Thermal modeling and hydrocarbon generation of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Chia Gara Formation in Iraqi Kurdistan region,northern Zagros Fold Belt

The Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Chia Gara Formation is an important oil-source rock in Iraqi Kurdistan region. Chia Gara source rock is characterised by high organic matter and sulphur content with Type II_S kerogen. 1D basin models were integrated with geological information and geochemical data from Chia Gara Fm at four well locations in Kurdistan region, northern Iraq. The models of the burial/thermal history indicate that Chia Gara Fm is presently in the peak-oil generation window and some oil cracked to gas during Late Eocene to Late Miocene time. Onset of oil-generation began during the Middle Paleocene- Early Oligocene (60–30?Ma). Oil was generated during the Late Eocene to Late Miocene (48–9 Ma). The models also suggest that the oil was expelled from Chia Gara source rock during the Late Eocene to Late Miocene (37–9 Ma), with a transformation ratio more than 50%. The high transformation ratio of more than 80% in two wells suggests that the generated oil was cracked to gas during the end of Middle Miocene time and continued to present day. The basin modeling results further suggest that Chia Gara Formation acts as a prolific petroleum-source rock and significant of oil and limited of gas have been generated and expelled to any nearby prospect reservoir rocks in the Kurdistan region.     

Comparative study of the essential oils of three Beilschmiedia species and their biological activities

This study was designed to examine the chemical compositions of the essential oils from three Beilschmiedia species and antioxidant, antimicrobial, antityrosinase, acetylcholinesterase and anti‐inflammatory activities. The essential oils of B. kunstleri, B. maingayi, B. penangiana gave β‐caryophyllene (10.6–12.1%), β‐eudesmol (17.5–24.1%) and δ‐cadinene (17.5–28.7%) as the most abundant components respectively. The bark oil of B. maingayi showed the highest activity in β‐carotene/linoleic acid (125.9%) and phenolic content (288.2 mg GA g^?1), while B. penangiana bark oil was found to have strong activity in DPPH (IC₅₀ 84.7 μg mL^?1) and ABTS (IC₅₀ 108.3 μg mL^?1). The essential oils of B. penangiana showed the best activity against Candida glabrata with MIC value 31.3 μg mL^?1. The bark oil of B. penangiana gave 82.5% tyrosinase inhibiton. The leaf oil of B. maingayi gave the highest inhibition in AChE (66.6%) and lipoxygenase (77.0%) assay. Our findings demonstrate that the essential oils have great potential for applications in pharmaceutical and food industries.     

A model‐based development approach for the verification of real‐time Java code

Many real‐time systems are safety‐and security‐critical systems and, as a result, tools and techniques for verifying them are extremely important. Simulation and testing such systems can be exceedingly time‐consuming and these techniques provide only probabilistic measures of correctness. There are a number of model‐checking tools for real‐time systems. Although they provide formal verification for models, we still need to implement these models. To increase the confidence in real‐time programs written in real‐time Java, this paper proposes a model‐based approach to the development of such programs. First, models can be mechanically verified, to check whether they satisfy particular properties, by using current real‐time model‐checking tools. Then, programs can be derived from the model by following a systematic approach. We introduce a timed automata to RTSJ Tool (TART), a prototype tool to automatically generate real‐time Java code from the model. Finally, we show the applicability of our approach by means of four examples: a gear controller, an audio/video protocol, a producer/consumer and the Fischer protocol. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improvement of downlink LTE system performances using nonlinear equalization methods based on SVM and Wiener–Hammerstein

In this paper, we present versatile nonlinear equalizer based on support vector machine for a standard downlink LTE link. The nonlinear effects are introduced through a solid state power amplifier. The equalizer is compared with a linear RLS and nonlinear Wiener–Hammerstein (W–H) for 16QAM–MIMO–OFDM transmission, revealing improved performance at 1 Mb/s, by 3 and 2 dB in SNR, respectively, when targeting a EVM (dB) of ?60 dB. SVM equalization also outperforms the Wiener–Hammerstein by 1 dB in SNR.     

Petroleum that has migrated into an outcropping of the Jurassic Ayad Salt Dome of Shabwah depression,Yemen

Two oil seep samples were collected from outcropping Jurassic Ayad Salt Dome of Shabwah depression. The results of this study have been used to provide information of the origin of the oil seeps and the type of organic matter and maturity of their potential source rock in the basin. Although these are surface oil seeps, their high saturated hydrocarbon content indicates that they are non-degraded oils, probably due to an arid environment of the thick salt sediments. The analyzed oil seep samples are characterized by full complement of n-alkanes, a very high component of phytane, relatively low CPIs of less than unity, and an unusually high content of aliphatic HCs. These features suggest that the analyzed oil seeps are generated from an algal marine organic matter in the source rock that deposited under highly anoxic hypersaline conditions and indicate a moderately low level of maturity. The geochemical characteristics of the analyzed oil seeps in this study are similar and consistent with the source rock characteristics of the Safer Member in the Sabatayn Basin.     

Interconnected logistic networks and protocols: simulation-based efficiency assessment

Logistic networks intensely use means of transportation and storage facilities to deliver goods. However, these logistic networks are still poorly interconnected and this fragmentation is responsible for a lack of consolidation and thus efficiency. To cope with the seeming contradiction of just-in-time deliveries and challenging emissions targets, a major improvement in supply networks is sought here. This new organisation is based on the universal interconnection of logistics services, namely a Physical Internet where goods travel in modular containers for the sake of interconnection in open networks. If from a logical point of view, merging container flows should improve efficiency, no demonstration of its potential has been carried out prior to the here reported research. To reach this potentiality assessment goal, we model the asynchronous shipment and creation of containers within an interconnected network of services, find the best path routing for each container and minimise the use of transportations means. To carry out the demonstration and assess the associated stakes, we use a set of actual flows from the fast-moving consumer goods sector in France. Various transportation protocols and scenarios are tested, revealing encouraging results for efficiency indicators such as CO₂ emissions, cost, lead time, delivery travel time, and so forth. As this is a first work in the field of flows transportation, the simulation model and experiment exposes many further research avenues.