Nanofluid impact on fluid interaction and migration characteristics for enhanced oil recovery in Baikouquan tight glutenite

Nanofluids have broad prospects in enhancing the oil recovery of reservoirs with low porosity, low permeability, high capillary pressure and low oil recovery. However, the modification effects of nanofluids on tight glutenite reservoirs remain unknown. In this paper, nanofluids with different proportions of silica nanoparticles and sodium dodecyl sulfate were prepared and characterized by zeta potential and particle size distribution. Then, the effects of nanofluids on interfacial tension and reservoir wettability were examined. Next, a computational fluid dynamics method was adopted to further investigate the effects of nanofluids and injection pressure on enhancing oil recovery of the Baikouquan Formation at the pore scale. The experimental results showed that all prepared nanofluids are stable systems with uniform dispersion. The interfacial tension between the nanofluids and oil was reduced by up to 8.01% compared with water, and the reservoir wettability was changed from intermediate-wet to strong hydrophilicity. The simulation results revealed that the water and nanofluid flooding processes could be divided into two stages: the initial channel establishment stage and the channel expansion stage. In the initial stage, the nanofluids hardly showed an enhanced oil recovery effect due to the faster and sharper migration fronts. In the channel expansion stage, the nanofluids clearly showed an enhanced oil recovery effect, as the nanofluids could displace the oil in the relative dead pores during water flooding. After 10 pore volume injection of displacement fluid at an injection pressure of 1 MPa, the oil recovery using NF5 was highest at 76.58%. In addition, a higher injection pressure led to the extraction of relative dead oil at a lower injection pressure near the inlet with a smaller sweep area near the outlet; the effect on recovery has both advantages and disadvantages.Document Type: Original articleCited as: Cao, X., Li, Q., Myers, M., Xu, L., Chen, Q., Tan, Y. Nanofluid impact on fluid interaction and migration characteristics for enhanced oil recovery in Baikouquan tight glutenite. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2023, 9(2): 94-105. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2023.08.0

Oocytes Selected Using BCB Staining Enhance Nuclear Reprogramming and the In Vivo Development of SCNT Embryos in Cattle

The selection of good quality oocytes is crucial for in vitro fertilization and somatic cloning. Brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) staining has been used for selection of oocytes from several mammalian species. However, the effects of differential oocyte selection by BCB staining on nuclear reprogramming and in vivo development of SCNT embryos are not well understood. Immature compact cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) were divided into control (not exposed to BCB), BCB+ (blue cytoplasm) and BCB− (colorless cytoplasm) groups. We found that BCB+ oocytes yielded a significantly higher somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) blastocyst rate and full term development rate of bovine SCNT embryos than the BCB− and control oocytes. BCB+ embryos (embryos developed from BCB+ oocytes) showed increased acetylation levels of histone H3 at K9 and K18 (AcH3K9, AcH3K18), and methylation levels of histone H3 at K4 (H3K4me2) than BCB− embryos (embryos developed from BCB− oocytes) at the two-cell stage. Furthermore, BCB+ embryos generated more total cells, trophectoderm (TE) cells, and inner cell mass (ICM) cells, and fewer apoptotic cells than BCB− embryos. The expression of SOX2, CDX2, and anti-apoptotic microRNA-21 were up-regulated in the BCB+ blastocysts compared with BCB− blastocysts, whereas the expression of pro-apoptotic gene Bax was down-regulated in BCB+ blastocysts. These results strongly suggest that BCB+ oocytes have a higher nuclear reprogramming capacity, and that BCB staining can be used to select developmentally competent oocytes for nuclear transfer

p97/VCP is highly expressed in the stem-like cells of breast cancer and controls cancer stemness partly through the unfolded protein response

p97/VCP, an evolutionarily concerned ATPase, partakes in multiple cellular proteostatic processes, including the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated protein degradation (ERAD). Elevated expression of p97 is common in many cancers and is often associated with poor survival. Here we report that the levels of p97 positively correlated with the histological grade, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis in breast cancers. We further examined p97 expression in the stem-like cancer cells or cancer stem cells (CSCs), a cell population that purportedly underscores cancer initiation, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence. We found that p97 was consistently at a higher level in the CD4

Nlrp2, a Maternal Effect Gene Required for Early Embryonic Development in the Mouse

Maternal effect genes encode proteins that are produced during oogenesis and play an essential role during early embryogenesis. Genetic ablation of such genes in oocytes can result in female subfertility or infertility. Here we report a newly identified maternal effect gene, Nlrp2, which plays a role in early embryogenesis in the mouse. Nlrp2 mRNAs and their proteins (∼118 KDa) are expressed in oocytes and granulosa cells during folliculogenesis. The transcripts show a striking decline in early preimplantation embryos before zygotic genome activation, but the proteins remain present through to the blastocyst stage. Immunogold electron microscopy revealed that the NLRP2 protein is located in the cytoplasm, nucleus and close to nuclear pores in the oocytes, as well as in the surrounding granulosa cells. Using RNA interference, we knocked down Nlrp2 transcription specifically in mouse germinal vesicle oocytes. The knockdown oocytes could progress through the metaphase of meiosis I and emit the first polar body. However, the development of parthenogenetic embryos derived from Nlrp2 knockdown oocytes mainly blocked at the 2-cell stage. The maternal depletion of Nlrp2 in zygotes led to early embryonic arrest. In addition, overexpression of Nlrp2 in zygotes appears to lead to normal development, but increases blastomere apoptosis in blastocysts. These results provide the first evidence that Nlrp2 is a member of the mammalian maternal effect genes and required for early embryonic development in the mouse

ABSTRACT PARABOLIC SYSTEMS AND REGULARIZED SEMIGROUPS

The main purpose of this paper is to obtain the wellposedness of abstract parabolic systems in the sense of Petrovsij and Shilov under sharper conditions by using regularized semigroups. We also consider these systems with time-dependent coefficients, and give the applications to the corresponding parabolic systems on many function spaces. 1. Introduction. Let iAj (1 ≤ j ≤ n) be commuting generators of bounded C0-groups on a Banach space X, and write A =(A1,...,An) and A µ = A µ1 1 ···A µn n fo

Social Media Research, Human Behavior, and Sustainable Society

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to review social media research from different perspectives during the period of 2008–2014 based on the Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index database. Using a collection of 10,042 articles related to social media, the bibliometric analysis revealed some interesting patterns and trend of the scientific outputs, major journals, subject categories, spatial distribution, international collaboration, and temporal evolution in keywords usage in social media studies. The research on social media has been characterized by rapid growth and dynamic collaboration, with a rising number of publications and citation. Communication, Sociology, Public, Environment & Occupational Health, Business, and Multidisciplinary Psychology were the five most common categories. Computers in Human Behavior was the journal with the most social media publications, and Computers & Education ranked first according to the average citations. The two most productive countries were the U.S. and UK, delivering about half of the publications. The proportion of China’s internationally collaborative publications was the highest. The University of Wisconsin, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University were three most productive institutions. Several keywords, such as “Facebook”, “Twitter”, “communication”, “Social Networking Sites”, “China”, “climate change”, “big data” and “social support” increasingly gained the popularity during the study period, indicating the research trends on human behavior and sustainability

CHARACTERIZATION OF ISOTHERMAL OXIDATION OF AIR PLASMA SPRAYED NiCrAlY COATINGS

The oxidation behavior of the coatings at 1100°C in air was investigated using electron probe microanalyzer, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffractometer. Compacted oxide scales, mainly consisting of oxides of Al and Y, were formed on the coating surface, and thus the oxidation resistance of the coatings was enhanced. Cone oxides are formed on the scale surface and normal to the coating surface due to the characterization of preferential growth.Air plasma spray, NiCrAlY coating, oxidation resistance, oxide scale