Search

• Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) can linearly speed code by 200 fold each. • We are attempting to use FPGAs to speed up Geant4 calculations. • FPGAs scale, use little power, and have high precision. • We show the issues involved in porting Geant4 to FPGA code and possible solutions. Amongst the scientific frameworks powered by the Monte Carlo (MC) toolkit Geant4 (Agostinelli et al., 2003), the TOPAS (Tool for Particle Simulation) (Perl et al., 2012) is one. TOPAS focuses on providing ease of use, and has significant implementation in the radiation oncology space at present. TOPAS functionality extends across the full capacity of Geant4, is freely available to non-profit users, and is being extended into radiobiology via TOPAS-nBIO (Ramos-Mendez et al., 2018). A current "grand problem" in cancer therapy is to convert the dose of treatment from physical dose to biological dose, optimized ultimately to the individual context of administration of treatment. Biology MC calculations are some of the most complex and require significant computational resources. In order to enhance TOPAS's ability to become a critical tool to explore the definition and application of biological dose in radiation therapy, we chose to explore the use of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips to speedup the Geant4 calculations at the heart of TOPAS, because this approach called "Reconfigurable Computing" (RC), has proven able to produce significant (around 90x) (Sajish et al., 2012) speed increases in scientific computing. Here, we describe initial steps to port Geant4 and TOPAS to be used on FPGA. We provide performance analysis of the current TOPAS/Geant4 code from an RC implementation perspective. Baseline benchmarks are presented. Achievable performance figures of the subsections of the code on optimal hardware are presented; Aspects of practical implementation of "Monte Carlo on a chip" are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twenty-first century's major problems are the demand for sustainable green energy and the eco-friendly upcycling of plastic waste. The solutions to these problems should have an alluring cost-effective industrial synergy. Tackling these issues address the clean energy generation concerns and the long-term preservation of the economy and environment from plastic waste. This study focuses on upcycling waste plastics into reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and their application in enhanced oil recovery. Raman and TEM analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of RGOs. In addition, FTIR helps study the presence of functional groups and TGA for thermal stability analysis. The RGO improves the oil recovery by altering wettability, reducing surface tension / interfacial tension, and minimizing surfactant loss. The surface / interfacial property and wetting attributes of the RGO-based prepared solution were examined by surface tension and contact angle measurement. The surface tension and contact angle reduction using RGO were ∼25% and ∼20% without surfactant. Whereas with surfactant (anionic, cationic, and nonionic) and RGO, the reduction in surface tension was ∼55%, ∼57%, and ∼57%, respectively. Also, the reduction in contact angle with surfactant was ∼83%, ∼46%, and ∼80% for anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactant with RGO particles. The chemical slug's viscosity was then examined at elevated temperatures. The viscosity results follow the power law model to comprehend fluid flow behavior. Finally, the chemical slug consisting of a surfactant mixture, RGO particles, and an industrial-grade polymer was used in the sand pack flooding studies recovering ∼71% of the original oil in place. [Display omitted] • Recycled plastic waste. • Synthesized reduced graphene oxide (RGO). • Characterization of reduced graphene oxide. • Application of RGO in the field of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) reported for the first time. • Reduction in surface tension and wettability alteration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foam has emerged as an efficient drilling fluid for the drilling of low pressure, fractured and matured reservoirs because of its the ability to reduce formation damage, fluid loss, differential sticking etc. However the compressible nature along with its complicated rheology has made its implementation a multifaceted task. Knowledge of the hydrodynamic behavior of drilling fluid within the borehole is the key behind successful implementation of drilling job. However, little effort has been made to develop the hydrodynamic models for the foam flowing with cuttings through pipes of variable diameter. In the present study, hydrodynamics of the foam fluid was investigated through the vertical smooth pipes of different pipe diameters, with variable foam properties in a flow loop system. Effect of cutting loading on pressure drop was also studied. Thus, the present investigation estimates the differential pressure loss across the pipe. The flow loop permits foam flow through 25.4 mm, 38.1 mm and 50.8 mm diameter pipes. The smaller diameter pipes are used to replicate the annular spaces between the drill string and wellbore. The developed model determines the pressure loss along the pipe and the results are compared with a number of existing models. The developed model is able to predict the experimental results more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel fuzzy logic-based expansion approach considering the relevance score produced by different rank aggregation approaches is proposed. It is well known that different rank aggregation approaches yield different relevance scores for each term. The proposed fuzzy logic approach combines different weights of each term by using fuzzy rules to infer the weights of the additional query terms. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves significant improvement over individual expansion, aggregated and other related state-of-the-arts methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the infarcted myocardium, necrotic cardiomyocytes release danger signals, activating an intense inflammatory response. Inflammatory pathways play a crucial role in regulation of a wide range of cellular processes involved in injury, repair, and remodeling of the infarcted heart. Proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin 1, are markedly upregulated in the infarcted myocardium and promote adhesive interactions between endothelial cells and leukocytes by stimulating chemokine and adhesion molecule expression. Distinct pairs of chemokines and chemokine receptors are implicated in recruitment of various leukocyte subpopulations in the infarcted myocardium. For more than the past 30 years, extensive experimental work has explored the role of inflammatory signals and the contributions of leukocyte subpopulations in myocardial infarction. Robust evidence derived from experimental models of myocardial infarction has identified inflammatory targets that may attenuate cardiomyocyte injury or protect from adverse remodeling. Unfortunately, attempts to translate the promising experimental findings to clinical therapy have failed. This review article discusses the biology of the inflammatory response after myocardial infarction, attempts to identify the causes for the translational failures of the past, and proposes promising new therapeutic directions. Because of their potential involvement in injurious, reparative, and regenerative responses, inflammatory cells may hold the key for design of new therapies in myocardial infarction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bulk amount of unserviceable toxic cresylic acid waste has been disposed off in a safe and environmentally benign manner. A process to immobilize this waste into non-toxic solid cresol formaldehyde polymer has been developed. Initial study was performed for 1.0 kg batch size for optimising the process parameters and conditions, and on the basis of this data, process was scaled-up for bulk disposal (100 kg/batch). The effect of ratio of reactants, type of catalyst [H2SO4, NaOH, and Ca(OH)2], catalyst concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time have been studied in a batch process. Maximum immobilization in the 1.0 kg batch studies was obtained when cresylic acid and formaldehyde were taken in a molar ratio 1:1.5 using NaOH as a catalyst. For bulk polymerisation, a ratio of 1.0 : 1.2 (cresylic acid : formaldehyde) with NaOH [0.7 per cent (wt/wt of total charge)] was found optimum. The final polymerised product has been buried as per standard procedure in two brick lined pits. Finally, the site has been declared as free from the toxic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drilling through shales with higher clay content is highly challenging with water-based drilling fluids. Numerous shale swelling inhibitors such as salts, polymers, and other chemical additives are used in drilling muds to stabilize shale formations. The inspection of the swelling inhibition capabilities of these additives is of utmost importance before its field application. Capillary Suction Timer instrument has been used to evaluate the shale inhibition performance of three categories of shale stabilizers for water-based drilling fluids. Each category of additive contains three different types of chemicals: salts (Potassium Chloride, Potassium Formate, and Choline Chloride), polymers (polyN-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]methacrylamide, poly[2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride and Polyvinylpyrrolidone) and ionic liquids (1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and two other deep eutectic solvents). Capillary Suction Time for each chemical additive has been determined for various concentrations at room temperature. This test helps assess the clay swelling capability of the drilling mud in the presence of different additives at various concentrations. The Capillary Suction Time is dependent on the type and concentrations of chemical additive exhibiting a relative change in clay water interaction inhibition. The ionic liquids area significant category for clay swelling inhibition showing a minimum increase in Capillary Suction Time after 24 h. This indicates shale inhibition durability of the additive by resisting the water intake by clay. In addition, Fourier Transform Infra-Red and X-ray Diffraction techniques helped in characterizing the clay under consideration. The present work focuses on modeling the capillary suction time using machine learning algorithms. This technique provides a robust model for assessing the swelling capabilities of the drilling mud based on the concentration and types of additives. Of the different algorithms used, the Gradient Boosting algorithm provides the best model for capillary suction time estimation with an accuracy of 98%. • Three categories of additives i.e. ionic liquids, polymers and salt have been tested for shale stabilization. • Capillary Suction Timer Test has been described in detail for the first time. • Machine learning approach is also used to identify the type of additive needed. • Clay was also characterized by method such as FT-IR, XRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the fatality of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) among athletes. The condition is an inborn abnormality that causes an abnormal rate of muscle contractions in the heart. Two case reports are presented which describes the result of the evaluation on the two female athletes in the Western countries who have a WPW syndrome. The reports have served as a guide to athletes on how to detect persons who have a WPW syndrome.

Background: Based on inhibition of viral replication and limited reports on clinical efficacy, hydroxychloroquine is being considered as prophylaxis and treatment of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Although hydroxychloroquine is generally considered safe during pregnancy based on studies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and other rheumatic conditions, there may still be reluctance to institute this antimalarial during pregnancy for the sole purpose of antiviral therapy.Methods: To provide data regarding any potential fetal/neonatal cardiotoxicity, we leveraged a unique opportunity in which neonatal ECGs and hydroxychloroquine blood levels were available in a recently completed study evaluating the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine 400 mg daily to prevent the recurrence of congenital heart block associated with anti-SSA/Ro (anti-Sjögren's Syndrome A/Ro) antibodies.Results: Forty-five ECGs were available for corrected QT interval (QTc) measurement, and levels of hydroxychloroquine were assessed during each trimester of pregnancy and in the cord blood, providing unambiguous assurance of drug exposure. Overall, there was no correlation between cord blood levels of hydroxychloroquine and the neonatal QTc (R=0.02, P=0.86) or the mean of hydroxychloroquine values obtained throughout each individual pregnancy and the QTc (R=0.04, P=0.80). In total 5 (11% [95% CI, 4%-24%]) neonates had prolongation of the QTc >2 SD above historical healthy controls (2 markedly and 3 marginally) but ECGs were otherwise normal.Conclusions: In aggregate, these data provide reassurances that the maternal use of hydroxychloroquine is associated with a low incidence of infant QTc prolongation. However, if included in clinical COVID-19 studies, early postnatal ECGs should be considered. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT01379573. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]