Settling of Drilling Cuttings in Polymeric Solutions: A Parametric Investigation.

Drilling fluids, commonly referred to as drilling mud, are pumped into the wellbore to expedite the drilling process by moving drilling cuttings to the surface, suspending cuttings, controlling pressure, stabilizing exposed rock, and providing buoyancy, cooling, and lubrication. Understanding the settling of drilling cuttings in base fluids is crucial for successfully mixing drilling fluid additives. In this study, the response surface method Box-Benhken design (BBD) is used to analyze the terminal velocity of the drilling cuttings in a polymeric base fluid of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The impact of polymer concentration, fiber concentration, and cutting size on the terminal velocity of the cuttings is investigated. The BBD of the three factors (low, medium, and high) is used for two fiber aspect ratios (3 and 12 mm length). The size of the cuttings varied between 1 and 6 mm, while the concentration of CMC was between 0.49 and 1 wt %. The concentration of the fiber was in the range of 0.02-0.1 wt %. Minitab was utilized to determine the optimum conditions for reducing the terminal velocity of the suspended cuttings and then evaluate the effects and interactions of the components. The results show good agreement between model predictions and the experimental results (R2 = 0.97). According to the sensitivity analysis, cutting size and polymer concentration are the most crucial factors affecting the terminal cutting velocity. Large cutting sizes have the most significant impact on polymer and fiber concentrations. The optimization results revealed that a CMC fluid with a viscosity of 630.4 cP is sufficient to maintain a minimum cutting terminal velocity of 0.234 cm/s with a cutting size of 1 mm and a 0.02 wt % of the 3 mm length fiber.

The Role of Laparoscopic Mini-Gastric Bypass in Management of Metabolic Syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The study was performed to evaluate the technique of laproscopic minigastric bypass for metabolic syndrome patients. STUDY DESIGN: The patients were enrolled in a combined prospective study and had a retrospectively gathered outcome analysis. PATIENT AND METHODS: The study includes thirty patients; 24 females and 6 males suffering from metabolic syndrome with a mean age of 33.15 ±â€¯10.17 years (range, 20-59), who fulfilled the criteria for bariatric surgery with BMI >35 with associated co-morbidities, all patients underwent laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass. RESULTS: BMI and WC were significantly reduced post-operatively; also co-morbidities as DM, hypertension and dyslipidemia were resolved or controlled. The mean operative time was 90 ±â€¯12.6 min (range, 80-120). No mortality was reported within 30 days of surgery. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic mini gastric bypass is an effective procedure for the treatment of obesity, HTN, type 2 DM and dyslipidemia, technically feasible, safe operation with a low rate of major postoperative complications.

A metamodel for mobile forensics investigation domain.

With the rapid development of technology, mobile phones have become an essential tool in terms of crime fighting and criminal investigation. However, many mobile forensics investigators face difficulties with the investigation process in their domain. These difficulties are due to the heavy reliance of the forensics field on knowledge which, although a valuable resource, is scattered and widely dispersed. The wide dispersion of mobile forensics knowledge not only makes investigation difficult for new investigators, resulting in substantial waste of time, but also leads to ambiguity in the concepts and terminologies of the mobile forensics domain. This paper developed an approach for mobile forensics domain based on metamodeling. The developed approach contributes to identify common concepts of mobile forensics through a development of the Mobile Forensics Metamodel (MFM). In addion, it contributes to simplifying the investigation process and enables investigation teams to capture and reuse specialized forensic knowledge, thereby supporting the training and knowledge management activities. Furthermore, it reduces the difficulty and ambiguity in the mobile forensics domain. A validation process was performed to ensure the completeness and correctness of the MFM. The validation was conducted using two techniques for improvements and adjustments to the metamodel. The last version of the adjusted metamodel was named MFM 1.2.