Energy markets restructure beyond 2022 and its implications on Qatar LNG sales strategy: Business forecasting and trend analysis.

The emergence of new suppliers and energy resources has reshaped the energy market in terms of contractual structures and pricing systems. The market shifts were accelerated in response to the latest Russian-Ukraine crisis, impacting natural gas supply chains from financing projects to contracting volumes. The increased demand for liquified natural gas volumes intensified the need to switch from long-term oil-indexed contracts to short-term gas-indexed contracts. Those shifts were anticipated to influence the selling strategies for the expected added 49 MTPA of Qatari LNG, wherein increasing the share of spot selling would be reflected in higher economic performance. This study used forecasted prices to investigate potential Qatari LNG selling strategies. Initially, projections of the most dominant pricing systems used for pricing Qatari LNG (i.e., brent, Henry Hub, Title Transfer Facility, and Japan Korea Marker) were estimated between 2023 and 2040. While Qatar has been relying on long-term oil-indexed contracts, the second step estimated annual LNG revenues under different combinations of selling strategies (i.e., long-term and spot sales). Finally, the influence of varying brent slopes on the estimated revenues was measured. Due to data limitations and non-stationarity, the double exponential smoothing model was selected among the different tested models. Considering current market dynamics, forecasts of the double exponential smoothing model showed an upward price trend until 2040. An annual average increase of 1.24% for the studied pricing systems was reported. Reducing the share of long-term brent-indexed contracts to 70% and dedicating the remaining 30% of volumes to spot sales yielded the highest premiums for revenue estimates. An average annual revenue of $62 bn was reported for the 70/30 strategy, around 6% higher than the 100% brent-indexed contracts strategy. The findings revealed that diversifying the selling approach and introducing spot sales can enhance revenues. From the buyers' perspective, the outcomes support policymakers in understanding the implications of escalated prices driven by a lack of liquidity investments.

Strategic and flexible LNG production under uncertain future demand and natural gas prices.

The expectation in global demand for liquified natural gas (LNG) remains bullish in the coming years. Despite the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the oil price wars between OPEC and Russia in 2020, causing oversupply and falling prices, the LNG markets continue to demonstrate flexibility and resilience in delivering the needs of different sectors, whilst helping achieve the emissions targets. This is attributed to the high competitiveness amongst LNG producers and suppliers, providing greater confidence for medium-to-long term demand. However, the uncertainties in the current outlook for the return of demand and price growth in the post-COVID period pose difficulty for new liquefaction project investment decisions in the pre-Investment Decision Phase (pre-FID). Accordingly, the consideration of new production and selling strategies is needed in the early design stages of projects to cope with the shift in buyers' sentiments favouring increased reliance on spot and short-term uncontracted volumes, as well as incorporating additional flexibility into long-term contracts. In this study, the economic valuation of the flexible Air Product's AP-X liquefaction technology was investigated considering the modelling of price volatilities, using the mean-reverting jump-diffusion pricing model and Monte Carlo simulation, assuming different demand level scenarios in the high-income Asia Pacific markets based on historical trends. The results clearly demonstrate that embedding flexibility within an LNG production system allows producers and suppliers to diversify selling strategies, and take advantage of the lucrative market conditions when demand and prices increase, and hedge against market risks when demand and prices are low.

Factor Influences for Diagnosis and Vaccination of Avian Infectious Bronchitis Virus (Gammacoronavirus) in Chickens.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a major economic problem in commercial chicken farms with acute multiple-system infection, especially in respiratory and urogenital systems. A live-attenuated and killed vaccine is currently immunized to control IBV infection; however, repeated outbreaks occur in both unvaccinated and vaccinated birds due to the choice of inadequate vaccine candidates and continuous emergence of novel infectious bronchitis (IB) variants and failure of vaccination. However, similar clinical signs were shown in different respiratory diseases that are essential to improving the diagnostic assay to detect IBV infections. Various risk factors involved in the failure of IB vaccination, such as various routes of application of vaccination, the interval between vaccinations, and challenge with various possible immunosuppression of birds are reviewed. The review article also highlights and updates factors affecting the diagnosis of IBV disease in the poultry industry with differential diagnosis to find the nature of infections compared with non-IBV diseases. Therefore, it is essential to monitor the common reasons for failed IBV vaccinations with preventive action, and proper diagnostic facilities for identifying the infective stage, leading to earlier control and reduced economic losses from IBV disease.

KASP: a genotyping method to rapid identification of resistance in Plasmodium falciparum.

BACKGROUND: The emergence and spread of anti-malarial resistance continues to hinder malaria control. Plasmodium falciparum, the species that causes most human malaria cases and most deaths, has shown resistance to almost all known anti-malarials. This anti-malarial resistance arises from the development and subsequent expansion of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in specific parasite genes. A quick and cheap tool for the detection of drug resistance can be crucial and very useful for use in hospitals and in malaria control programmes. It has been demonstrated in different contexts that genotyping by Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP), is a simple, fast and economical method that allows a high-precision biallelic characterization of SNPs, hence its possible utility in the study of resistance in P. falciparum. METHODS: Three SNPs involved in most cases of resistance to the most widespread anti-malarial treatments have been analysed by PCR plus sequencing and by KASP (C580Y of the Kelch13 gene, Y86N of the Pfmdr1 gene and M133I of the Pfcytb gene). A total of 113 P. falciparum positive samples and 24 negative samples, previously analysed by PCR and sequencing, were selected for this assay. Likewise, the samples were genotyped for the MSP-1 and MSP-2 genes, and the Multiplicity of Infection (MOI) and parasitaemia were measured to observe their possible influence on the KASP method. RESULTS: The KASP results showed the same expected mutations and wild type genotypes as the reference method, with few exceptions that correlated with very low parasitaemia samples. In addition, two cases of heterozygotes that had not been detected by sequencing were found. No correlation was found between the MOI or parasitaemia and the KASP values of the sample. The reproducibility of the technique shows no oscillations between repetitions in any of the three SNPs analysed. CONCLUSIONS: The KASP assays developed in this study were efficient and versatile for the determination of the Plasmodium genotypes related to resistance. The method is simple, fast, reproducible with low cost in personnel, material and equipment and scalable, being able to core KASP arrays, including numerous SNPs, to complete the main pattern of mutations associated to P. falciparum resistance.

Enhancing the corrosion resistance of reinforcing steel under aggressive operational conditions using behentrimonium chloride.

Aggressive operational conditions e.g. saline media and acidic gases, e.g., CO2 can increase the corrosion rate of reinforcing steel. Accordingly, the necessity to protect the steel under the above conditions without affecting the mechanical properties of the concrete is growing. Herein, the inhibition efficiency of a new corrosion inhibitor, behentrimonium chloride (BTC, C25H54ClN), is explored in a simulated-concrete pore solution (SCP) with 3.5 wt.% NaCl at different pH using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and polarization methods. Using only a 50 µmol L-1 of BTC, we are able to measure an inhibition efficiency of 91, 79, and 71% in SCP solution with 3.5% NaCl at pH of 12.5, 10 and 7, respectively without showing any effect on the mechanical properties on the cured mortars. Temkin isotherm is used to describe the physisorption of BTC inhibitor on the steel surface. Also, the adsorption and influence of the inhibitor on the metal surface are characterized using the scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In conclusion, this new inhibitor shows high corrosion inhibition efficiencies under different aggressive conditions and can be used in concrete to reduce the corrosion rate of reinforcing steel without decreasing the mechanical properties of the concrete.

Development and Properties of Polymeric Nanocomposite Coatings.

Polymeric-based nanocomposite coatings were synthesized by reinforcing epoxy matrix with titanium nanotubes (TNTs) loaded with dodecylamine (DOC). The performance of the developed nanocomposite coatings was investigated in corrosive environments to evaluate their anti-corrosion properties. The SEM/TEM, TGA, and FTIR analysis confirm the loading of the DOC into the TNTs. The UV-Vis spectroscopic analysis confirms the self-release of the inhibitor (DOC) in response to the pH change. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) analysis indicates that the synthesized nanocomposite coatings demonstrate superior anticorrosion properties at pH 2 as compared to pH 5. The improved anticorrosion properties of nanocomposite coatings at pH 2 can be attributed to the more effective release of the DOC from the nanocontainers. The superior performance makes polymeric nanocomposite coatings suitable for many industrial applications.

Compositional and expression analyses of the glideosome during the Plasmodium life cycle reveal an additional myosin light chain required for maximum motility.

Myosin A (MyoA) is a Class XIV myosin implicated in gliding motility and host cell and tissue invasion by malaria parasites. MyoA is part of a membrane-associated protein complex called the glideosome, which is essential for parasite motility and includes the MyoA light chain myosin tail domain-interacting protein (MTIP) and several glideosome-associated proteins (GAPs). However, most studies of MyoA have focused on single stages of the parasite life cycle. We examined MyoA expression throughout the Plasmodium berghei life cycle in both mammalian and insect hosts. In extracellular ookinetes, sporozoites, and merozoites, MyoA was located at the parasite periphery. In the sexual stages, zygote formation and initial ookinete differentiation precede MyoA synthesis and deposition, which occurred only in the developing protuberance. In developing intracellular asexual blood stages, MyoA was synthesized in mature schizonts and was located at the periphery of segmenting merozoites, where it remained throughout maturation, merozoite egress, and host cell invasion. Besides the known GAPs in the malaria parasite, the complex included GAP40, an additional myosin light chain designated essential light chain (ELC), and several other candidate components. This ELC bound the MyoA neck region adjacent to the MTIP-binding site, and both myosin light chains co-located to the glideosome. Co-expression of MyoA with its two light chains revealed that the presence of both light chains enhances MyoA-dependent actin motility. In conclusion, we have established a system to study the interplay and function of the three glideosome components, enabling the assessment of inhibitors that target this motor complex to block host cell invasion.

Normocyte-binding protein required for human erythrocyte invasion by the zoonotic malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi.

The dominant cause of malaria in Malaysia is now Plasmodium knowlesi, a zoonotic parasite of cynomolgus macaque monkeys found throughout South East Asia. Comparative genomic analysis of parasites adapted to in vitro growth in either cynomolgus or human RBCs identified a genomic deletion that includes the gene encoding normocyte-binding protein Xa (NBPXa) in parasites growing in cynomolgus RBCs but not in human RBCs. Experimental deletion of the NBPXa gene in parasites adapted to growth in human RBCs (which retain the ability to grow in cynomolgus RBCs) restricted them to cynomolgus RBCs, demonstrating that this gene is selectively required for parasite multiplication and growth in human RBCs. NBPXa-null parasites could bind to human RBCs, but invasion of these cells was severely impaired. Therefore, NBPXa is identified as a key mediator of P. knowlesi human infection and may be a target for vaccine development against this emerging pathogen.

Discovery of precursor and mature microRNAs and their putative gene targets using high-throughput sequencing in pineapple (Ananas comosus var. comosus).

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, endogenous non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression, resulting in the silencing of target mRNA transcripts through mRNA cleavage or translational inhibition. MiRNAs play significant roles in various biological and physiological processes in plants. However, the miRNA-mediated gene regulatory network in pineapple, the model tropical non-climacteric fruit, remains largely unexplored. Here, we report a complete list of pineapple mature miRNAs obtained from high-throughput small RNA sequencing and precursor miRNAs (pre-miRNAs) obtained from ESTs. Two small RNA libraries were constructed from pineapple fruits and leaves, respectively, using Illumina's Solexa technology. Sequence similarity analysis using miRBase revealed 579,179 reads homologous to 153 miRNAs from 41 miRNA families. In addition, a pineapple fruit transcriptome library consisting of approximately 30,000 EST contigs constructed using Solexa sequencing was used for the discovery of pre-miRNAs. In all, four pre-miRNAs were identified (MIR156, MIR399, MIR444 and MIR2673). Furthermore, the same pineapple transcriptome was used to dissect the function of the miRNAs in pineapple by predicting their putative targets in conjunction with their regulatory networks. In total, 23 metabolic pathways were found to be regulated by miRNAs in pineapple. The use of high-throughput sequencing in pineapples to unveil the presence of miRNAs and their regulatory pathways provides insight into the repertoire of miRNA regulation used exclusively in this non-climacteric model plant.

The Plasmodium Class XIV Myosin, MyoB, Has a Distinct Subcellular Location in Invasive and Motile Stages of the Malaria Parasite and an Unusual Light Chain.

Myosin B (MyoB) is one of the two short class XIV myosins encoded in the Plasmodium genome. Class XIV myosins are characterized by a catalytic "head," a modified "neck," and the absence of a "tail" region. Myosin A (MyoA), the other class XIV myosin in Plasmodium, has been established as a component of the glideosome complex important in motility and cell invasion, but MyoB is not well characterized. We analyzed the properties of MyoB using three parasite species as follows: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium berghei, and Plasmodium knowlesi. MyoB is expressed in all invasive stages (merozoites, ookinetes, and sporozoites) of the life cycle, and the protein is found in a discrete apical location in these polarized cells. In P. falciparum, MyoB is synthesized very late in schizogony/merogony, and its location in merozoites is distinct from, and anterior to, that of a range of known proteins present in the rhoptries, rhoptry neck or micronemes. Unlike MyoA, MyoB is not associated with glideosome complex proteins, including the MyoA light chain, myosin A tail domain-interacting protein (MTIP). A unique MyoB light chain (MLC-B) was identified that contains a calmodulin-like domain at the C terminus and an extended N-terminal region. MLC-B localizes to the same extreme apical pole in the cell as MyoB, and the two proteins form a complex. We propose that MLC-B is a MyoB-specific light chain, and for the short class XIV myosins that lack a tail region, the atypical myosin light chains may fulfill that role.