A New Laboratory Technique to Enhance Proppant Consolidation During Propped Hydraulic Fracturing Treatment

The objectives of this investigation were to perform a rock mechanical study to evaluate long term stability of Resin-Coated Proppant (RCP), combined with various additives currently being used in screenless propped hydraulic fracturing completions in the sandstone formations. Thereby providing a tool for the industry to know exactly the duration of the shut-in time before putting a well back onto production. A new experimental method was developed to monitor the curing process of RCP as temperature increases. The velocity of both shear and compressional waves were being monitored as a function of temperature, while the tested RCP sample was being housed in a pressurized vessel. The pressurized vessel was subjected to a variable temperature profile to mimic the recovery of the reservoir temperature following a propped hydraulic fracturing treatment. The placed proppant should attain an optimum consolidation to minimize the potential for proppant flow back. The study has been performed on various types of RCP samples under a range of reservoir conditions. The role of closure stress, temperature, curing time and carrier fluids in attaining a maximum strength of RCP following a propped hydraulic fracturing treatment have been investigated. Also, the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of various types of RCP have been measured. The testing methods currently practiced in the industry to qualify proppant for field applications are based on physical characterization of several parameters such as the specific gravity of proppant, absolute volume, solubility, roundness, sphericity and bulk density. The sieve analysis, compressive strength, and API crush testing are also measured and reported. The API Recommended Practices; API RP56, API RP58 and API RP60 are the main procedures used to test the suitability of proppants for hydraulic fracturing treatment. However, there is no published API testing method for RCP; therefore this study introduces a new testing procedure, using acoustic velocity as a function of temperature and compressive strength as a function of time; to qualify a given RCP for a particular reservoir of known stress and temperature. The final outcome of this study is to establish a functional procedure for such measurements, in order to maximize the success of a propped hydraulic fracturing treatment and minimize the occurrence of flow back incidents.

SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol Transmission Indoors: A Closer Look at Viral Load, Infectivity, the Effectiveness of Preventive Measures and a Simple Approach for Practical Recommendations

There is uncertainty about the viral loads of infectious individuals required to transmit COVID-19 via aerosol. In addition, there is a lack of both quantification of the influencing parameters on airborne transmission and simple-to-use models for assessing the risk of infection in practice, which furthermore quantify the influence of non-medical preventive measures. In this study, a dose–response model was adopted to analyze 25 documented outbreaks at infection rates of 4–100%. We show that infection was only possible if the viral load was higher than 108 viral copies/mL. Based on mathematical simplifications of our approach to predict the probable situational attack rate (PARs) of a group of persons in a room, and valid assumptions, we provide simplified equations to calculate, among others, the maximum possible number of persons and the person-related virus-free air supply flow necessary to keep the number of newly infected persons to less than one. A comparison of different preventive measures revealed that testing contributes the most to the joint protective effect, besides wearing masks and increasing ventilation. In addition, we conclude that absolute volume flow rate or person-related volume flow rate are more intuitive parameters for evaluating ventilation for infection prevention than air exchange rate.

Diatomaceous earth aggregates based composite masonry blocks for bushfire resistance

PurposeThis paper presents the details of a research study on developing composite masonry blocks using two types of mixes, conventional and lightweight mix, to enhance their fire/bushfire resistance and residual compressive strength.Design/methodology/approachComposite masonry blocks (390 × 190 × 90 mm) were fabricated using conventional cement–sand mix as the outer layer and lightweight cement–sand–diatomite mix as the inner layer. Material properties were determined, and all the mixes were proportioned by the absolute volume method. After 28 days of curing, density tests, compression tests before and after fire exposure and fire resistance tests of the developed blocks were conducted, and the results were compared with those of conventional cement–sand and cement–sand–diatomite blocks.FindingsDeveloped composite blocks satisfy density and compressive strength requirements for loadbearing lightweight solid masonry units. Fire resistance of the composite block is –/120/120, and no cracks appeared on the ambient side surface of the block after 3 h of fire exposure. Residual strength of the composite block is higher compared to cement–sand and cement–sand–diatomite blocks and satisfies the loadbearing solid masonry unit strength requirements.Practical implicationsComposite block developed in this research can be suggested as a suitable loadbearing lightweight solid masonry block for several applications in buildings in bushfire prone areas.Originality/valueLimited studies are available for composite masonry blocks in relation to their fire resistance and residual strength.

Regional economic structure and airport-centric development strategy formulation: The case of South Korea

Strategic positioning, in terms of the regional economic structure, is necessary to fully consider regional economic benefit in developing areas surrounding the airport. We propose a novel strategy formulation for an airport surrounding area development that moves the focus away from an approach focused on the airport toward an approach based on regional economic structure. The concept of comparative advantage and SWOT analysis was introduced by utilizing quantitative indices looking at the regional industrial ecosystem to enhance scientific analysis progress from the strategy building prospective. The proportion of inter-industry transactions, the degree of dispersion of inter-industry transactions, and the spill-over characteristics of local industries were developed into indices. Through the case study, we could systematically show that Incheon has both strengths and weaknesses in terms of the current absolute volume of transactions, opportunities in terms of demand factors and spill-over effect, but faces threats with regards to the regional industrial structure. The availability of the methodology was verified and a new concept of the airport economic impact zone has been proposed.

Predicting Infarct Core From Computed Tomography Perfusion in Acute Ischemia With Machine Learning

Background and Purpose: The ISLES challenge (Ischemic Stroke Lesion Segmentation) enables globally diverse teams to compete to develop advanced tools for stroke lesion analysis with machine learning. Detection of irreversibly damaged tissue on computed tomography perfusion (CTP) is often necessary to determine eligibility for late-time-window thrombectomy. Therefore, the aim of ISLES-2018 was to segment infarcted tissue on CTP based on diffusion-weighted imaging as a reference standard. Methods: The data, from 4 centers, consisted of 103 cases of acute anterior circulation large artery occlusion stroke who underwent diffusion-weighted imaging rapidly after CTP. Diffusion-weighted imaging lesion segmentation was performed manually and acted as a reference standard. The data were separated into 63 cases for training and 40 for testing, upon which quality metrics (dice score coefficient, Hausdorff distance, absolute lesion volume difference, etc) were computed to rank methods based on their overall performance. Results: Twenty-four different teams participated in the challenge. Median time to CTP was 185 minutes (interquartile range, 180–238), the time between CTP and magnetic resonance imaging was 36 minutes (interquartile range, 25–79), and the median infarct lesion size was 15.2 mL (interquartile range, 5.7–45). The best performance for Dice score coefficient and absolute volume difference were 0.51 and 10.1 mL, respectively, from different teams. Based on the ranking criteria, the top team’s algorithm demonstrated for average Dice score coefficient and average absolute volume difference 0.51 and 10.2 mL, respectively, outperforming the conventional threshold-based method (dice score coefficient, 0.3; volume difference, 15.3). Diverse algorithms were used, almost all based on deep learning, with top-ranked approaches making use of the raw perfusion data as well as methods to synthetically generate complementary information to boost prediction performance. Conclusions: Machine learning methods may predict infarcted tissue from CTP with improved accuracy compared with threshold-based methods used in clinical routine. This dataset will remain public and can be used to test improvement in algorithms over time.

Abstract P410: Association of Serum GFAP With Hematoma Expansion and Poor Outcome After Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The Factor VII for ICH Trial

Background: Biomarkers may help identify patients most likely to benefit from therapies. We tested whether serum glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a biomarker elevated early after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in response to blood-brain barrier disruption, is associated with hematoma expansion (HE) and outcome after ICH and whether GFAP levels modify the effect of factor VII treatment. Methods: We performed an exploratory analysis of the recombinant activated factor VII for acute ICH (FAST) trial. FAST collected serum GFAP levels were collected at admission within 4 hours of ICH onset prior to factor VII treatment. We used regression analyses to evaluate the associations between serum GFAP, HE (dichotomized as &gte; 33% or > 6 mL increase in ICH volume from baseline to 24h and as the absolute volume of expansion), and 3-month poor outcome (modified Rankin Scale score 4-6). We tested for interaction between GFAP and factor VII treatment by adding product terms to multivariable regression models. Results: Of 841 enrolled patients, we included 567 (67%) with available GFAP levels (mean age 64 [SD 13], female sex 203 [37%]). GFAP was associated with HE (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.54, 95% CI 1.10-2.17) and poor outcome (adjusted OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.18-3.09). Compared to patients in the lowest GFAP quartile, those in the highest quartile had 2 times the odds of HE (95% CI 1.08-3.89) and 2.7 times the odds of a poor outcome (95% CI 1.33-5.70). GFAP modified the association between factor VII treatment and HE volume (multivariable interaction p=0.04): treatment was not associated with reduced HE volume in the lowest GFAP quartile (β -0.44, 95% CI -3.54 to 2.67), but was associated with reduced HE volume in higher quartiles (β -3.82, 95% CI -7.58 to -0.06). Conclusions: In the FAST trial population, early GFAP levels were associated with HE and poor functional outcome. Factor VII treatment was associated with a greater reduction in HE volume in patients with higher GFAP levels. Serum GFAP may be useful for risk-stratifying patients early after ICH onset.

Mineral Addition and Mixing Methods Effect on Recycled Aggregate Concrete

This paper presents influence of treatment and mixing methods on recycled aggregate concretes (RAC) designed regarding various techniques. Absolute Volume Method (AVM) according to TS 802, Equivalent Mortar Volume Method (EMV), silica fume (SF) as a mineral addition were considered in the design of concretes. In total, four groups of concretes were produced in the laboratory: (1) natural aggregate concrete (NAC) designed with AVM as control concrete, (2) RAC designed with AVM as control RAC, (3) RAC with SF as a mineral addition designed with AVM as treated RAC and (4) RAC designed with EMV as treated RAC. The tests were performed at 28th days and the statistical analysis were made on the test results. According to the results, EMV and SF increased the compressive strength of concretes and this resulted an increase in the strength class of concrete. A significant statistical difference between the concretes were determined. According to multiple comparison analysis, it was found that especially there was a significant relationship among NAC, RAC and RAC-EMV. In addition, it was recommended that EMV and AVM with 5% SF could be used in the design of RAC rather than AVM only to achieve the target strength class C30/37.

A review on imaging techniques and quantitative measurements for dynamic imaging of cerebral aneurysm pulsations

Measurement of intracranial aneurysm wall motion may refine the current rupture risk estimation. A golden standard for measuring aneurysm pulsation is lacking. The aim is to evaluate magnitudes of aneurysm pulsation as published in current literature. Embase and PubMed were searched for publications containing quantitative measures of cardiac-cycle related cerebral aneurysm pulsation (no date or language restrictions). Eleven studies were included, covering 197 unruptured and untreated cerebral aneurysms. Quantitative pulsation measurements were extracted from the studies. Characteristics of the study population and aneurysms were taken into account, as well as the imaging modality, scanning technique and data processing methods used. A meta-analysis was performed of studies with similar methodologies and individual IA measures and locations. The magnitude of the absolute volume pulsations varied between 14 ± 9 mm3 and 106 ± 123 mm3 and the mean relative volume change varied between 5 and 36%. The meta-analysis revealed a positive correlation between size and absolute volume change. The relative volume change in Basilar artery aneurysms seems smaller. No authors were contacted for original study data and articles only describing visual pulsations were excluded. The variation in methodologies impedes an accurate estimation of the magnitude of IA pulsations. Validation of aneurysm pulsation measurement is crucial prior to clinical studies evaluating IA pulsatility in relation to IA rupture risk. Prerequisite is a reliable and robust imaging method with high spatial and temporal resolution and standardization of the image analysis methods.