Evaluation of the Effect of Microbial Combination Flooding

The microbial combination flooding is a method of microbial enhanced oil recovery, which use the composite system produced by biopolymers and bio-surfactants to drive oil. In this paper, we chose B2/DJ composite system through the stability test, and study the experimental of indoor flooding with the B2/DJ composite, it drew a conclusion that the oil recovery was improved obviously after water flooding. The oil recovery was enhanced 13%

Reliability model of organization management chain of South-to-North Water Diversion Project during construction period

AbstractIn order to analyze the indispensability of the organization management chain of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP), two basic forms (series connection state and mixed state of both series connection and parallel connection) of the organization management chain can be abstracted. The indispensability of each form has been studied and is described in this paper. Through analysis of the reliability of the two basic forms, reliability models of the organization management chain in the series connection state and the mixed state of both series connection and parallel connection have been set up

Visualization and Feature Extraction of the Surface Morphology of the Abdomen of Red Swamp Crayfish

This paper demonstrates a method for visual reconstruction and feature analysis of the surface morphology of red swamp crayfish in CATIA (Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application) and Microsoft Excel. Red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, with efficient burrowing activities and coupling propel pattern of abdomen with tail, was selected to study the feasible methods in the visual reconstruction and feature analysis of the surface morphology of living things. The digital measurements of surface of the red swamp crayfish were carried out using a three-dimensional laser scanner. Point clouds, the scanning digital data of the surface of the red swamp crayfish, were processed by deleting unwanted data, reconstructing surface in CATIA. There was a perfectly shape character similarity between the digital picture of the abdomen with corresponding point clouds shown in CATIA, and transverse curves which shown the surface morphology of abdomen in the cross section along the red swamp crayfish were obtained and saved as files of ASCII format in CATIA. Feature analysis of the abdomen of red swamp crayfish were carried out after files of single transverse curve were imported into Microsoft Excel, results shown that, the first row in file of single transverse curve was the number of rows after it, and those other rows stored coordinate values of measured points of the abdomen in the preset three-dimensional coordinate system, shapes of the abdomen in different cross sections were similar, and quadratic polynomial regression equation was able to effectively express surface morphology of the abdomen of red swamp crayfish. Methods and results presented in this paper prove to be potentially useful for analyzing the feature of biological prototype, optimizing the mathematical model and affording deformable physical model to bionic engineering, those works would have great implications to the research of biological coupling theory and technological creation in bionic engineering.Key words: Visual reconstruction; Feature analysis; Surface morphology; Red swamp crayfis

The early design stage of a novel Solar Thermal Façade (STF) for building integration: energy performance simulation and socio-economic analysis

This paper provides a feasibility study of a new solar thermal façade (STF) concept for building integration from both technical and economic aspects in Shanghai area of China. The whole set of technical evaluation and economic analysis was investigated through simulation of a reference DOE residential building model in IES-VE software and a dedicated dynamic business model consisting of several critical financial indexes. In order to figure out the cost effectiveness of the STF concept, research work consisted of: (1) exploring the overall feasibility, i.e. energy load, energy savings, operational cost and environmental benefits, and (2) investigating the financial outputs for investment decisions within three different purchase methods. This paper presents a multidisciplinary research method that is expected to be beneficial and supportive for the strategic decision at the early design stage and it also offers a different angle to assess the economic performance of the STF application

Construction and Performance Evaluation of Dual-Metabolite Oil-Producing Engineering Bacteria Suitable for Low-Permeability Reservoir

AbstractMicrobial oil recovery (MEOR) technology has a wide application prospect in the field of enhanced oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs, and genetic engineering plays an important role. At present, oil-production engineering bacteria constructed by genetic engineering are mainly used to obtain high metabolites and strong environmental adaptability; there are few reports on genetically engineered bacteria with different functional metabolites. However, the bacteria which could efficiently produce one metabolite have a poor ability to produce other metabolites. Therefore, in order to reduce the cost of nutrients and improve the effect of microbial oil recovery, dual-metabolite bacteria have been constructed for low-permeability reservoir. In this paper, four rhamnolipid expression plasmids are extracted from E. coli-produced biosurfactant. Then, the rhamnolipid expression plasmids are transferred into the bacteria-produced biopolymer by electrotransformation, and the metabolite performance of the constructed bacteria is evaluated. Finally, the profile control and displacement performance of the constructed bacteria are studied through low-permeability core experiments. The experimental results show that three bacteria, WS1, WS2, and WS3, are successfully constructed that have preferable ability, among which the bacteria WS2 has the best capacity for producing biopolymer and biosurfactant at the same time. After culturing 96 h, the viscosity of the bacteria WS2 fermentation broth could increase to 42.1 mPa·s, and the surface tension and interfacial tension of the fermentation broth could decrease to 24.3 mN/m and 0.035 mN/m, respectively. This time-varying biological viscosity ensures that the microbial system can enter the low-permeability reservoir at a low injection pressure, and the oil recovery of the low-permeability core could be increased by 10.18% after injecting 0.5 PV WS2 microbial system. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of gene construction and technical support for further popularization and application of MEOR in low-permeability reservoirs

Clinical characteristics and prognosis of sudden sensorineural hearing loss in single-sided deafness patients

BackgroundSudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) is rare. The prognosis of the sole serviceable hearing ear is very important for these patients. However, the clinical characteristics and prognosis of SSNHL in SSD patients are not well-documented.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the clinical features and treatment outcomes of SSNHL in SSD patients.MethodsClinical data of 36 SSD patients and 116 non-SSD patients with unilateral SSNHL from January 2013 to December 2022 were retrospectively investigated. The clinical characteristics of the SSD patients were analyzed. All SSD patients were treated with intratympanic steroids plus intravenous steroids. Pure-tone average (PTA) and word recognition score (WRS) before and after treatment were recorded. The hearing recovery of SSNHL in SSD patients in comparison with non-SSD patients was explored. Auditory outcomes in SSD patients with different etiologies were also compared.ResultsInitial hearing threshold showed no significant differences between the SSD group and the non-SSD group (66.41 ± 24.64 dB HL vs. 69.21 ± 31.48 dB HL, p = 0.625). The SSD group had a higher post-treatment hearing threshold (median (interquartile range, IQR) 53.13(36.56) dB HL) than the non-SSD group (median 32.50(47.5) dB HL, p < 0.01). Hearing gains (median 8.75(13.00) dB) and the rate of significant recovery (13.89%) were lower in the SSD group than in the non-SSD group (median 23.75(34.69) dB, 45.69%). The etiology of SSD was classified as SSNHL, special types of infection, chronic otitis media, and unknown causes. SSNHL accounted for the maximum proportion (38.9%) of causes of SSD in the SSD group. Hearing gains were lower in the SSNHL-SSD group than in other causes of the SSD group. A binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that SSD serves as an indicator of unfavorable hearing recovery outcomes (OR = 5.264, p < 0.01).ConclusionThe prognosis of SSNHL in SSD patients is unsatisfactory. SSNHL accounts for the maximum proportion of causes of SSD in this group of patients. For SSD patients caused by SSNHL, less hearing improvement after treatment was expected when SSNHL occurred in the contralateral ear in comparison with SSD patients with other causes