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Coiled tubing (CT) has been widely used for oil and gas exploitation, however corrosion of CT under high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) environment was often reported, also corrosion induced failures of CT welds were often observed to occur during service. Corrosion related behaviors of CT welds are not clear. Therefore, a study of the corrosion resistance of CT welds under HPHT environment is carried out. In order to efficiently evaluate the corrosion resistance of welds, some test samples were obtained by linear cutting out of a CT110 in service on the site. The water samples from gas field were used as the test reagent to simulate the actual corrosive medium. Based on the results of weight loss test under HPHT corrosive environment and tensile test under room conditions, the corrosion sensitivities of the welding seam and base material under various temperatures and partial pressures of CO2 as well as the mechanical properties of the corroded CT were compared and evaluated quantitatively, the corrosion morphologies and material products of the test samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The test results showed that the corrosion rates of the welding seam in a HPHT caldron were 1.7, 2.0 and 1.2 times of the base metal’s when the total pressure is 4MPa, and the temperature is 30°C, 60°C and 90°C, respectively. The corrosion rates of the welding seam is 2.0, 2.1 and 2.0 times of the base metal’s when the partial pressure of CO2 is 0.1MPa, 0.2MPa and 0.3MPa, respectively. The yield strength of the weld seam after corrosion test was found to be reduced by 4.8% (the yield strength of the base metal was reduced by 4.0%) and its tensile strength was reduced by 8.2% (the base metal was reduced by 7.1%). This indicates that CT weld seam is more susceptible to corrosion than CT base material under service condition.

The morphology and distribution of the antennal sensilla of adult diving beetle Cybister japonicus Sharp (Dytiscidae, Coleoptera), have been examined. Five types of sensilla on the antennae were identified by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Sensilla placodea and elongated s. placodea are the most abundant types of sensilla, distributing only on the flagellum. Both these types of sensilla carry multiple pore systems with a typical function as chemoreceptors. Three types of s. coeloconica (Type I-III) were also identified, with the characterization of the pit-in-pit style, and carrying pegs externally different from each other. Our data indicated that both type I and type II of s. coleconica contain two bipolar neurons, while the type III of s. coleconica contains three dendrites in the peg. Two sensory dendrites in the former two sensilla are tightly embedded inside the dendrite sheath, with no space left for sensilla lymph. There are no specific morphological differences in the antennal sensilla observed between males and females, except that the males have longer antennae and more sensilla than the females.

We describe low-cost fabrication, size control and characterization of borosilicate glass nanopores for sensing of single biomolecules. Nanopores with pore diameters down to ∼100nm were fabricated in borosilicate glass capillaries using table-top carbon-di-oxide laser assisted glass capillary puller. We further achieve controlled reduction in pore diameter by sculpting of glass capillaries under constant electron beam exposure of a scanning electron microscope. We confirm successful fabrication of sub-10nm pores by SEM imaging. We further show electrical characterization and low-noise behavior of these borosilicate nanopores and compare various geometries of pulled conical glass nanopores. We show, for the first time, a comprehensive characterization of glass nanopore conductance across a wide range (1M-1μM) of salt conditions. We show the conditions for the conical pore conductance model to fit to this extended salt range. We also experimentally show, for the first time, the role of buffer conditions in this wide salt range measurement. Finally, we demonstrate single molecule sensing capabilities of these devices with real-time translocation experiments of individual λ-DNA molecules. We observe distinct current blockage signatures of single and multiply folded DNA molecules as they undergo voltage-driven translocation through the glass nanopores. We find increased signal to noise for single molecule detection for higher trans-nanopore driving voltages.

The macro-epibiotic communities of sea turtles have been subject to growing interest in recent years, yet their micro-epibiotic counterparts are almost entirely unknown. Here, we provide the first evidence that diatoms are epibionts for all seven extant species of sea turtle. Using Scanning Electron Microscopy, we inspected superficial carapace or skin samples from a single representative of each turtle species. We distinguished 18 diatom taxa from these seven individuals, with each sea turtle species hosting at least two diatom taxa. We recommend that future research is undertaken to confirm whether diatom communities vary between sea turtle species and whether these diatom taxa are facultative or obligate commensals.