Health Services for Refugees in the United States: Policies and Recommendations

Some of refugees, who were forced to move out from a home country due to political or religious conflicts, war or natural or manmade disasters, resettle in another country. Resettlement in another country is challenging as refugees suffer from a number of mental and physical health problems. Under the Refugee Act of 1980, the United State (US) governments provide medical assistance as well as financial and immigration legal assistance. Yet, it is still challenging to ensure health and well-being of refugees who have diverse social and health conditions and needs. This study reviewed federal policies and limitations on refugee health in the US, which accepts the largest number of refugee resettlements in the world. The reviewed policies include health insurance policies, health promotion policies, the Survivors of Torture Program, and medical screening. Some refugees still have limited accessibility to services due to difficulties in understanding the healthcare system even when they are eligible for many of the services. While most policies on refugee health mainly focus on the early stage of resettlement and infectious disease screening, follow-up services for chronic conditions are essential to ensure health and well-being of refugees. Because social factors affect health of refugees, it is necessary to provide services that address social and health issues. There are several recommendations to improve policies and services to better serve refugee populations who resettled in the US. First, more comprehensive health promotion and education programs are necessary for refugees to better understand the US healthcare system and healthcare. Second, long-term follow-ups which include chronic health conditions are important to improve health of refugees. Lastly, social and health issues should be integrated with a bidirectional approach which supports both refugees and existing communities. Keywords: refugees, physical and mental health, resettlement, federal policies, United States

Policy and Social Factors Influencing Diabetes among Pima Indians in Arizona, USA

The Pima Indians have the highest rate of type 2 diabetes in the world. While biomedical studies have identified a genetic variable associated with the high prevalence of diabetes among Pima Indians, genetics is only one factor that encompasses an individual’s risk for developing a disease. Information on the social factors relating to the development of type 2 diabetes amongst this population is necessary. The purpose of this analysis is to review policy, social and historical factors associated with diabetes among Pima Indians. Governmental policies have affected this population’s ability to eat a diet native to their culture. For example, the damming of the Gila River in the early 1920s resulted in diet and lifestyle changes, reducing traditional low fat, high fiber intake and physical activity, among the Pima population. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policies in place in the 1970s and 1980s did not allow Native Americans, the Pima included, to get farm help such as agricultural loans in times of need. These policies led to many Pima finding sedentary jobs, if they could find work at all, and adopting unhealthy lifestyles. While genetic factors have shown to be important predictors of diabetes incidence, the historical and social factors that changed US Pima Indians’ lifestyles are significant factors which have contributed to the high prevalence of diabetes among this group. In order to address the high rates of diabetes among the Pima Indians, it is vital that emphasis be placed upon culturally appropriate interventions. U.S. government agencies, tribal leaders, and community elders would benefit from working together to establish healthier food sources, encourage physical activity, and utilize existing community networks to spread information on diabetes prevention and management practices. Future studies on diabetes among Pima Indians would include more policy, social and historical factors, develop programs with reflection of these factors, and evaluate the programs. Keywords: Pima Indians, type 2 diabetes, Native American policies, social factors, US

Gender Roles and Women’s Health in India

One of the main determinants of the poor health status among women in India is a women’s disadvantaged gender role. This study aims to identify the factors that affect women’s health, and particularly focuses on women’s ability to make decisions in a family concerning health-related issues and education. The data are from the India Human Development Survey-II (IHDS-II), 2011-12 (ICPSR 36151), which includes nationally representative samples across India. Women who have more decision making power within a family had better self-reported health. Women who are more educated have better self-reported health. Self-reported women's health status was dependent on the rank of castes to which the women belonged. Our results suggest that decision-making power and education play a key role in improving the health outcomes for women in India. Health promotion programs for women in India should include a platform for gender roles and decision-making capacity. Keywords: women’s health; gender roles; decision-making power; Indi

Designing smart drilling fluids using modified nano silica to improve drilling operations in geothermal wells

High pressure and high temperature (HPHT) conditions in geothermal wells have necessitated the need to develop thermally stable geothermal drilling mud systems to combat potential drilling complications. This is because mud fluids degrade under HPHT conditions due to high temperature effects. This study therefore aims to establish the optimum concentration of a cationic surfactant that would successfully modify the surface of silica nanoparticles and thereafter, evaluate the performance of modified nano silica as a rheological and filtration property enhancer in water-based muds (WBMs). The surface of silica nanoparticle was successfully modified by adding Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to silica solution. Different mud formulations containing modified nano silica with varying zeta potential values, SNP3 -S2, SNP3 -S4, SNP3 -S5, SNP3 -S6, and SNP3 -S7 with -17.7 mV, 20 mV, 28.2 mV, 35.4 mV, and 37.1 mV respectively were investigated. Results showed that modified nano silica with the highest absolute value of zeta potential enhanced drilling mud rheology as temperature increased from 149°C to 232 °C. The optimal amount of CTAB was found to be between 1.0 and 2.0 wt.%. Filtration loss was reduced by 11.4, 17.6, and 29.5% on average for mud samples SNP3-S5, SNP3-S6, and SNP3-S7, respectively, at all temperatures. Mud cake thickness was reduced by 19.9, 11.6, and 28.7% on average by mud samples SNP3-S5, SNP3-S6, and SNP3-S7 respectively at all temperatures

Gas lift optimization using smart gas lift valve

Gas lift is one of the most common forms of artificial lift, particularly for offshore wells because of its relative down hole simplicity, flexibility, reliability, and ability to operate over a large range of rates and occupy very little space at the well head. Presently, petroleum industry is investing in exploration and development fields in offshore locations where oil and gas wells are being drilled thousands of feet below the ocean in high pressure and temperature conditions. Therefore, gas-lifted oil wells are capable of failure through gas lift valves which are considered as the heart of the gas lift system for controlling the amount of the gas inside the tubing string. The gas injection rate through gas lift valve must be controlled to be sufficient to obtain and maintain critical flow, also, gas lift valves must be designed not only to allow gas passage through it and prevent oil passage, but also for gas injection into wells to be started and stopped when needed. In this paper, smart gas lift valve has been used to investigate the effect of the valve port size, depth of injection and vertical lift performance on well productivity; all these aspects have been investigated using PROSPER simulator program coupled with experimental data. The results show that by using smart gas lift valve, the gas injection rate can be controlled which leads to improved flow performance

Gas lift optimization to improve well performance

Gas lift optimization is becoming more important now a day in petroleum industry. A proper lift optimization can reduce the operating cost, increase the net present value (NPV) and maximize the recovery from the asset. A widely accepted definition of gas lift optimization is to obtain the maximum output under specified operating conditions. In addition, gas lift, a costly and indispensable means to recover oil from high depth reservoir entails solving the gas lift optimization problems. Gas lift optimization is a continuous process; there are two levels of production optimization. The total field optimization involves optimizing the surface facilities and the injection rate that can be achieved by standard tools softwares. Well level optimization can be achieved by optimizing the well parameters such as point of injection, injection rate, and injection pressure. All these aspects have been investigated and presented in this study by using experimental data and PROSPER simulation program. The results show that the well head pressure has a large influence on the gas lift performance and also proved that smart gas lift valve can be used to improve gas lift performance by controlling gas injection from down hole. Obtaining the optimum gas injection rate is important because excessive gas injection reduces production rate and consequently increases the operation cost.Keywords—Optimization, production rate, reservoir pressure effect, gas injection rate effect, gas injection pressure

Compressed gas domestic aerosol valve design using high viscous product

Most of the current universal consumer aerosol products using highviscous product such as cooking oil, antiperspirants, hair removal creamare primarily used LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) propellant which isunfriendly environmental. The advantages of the new innovativetechnology described in this paper are:i. No butane or other liquefied hydrocarbon gas is used as a propellantand it replaced with Compressed air, nitrogen or other safe gaspropellant.ii. Customer acceptable spray quality and consistency during can lifetimeiii. Conventional cans and filling technologyThere is only a feasible energy source which is inert gas (i.e.compressed air) to replace VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) andgreenhouse gases, which must be avoided, to improve atomisation bygenerating gas bubbles and turbulence inside the atomiser insert and theactuator. This research concentrates on using “bubbly flow” in the valvestem, with injection of compressed gas into the passing flow, thus alsogenerating turbulence.The new valve designed in this investigation using inert gases hasadvantageous over conventional valve with butane propellant using highviscous product (> 400 Cp) because, when the valving arrangement isfully open, there are negligible energy losses as fluid passes through thevalve from the interior of the container to the actuator insert. The use ofvalving arrangement thus permits all pressure drops to be controlled,resulting in improved control of atomising efficiency and flow rate,whereas in conventional valves a significant pressure drops occursthrough the valve which has a complex effect on the correspondingspray

Innovative drilling fluid containing sand grafted with a cationic surfactant capable of drilling high pressure and high temperature geothermal and petroleum wells

Maintaining the rheology and filtration properties of a drilling fluid plays a vital role during a drilling operation. With the current challenges of high pressure and high temperature environments, there is an urgent need to design thermally stable water-based mud systems (WBM) which are environmentally clean and economically cheap. High pressure and high temperature (HPHT) environments affect drilling fluid systems leading to degradation of additives hence reducing the efficiency of the drilling fluid. Nanotechnology has been widely used to answer questions about additive degradation, and many studies are currently being conducted on how to use nanotechnology to design smart drilling fluids. However, nanotechnology comes at a high cost, resulting in an increase in the overall drilling operation costs and the project as a all. Therefore, the effectiveness of sand particles as a replacement of commercial nanoparticles is investigated in this study as an additive for designing effective-performance water-based drilling fluids. Effective-performance drilling fluids are environmentally friendly, stable at high temperatures, and help to avoid well damage during drilling operations. The research compared sand particles, which are widely available and inexpensive to silica nanoparticles at 0.5 wt% concentration. The samples were tested at different aging temperatures. Rheological properties were measured at room temperature up to 232 °C. The performance of sand and silica nanoparticles was studied by comparing each of the nanoparticle muds with the reference mud sample, taking filtration and rheological properties as the benchmark parameters. Experimental data showed that sand particles enhanced almost all the rheological and filtration properties of the WBM compared to the reference mud. When compared to silica nanoparticles, the results showed neither statistically significant variance in plastic viscosity and yield point among the samples, with muds containing sand particles performing similarly or better. Formulation S2 (35–70 μm) demonstrated the ability to improve the rheology of WBM. At 204 °C and 232 °C, Formulation S2 (35–70 μm) filtrate loss decreased by 16.35% and 29.52%, respectively, compared to 5.66% and 11.32% by mud containing nano silica. The same mud sample decreased the mud cake thickness at the same temperatures conditions by 54.74% and 45.45%, respectively, as opposed to 36.84% and 11.81%. The new innovative mud system can be used to drill in HPHT conditions