Geochemical And Mineralogical Assessment Of Secondary Gypsum In Al-Najaf, Iraq And Employment As Raw Material For Cement Industry

The Portland cement industry is one of the strategic industries in any country. The basis of an industry success is the availability of raw materials and, the low extraction in addition to transportation costs. The Bahr Al-Najaf region is abundant with limestone rocks but lacks primary gypsum. An investigation had been carried out to identify the source of secondary gypsum as an alternative to primary gypsum. Twelve boreholes were drilled for a depth of 2 m, as the thickness of suitable secondary gypsum layer ranges from 1 to 1.5 m. The mineralogical study revealed the predominance of gypsum followed by quartz and calcite, with an average of 62.9%, 19.6% and 14.35%, respectively. The geochemical analysis revealed that the content of SO3 is appropriate and ranging from 41.92% to 32.89% with an average of 37.73%. The SO3 content is within an acceptable range. The mean abundance of the major oxides of the study area may be arranged as SO3 > CaO> SiO2> MgO> Al2O> Fe2O3. The insoluble residue was at an acceptable rate. The laboratory experiments for milling secondary gypsum with clinker has successfully proven the production of Portland cement that matches the limits of the Iraqi Quality Standard (IQS) No. 5 of 1984. Great care must be taken when using secondary gypsum; secondary gypsum must be mixed well to maintain the chemical properties before blending with clinker and utilizing in the cement mill in the cement plant.

Shell Rounds the Corner on a Whale of a Task

Shell had a problem. It had just spent billions to bring its Appomattox find on line in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM). That development featured the oil giant’s eighth and largest floating platform in the region. The host semisubmersible weighed 125,000 metric tons—more than the largest aircraft carrier. Shell lauded its ability to reduce project cost by 40%, based on experience gained from the development of its previous four-column production platforms in the US Gulf, including the Olympus tension-leg platform. It would transfer these learnings to its next project—the Vito find in about 4,000 ft of water, 150 miles southeast of New Orleans. The field could hold up to 300 million BOE. At the same time the plans for Vito were being laid out, shale projects leapt to the forefront in the competition for capex dollars, and due to the comparative investment, they were winning. Industry success across the nation’s shale plays helped flood the market with oil, forcing the price per barrel down. Suddenly, spending big money on megaprojects offshore had lost much of its luster. For the US Gulf to reclaim at least some of its competitive advantage, fields could no longer be developed with massive, high-dollar facilities. A management mandate dictated that a new minimal, repeatable solution be found. After several years of study, a favorite emerged. “The original concept of Vito was much larger,” said Kurt Shallenberger, Vito project manager for Shell. “The development was probably similar in size to the Appomattox project that Shell recently completed—a 40,000-ton topsides, and a 50-year field life with a sizable gas-reinjection component to it.” Shell’s method for arriving at the new development scheme was dubbed “Minimal Technical Scoping”—the company would start with the absolute minimum scope and then justify additions upward. The project mantra was “Simpler is safer.” The results were a simplified topsides design as well as streamlined mooring systems for the host facility. “The redesign took it down to what I call the sweet spot of semisubmersibles—around a 10,000-ton deck,” said Shallenberger. “You had seen examples of that with LLOG’s Delta House, Independence Hub, and others like that. That was the sweet spot to where multiple fabricators can build it, multiple yards can integrate it, multiple companies can install it—and you can generally get 100,000 bbl a day through it. Now you’re in a competitive environment for all the vendors rather than just the one guy in the world who can do this. That’s what really created the opportunity for Vito. We shrunk the size and scope down to a point where it could get to a breakeven price that is competitive with the onshore folks.” According to Shell, the breakeven price for their minimal floater design is less than $35/bbl. Shell locked up key vendors for Vito. Jacobs Engineering Group carried out the detailed engineering and front-end engineering design studies for the Vito topsides. Sembcorp would build the host and integrate the topsides and hull at its Tuas Boulevard yard in Singapore.

Total Quality Management Benefits and Barriers in Construction Industry

The building sector is playing an important part Major factor in any country's development. The Construct industry growth depends on Building project efficiency. Quality is one thing Important factor in construction industry success in this paper the problems of quality definition in the construction industry are discussed, analysis potential advantages of quality implementation and considers quality barriers to Building implementation. Many implementing obstacles. We identify recent patterns that could lead to the Invade barriers. However, the various building actors must Know that improvement is necessary for the construction industry to improve quality TQM is specifically designed to deliver excellence in customer satisfaction by continual improvement full participation of product and processes every person who is a part of dedication that product/process. It's an orchestrated approach enhancement. If implemented correctly, it will support the Company of construction to boost its efficiency.

Pyometra Treatment by Histeropexy with Toggles Aplication in Mini Horse

Background: Brazil is an important horse breeder that creates about three million jobs and movements about R$16,15billions per year. Although, it is important to the horse breeding industry success that the animals reproductive performance be kept. The mare pregnancy loss causes abundant forfeitures to horse breeders, furthermore, the chronic pyometra is one of that causes. The chronic pyometra is an uncommon mare condition, clinical treatments are often ineffective, under those circumstances the hysterectomy, ovariohysterectomy and uteropexy are recommended. This report proposes to describe the chronic pyometra surgical treatments with the uteropexy technique in mini horses that do not respond to the clinical treatment. Case: A 14-year-old mini breed horse mare weighing 117 kg was sent to Veterinarian Hospital (HV) of the Paraná Federal University (UFPR), presenting dystocia background and intrauterine purulent secretion. The clinical treatment had been conducted, but not well succeeded. An hysteroscopy was conducted with a cervix rupture monitoring, uterine mucosa edematiated and crispy, presenting liquid and a high amount of purulent secretion in the uterus horn and body. The biopsy identified uteropexy. The post-surgical complications were minimums and 30 days after the procedure the laparoscopy was repeated with uterine healing monitoring, without adherences and the uterus were at horizontal position. The hysteroscopy was conducted where a small amount of purulent secretion was perceived. Ten days after the second laparoscopy the patient was discharged. Two years after the procedure, the animal responsible informed that there was not a relapse. Discussion: the mare pyometra occurrence is uncommon and emerges by nature protection false mechanisms. Any change or flaw in one of these protection mechanics barriers, may result in a reproductive change due to uterine infection, resulting in reduction of mare reproductive capacity. Probably this reports patients developed pyometra due to the cervix lesion it's presented made easier the uterus external microorganisms entrance, that predisposes an chronic uterine infection. As many authors report, the chronic pyometra clinical treatment is not always successful, also observed in the case reported, indicating then surgical treatment. There are many pyometra surgical treatments indications as: Wedge resection technique in case of cervix adherence, uteropexy technique, ovary-hysterectomy technique or hysterectomy. The ovary-hysterectomy and the hysterectomy was not conducted for being considered highly invasive. This case choice procedure was the uteropexy, which corresponds to fixing the broad ligament of the uterus to the abdominal wall, repositioning it horizontally, to obtain a better drainage and motility, since this is your anatomic position. In the report, the surgical technique was conducted satisfactorily, certifying the uterine elevation by laparoscopy in the postoperative and also by the responsible report, that the animal does not relapse in two years. The postoperative complications were not alarming, considering that it ceased 24h after the procedure. The conclusions present in this treatment show that the hysteropexy conducted by videosurgery with toggles application developed the necessary uterine elevation to the liquid drainage, that allows the mare to execute the uterine cleaning by the physiological form.Keywords: uterus, endometritis, uteropexy, uterine elevation.Histeropexia com aplicação de “toggles” para tratamentode piometra em mini horseDescritores: útero, edometrite, uteropexia, elevação uterina.

Branding and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical industry is at a phase where the need to embrace marketing and branding strategies on a larger scale has increased as compared to the past. In this chapter, the authors address the trends in which pharmaceutical branding has evolved over the years into something very different in today's world. The pharmaceutical products can be broken down into four types, which include the patented products, generics, branded generics, and the OTC market. This chapter looks at the branding activities that are carried out by each of these. The chapter highlights the learnings from the consumer marketing industry, the complexities involved in building a brand strategy, global challenges faced in branding in the pharma domain, some of the successful strategies that have been implemented in the pharmaceutical industry (success stories), and the future trends in this area.

The Role of Public Policies in Enhancing Cultural and Creative Industries: An Analysis of Public Policies Related to Music in Colombia

This chapter aims to analyse how public policies can influence the development of clusters around the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), more specifically the music sector in the case of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Since the 1990s, the cultural and creative industry has attracted academia and governments across the world to create clusters and economic development, mainly in developing countries such as Colombia. Yet to ensure music industry success, public policies that improve CCIs’ resources and capacities need to be provided. This paper focuses on the impact of public policies on CCIs in Bogota and how different clusters have been created, especially related to music. Moreover, we examine how national strategy has had a positive influence on local strategy with clusters being boosted in devalued areas of the city, bringing improvements in their economic development.