The Application of Graph Model for Automation of the User Interface Construction

The ability of automatic graphic user interface construction is described. It is based on the building of user interface as reflection of the data domain logical definition. The submitted approach to development of the information system user interface enables dynamic adaptation of the system during their operation. This approach is used for creation of information systems based on CASE-system METAS.

Multi-media filtration for removal of petroleum contamination

A pilot scale multi-media filtration system was used to evaluate the effectiveness of filtration in removing petroleum hydrocarbons from a source water contaminated with diesel fuel. Source water was artificially prepared by mixing bentonite clay and tap water to produce a turbidity range of 10-15 NTU. Diesel fuel concentrations of 150 ppm or 750 ppm were used to contaminate the source water. The coagulants used included Cat Floc K-10 and Cat Floc T-2. The experimental phase was conducted under direct filtration conditions at constant head and constant rate filtration at 8.0 gpm. Filtration experiments were run until the filter reached its clogging point as noted by a measured peak pressure loss of 10 psi. The experimental variables include type of coagulant, oil concentration and source water. Filtration results were evaluated based on turbidity removal and petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) removal efficiency as measured by gas chromatography. Experiments indicated that clogging was controlled by the clay loading on the filter and that inadequate destabilization of the contaminated water by the coagulant limited the PHC removal. ^

The automation of protein crystal presentation for x ray diffraction experiments using standing acoustic waves in a microfluidic chip environment

As the pressure continues to grow on Diamond and the world's synchrotrons for higher throughput of diffraction experiments, new and novel techniques are required for presenting micron dimension crystals to the X ray beam. Currently this task is both labour intensive and primarily a serial process. Diffraction measurements typically take milliseconds but sample preparation and presentation can reduce throughput down to 4 measurements an hour. With beamline waiting times as long as two years it is of key importance for researchers to capitalize on available beam time, generating as much data as possible. Other approaches detailed in the literature [1] [2] [3] are very much skewed towards automating, with robotics, the actions of a human protocols. The work detailed here is the development and discussion of a bottom up approach relying on SSAW self assembly, including material selection, microfluidic integration and tuning of the acoustic cavity to order the protein crystals.

The automation of protein crystal presentation for X ray diffraction experiments using standing acoustic waves in a microfluidic chip environment

As the pressure continues to grow on Diamond and the world's synchrotrons for higher throughput of diffraction experiments, new and novel techniques are required for presenting micron dimension crystals to the X ray beam. Currently this task is both labour intensive and primarily a serial process. Diffraction measurements typically take milliseconds but sample preparation and presentation can reduce throughput down to 4 measurements an hour. With beamline waiting times as long as two years it is of key importance for researchers to capitalize on available beam time, generating as much data as possible. Other approaches detailed in the literature [1] [2] [3] are very much skewed towards automating, with robotics, the actions of a human protocols. The work detailed here is the development and discussion of a bottom up approach relying on SSAW self assembly, including material selection, microfluidic integration and tuning of the acoustic cavity to order the protein crystals.

Controle aplicado a poços com método de elevação e bombeio centrífugo submerso

The Electrical Submersible Pumping is an artificial lift method for oil wells employed in onshore and offshore areas. The economic revenue of the petroleum production in a well depends on the oil flow and the availability of lifting equipment. The fewer the failures, the lower the revenue shortfall and costs to repair it. The frequency with which failures occur depends on the operating conditions to which the pumps are submitted. In high-productivity offshore wells monitoring is done by operators with engineering support 24h/day, which is not economically viable for the land areas. In this context, the automation of onshore wells has clear economic advantages. This work proposes a system capable of automatically control the operation of electrical submersible pumps, installed in oil wells, by an adjustment at the electric motor rotation based on signals provided by sensors installed on the surface and subsurface, keeping the pump operating within the recommended range, closest to the well s potential. Techniques are developed to estimate unmeasured variables, enabling the automation of wells that do not have all the required sensors. The automatic adjustment, according to an algorithm that runs on a programmable logic controller maintains the flow and submergence within acceptable parameters avoiding undesirable operating conditions, as the gas interference and high engine temperature, without need to resort to stopping the engine, which would reduce the its useful life. The control strategy described, based on modeling of physical phenomena and operational experience reported in literature, is materialized in terms of a fuzzy controller based on rules, and all generated information can be accompanied by a supervisory system

Síntese enzimática de ésteres de açúcar: surfactantes e polímeros como novos materiais ambientalmente seguros

Sugar esters are substances which possess surfactant, antifungical and bactericidal actions and can be obtained through two renewable sources of raw materials: sugars and vegetable oils. Their excellent biodegradability, allied to lhe fact that they are non toxic, insipid, inodorous, biocompatible, no-ionic, digestible and because they can resist to adverse conditions of temperature, pH and salinity, explain lhe crescent use of these substances in several sections of lhe industry. The objective of this thesis was to synthesize and characterize surfactants and polymers containing sugar branched in their structures, through enzymatic transesterification of vinyl esters and sugars, using alkaline protease from Bacillus subtilis as catalyst, in organic medium (DMF).Three types of sugars were used: L-arabinose, D-glucose and sucrose and two types of vinyl esters: vinyl laurate and vinyl adipate. Aiming to reach high conversions from substrates to products for a possible future large scale industrial production, a serie of variables was optimized, through Design of Experiments (DOE), using Response Surface Methodology (RSM).The investigated variables were: (1) enzyme concentration; (2) molar reason of substrates; (3) water/solvent rale; (4) temperature and (5) time. We obtained six distinct sugar esters: 5-0-lauroyl L-arabinose, 6-0-lauroyl D-glucose, 1'-O-lauroyl sucrose, 5-0-vinyladipoyl L-arabinose, 6-0-vinyladipoyl D-glucose and 1 '-O-vinyladipoyl sucrose, being lhe last three polymerizable. The progress of lhe reaction was monitored by HPLC analysis, through lhe decrease of sugar concentration in comparison to lhe blank. Qualitative analysis by TLC confirmed lhe formation of lhe products. In lhe purification step, two methodologies were adopted: (1) chromatographic column and (2) extraction with hot acetone. The acylation position and lhe chemical structure were determined by 13C-RMN. The polymerization of lhe three vinyl sugar esters was possible, through chemical catalysis, using H2O2 and K2S2O8 as initiators, at 60°C, for 24 hours. IR spectra of lhe monomers and respective polymers were compared revealing lhe disappearance of lhe vinyl group in lhe polymer spectra. The molar weights of lhe polymers were determined by GPC and presented lhe following results: poly (5-0-vinyladipoyl L-arabinose): Mw = 7.2 X 104; PD = 2.48; poly (6-0-vinyladipoyl D-glucose): Mw = 2.7 X 103; PD = 1.75 and poly (1'-O-vinyladipoyl sucrose): Mw = 4.2 X 104; PD = 6.57. The six sugar esters were submitted to superficial tension tests for determination of the critical micelle concentrations (CMC), which varied from 122 to 167 ppm. Finally, a study of applicability of these sugar esters, as lubricants for completion fluids of petroleum wells was' accomplished through comparative analysis of lhe efficiency of these sugar esters, in relation to three commercial lubricants. The products synthesized in this thesis presented equivalent or superior action to lhe tested commercial products

Síntese enzimática de ésteres de açúcar: surfactantes e polímeros como novos materiais ambientalmente seguros

Sugar esters are substances which possess surfactant, antifungical and bactericidal actions and can be obtained through two renewable sources of raw materials: sugars and vegetable oils. Their excellent biodegradability, allied to lhe fact that they are non toxic, insipid, inodorous, biocompatible, no-ionic, digestible and because they can resist to adverse conditions of temperature, pH and salinity, explain lhe crescent use of these substances in several sections of lhe industry. The objective of this thesis was to synthesize and characterize surfactants and polymers containing sugar branched in their structures, through enzymatic transesterification of vinyl esters and sugars, using alkaline protease from Bacillus subtilis as catalyst, in organic medium (DMF).Three types of sugars were used: L-arabinose, D-glucose and sucrose and two types of vinyl esters: vinyl laurate and vinyl adipate. Aiming to reach high conversions from substrates to products for a possible future large scale industrial production, a serie of variables was optimized, through Design of Experiments (DOE), using Response Surface Methodology (RSM).The investigated variables were: (1) enzyme concentration; (2) molar reason of substrates; (3) water/solvent rale; (4) temperature and (5) time. We obtained six distinct sugar esters: 5-0-lauroyl L-arabinose, 6-0-lauroyl D-glucose, 1'-O-lauroyl sucrose, 5-0-vinyladipoyl L-arabinose, 6-0-vinyladipoyl D-glucose and 1 '-O-vinyladipoyl sucrose, being lhe last three polymerizable. The progress of lhe reaction was monitored by HPLC analysis, through lhe decrease of sugar concentration in comparison to lhe blank. Qualitative analysis by TLC confirmed lhe formation of lhe products. In lhe purification step, two methodologies were adopted: (1) chromatographic column and (2) extraction with hot acetone. The acylation position and lhe chemical structure were determined by 13C-RMN. The polymerization of lhe three vinyl sugar esters was possible, through chemical catalysis, using H2O2 and K2S2O8 as initiators, at 60°C, for 24 hours. IR spectra of lhe monomers and respective polymers were compared revealing lhe disappearance of lhe vinyl group in lhe polymer spectra. The molar weights of lhe polymers were determined by GPC and presented lhe following results: poly (5-0-vinyladipoyl L-arabinose): Mw = 7.2 X 104; PD = 2.48; poly (6-0-vinyladipoyl D-glucose): Mw = 2.7 X 103; PD = 1.75 and poly (1'-O-vinyladipoyl sucrose): Mw = 4.2 X 104; PD = 6.57. The six sugar esters were submitted to superficial tension tests for determination of the critical micelle concentrations (CMC), which varied from 122 to 167 ppm. Finally, a study of applicability of these sugar esters, as lubricants for completion fluids of petroleum wells was' accomplished through comparative analysis of lhe efficiency of these sugar esters, in relation to three commercial lubricants. The products synthesized in this thesis presented equivalent or superior action to lhe tested commercial products

Numerical simulation of a patent technology for sealing of deep-sea oil wells using nonlinear finite element method

For over 50 years bridge plugs and cement have been used for well abandonment and work over and are still the material of choice. However the failures of cement abandonments using bridge plugs has been reported on many occasions, some of which have resulted in fatal consequences. A new patented product is designed to address the shortcomings associated with using bridge plugs and cement. The new developed tools use an alloy based on bismuth that is melted in situ using Thermite reaction. The tool uses the expansion properties of bismuth to seal the well. Testing the new technology in real field under more than 2 km deep sea water can be expensive. Virtual simulation of the new device under simulated thermal and mechanical environment can be achieved using nonlinear finite element method to validate the product and reduce cost. Experimental testing in the lab is performed to measure heat generated due to thermite reaction. Then, a sequential thermal mechanical explicit/implicit finite element solver is used to simulate the device under both testing lab and deep water conditions.

Characterization of operational safety in offshore oil wells

The main concern of activities developed in oil and gas well construction is safety. But safety during the well construction process is not a trivial subject. Today risk evaluation approaches are based in static analyses of existent systems. In other words, those approaches do not allow a dynamic analysis that evaluates the risk for each alteration of the context. This paper proposes the use of Quantitative and Dynamic Risk Assessment (QDRA) to assess the degree of safety of each planned job. The QDRA can be understood as a safe job analysis approach, developed with the purpose of quantifying the safety degree in entire well construction and maintenance activities. The QDRA is intended to be used in the planning stages of well construction and maintenance, where the effects of hazard on job sequence are important unknowns. This paper also presents definitions of barrier, and barriers integrated set (BIS), and a modeling technique showing their relationships. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modelling and execution of asset management process via workflow automation

An Asset Management (AM) life-cycle constitutes a set of processes that align with the development, operation and maintenance of assets, in order to meet the desired requirements and objectives of the stake holders of the business. The scope of AM is often broad within an organization due to the interactions between its internal elements such as human resources, finance, technology, engineering operation, information technology and management, as well as external elements such as governance and environment. Due to the complexity of the AM processes, it has been proposed that in order to optimize asset management activities, process modelling initiatives should be adopted. Although organisations adopt AM principles and carry out AM initiatives, most do not document or model their AM processes, let alone enacting their processes (semi-) automatically using a computer-supported system. There is currently a lack of knowledge describing how to model AM processes through a methodical and suitable manner so that the processes are streamlines and optimized and are ready for deployment in a computerised way. This research aims to overcome this deficiency by developing an approach that will aid organisations in constructing AM process models quickly and systematically whilst using the most appropriate techniques, such as workflow technology. Currently, there is a wealth of information within the individual domains of AM and workflow. Both fields are gaining significant popularity in many industries thus fuelling the need for research in exploring the possible benefits of their cross-disciplinary applications. This research is thus inspired to investigate these two domains to exploit the application of workflow to modelling and execution of AM processes. Specifically, it will investigate appropriate methodologies in applying workflow techniques to AM frameworks. One of the benefits of applying workflow models to AM processes is to adapt and enable both ad-hoc and evolutionary changes over time. In addition, this can automate an AM process as well as to support the coordination and collaboration of people that are involved in carrying out the process. A workflow management system (WFMS) can be used to support the design and enactment (i.e. execution) of processes and cope with changes that occur to the process during the enactment. So far few literatures can be found in documenting a systematic approach to modelling the characteristics of AM processes. In order to obtain a workflow model for AM processes commonalities and differences between different AM processes need to be identified. This is the fundamental step in developing a conscientious workflow model for AM processes. Therefore, the first stage of this research focuses on identifying the characteristics of AM processes, especially AM decision making processes. The second stage is to review a number of contemporary workflow techniques and choose a suitable technique for application to AM decision making processes. The third stage is to develop an intermediate ameliorated AM decision process definition that improves the current process description and is ready for modelling using the workflow language selected in the previous stage. All these lead to the fourth stage where a workflow model for an AM decision making process is developed. The process model is then deployed (semi-) automatically in a state-of-the-art WFMS demonstrating the benefits of applying workflow technology to the domain of AM. Given that the information in the AM decision making process is captured at an abstract level within the scope of this work, the deployed process model can be used as an executable guideline for carrying out an AM decision process in practice. Moreover, it can be used as a vanilla system that, once being incorporated with rich information from a specific AM decision making process (e.g. in the case of a building construction or a power plant maintenance), is able to support the automation of such a process in a more elaborated way.

Quantitative fit assessment of a precontoured fracture fixation plate : its automation and an investigation on the borderline cases

Virtual methods to assess the fitting of a fracture fixation plate were proposed recently, however with limitations such as simplified fit criteria or manual data processing. This study aims to automate a fit analysis procedure using clinical-based criteria, and then to analyse the results further for borderline fit cases. Three dimensional (3D) models of 45 bones and of a precontoured distal tibial plate were utilized to assess the fitting of the plate automatically. A Matlab program was developed to automatically measure the shortest distance between the bone and the plate at three regions of interest and a plate-bone angle. The measured values including the fit assessment results were recorded in a spreadsheet as part of the batch-process routine. An automated fit analysis procedure will enable the processing of larger bone datasets in a significantly shorter time, which will provide more representative data of the target population for plate shape design and validation. As a result, better fitting plates can be manufactured and made available to surgeons, thereby reducing the risk and cost associated with complications or corrective procedures. This in turn, is expected to translate into improving patients' quality of life.

Physical and numerical modeling of horizontal gas-hydrate wells

Methane hydrate, which is usually found under deep seabed or permafrost zones, is a potential energy resource for future years. Depressurization of horizontal wells bored in methane hydrate layer is considered as one possible method for hydrate dissociation and methane extraction from the hosting soil. Since hydrate is likely to behave as a bonding material to sandy soils, supported well construction is necessary to avoid well-collapse due to the loss of the apparent cohesion during depressurization. This paper describes both physical and numerical modeling of such horizontal support wells. The experimental part involves depressurization of small well models in a large pressure cell, while the numerical part simulates the corresponding problem. While the experiment models simulate only gas saturated initial conditions, the numerical analysis simulates both gas-saturated and more realistic water-saturated conditions based on effective stress coupled flow-deformation formulation of these three phases. © 2006 Taylor & Francis Group.

Optimization of control parameters for petroleum waste composting

Composting is being widely employed in the treatment of petroleum waste. The purpose of this study was to find the optimum control parameters for petroleum waste in-vessel composting. Various physical and chemical parameters were monitored to evaluate their influence on the microbial communities present in composting. The CO2 evolution and the number of microorganisms were measured as the activity of composting. The results demonstrated that the optimum temperature, pH and moisture content were 56.5 - 59.5 degreesC, 7.0 - 8.5 and 55 % - 60%, respectively. Under the optimum conditions, the removal efficiency of petroleum hydrocarbon reached 83.29% after 30 days composting.

High-pressure study of optical transitions in strained In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells

We have measured low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) and absorption spectra of In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQW's) under hydrostatic pressures up to 8 GPa. In PL, only a single peak is observed below 4.9 GPa corresponding to the n = 1 heavy-hole (HH) exciton in the InxGa1-xAs wells. Above 4.9 GPa, new PL lines related to X-like conduction band states appear. They are assigned to the type-II transition from the X(Z) states in GaAs to the HH subband of the InxGa1-xAs wells and to the zero-phonon line and LO-phonon replica of the type-I transition involving the X(XY) valleys of the wells. In addition to absorption peaks corresponding to direct exciton transitions in the wells, a new strong absorption feature is apparent in spectra for pressures between 4.5 and 5.5 GPa. This absorption is attributed to the pseudodirect transition between the HH subband and the X, state of the wells. This gives clear evidence for an enhanced strength of indirect optical transitions due to the breakdown of translational invariance in MQW structures. From experimental level splittings we determine the valence band offset and the shear deformation potential for X states in the In0.2Ga0.8As layer.

Thermokinetic investigation of effect of temperature on optimum NaCl concentration for petroleum bacterial growth

The power-time curves of growth of three strains of petroleum bacteria at different NaCl concentrations at 40.0 and 50.0 degreesC have been determined by using a 2277 Thermometric Thermal Activity Analyser. An equation of a power-time curve, ln[alphaP(K)/P(t) - 1] = ln[(alphaK - N-0)/N-0] - alphakt, was established based on the generalized logistic equation, where P(t) is the thermal power at time t, K the carrying capacity, P-K = P0K, P-0 the thermal power of one cell, N-0 the bacterial population at time zero, alpha = (k - D)/k. The method of four observed points with the same time interval was used to calculate the value of P-K. The growth rate constant k and the death rate constant D were calculated. The NaCl concentration of optimum growth rate of petroleum bacteria at 40.0 and 50.0 degreesC, respectively, have been obtained according to the curves k - D versus NaCl concentration, which are 0.26, 0.54 and 0.57 mol l(-1) for B-1, B-2 and B-3, respectively, at 50.0 degreesC, 0.26, 0.55 and 0.56 mol l(-1) for B-1, B-2 and B-3, respectively, at 40.0 degreesC. The results indicated that the effect of temperature on NaCl concentration of optimum growth rate was small. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.