Autonomous Outflow Control Technology AOCD in New Water/Polymer Injectors in Heavy Oil Fields from South Sultanate of Oman

Several techniques have been applied to improve fluid conformance of injection wells to increase water flooding performance and eventually field oil recovery. Normal outflow control devices (OCDs) are effective solutions for this problem in reservoirs with static properties, however, they fail in reservoirs with complex/dynamic properties including fractures. There, the continuously increasing contrast in the injectivity of a section with the fractures compared to the rest of the well causes diverting a great portion of the injected fluid into the thief zone thus creating short-circuit to the nearby producer wells. This paper summarizes the integrated technical learnings from the successful application of the installation of the first Autonomous Outflow Control (AOCD) technology in a new long horizontal injector well. It shows the result of extending this technology to other injectors in both water and polymer phases in the field, it details the facts and observations and the insights the multidisciplinary authors have captured. This autonomously reactive control on the injection fluid conformance resulted in an increased sweep and ultimate oil recovery while reducing the total volume of injected fluid.

A Novel Nondestructive Procedure for Tire Tread Viscoelastic Characterization

ABSTRACT Vehicle dynamics is largely influenced by the phenomena occurring in the tire-road interface, and a great portion of these phenomena is mainly conditioned by the viscoelastic properties of the tire tread compound. It is not surprising that the possibility of obtaining the viscoelastic response of a compound by means of a nondestructive procedure is a growing research topic that affects application fields ranging from monitoring of the material performance during its entire life cycle to the quantitative analysis of product quality and repeatability of production processes. In this article, a novel nondestructive procedure for the viscoelastic characterization of tire tread compound is proposed. A portable instrument, based on instrumented indentation, was designed and prototyped with the aim to allow a real-time assessment of moduli directly on site. The testing procedure adopted to perform the test on three different compounds was described. A signal-processing procedure was developed for the identification of compound stiffness and damping parameters from which viscoelastic moduli were estimated. The results were also compared with the DMA characterization showing the same relative ranking between the compounds with a different trend in temperature due to the amount of the tests' indentation depth.

Petri Net-Based Semi-Compiled Code Generation for Programmable Logic Controllers

Industrial discrete event dynamic systems (DEDSs) are commonly modelled by means of Petri nets (PNs). PNs have the capability to model behaviours such as concurrency, synchronization, and resource sharing, compared to a GRAphe Fonctionnel de Commande Etape Transition (GRAFCET) which is a particular case of a PN. However, there is not a systematic way to implement a PN in a programmable logic controller (PLC), and so it is very common the implementation of such a controller outside a PLC, in some external software that will communicate with the PLC. There have been some attempts to implement PNs within a PLC, but they are dependent on how the logic of places and transitions is programmed for each application. This work proposes a novel application-independent and platform-independent PN implementation methodology. This methodology is a systematic way to implement a PN controller within industrial PLCs. A great portion of the code will be validated automatically prior to PLC implementation. Net structure and marking evolution will be checked on the basis of PN model structural analysis, and only net interpretation will be manually coded and error-prone. Thus, this methodology represents a systematic and semi-compiled PN implementation method. A use case supported by a digital twin (DT) is shown where the automated solution required by a manufacturing system is carried out and executed in two different devices for portability testing, and the scan cycle periods are compared for both approaches.

Banker Attitudes and Perception towards Green Banking

This research paper intends to evaluate an idea about bankers’ perceptions on green banking by getting a candid opinion from conventional banks’ bankers in Bangladesh based on a quality survey questionnaire covers relevant areas like benefits of green banking, superior officials who serve green banking services, taken eco-friendly initiatives, getting support from proper authorities, safeguarding environment pollution and rewards for adopting green banking. Considering the highest mean score of items in each group, this paper insights about green banking is environment-friendly banking, managers and officers are resourceful, emphasizes on recycling of left-over materials, keeping the environment pollution free, and performs to reduce resource wastages. This paper also finds that support from the government should be getting heightened priority to enhance its performance and area. So it can be easily presumed that green banking already put a great impact on a great portion of the banking industry in Bangladesh so far.

Fungal Lung: The Risk of Fungal Exposure to Nail Care Professionals

Foot and nail care specialists spend a great portion of their day using nail drills to reduce nail thickness and smooth foot callouses. This process generates a large amount of dust, some of which is small enough to breathe in and deposit into the deepest regions of the respiratory tract, potentially causing health problems. Foot and nail dust often contain fungi, from both fungally-infected and healthy-looking nails. While the majority of healthy individuals can tolerate inhaled fungi, the immune systems of older, immunocompromised, and allergy-prone individuals often react using the inflammatory TH2 pathway, leading to mucus overproduction, bronchoconstriction, and, in severe cases, lung tissue damage. To protect vulnerable podiatry professionals, wearing a surgical mask, using a water spray suppression system on nail drills, installing air filtration systems, and considering drilling technique can help reduce the exposure to nail dust.

Review on the Use of ICT Driven Solutions Towards Managing Global Pandemics

A pandemic is a contagious disease outbreak that happens over a large geographic area and affects a great portion of the population while new pathogens appear for which people have less immunity and no vaccines are available. The disease can spread from person to person in a very short time. Health workers are at greater risk of infection because of patients who are carriers. In the 21st century, where everyone is connected through digital technologies, information and communication technology (ICT) plays a critical role in improving healthcare for individuals and larger communities. ICT can be divided into a wide variety of application domains that signify its importance as a major technological paradigm. It is currently drawing large attention because of its potential to alleviate the burden on healthcare systems caused by the rise in chronic diseases, aging populations and pandemic situations. This study surveyed substantial knowledge on how effective ICT healthcare solutions can be used towards managing global pandemics. In order to make it more comprehensive, we also present a four-phase strategic framework that can be deployed to alleviate the strain on healthcare resources during a pandemic, which was derived from the reviewed literature. Further, we also discuss how ICT technologies can be used towards managing pandemic situations chronographically during the transformation from a simple disease outbreak into a global pandemic.

Giant right ventricle infiltrative lipoma—a surgical success report

Benign primary cardiac tumours are rare, with lipomas accounting for <9% of them. Their presentation varies depending on the size and location of the tumour, with the majority of the cases being asymptomatic. We are presenting a case of an extremely rare primary heart-tumour infiltrating the right ventricle (RV) compromising its function. RV lipomas are so unusual that there are no clear treatment guidelines. In this case, we decided to treat the patient with surgical resection of the tumour. Although a total resection was not possible, due to the tumoural proximity to vital structures, a great portion of the tumour was removed, alleviating the patient’s symptoms.

Comparative cytogenetic survey of the giant bonytongue Arapaima fish (Osteoglossiformes: Arapaimidae), across different Amazonian and Tocantins/Araguaia River basins

The South American giant fishes of the genus Arapaima, commonly known as pirarucu, are one of the most iconic among Osteoglossiformes. Previously cytogenetic studies have identified their karyotype characteristics; however, characterization of cytotaxonomic differentiation across their distribution range remains unknown. In this study, we compared chromosomal characteristics using conventional and molecular cytogenetic protocols in pirarucu populations from the Amazon and Tocantins-Araguaia river basins to verify if there is differentiation among representatives of this genus. Our data revealed that individuals from all populations present the same diploid chromosome number 2n=56 and karyotype composed of 14 pairs of meta- to submetacentric and 14 pairs of subtelo- to acrocentric chromosomes. The minor and major rDNA sites are in separate chromosomal pairs, in which major rDNA sites corresponds to large heterochromatic blocks. Comparative genomic hybridizations (CGH) showed that the genome of these populations shared a great portion of repetitive elements, due to a lack of substantial specific signals. Our comparative cytogenetic data analysis of pirarucu suggested that, although significant genetic differences occur among populations, their general karyotype patterns remain conserved.

Students used a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in higher education of Arab Countries (AC)

A systematic literature review of 124 studies considering the usage of Massive Online Courses (MOOCs) in higher education of Arab Countries (AC) from 2013 to 2020 is presented in this research. The aim of the research is to provide a broad and systematic literature review regarding MOOCs used among universities’ students. Therefore, based on certain areas, such as, research methods, year of publication, journal, country, type of respondents and author, studies of using MOOCs for educational purposes were analyzed. A great portion of the findings is for the utilization of quantitative and survey research methods with a percentage of 78%, 13% is for the qualitative research methods and 9% for the mixed methods. As shown by the findings, the interest on the topic has increased in the past few years which also indicate that this particular topic will be of great importance for the academic researches to come. Nevertheless, in order to promote and improve the use of (MOOCs) for educational purposes, it is of great significance that the coming studies utilize an extensive utilization of theoretical and methodological approaches like the qualitative methods to inspect the factors which will urge the students to utilize (MOOCs).

Modeling and Practice of Erosion and Sediment Transport under Change

Climate and anthropogenic changes impact on the erosion and sediment transport processes in rivers. Rainfall variability and, in many places, the increase of rainfall intensity have a direct impact on rainfall erosivity. Increasing changes in demography have led to the acceleration of land cover changes from natural areas to cultivated areas, and then from degraded areas to desertification. Such areas, under the effect of anthropogenic activities, are more sensitive to erosion, and are therefore prone to erosion. On the other hand, with an increase in the number of dams in watersheds, a great portion of sediment fluxes is trapped in the reservoirs, which do not reach the sea in the same amount nor at the same quality, and thus have consequences for coastal geomorphodynamics. The Special Issue “Modeling and Practice of Erosion and Sediment Transport under Change” is focused on a number of keywords: erosion and sediment transport, model and practice, and change. The keywords are briefly discussed with respect to the relevant literature. The papers in this Special Issue address observations and models based on laboratory and field data, allowing researchers to make use of such resources in practice under changing conditions.