals for in-depth fluid diversion technologies. In addition, this paper also describes the principles and applications of some promising technologies of combined chemical-based conformance treatment with other EOR/IOR process, including the combination technology of surfactant and water shutoff, profile control and mini-scale surfactant flooding, acid treatment and profile control treatment. Finally, this paper summarizes the problems and challenges faced by mature water flooded oilfields in China. Based on recent well tests, tracer testing and interpretation, and previous water control treatment experience, it appears that channels or high permeability streaks are common in mature water flooded oilfields. Some research directions and promising technologies are suggested

Nuclear Micro-Engineering Using Tritium

We have been witnessing an unprecedented progress in the arena of MEMS and nanotechnology. By shrinking the size of individual devices and using batch micro-electronics fabrication processes, complex micro/nano-systems with greater functionalities have been integrated on a single chip. The work in this thesis pushes NEMS approach into nuclear engineering. Characterized by long life-time and high power density, radioactive isotopes are appealing power sources for autonomous and very small volume micro-devices. By immobilizing tritium in thin film or on-chip, the multi-functional nature of the nuclear micro-engineering was exploited for a range of applications in betavoltaic, sensing, and on-chip radiators. The objective of this thesis is to explore the miniaturization of these self-powered devices and systems using MEMS and nanotechnology approaches. In this thesis: A contamination-free, CMOS-compatible fabrication technique to integrate monolithically radioactive isotopes on-chip on a micrometer scale has been demonstrated. The application for micro-power generation and sensing are explored. A number of nuclear to electricity energy conversion devices with high-efficiency and excellent longevity have been explored. The embedded on-chip isotope micro-sources have been used to create localized ionization sources for chip-scale gas chromatography sensors and radiators. The extension of micro-engineered radioisotope into MEMS and nanotechnology will generates research opportunities in unattended fields

Service Failure and Consumers’ Satisfaction with the Healthcare Industry: Moderating Role of Recommendation

This study explores the effects of service failure on different service attributes related to patients’ satisfaction (i.e., therapeutic effect and service attitude). We consider patients’ recommendation-seeking behavior and examine the moderating effects of recommendation before medical consultation and its differences between the online and offline word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations. We collected over 3,000,000 reviews from a leading Chinese online health community to facilitate the empirical analysis. We use two ordinal logit models as bases and, find that service failure exerts a negative effect on patients’ both therapeutic effect satisfaction and service atti-tude satisfaction. Moreover, the effect of service fail-ure will be attenuated if patients seek recommenda-tions on doctors before consulting them. Moreover, the moderating effects of online WOM recommenda-tions is demonstrated to be lower than those of the offline ones. Our findings provide important perspectives for the literature and managerial suggestions for stakeholders

Fabrications and Applications of Micro/nanofluidics in Oil and Gas Recovery: A Comprehensive Review

Understanding fluid flow characteristics in porous medium, which determines the development of oil and gas oilfields, has been a significant research subject for decades. Although using core samples is still essential, micro/nanofluidics have been attracting increasing attention in oil recovery fields since it offers direct visualization and quantification of fluid flow at the pore level. This work provides the latest techniques and development history of micro/nanofluidics in oil and gas recovery by summarizing and discussing the fabrication methods, materials and corresponding applications. Compared with other reviews of micro/nanofluidics, this comprehensive review is in the perspective of solving specific issues in oil and gas industry, including fluid characterization, multiphase fluid flow, enhanced oil recovery mechanisms, and fluid flow in nano-scale porous media of unconventional reservoirs, by covering most of the representative visible studies using micro/nanomodels. Finally, we present the challenges of applying micro/nanomodels and future research directions based on the work

Simulating MCP secondary electron avalanche process by Geant4

Nowadays, Microchannel Plate (MCP), as a kind of electron multiplier based on the secondary electron emission, is widely used in many high-sensitive experiments, such as neutrino detection, which require as low noise as possible, while the conventional straight channel MCP will definitely have ion feedback, resulting in the sequential after-pulses being the major source of noise. Normally, the problem can be effectively avoided by coupling two straight MCPs in cascade and combining the channels into a "V" shape known as chevron MCPs, but this method is limited by the manufacturing techniques due to the inevitable gap that will worsen the resolution and peak-to-valley ratio. However, the ion feedback can be inhibited significantly for MCPs with curved-channels. Based on the Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation framework, we investigate how the geometrical parameters of curved-channel MCP influence the gain and get the optimum pore diameter for the maximum gain with a fixed thickness and applied voltage. Additionally, the track-by-track simulation reveals that the average acceleration distance of a secondary electron inside the curved-channel is approximately 20~$\mu$m with a voltage of 950~V, a length-to-diameter ratio of 100:1, and a pore diameter of 20~$\mu$m.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure

Impact of Clay Stabilizer on the Methane Desorption Kinetics and Isotherms of Longmaxi Shale, China

Knowing methane desorption characteristics is essential to define the contribution of adsorbed gas to gas well production. To evaluate the synthetic effect of a clay stabilizer solution on methane desorption kinetics and isotherms pertaining to Longmaxi shale, an experimental setup was designed based on the volumetric method. The objective was to conduct experiments on methane adsorption and desorption kinetics and isotherms before and after clay stabilizer treatments. The experimental data were a good fit for both the intraparticle diffusion model and the Freundlich isotherm model. We analyzed the effect of the clay stabilizer on desorption kinetics and isotherms. Results show that clay stabilizer can obviously improve the diffusion rate constant and reduce the methane adsorption amount. Moreover, we analyzed the desorption efficiency before and after treatment as well as the adsorbed methane content. The results show that a higher desorption efficiency after treatment can be observed when the pressure is higher than 6.84 MPa. Meanwhile, the adsorbed methane content before and after treatment all increase when the pressure decreases, and clay stabilizer can obviously promote the adsorbed methane to free gas when the pressure is lower than 19 MPa. This can also be applied to the optimization formulation of slickwater and the design of gas well production

A Comprehensive Review of Experimental Evaluation Methods and Results of Polymer Micro/nanogels for Enhanced Oil Recovery and Reduced Water Production

In recent years, polymer micro/nanogels which are re-crosslinked polymers with 3D networks, have attracted a lot of interest in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) field. In size of micro/nanometers, these gel particles are designed to be conformance control agents for in-depth fluid diversion, and various experimental research have been undertaken to investigate the possibilities of applying micro/nanogels in oilfield. However, it is still unclear that how to utilize micro/nanogels to their full potential in oilfield because the transport mechanisms and EOR mechanisms of micro/nanogels are not well studied currently. By reviewing experimental evaluations and corresponding results of micro/nanogels, including evaluation of particle physiochemical properties, transport, and potential EOR mechanisms, the review aims to discuss the evaluation of micro/nanogel particles, transport issue in many experimental designs and the debates of EOR mechanisms. Finally, we present the current challenges of micro/nanogels application and recommend the future research directions based on the review