Time-Dependent Physicochemical Changes of Carbonate Surfaces from SmartWater (Diluted Seawater) Flooding Processes for Improved Oil Recovery.

Over the past few decades, field- and laboratory-scale studies have shown enhancements in oil recovery when reservoirs, which contain high-salinity formation water (FW), are waterflooded with modified-salinity salt water (widely referred to as the low-salinity, dilution, or SmartWater effect for improved oil recovery). In this study, we investigated the time dependence of the physicochemical processes that occur during diluted seawater (i.e., SmartWater) waterflooding processes of specific relevance to carbonate oil reservoirs. We measured the changes to oil/water/rock wettability, surface roughness, and surface chemical composition during SmartWater flooding using 10-fold-diluted seawater under mimicked oil reservoir conditions with calcite and carbonate reservoir rocks. Distinct effects due to SmartWater flooding were observed and found to occur on two different timescales: (1) a rapid (<15 min) increase in the colloidal electrostatic double-layer repulsion between the rock and oil across the SmartWater, leading to a decreased oil/water/rock adhesion energy and thus increased water wetness and (2) slower (>12 h to complete) physicochemical changes of the calcite and carbonate reservoir rock surfaces, including surface roughening via the dissolution of rock and the reprecipitation of dissolved carbonate species after exchanging key ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, CO32-, and SO42- in carbonates) with those in the flooding SmartWater. Our experiments using crude oil from a carbonate reservoir reveal that these reservoir rock surfaces are covered with organic-ionic preadsorbed films (ad-layers), which the SmartWater removes (detaches) as flakes. Removal of the organic-ionic ad-layers by SmartWater flooding enhances oil release from the surfaces, which was found to be critical to increasing the water wetness and significantly improving oil removal from carbonates. Additionally, the increase in water wetness is further enhanced by roughening of the rock surfaces, which decreases the effective contact (interaction) area between the oil and rock interfaces. Furthermore, we found that the rate of these slower physicochemical changes to the carbonate rock surfaces increases with increasing temperature (at least up to an experimental temperature of 75 °C). Our results suggest that the effectiveness of improved oil recovery from SmartWater flooding depends strongly on the formation of the organic-ionic ad-layers. In oil reservoirs where the ad-layer is fully developed and robust, injecting SmartWater would lead to significant removal of the ad-layer and improved oil recovery

Proposed X and S control charts for skewed distributions

This paper proposes a weighted variance method to compute the limits of the X and S charts for skewed distributions.The proposed charts extend the weighted variance X and R charts in by enabling a process from a skewed distribution with moderate and large sample sizes to be monitored efficiently, hence producing more favourable Type-I and Type-II error rates than the charts in.Note that the charts in are only intended to be used for small sample sizes. The Type-I and Type-II error rates computed show that the proposed charts outperform the existing heuristic charts, as well as those in for moderate and large sample sizes, involving cases with known and unknown parameters, when the distribution of a process is skewed

Acute Appendicitis among Saudi and Non-Saudi Patients: A Cross-Sectional Based Study

Objective: We conduct this study to discuss the differences between Saudi and non- Saudi patients with acute appendicitis.Background: Acute appendicitis is one of emergency surgeries in developing and developed countries. Its symptoms are vomiting, lower abdominal pain and decreased appetite. Appendicitis needs urgent surgical prouder to avoid its perforation and associated complications which may lead to death. Method: We conduct cross-sectional based study in one of khamis Mushayt, Saudi Araba. 136 patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis were included and their medical records were reviewed after getting their informed consent.Results: We included 136 patients, 90 were non-Saudi and 46 were Saudi. There were no statistically differences in their diagnosis but the distribution of the diagnosis was different.Conclusion: Acute appendicitis was more prevalent among non-Saudi patients, the diagnosis between both was with no significant differences. Keywords: acute appendicitis, Saudi, non-Saudi, diagnosis, cross-sectional, Saudi Arabia and khamis Mushayt

Are the processes recommended by the NHMRC for improving Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being implemented?: an assessment of CR Services across Western Australia

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of premature death of Indigenous Australians, and despite evidence that cardiac rehabilitation (CR) and secondary prevention can reduce recurrent disease and deaths, CR uptake is suboptimal. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines Strengthening Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, published in 2005, provide checklists for services to assist them to reduce the service gap for Indigenous people. This study describes health professionals' awareness, implementation, and perspectives of barriers to implementation of these guidelines based on semi-structured interviews conducted between November 2007 and June 2008 with health professionals involved in CR within mainstream health services in Western Australia (WA). Twenty-four health professionals from 17 services (10 rural, 7 metropolitan) listed in the WA Directory of CR services were interviewed.Results: The majority of respondents reported that they were unfamiliar with the NHMRC guidelines and as a consequence implementation of the recommendations was minimal and inconsistently applied. Respondents reported that they provided few in-patient CR-related services to Indigenous patients, services upon discharge were erratic, and they had few Indigenous-specific resources for patients. Issues relating to workforce, cultural competence, and service linkages emerged as having most impact on design and delivery of CR services for Indigenous people in WA.Conclusions: This study has demonstrated limited awareness and poor implementation in WA of the recommendations of the NHMRC Strengthening Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: A Guide for Health Professionals. The disproportionate burden of CVD morbidity and mortality among Indigenous Australians mandates urgent attention to this problem and alternative approaches to CR delivery. Dedicated resources and alternative approaches to CR delivery for Indigenous Australians are needed. © 2009 Thompson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Mobile station movement direction prediction (MMDP) based handover scanning for mobile WiMAX system

Mobile WiMAX is a broadband technology that is capable of delivering triple play services (voice, data, and video). However, mobility in mobile WiMAX system is still an issue when the mobile station (MS) moves and its connection is handed over between base stations (BSs). In the handover process, scanning is one of the required phases to find the target BS. During the handover scanning process, the MS must synchronize with all the advertised neighbour BSs (nBSs) to select the best BS candidate for the incoming handover action. Without terminating the connection between the SBS and MS, the SBS will schedule the scanning intervals and sleep-intervals (also called interleaving interval) to MS for the handover scanning. However, during the scanning interval period, all the coming transmissions will be paused. Therefore, the redundant or unnecessary scanning of neighbouring BS cause delay and MAC overhead which may affect real-time applications. In this paper, the MS movement direction prediction (MMDP) based handover scanning scheme is introduced to overcome the mobile WiMAX handover scanning issue. It based on dividing the BS coverage area is into zones and sectors. According to the signal quality; there are three zones, no handover (No-HO), low handover (Low-HO) and high handover (High-HO) zones respectively and six sectors. In this scheme, only two BSs can become candidates; the two that the MS moves toward them will be chosen as the candidate for the handover scanning purpose. Hence, the handover scanning process repetition will be reduced with these two shortlisted BS candidates instead of scanning all nBSs. Thus, MMDP will reduce scanning delay and the number of exchange messages during the handover scanning comparing to the conventional scanning scheme. Although, the MMDP may need an extra computational time, the prediction and scanning process will be finished before the MS reach the High-HO zone, which mean the end-user’s running application will be affected. Simulation results show that the proposed MMDP scheme reduces the total handover scanning delay and scanning interval duration by 25 and 50 % respectively. Also, the size of scanning message is reduced, which leads to reduced signalling overhead

Xeno-free trans-differentiation of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells into glial and neuronal cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are undifferentiated cells that have the ability of self-renewal and trans-differentiation into other cell types. They hold out hope for finding a cure for many diseases. Nevertheless, there are still some obstacles that limit their clinical transplantation. One of these obstacles are the xenogeneic substances added in either proliferation or differentiation media with subsequent immunogenic and infectious transmission problems. In this study, we aimed to replace fetal bovine serum (FBS), the main nutrient source for MSC proliferation with xeno-free blood derivatives. We tested the effect of human activated pure platelet-rich plasma (P-PRP) and advanced platelet-rich fibrin (A-PRF) on the proliferation of human adipose derived-MSCs (AD-MSCs) at different concentrations. For the induction of MSC neural differentiation, we used human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at different concentrations in combination with P-PRP to effect xeno-free/species-specific neuronal/glial differentiation and we found that media with 10% CSF and 10% PRP promoted glial differentiation, while media with only 10% PRP induced a neuron-like phenotype

Fuzzy Logic Based Self-Adaptive Handover Algorithm for MobileWiMAX.

It is well known that WiMAX is a broadband technology that is capable of delivering triple play (voice, data, and video) services. However, mobility in WiMAX system is still a main issue when the mobile station (MS) moves across the base station (BS) coverage and be handed over between BSs. Among the challenging issues in mobile WiMAX handover are unnecessary handover, handover failure and handover delay, which may affect real-time applications. The conventional handover decision algorithm in mobile WiMAX is based on a single criterion, which usually uses the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) as an indicator, with the other fixed handover parameters such as handover threshold and handover margin. In this paper, a fuzzy logic based self-adaptive handover (FuzSAHO) algorithm is introduced. The proposed algorithm is derived from the self-adaptive handover parameters to overcome the mobile WiMAX ping-pong handover and handover delay issues. Hence, the proposed FuzSAHO is initiated to check whether a handover is necessary or not which depends on its fuzzy logic stage. The proposed FuzSAHO algorithm will first self-adapt the handover parameters based on a set of multiple criteria, which includes the RSSI and MS velocity. Then the handover decision will be executed according to the handover parameter values. Simulation results show that the proposed FuzSAHO algorithm reduces the number of ping-pong handover and its delay. When compared with RSSI based handover algorithm and mobility improved handover (MIHO) algorithm, respectively, FuzSAHO reduces the number of handovers by 12.5 and 7.5 %, respectively, when the MS velocity is <17 m/s. In term of handover delay, the proposed FuzSAHO algorithm shows an improvement of 27.8 and 8 % as compared to both conventional and MIHO algorithms, respectively. Thus, the proposed multi-criteria with fuzzy logic based self-adaptive handover algorithm called FuzSAHO, outperforms both conventional and MIHO handover algorithms

Analysis of the Antioxidant Activity, Lipid Profile, and Minerals of the Skin and Seed of Hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L.), Pistachios (Pistacia vera) and Almonds (Prunus dulcis) - A Comparative Analysis

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement: The result-supporting data presented in this study are available in the main text. Additional data are available in the appendices section.Nuts are dry, single-seeded fruits with a combination of beneficial compounds that aid in disease prevention and treatment. The aims of this research are to evaluate the total antioxidant activity (AI) by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, fatty acids by acid-catalyzed esterification method, and minerals by inductively coupled plasma optical emission (ICP-OE) spectrometer in hazelnuts, pistachios, and almond seeds and skins. Considering total AI, the results demonstrated that the highest activity was found in hazelnut and pistachio skin. The results considering minerals demonstrated that manganese, zinc, and iron levels are high in almond and hazelnut skins, copper is dominant in pistachio skin and hazelnut seed, and selenium is high in pistachio and almond skins and seed. Finally, the results showed palmitic acid is present in almond skin and pistachio seed, palmitoleic acid is high in almond and pistachio skins, and stearic acid is present in almond and hazelnut skins. Oleic acid was found in hazelnut seeds and their skin, linoleic acid in almond skin and pistachio seeds, and α-linolenic acid in almond and pistachio skins. In conclusion, hazelnut, pistachio, and almond skins are a great source of antioxidants, minerals, and healthy fatty acids, making them useful for nutraceutical development

Sequencing, Analysis, and Annotation of Expressed Sequence Tags for Camelus dromedarius

Despite its economical, cultural, and biological importance, there has not been a large scale sequencing project to date for Camelus dromedarius. With the goal of sequencing complete DNA of the organism, we first established and sequenced camel EST libraries, generating 70,272 reads. Following trimming, chimera check, repeat masking, cluster and assembly, we obtained 23,602 putative gene sequences, out of which over 4,500 potentially novel or fast evolving gene sequences do not carry any homology to other available genomes. Functional annotation of sequences with similarities in nucleotide and protein databases has been obtained using Gene Ontology classification. Comparison to available full length cDNA sequences and Open Reading Frame (ORF) analysis of camel sequences that exhibit homology to known genes show more than 80% of the contigs with an ORF>300 bp and ~40% hits extending to the start codons of full length cDNAs suggesting successful characterization of camel genes. Similarity analyses are done separately for different organisms including human, mouse, bovine, and rat. Accompanying web portal, CAGBASE (http://camel.kacst.edu.sa/), hosts a relational database containing annotated EST sequences and analysis tools with possibility to add sequences from public domain. We anticipate our results to provide a home base for genomic studies of camel and other comparative studies enabling a starting point for whole genome sequencing of the organism

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Is Reduced in Tissues of Obese Subjects After Weight Loss

OBJECTIVE—Obesity is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, although the mechanisms linking these pathologies remain undetermined. Recent studies in rodent models revealed endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in adipose and liver tissues and demonstrated that ER stress could cause insulin resistance. Therefore, we tested whether these stress pathways were also present in obese human subjects and/or regulated by weight loss