Cargo scheduling decision support for offshore oil and gas production: a case study

Woodside Energy Ltd (Woodside), Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company, operates multiple oil and gas facilities off the coast of Western Australia. These facilities require regular cargo shipments from supply vessels based in Karratha, Western Australia. In this paper, we describe a decision support model for scheduling the cargo shipments to minimize travel cost and trip duration, subject to various operational restrictions including vessel capacities, cargo demands at the facilities, time windows at the facilities, and base opening times. The model is a type of non-standard vehicle routing problem involving multiple supply vessels—a primary supply vessel that visits every facility during a round trip taking at most 1 week, and other supply vessels that are used on an ad hoc basis when the primary vessel cannot meet all cargo demands. We validate the model via test simulations using real data provided by Woodside.     

Oxygen adsorption and desorption characteristics of LSCF5582 membranes for oxygen separation applications

This study examines the oxygen adsorption and desorption characteristics of La_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3?δ (LSCF5582) membranes prepared at sintering temperatures of 1200–1300 °C, with the aim of gaining an insight into their performance in the surface reaction limited regime for oxygen separation applications. The findings of this work are then compared with our experimental data on Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3?δ (BSCF5582) membranes. It is demonstrated that the adsorption rate constants of both membranes are two orders of magnitude greater than their respective oxygen desorption rate constants as the oxygen adsorption occurs in less than 24 s whilst the oxygen desorption takes approximately one hour to reach equilibrium. The activation energy for oxygen adsorption of LSCF5582 reduced to a quarter of its value with increasing the sintering temperature from 1200 °C to 1300 °C. This is attributed to the oxygen exchange occurring more rapidly along the grain boundaries resulting in a lower activation energy. The LSCF5582 grain sintered at 1200 °C is the optimum selection for oxygen separation applications at an operating temperature of 850 °C and oxygen partial pressure of 0.21 bar.     

Expansion behaviour of a binary solid-liquid fluidised bed with different solid mass ratio

This study reports the effect of particle mass compositions on the bed expansion behaviour of a binary solid liquid fluidised bed (SLFB) system. Experiments were performed comprising equal density (2230 kg m^?3) spherical glass beads particles of diameter 3, 5 and 8 mm and water as fluidising medium with different particle mass ratios varying from 0.17 to 6.0. In the expanded bed, both segregated and intermixed zones were observed depending on the different particle diameter combinations. In a completely segregated SLFB, the bottom monosized layer exhibited a negative deviation ～23% whereas a positive deviation ～25% was found in the top monosized layer when compared with the corresponding pure monosized system. A small mixing zone spanning approximately two particle diameters thick was observed to exist even in a completely segregated SLFB for higher diameter ratio cases. A slight decrease in the mixing zone height was noted with increasing liquid superficial velocity. For lower diameter ratio cases, a relatively lager mixing zone height was observed which increased with increasing liquid superficial velocity. The bed expansion ratio was noted to decrease with increasing solid mass ratio however it increased with increase in the fluidising velocity ratio following a reasonable power law trend. The expanded bed height of the binary mixture was not entirely additive of its corresponding mono-component bed heights and both positive and negative deviations were observed. Finally, a two-dimensional (2D) Eulerian-Eulerian (E-E) model incorporating the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF) was used to quantify the binary system hydrodynamics. The model predicted expanded bed height agreed with experimental measurements within ±6% deviation. Presence of a mixing zone was also confirmed by the CFD model and simulated particle phase volume fraction distribution qualitatively agreed with the experimental visualisations.     

Recension des écrits sur l'impact des contacts sexuels précoces sur les hommes.

A review of the literature on the impact of sexual contacts between adults and boys reveals the existence of two principal outcomes: 1) some participants develop various disorders once in adulthood, such as behavioural problems, sexual disorders, or personality problems; 2) some participants do not present with any major disorders in the long run. These different outcomes may be associated with several moderating variables related to the sexual contacts, such as the level of coercion at the time of these contacts, the bond between the child and the adult, or the context of the sexual relation. However, the conclusions relating to the relations between early sexual contacts with adults and subsequent problems of adaptation in adulthood are difficult to determine. This is because of various methodological problems associated with relevant studies (i.e., definition of these contacts, nature of the sample, method evaluation, statistical analyses). In this article, we propose certain avenues of research that may help clarify this problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studying the effect of particle size on the antibacterial activity of some N-nicotinyl phosphoric triamides

Using ultrasonic top-to-down method, nanoparticles of two N-nicotinyl phosphoric triamides: C₅H₄NC(O)NHP(O)R, R?=?4-CH₃-NC₅H₁₀ (1), (CH₃)₃CNH₂ (2) were prepared for the first time and characterized by ³¹P, ¹³C, ¹H NMR, FTIR, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray. The average particle size of 1 and 2 were 60–70 and 40–50?nm, respectively, and the morphology was spherical for 1 and rod for 2. Solid state (powder) antibacterial effect of these compounds and two other similar reported ones, in their macro- and nanosizes, were evaluated with colony counting method on one Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and one Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria in Brain–Heart infusion culture medium. Results showed that all the macro- and nanosized compounds, except macrosized 1, were antibacterial and all nanoscaled ones had stronger antibacterial activity than their macroscaled analogues. The most effect of the particle size was observed for 1: by decreasing the particle sizes, the antibacterial activity state of 1 was changed from inactive (for macro) to potent (for nano).     

N ‐acetylcysteine–PLGA nano‐conjugate: effects on cellular toxicity and uptake of gadopentate dimeglumine

Gadolinium as a contrast agent in MRI technique combined with DTPA causes contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) which can reduce by usage of antioxidants such as N‐acetyl cysteine by increasing the membrane''s permeability leads to lower cytotoxicity. In this study, N ‐acetyl cysteine‐PLGA Nano‐conjugate was synthesized according to stoichiometric rules of molar ratios andafter assessment by FTIR, NMR spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) imaging was combined with Magnevist® (gadopentetate dimeglumine) and its effects on the renal cells were evaluated. MTT [3‐(4,5‐Dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide] and cellular uptake assays have indicated relatively significant toxicity of magnevist (P  < 0.05) on three cell lines including HEK293, MCF7 and L929 compared to other synthesized ligands that shown no toxicity. Moreover, systemic evaluation has shown no notable changes of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine in kidney of mice. In consequence, antioxidant effect was increased as well as the renal toxicity of the contrast agent reduced at the cell level. As a result, PLGA‐NAC nano‐conjugate can be a promising choice for decreasing the magnevist toxicity for treatment and prevention of CIN and will be able to open a new horizon to research on reduction of toxicity of contrast agents by using nanoparticles.Inspec keywords: blood, toxicology, nanofabrication, cellular biophysics, biomedical materials, nanoparticles, chromatography, cancer, biodegradable materials, biomedical MRI, kidney, pH, nanomedicine, patient treatment, diseases, atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectraOther keywords: cellular toxicity, gadopentate dimeglumine, contrast agent, magnetic resonance imaging technique, diethylenetriamine pentaacetate, contrast‐induced nephropathy, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, stoichiometric rules, molar ratios, dimethyl sulphoxide solution, chromatography techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy imaging, Magnevist®, gadopentetate dimeglumine, renal cells, MTT cytotoxicity, human embryonic kidney‐293, L929 cell lines, in vitro conditions, cellular uptake assays, Magnevist uptake, antioxidant effect, renal toxicity, cell level, PLGA nanocarrier, acetylcysteine nanoconjugate, Magnevist toxicity, N‐acetylcysteine–PLGA nano‐conjugate, N‐acetyl cysteine‐poly‐lactic‐co‐glycolic acid nanoconjugate     

Threshold quantum secret sharing between multiparty and multiparty using Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state

We propose a (t, m)?(s, n) threshold quantum secret sharing protocol between multiparty (m members in group 1) and multiparty (n members in group 2) using a sequence of Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states, which is useful and efficient when the parties of communication are not all present. In the protocol, Alice prepares a sequence of GHZ states in one of the eight different states and sends the last two particles to the first agent while other members encode their information on the sequence via unitary transformations. Finally the last member in group 2 measures the qubits. It is shown that this scheme is safe.     

Crowdwork platform governance toward organizational value creation

Crowdwork, a new form of digitally mediated employment and part of the so-called gig economy, has the capacity to change the nature of work organization and to provide strategic value to workers, job providers, and intermediary platform owners. However, because crowdwork is temporary, large-scale, distributed, and mediated, its governance remains a challenge that often casts a shadow over its strategic value. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the making of value-adding crowdwork arrangements. Specifically, the paper explores crowdwork platform governance mechanisms and the relationships between these mechanisms and organizational value creation. Building on a comprehensive review of the extant literature on governance and crowdwork, we construct an overarching conceptual model that integrates control system and coordination system as two complementary mechanisms that drive crowdwork platform governance effectiveness and the consequent job provider benefits. Furthermore, the model accentuates the role of the degree of centralization and the degree of routinization as critical moderators in crowdwork platform governance. Overall, the paper highlights the potential of crowdwork to contribute not only to inclusion, fair wages and flexible work arrangements for workers but also to organizations’ value and competitive edge.     

Detection and quantification of palm mid‐fraction in a chocolate model system

The tocopherol and tocotrienol compositions of the genuine cocoa butter (CB) and palm mid‐fraction (PMF) were investigated to introduce a more reliable indicator in detecting PMF in CB. The results suggested that the α‐tocotrienol data presented could be utilised for the detection of the PMF admixture to CB. The PMF was added to CB at different levels. HPLC was used to detect the presence of PMF admixture to CB using α‐tocotrienol as an indicator. The results derived from the model system indicated that increasing the PMF amount at 0–15% to CB resulted in an increase in the concentration of the α‐tocotrienol significantly (P < 0.05). The addition of PMF amount more than 15% did not have any effect on the α‐tocotrienol concentration. A linear plot with a high correlation of 0.9967 was obtained with SE of 1.527. The high correlation obtained indicated good accuracy, reflecting a close relationship between experimental and theoretical predicted value.     

Rapid and highly efficient synthesis of thioureas in biocompatible basic choline hydroxide

A straightforward and convenient synthesis of symmetrical thiourea derivatives by the reaction of primary amines and carbon disulfide in biocompatible basic choline hydroxide is presented. A variety of biologically important thiourea derivatives can be obtained in good to excellent yields without a tedious work-up under mild reaction conditions. A series of primary aliphatic and aromatic amines with different substituted functional groups have been converted to thiourea derivatives under milder reaction conditions and short reaction times.