LCA of strippable coatings and of steam vacuum technology used for nuclear plants decontamination

The application of strippable coatings is an innovative technology for decontamination of nuclear plants and for any decontamination project aiming at removing surface contamination. An adhesive plastic coating is applied on the contaminated surface. The strippable coating is allowed to cure for up to 24 h, after which it can be easily peeled. The coating traps the contaminants in the polymer matrix. Strippable coatings are non-toxic and do not contain volatile compounds or heavy metals. Since the coating constitutes a solid waste, disposal is easier than treating contaminated liquid wastes, produced by the baseline technology: steam vacuum cleaning, based upon superheated pressurized water in order to remove contaminants from floors and walls. A life cycle assessment (LCA) has been carried out with the purpose of comparing the strippable coating with the steam vacuum technology. The functional unit of the study is represented by a surface of 1 m² to be decontaminated. The results of LCA achieved using Sima Pro 5.0^® software confirm the good environmental performances of strippable coatings. Taking into account both LCA and environmental costs for liquid wastes, the advantages of strippable coatings will be more and more evident.     

四川盆地乐山—龙女寺古隆起深层海相碳酸盐岩测井评价技术

四川盆地乐山—龙女寺古隆起寒武系及震旦系埋藏深度大,基质物性较差,历经多次构造运动,储层非均质性强,致使测井解释工作难度大。为此,综合运用薄片、岩化、ECS元素测井和常规测井资料,对该类储层的特殊岩性与矿物进行了可靠的识别,进而得到准确的储层参数。研究表明:成像测井可以对各类裂缝进行精细识别及分类,利用声波扫描测井得到的各向异性及频散曲线,结合裂缝识别结果可对裂缝的有效性进行评价;常规测井结合成像测井能够对溶蚀孔洞及大型溶洞进行定性识别,采用BorTex及孔隙谱技术,可定量评价溶蚀孔洞的发育程度及孔洞连通性,而对大型溶洞的延伸情况则需要结合钻、录井显示及地震资料来综合判别;流体判别在排除钻井液侵入、导电矿物等影响因素后,可采用可动水指数法、双侧向比值法、视电阻增大率法、中子—密度与中子—声波重叠法、介电扫描等方法,结合储层纵横向流体分布情况来综合判别储层流体性质。测井技术的不断完善,为该区深层油气的勘探开发提供了技术保障。     

利用储层岩石学研究油气运移期次

以塔里木盆地库车坳陷和四川盆地西南部犍为地区为例,利用储层岩石学特征对油气运移期次进行了研究.根据储层溶蚀作用和自生粘土矿物的形成期次,结合成岩演化序列成果,确定了库车坳陷中生界储层曾在古近纪末期、新近纪康村末期以及新近纪库车期接受过3期油气充注.对储层成岩演化特点的分析表明,犍为地区下三叠统嘉陵江组储层在中三叠统雷口坡组沉积晚期接受了液态烃充注.上述研究结果与利用地球化学定量(如包裹体)分析手段研究得出的结论普遍吻合,说明运用储层岩石学特征可以确定油气运移期次.     

川西地区二叠系火山岩异常高压演化与天然气成藏的关系

川西地区二叠系火山岩天然气藏发育较高的异常压力,异常压力的成因和天然气成藏的动力学过程较复杂,目前对研究区异常高压的演化过程及其对天然气成藏的影响规律仍认识不清。通过分析川西地区二叠系实测地层压力、测井响应资料和包裹体捕获压力,明确了异常高压的成因和演化过程。基于不同成藏期次形成的烃类包裹体中的含油流体包裹体颗粒（GOI）丰度,分析了地层压力演化与天然气成藏之间的关系。结果表明：寒武系筇竹寺组烃源岩的生-排烃作用和火山岩内部的原油裂解对异常高压的发育具有重要的贡献;储层内共发育3类包裹体,其形成对应3期大规模油气聚集,即二叠纪末期（距今256~251 Ma）形成碳质沥青包裹体、晚三叠世（距今230~208 Ma）形成油-水包裹体、侏罗纪中-晚期（距今175~152 Ma）形成气-水包裹体。在多期油气聚集过程中,古地层压力系数和烃类包裹体的GOI丰度逐渐升高,表明地层压力的变化为天然气大规模充注提供了充足的动力条件。     

Hybrid intelligent strategy for multifactor influenced electrical energy consumption forecasting

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a novel hybrid strategy based on intelligent approaches to forecast electricity consumptions. The proposed forecasting strategy includes three main steps: (a) the evaluation of a correlation coefficient for socio-economic indicators on electric energy consumptions, (b) the classification of historical and socio-economic indicators using the proposed feature selection method, (c) the development of a new combined method using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System and Whale Optimization Algorithm to predict electrical energy consumptions. The simulation results have been tested and validated by real data sets achieved within 1992 and 2010 in two pilot cases in a developing country (Iran) and a developed one (Italy). The research findings pinpointed the greater accuracy and stability of the new developed method for electrical energy consumption forecasting compared to existing single and hybrid benchmark models.     

Use of voriconazole in treatment of Scedosporium apiospermum infection: case report

We report a case of disseminated Scedosporium apiospermum infection in a neutropenic patient with acute myeloid leukemia. Due to progression of the mycosis after 7 days of amphotericin B lipid complex therapy and to high susceptibility of the mold to voriconazole in vitro, the patient was treated with intravenous voriconazole. After a few days of therapy, fever disappeared and skin lesions improved. However, the patient died after 1 month due to intestinal bleeding. Despite a negative outcome, this case seems to indicate a promising role for voriconazole in the treatment of S. apiospermum infections.     

Retroviral vector-mediated transfer of the galactocerebrosidase (GALC) cDNA leads to overexpression and transfer of GALC activity to neighboring cells

Galactocerebrosidase (GALC) is responsible for the lysosomal catabolism of certain galactolipids, including galactosylceramide and psychosine. Patients with GALC deficiency have an autosomal recessive disorder known as globoid cell leukodystrophy (GLD) or Krabbe disease. Storage of undegraded glycolipids results in defective myelin and the characteristic globoid cells observed on pathological examination of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Most patients have the infantile form of GLD, although older individuals are also diagnosed. Recently the human, mouse, and canine GALC genes were cloned, and mutations causing GLD have been identified. We now describe the construction of a vector containing human GALC cDNA (MFG-GALC), and the transduction of cultured skin fibroblasts from molecularly characterized Krabbe disease patients, as well as rat brain astrocytes and human CD34(+) hematopoietic cells, using retrovirus produced by the psi-CRIP amphotropic packaging cell line. The transduced fibroblasts showed extremely high GALC activity (up to 20,000 times pretreatment levels, about 100 times normal). GALC was secreted into the media and was taken up by untransduced fibroblasts from the same or a different patient. Mannose-6-phosphate receptor-mediated uptake was only partially responsible for the efficient transfer of GALC to neighboring cells. Additional studies confirmed the presence of normal GALC cDNA and mRNA in the transduced cells. The GALC produced by the transduced cells and donated to neighboring untransduced cells was localized to lysosomes as demonstrated by the normal metabolism of [14C]stearic acid-labeled galactosylceramide produced from endocytosed [14C]sulfatide.     

Type Directed Semantics for the Calculus of Looping Sequences

The calculus of looping sequences is a formalism for describing the evolution of biological systems by means of term rewriting rules. Here we enrich this calculus with a type discipline which preserves some biological properties deriving from the requirement of certain elements, and the repellency of others. In particular, the type system guarantees the soundness of the application of reduction rules with respect to the elements which are required (all requirements must be satisfied) and to the elements which are excluded (two elements which repel each other cannot occur in the same compartment). As an example, we model the possible interactions (and compatibility) of di?erent blood types with different antigens. The type system does not allow transfusion with incompatible blood types.     

Vicious and virtuous circles of offshoring attitudes and relational behaviours. A configurational study of German IT developers

Prior research has shown that the success of offshoring is affected by relational behaviours of the employees involved in an offshoring collaboration. However, hardly anything is known about the attitudes that onshore colleagues hold towards offshoring, and how such offshoring attitudes affect relational behaviours towards offshore colleagues. We therefore present an interpretivist, qualitative case study that explores the offshoring attitudes of German information technology developers. We found that offshoring attitudes affected relational behaviours towards Indian offshore colleagues, in terms of (1) treating Indian colleagues as fellow team members as opposed to suppliers; (2) spending more or less effort in communication and knowledge transfer; and (3) supporting vs. avoiding the task transfer. These relational behaviours fed back into participants' offshoring attitudes, leading to vicious and virtuous circles. The circles created two contrasting configurations of offshoring attitudes and relational behaviours, driven by opposing forces within the departmental context. Our findings highlight the value of taking a configurational perspective for understanding offshoring success and for identifying drivers that need to be managed in order to achieve favourable configurations. We suggest that future research should further expand the typology of attitude‐behaviour configurations and could apply theories of efficacy, self‐reinforcing spirals and planned behaviour.