Journal articles on the topic 'Critical coning rate'

Thin oil rim reservoirs are mostly characterized by development and production challenges; one of which is early water coning tendency. In the Niger Delta, most developed critical oil rate correlations to avert coning focused on conventional bottom-water drive reservoirs, while thin oil rim reservoirs received limited attention. Available correlations to estimate critical oil rate of thin oil rim reservoirs in Niger Delta are based on generic reservoir models, which does not consider the reservoir heterogeneity. Hence, it leaves these available correlations’ predictions in doubt, considering the sensitive nature of developing thin oil rim reservoirs. Thus, a correlation for critical oil rate (qc) based on integrated reservoir model in the Niger Delta was develop for thin oil rim reservoirs using multivariable numerical optimization approach. The obtained result indicated that the developed correlation predicted 226.05 bbl/day compared to the actual Oilfield critical oil rate of 226.11 bbl/day. Furthermore, sensitivity study indicated that the developed correlation and the integrated reservoir model predictions of fractional well penetration (hp/h) and height below perforation - oil column (hbp/h) on critical oil rate (qc) were close and resulted in coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9266 and 0.9525, Chi square (X2) of 0.539 and 0.655, and RMSE of 4.336 and 4.357. Additionally, the results depict that critical oil rate depends indirectly on fractional well penetration and directly on height above perforation for vertical wells. Therefore, to delay water-coning tendency in thin oil rim reservoirs these completion parameters are consideration in vertical wells to establish optimum critical oil rate during hydrocarbons production. Also, the developed correlation can be used as a quick tool to estimate critical oil rate of thin oil rim reservoirs in the Niger Delta.

AbstractThe steady response of a fluid with two layers of different density in a porous medium is considered during extraction through a point sink. Supercritical withdrawal in which both layers are being withdrawn is investigated using a spectral method. We show that for each withdrawal rate, there is a single entry angle of the interface into the point sink. As the flow rate decreases the angle of entry steepens until it becomes almost vertical, at which point the method fails. This limit is shown to correspond to the upper bound on sub-critical (single-layer) flow.

AbstractIn oil reservoirs, the less-dense oil often lies over a layer of water. When pumping begins, the oil-water interface rises near the well, due to the suction pressures associated with the well. A boundary-integral formulation is used to predict the steady interface shape, when the oil well is approximated by a series of sources and sinks or a line sink, to simulate the actual geometry of the oil well. It is found that there is a critical pumping rate, above which the water enters the oil well. The critical interface shape is a cusp. Efforts to suppress the cone by using source/sink combinations are presented.

Abstract Exploitation of natural gas fields with edge or underlying water is usually defined per analogy to the oil fields. The existing models do not correspond to reality as they do not describe relevant processes related with a turbulent gas flow near the well. The natural gas exploitation with productivity greater than critical may be advantageous in view of summaric depletion and rate of depletion. Article presents: the analysis of the selected critical rates models, determining the influence of specific parameters on the critical rate values, introducing new modified formula for critical rates, and comparative calculations for various configurations with the numerical model.

There are two percolation models, horizontal radial flow above perforation interval, and semispherical centripetal flow below perforation interval. Based on this models and the theory of percolation flow through porous media, a study on prediction of water breakthrough time in fractured gas reservoir with bottom water is presented. Through mathematical calculations, a formula to determine the time of water breakthrough in fractured gas reservoir with bottom water wells is derived. Case study indicates that water breakthrough time decreases with the fracture development index. With increase of perforated degree, water breakthrough time increase first and then decreased after a critical value, which could be considered as optimum perforation degree. If the perforated degree is fixed, the water breakthrough time is directly proportional to the thickness of the gas reservoir and inversely proportional to the gas production rate.

The withdrawal of water with a free surface through a line sink from a two-dimensional, vertical sand column is considered using the hodograph method and a novel spectral method. Hodograph solutions are presented for slow flow and for critical, limiting steady flows, and these are compared with spectral solutions to the steady problem. The spectral method is then extended to obtain unsteady solutions and hence the evolution of the phreatic surface to the steady solutions when they exist. It is found that for each height of the interface there is a unique critical coning value of flow rate, but also that the value obtained is dependent on the flow history.

Dual-completed wells with Downhole Water Sink (DWS) are used for water coning control in oil reservoirs with bottom water drive. In DWS wells, the second (bottom) completion—placed in the water column—is used for draining water. This prevents the water cone invasion and allows free oil inflow in the top completion. The decision on using DWS or a conventional (single-completed) well is based upon deliverability comparison of the two wells. This paper shows how to describe DWS well deliverability in terms of the top and bottom production rates, water cut, and pressure drawdown. Also, the effect of pressure interference between two well completions on deliverability limits has been studied and qualified experimentally. DWS well deliverability depends on two variables, pressure drawdown and water drainage rate, and is described by a three-dimensional Inflow Performance Domain (IPD). Visual-Basic software based on a new analytical model of IPD has been developed to calculate critical (fluid breakthrough) rates for oil and water. The critical rates identify inflow conditions to the well’s completions—single or two-phase inflow. Also calculated are the values of water cut and maximum pressure drawdown at the well. An example demonstrates the procedure and a complete IPD plot. The experimental study, using a Hele-Shaw physical model of DWS well, demonstrates the reduction of well’s deliverability caused by pressure interference from the second (bottom) completion. The experiments have shown, however, that the deliverability decrease is small and over-compensated by the increase of oil rate due to simultaneous reduction of water cut.

The withdrawal of water with a free surface through a line sink from a two-dimensional, vertical sand column is considered using the hodograph method and a novel spectral method. Hodograph solutions are presented for slow flow and for critical, limiting steady flows, and these are compared with spectral solutions to the steady problem. The spectral method is then extended to obtain unsteady solutions and hence the evolution of the phreatic surface to the steady solutions when they exist. It is found that for each height of the interface there is a unique critical coning value of flow rate, but also that the value obtained is dependent on the flow history. doi:10.1017/S1446181119000099

According to material balance principle, gas/water bearing height in gas reservoir with bottom water could be deduced. Additionally, sweep efficiency could be approximately determined, then based on the equivalent flowing resistance method and critical vertical velocity of bottom water drive, computational model of Critical Producing Pressure Drop during the development of gas reservoir with bottom water could be derived. Therefore, the variance principle of Critical Producing Pressure Drop of horizontal well can be expressed quantitatively, and this paper also analyzes that it is influenced by the ratio of vertical permeability to horizontal permeability, the difference between water and gas density, the ratio of water viscosity to gas viscosity and height for bottom water coning. The results could provide guidelines for the determination of reasonable producing pressure drop and producing rate of horizontal well in gas reservoir with bottom water.

Horizontal well has been widely used as a solution for oil reservoir with underlain strong water drive. The advantage of horizontal well over vertical well is to increase the reservoir contact and thereby enhance well productivity. Because of that, horizontal well can provide a very low pressure drawdown to avoid the water coning and still sustain a good productivity. However, the advantage of the large contact area with reservoir will soon become the disadvantage when the water breakthrough into the horizontal well. The water cut will increase rapidly due to the large contact area with reservoir and it may cause the productivity loss of the whole well. Therefore, keeping the horizontal well production rate under critical rate is crucial. However, existing models of critical rate either oversimplify or misrepresent the nature of the WOC interface, resulting in misestimating the critical rate. In this paper, a new analytical model of critical rate is presented to provide accurate calculations on this subject for project design and performance predictions. Unlike the conventional approach, in which the flow restriction due to the water crest shape has been neglected; including the distortions of oil-zone flow caused by the rising water crest, the new analytical model gives an accurate simultaneous determination of the critical rate, water crest shape and the pressure distribution in the oil zone by using hodograph method combined with conformal mapping. The accuracy of this model was confirmed by numerical simulations. The results show that neglecting the presence of water crest leads to up to 50 percent overestimation of critical rates.

Water coning is one of the most important phenomena that affect the oil production from oil reservoirs having bottom water aquifers. Empirical model has been developed based on numerical simulator results verified for wide range variation of density difference, viscosity ratio, perforated well interval, vertical to horizontal permeability ratio and well to reservoir radius ratio; the effect of all these parameters on breakthrough time of raising water have been recorded for five different oil flow rate. Since, the model reflects the real situations of reservoir-aquifer zone systems; in which the aquifer has a specific strength to support the reservoir pressure drop depending on its characteristics and water properties. Moreover, the numerical model has been constructed using very fine grids near the wellbore especially in vertical direction, so that very accurate results can be obtained. and (625)runs were performed to generate the breakthrough time model using the numerical simulator verifying all parameters affecting on breakthrough time. The results show that water coning is complex phenomena that depends on all reservoir and fluid properties; the dynamic critical flow rates affected simultaneously by both of the displacing fluid zones. The results show that the breakthrough time of the presented formula provides extreme accuracy with many numerical simulator cases of same reservoir and fluid properties; thus, the suggested formula can be considered as an alternative, quick and easy use tool than numerical simulation models, which consumes time and efforts.

We consider axisymmetric flow towards a point sink from a stratified fluid in a vertically confined aquifer. We present two approaches to solve the equations of flow for the linear density gradient case. Firstly, a series method results in an eigenfunction expansion in Whittaker functions. The second method is a simple finite difference method. Comparison of the two methods verifies the finite difference method is accurate, so that more complicated nonlinear, density stratification can be considered. Such nonlinear profiles cannot be considered with the eigenfunction approach. Interesting results for the case where the density stratification changes from linear to almost two-layer are presented, showing that in the nonlinear case there are certain values of flow rate for which a steady solution does not occur. References Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, I. A., Handbook of Mathematical Functions, 9th ed. National Bureau of Standards, Washington, 1972. Bear, J. and Dagan, G. Some exact solutions of interface problems by means of the hodograph method. J. Geophys. Res. 69(8):1563–1572, 1964. doi:10.1029/JZ069i008p01563 Bear, J. Dynamics of fluids in porous media. Elsevier, New York, 1972. https://store.doverpublications.com/0486656756.html COMSOL Multiphysics. COMSOL Multiphysics Programming Reference Manual, version 5.3. https://doc.comsol.com/5.3/doc/com.comsol.help.comsol/COMSOL_ProgrammingReferenceManual.pdf Farrow, D. E. and Hocking, G. C. A numerical model for withdrawal from a two layer fluid. J. Fluid Mech. 549:141–157, 2006. doi:10.1017/S0022112005007561 Henderson, N., Flores, E., Sampaio, M., Freitas, L. and Platt, G. M. Supercritical fluid flow in porous media: modelling and simulation. Chem. Eng. Sci. 60:1797–1808, 2005. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2004.11.012 Lucas, S. K., Blake, J. R. and Kucera, A. A boundary-integral method applied to water coning in oil reservoirs. ANZIAM J. 32(3):261–283, 1991. doi:10.1017/S0334270000006858 Meyer, H. I. and Garder, A. O. Mechanics of two immiscible fluids in porous media. J. Appl. Phys., 25:1400–1406, 1954. doi:10.1063/1.1721576 Muskat, M. and Wycokoff, R. D. An approximate theory of water coning in oil production. Trans. AIME 114:144–163, 1935. doi:10.2118/935144-G GNU Octave. https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/doc/v4.2.1/ Yih, C. S. On steady stratified flows in porous media. Quart. J. Appl. Maths. 40(2):219–230, 1982. doi:10.1090/qam/666676 Yu, D., Jackson, K. and Harmon, T. C. Disperson and diffusion in porous media under supercritical conditions. Chem. Eng. Sci. 54:357–367, 1999. doi:10.1016/S0009-2509(98)00271-1 Zhang, H. and Hocking, G. C. Axisymmetric flow in an oil reservoir of finite depth caused by a point sink above an oil-water interface. J. Eng. Math. 32:365–376, 1997. doi:10.1023/A:1004227232732 Zhang, H., Hocking, G. C. and Seymour, B. Critical and supercritical withdrawal from a two-layer fluid through a line sink in a bounded aquifer. Adv. Water Res. 32:1703–1710, 2009. doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2009.09.002 Zill, D. G. and Wright, W. S. Differential Equations with Boundary-value problems, 8th Edition. Brooks Cole, Boston USA, 2013.

Summary This paper describes a single-well pilot in which light-oil diluent was injected through tubing to lower in-situ oil viscosity and increase production from a low-gravity oil well. The pilot well is located on the Heritage platform in the Santa Ynez Unit and produces from the Monterey formation. The pilot validated laboratory data suggesting that large production-rate increases could result from high-rate diluent injection. Introduction The Monterey formation is a complex reservoir with intense structuring, fracturing, and highly variable rock properties. It is a dual-porosity system, with low-permeability matrix rock and extensive fracturing. The fractures provide the flow path to the wells and are well-connected to a very large aquifer. The fluid system is equally complex. The original oil column was 2,000 ft thick, and the oil gravity varied from 5 to 19°API. Gravity/depth relationships vary within the field area. Heavy oil, as defined in this paper, is oil with dead-oil gravities of approximately 11°API or less. Fig. 1 is a geothermal temperature-gradient curve for offshore California. Fig. 2 is an estimation of live-oil viscosities for Monterey crude as a function of temperature and dead-oil gravity. Recovering the heavier oil at economic rates without producing large volumes of water is a challenge owing to a strong aquifer, highly permeable fractures, and a poor oil/water viscosity ratio. Achieving the large drawdown required to produce heavy oil at the high rates needed for economic operations offshore can result in the oil being bypassed by water flowing through the fractures. Even if bypassing can be avoided, the flow rate of heavy oil to the wellbore can be low. Furthermore, cooling of the heavy oil as it reaches the seafloor results in additional producing problems. As seen in Fig. 2, a 10°API oil has an in-situ viscosity of 100 cp at 200°F. As the heavy oil flows to the surface and cools, viscosity can rise above 10,000 cp and cause severe lifting problems. Deep, long throw wells (6,000 to 10,000 ft subsea), an offshore operating environment, a fracture zone with an active aquifer, and low heavy-oil prices rule out most methods of heavy-oil recovery. The challenge is to find a low-cost method to lower the oil viscosity in both the near-well region and the tubing. This paper documents a simple and inexpensive way to lower viscosity by an order of magnitude or more through cyclic injection of light oil. Theory Darcy's Law for radial, steady-state flow describes fluid flow in porous media. This simple equation gives guidance and insight to solve many oil-production problems:Equation 1 This pilot focused on reducing viscosity (µo) as a method to increase production rate (q). While the other components are also important, they were less critical for the following reasons:Fracture permeability in the major producing intervals of the Monterey formation in the Santa Barbara Channel is excellent. Wells have produced at rates in excess of 9,000 STB/D from as little as 40 ft true vertical depth (TVD) of the perforated interval. Average permeabilities are in the multidarcy range.High drawdowns may be harmful in the long run because of an unfavorable oil/water viscosity ratio. High drawdowns can result in water coning and fingering through the fractures, leaving bypassed oil in the formation. In addition, alternative lifting methods to increase drawdown can be costly owing to long throws and deep completions in the offshore environment. Reducing in-situ oil viscosity can improve the oil/water viscosity ratio, reduce water coning and fingering, reduce water cut, reduce lifting problems, and increase production rates and oil recovery from fractured heavy-oil reservoirs. HE-26 Pilot Background. The Heritage platform began producing from the Pescado field in the Santa Ynez Unit in December 1993. Wells produce 10 to 17°API oil from the Monterey and 34°API oil from sandstone formations. The Monterey formation consists of thin beds of porcelanite, chert, calcite, dolomite, and shale. The beds are highly fractured and well-connected both areally and vertically by an extensive fracture network. The fractures provide the primary flow paths in the reservoir and result in well rates as high as 10,000 STB/D. Formation pressure is supported by re-injection of produced gas and by a large, well-connected aquifer. The original oil column was approximately 2,000 ft thick and contained undersaturated oil with gravities grading from 19°API at the crest of the structure to 5°API at the original oil/water contact. Wells either flow naturally or are produced by high-volume gas lift. The sandstone formations lie below the Monterey and contain light oil with an associated gas cap. Sandstone wells flow naturally without the need for artificial lift. HE-26 History. The HE-26 well was drilled and completed in July 1997 in the Monterey formation, with perforations at 6,956 to 6,997 and 7,416 to 7,437 ft subsea. The well was stimulated with a combination of xylene, HCL, and mud acid, using foam and ball sealers for diversion. After stimulation, the well produced approximately 100 STB/D of 10.2°API oil and water. These perforations were isolated with a through-tubing bridge plug, and the well was reworked higher to 6,751 to 6,801 ft subsea. The new perforations were stimulated in a similar fashion. Oil gravity increased slightly, but production rates were unchanged. The interval was isolated with another through-tubing bridge. A final interval was perforated at 6,667 to 6,702 ft subsea. Oil gravity was slightly higher (11.4°API), but oil production rates once again did not change.

The context to this article is sovereign biopower as experienced by female asylum seekers in the confined spaces of UK Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs). With approximately 27,000 migrants entering immigration detention in 2017, the UK’s immigration detention estate is one of the largest in Western Europe. Through an empirical study with former detainees, this article outlines how women experience Agamben’s politically bare life through IRC practices that confine, dehumanise, and compound their asylum vulnerabilities. It also explains how micro-transgressions around detention food, social relations, and faith practices reflect a Foucauldian critical attitude and restore a degree of political agency to asylum applicants. Centrally this article argues that everyday acts of resistance – confirming their identities as human / gendered / cultural beings with social belonging – can be read as political agency in women’s questioning of their asylum administration. As such, this article offers a rare insight on biopower and political agency as lived and performed by women inside the in/exclusive spaces of the IRC.

We analyze some of the critical factors that confine the transmission length for a quantum key distribution system under a certain Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER). Emphasis was placed on the relationship between transmission length and QBER. Relationships between the minimum QBER and transmission length in theory for ideal M–Z interferometers and for the real case in theory according to the parameters of our system are given. The relationship between them as obtained by experiment was also given. The results showed that our system is very close to the performance of an ideal experimental system.

The process of human blood clotting involves a complex interaction of continuous-time/continuous-state processes and discrete-event/discrete-state phenomena, where the former comprise the various chemical rate equations and the latter comprise both threshold-limited behaviors and binary states (presence/absence of a chemical). Whereas previous blood-clotting models used only continuous dynamics and perforce addressed only portions of the coagulation cascade, we capture both continuous and discrete aspects by modeling it as a hybrid dynamical system. The model was implemented as a hybrid Petri net, a graphical modeling language that extends ordinary Petri nets to cover continuous quantities and continuous-time flows. The primary focus is simulation: (1) fidelity to the clinical data in terms of clotting-factor concentrations and elapsed time; (2) reproduction of known clotting pathologies; and (3) fine-grained predictions which may be used to refine clinical understanding of blood clotting. Next we examine sensitivity to rate-constant perturbation. Finally, we propose a method for titrating between reliance on the model and on prior clinical knowledge. For simplicity, we confine these last two analyses to a critical purely-continuous subsystem of the model.

In case of tunnel fire at congest traffic, central smoke extraction by controlling the longitudinal flow velocity can confine and extract the fire-induced smoke in a short time, and retain the natural stratification as well as possible for obvious reason of safety. With respect to three vents located on both sides of the fire in an asymmetrical arrangement, a series of experimental tests are carried out in a 1/14 reduced scale model tunnel. For the experimental simulations, fire induced smoke is simulated by a heated air release using the model proposed by Mégret et al. Detailed temperature distributions in the tunnel have been carried out. According to the test results, it is difficult to give consideration to the smoke control both upstream and downstream the fire. At critical ventilation, until the exhaust rate Ge is more than 519m3/s, air temperature in the respiratory region can decrease to 322K for people survival.

Summary Horizontal well targeting is often a greater challenge in massive, fractured carbonates than in low-productivity, poorly connected, and relatively thin reservoirs. This paper discusses methods to target horizontal wellbores in three-dimensional space to both confirm the fracture interpretation and establish high-efficiency oil capture. Several well examples are presented to illustrate the targeting objectives and the resulting well performance. Early in the program, the horizontal drilling objectives sought to maximize the lateral length in a direction determined by offset well productivity; the sample philosophy as is used in matrix-dominated reservoirs. Analysis of these results and employment of methods presented in this paper indicate profit can be maximized by drilling to a specific target to intersect a fracture trend at an optimum elevation instead of concentrating on maximizing length of lateral. Intervals of rapid penetration, lost circulation, and/or bit slides, along with cutting sample compositions, provided insight for confirmation and extension of the fracture network interpretation. The width of disturbance and degree of fracturing observed along interpreted fracture trends are valuable data for improved fracture network interpretation and computer simulation. Both the elevation and number of fracture branches encountered are significant strategic planning issues for oil recovery from unconfined oil columns in a massive carbonate system. Results from a large number of horizontals indicate significant productivity increases are achieved by proper targeting of laterals into major fracture features. Introduction Horizontal wells provide a unique assessment tool for formations containing reservoirs dominated by discontinuous flow features such as fractures or interbedded sandstones. Massive carbonate formations are the most extreme setting for large-scale, high-contrast, discontinuous reservoir properties. In sandstones of moderate to low quality, horizontals are typically applied to improve rate by exposing additional formation for fluid entry at high drawdown. In carbonates, horizontals serve to intersect high-conductivity flow features. In sandstones, high flow quality often coincides with sand accumulation. In contrast, carbonate flow is often highly discontinuous while storage capacity remains a relatively continuous function (as limited by depositional and diagenetic porosity history). Since 1993, significant study has gone into identifying the extent and quality of fracture networks and the impact these systems have had on reservoir management, fluid reinjection, and completion efficiency.1,2 In west Texas alone, well over 100 short-radius horizontal wells have been drilled in one field since 1986. Horizontals drilled in this fractured carbonate reservoir were initially done to maximize oil production while limiting gas coning.3 With the recent fracture studies, emphasis has moved to using horizontal boreholes to connect with large flow features not penetrated in existing wellbores.4,5 These more recent wells have targeted fracture zones interpreted from flexure maps which are developed from a second derivative analysis of structural surface maps. This paper provides results of several horizontal wells drilled with the intent of cutting the interpreted fracture zones. Targeting horizontal wells requires an understanding of massive carbonate features as well as discontinuous flow features. This paper will discuss how mapping was used to determine flow-feature locations; how horizontal drilling techniques were used to intersect these targeted flow features; and a discussion of the refinement of the interpretation and the drilling operations. Massive Carbonate Flow Features What is a massive carbonate? Carbonates that have relatively thick (100 ft or greater) intervals of mixed porous and tight/brittle rock types, free of continuous soft shale or anhydrite layers, are considered massive for this discussion. Structural deformation is subtle in many massive carbonate reservoirs, but still highly significant in generating preferential flow within the reservoir body. Minor deformation, as resulting from differential compaction and formation dip growth is accommodated in a range of extensional fracturing of the relatively brittle carbonates. Potential solution enhancement of fracture and fault zones further enhances flow. The highly conductive flow features of these carbonates often are a mix of bedding parallel (matrix) and subvertical (fracture) features.2 Data gathered from vertical wells can bias the interpretation of flow-feature population due to sampling a greater population of bedding parallel features. Vertical wells statistically encounter numerous short, mostly random-oriented fractures, but very few of the largest subvertical fracture features. Horizontal wells, in contrast, encounter few bedding parallel flow features in exchange for a full range of subvertical fracture flow features. Horizontal wells can provide data for direct assessment of fracture frequency and matrix block size in contrast to the highly interpretive approach required for assessment from vertical well data. More importantly, horizontal well data provides insight into the lateral variance in subvertical fracture features. Significant variation is expected between low fracture intensity near the center of a large formation block relative to the high frequency expected near the edges of this block where strain is concentrated. Block edges for large-scale features may follow obvious faults, hingelines (linear trends of dip change), or structural noses. Fig. 1 conceptually illustrates a fractured rock mass with a horizontal well intersecting a strain zone of likely high-flow capacity. Often, the structural indications of block-edge strain zones are subtle and easily merged with interpreted depositional or erosional changes across the field. Here, horizontal well data are critical to generation of an adequate flow-feature model.

Background: Chitosan, a naturally occurring polymer, has interesting applications in the field of drug delivery due to its plentiful advantages as biodegradability, biocompatibility and nontoxic nature. Nigella sativa essential oil is unstable, volatile, and insoluble in water and these problems confine its usage in developing new medicines. Objective: This study focuses on developing a chitosan-based nanocarrier for the encapsulation of Nigella Sativa essential oil. By using Quality by design outline, the quality target product outline, critical quality attributes and critical material attributes were defined by knowledge and risk-based procedures. Method: According to defined critical material attributes, Optimization software (Statgraphics XVII) was used to study the effect of the processing parameters. The processing parameters identified and fixed first with a “One factor at a time” approach. Various physicochemical characterization techniques were performed. Results: As a result, the ratio of chitosan to benzoic acid (2:1) along with the stirring rate (4000 rpm) produced minimum-sized particles (341 nm) with good stability. The anti-bacterial activity study using Staph. Aureus strain proved that the optimized nanoparticles were more efficacious than the pure oil based on the diameter of inhibition zone obtained (diameter =5.5 cm for optimized formula vs diameter = 3.6 cm for pure oil). Furthermore, MTT (methyl thiazolyl-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) assay was performed to compare the in vitro cytotoxicity using two different cell lines (i.e. HCT 116 for colorectal carcinoma and PC3 for prostatic cancer). It was found that in both cell lines, the optimized nanoparticles had noteworthy antiproliferative properties illustrated by determining the concentration at which 50% of growth is inhibited (IC50). The optimized nanoparticles showed lower IC50 (17.95 ±0.82 and 4.02 ±0.12μg/ml) than the bare oil IC50 (43.56 ±1.95 and 29.72 ±1.41μg/ml).

Indoor positioning remains a challenge and, despite much research and development carried out in the last decade, there is still no standard as with the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) outdoors. This paper presents an indoor positioning system called LOCATE-US with adjustable granularity for use with commercial mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. LOCATE-US is privacy-oriented and allows every device to compute its own position by fusing ultrasonic, inertial sensor measurements and map information. Ultrasonic Local Positioning Systems (U-LPS) based on encoded signals are placed in critical zones that require an accuracy below a few decimeters to correct the accumulated drift errors of the inertial measurements. These systems are well suited to work at room level as walls confine acoustic waves inside. To avoid audible artifacts, the U-LPS emission is set at 41.67 kHz, and an ultrasonic acquisition module with reduced dimensions is attached to the mobile device through the USB port to capture signals. Processing in the mobile device involves an improved Time Differences of Arrival (TDOA) estimation that is fused with the measurements from an external inertial sensor to obtain real-time location and trajectory display at a 10 Hz rate. Graph-matching has also been included, considering available prior knowledge about the navigation scenario. This kind of device is an adequate platform for Location-Based Services (LBS), enabling applications such as augmented reality, guiding applications, or people monitoring and assistance. The system architecture can easily incorporate new sensors in the future, such as UWB, RFiD or others.

The last 2016 issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching includes six papers, five of which are reports of original research projects and one is a conceptual piece. The initial two contributions are concerned with different aspects of pragmatics, both with respect to the teaching of this subsystem and the process of its acquisition. In the first of these, Andrew D. Cohen addresses the crucial issue of how native and non-native teachers of second and foreign languages deal with sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic features in their classes. He reports the findings of an online survey of 113 teachers of different additional languages from across the world, which demonstrated that while there exist many similarities between the native and non-native instructors, the former are often at an advantage, although they by no means confine themselves to reliance on their intuition. In the second, Qiong Li undertakes a synthesis of 26 original longitudinal research studies on naturalistic pragmatic development in adult learners with the purpose of identifying patterns of variation in the acquisition of pragmatic features and providing potential explanations for the occurrence of such variation. The analysis showed that there are differences in the rate of development of various aspects of pragmatics (e.g., speech acts vs. lexical features), which can be accounted for in terms of factors related to the target language (e.g., the frequency of the feature in the input), the situation (e.g., social status) and the learner (e.g., initial knowledge about the target feature). The following two papers shift the emphasis to the role of individual factors in the process of second language acquisition, more specifically the contributions of motivation and willingness to communicate (WTC). Ali Al-Hoorie reports the results of a survey study conducted among 311 young Arabic adult learners of English as a foreign language, providing evidence, somewhat in contrast to much previous research, that achievement in second language learning is a function of implicit attitudes to L2 speakers and L2 learning experience rather than the ought-to self or attachment to the L1 group, with such constructs as the ideal L2 self or intended effort being unrelated to success. The study by Mystkowska-Wiertelak investigated fluctuations in WTC of advanced learners of English during seven conversation classes which she taught over the period of one semester. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data gathered by means of self-assessment girds, interviews, questionnaires and detailed lesson plans indicated that WTC was indeed in a state of flux, both within single lessons and over time, with such changes being attributed to an intricate interplay of contextual and individual factors. The last two contributions focus on the role of critical thinking in foreign language learning. Jelena Bobkina and Svetlana Stefanova present a model of teaching critical thinking skills with the help of literature, arguing that such skills can be fostered through encouraging critical reader response to fictional work embedded in social phenomena as well as illustrating how this model can be applied to classroom practice. In the last paper, Paweł Sobkowiak underscores the interdependence of critical thinking and the development of intercultural competence, discussing the findings of a study of 20 coursebooks used in the Polish contexts and concluding that activities used in these coursebooks fall short of achieving either goal. As always, I am confident that all of the papers included in the present issue will provide food for thought to the readers and serve as a springboard for future empirical investigations that will help us better understand the exceedingly complex processes of second language learning and teaching.

Three key concepts, namely religion, education and social-transformation are discussed together in this paper. The main idea is to identify the contribution of religion, through education, to the transformation of Tanzanian society. For preciseness, this paper narrows to the only one body of denomination; that is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). This does not disqualify the massive contributions from other religions, organizations as well as the government to the social transformation. An actual fact is that transformation is a complex phenomenon, since it is a process and a product of various internal and external factors. Which means; it is not easy to confine transformation to only one agent or factor or period. Although a great work is being done by religion to transform society; still the same critical questions are swinging in the whole discussion: How relevant is education in impacting a sustainable transformation? Is a seemingly transformation a product of education or a natural transformation that comes with globally related advancement? How do we rate transformation in the society where spiritualism overrules reason? All these questions are aimed to create awareness to both religions and other bodies that play a role for social transformation; to re-evaluate their system and methods of education for a more sustainable outcome. Este artigo discute três conceitos-chave: religião, educação e transformação social. Sua ideia principal é identificar a contribuição da religião, através da educação, para a transformação social na Tanzania. Para ser mais preciso, trata apenas de uma denominação: a Igreja Evangélica Luterana na Tanzania (IELT). Isto não desqualifica as contribuições massivas de outras religiões, organizações e o governo para transformação social. Um fato real é que a transformação é fenômeno complexo, pois é um processo e produto de vários fatores internos e externos. Isto significa que não fácil reduzir a transformação a apenas um agente, fator ou período. Muito trabalho está sendo feito para transformar a sociedade, mas ainda as mesmas questões críticas estão presentes em todas as discussões: Qual a relevância da educação para impactar uma transformação sustentável? A transformação é um produto da educação ou uma transformação natural que vem com o avanço globalmente relacionado? Como podemos avaliar a transformação numa sociedade em que o espiritualismo prevalece sobre a razão? Todas estas questões visam criar uma consciência tanto para a religião quanto os outros corpos que tem um papel na transformação social e reavaliar seu sistema e método de educação para um resultado mais sustentável.

Summary Foam propagation in co-injection of gas and surfactant solution has been studied in a 10-m-long flow apparatus, equipped with pressure ports and fluid sampling valves for every 1 m. The data have been compared to the results of a core scale foam flooding experiment with the same porous medium. The propagation experiments on the 10 m scale revealed that the foam front propagated significantly slower than the injected fluid front. It appeared that foam propagation was not limited by surfactant transport, but was delayed due to the presence of oil in the porous medium. The experiments have been interpreted with the aid of a numerical foam simulator. Introduction Oil is often effectively displaced by gas. Due to the low density and low viscosity of gas, it may be difficult to achieve a good macroscopic sweep efficiency, however. It has been found that the use of foam may reduce gas mobility, and thereby improve the sweep of gas. Foam can be formed within the reservoir when gas and surfactant solution flow together. A successful well treatment with foam is critically dependent on placement of foam to the desired depth in the reservoir. The injection time required to reach a given depth depends on the propagation velocity of the foam. For the design of a foam treatment, prediction of foam propagation becomes an important issue. The aim of the present study was to clarify which mechanisms determine the foam propagation velocity, and to find out how foam propagation on the reservoir scale relates to foam data obtained in conventional coreflood experiments. The literature provides some observations of foam propagation rates at various conditions. At the Kern River steam foam pilot,1 it was found that the formation of one volume of a C16/18 ?-olefin sulphonate (AOS) foam within the formation required injection of 1.5 volumes of surfactant solution and 700 volumes of steam at reservoir conditions. This propagation delay was interpreted as mainly caused by surfactant retention, but it was also suggested that inefficiencies in foam generation and bubble transport could have further slowed down the growth of the foam zone. Also, Irani and Solomon2 observed slow foam propagation, in slim-tube studies of AOS-stabilized CO2 foams. In experiments without surfactant in the slim tube before foam injection, the foam propagated significantly slower than the injected fluid fronts. In experiments with gas slug injection into porous medium presaturated with surfactant solution, piston-like propagation at the velocity of the injected gas front was observed. When oil was present in the porous medium, there was significant propagation delay observed also during gas slug injection, however. In co-injection experiments in cores with the surfactant adsorption already satisfied, Kovscek et al.3 observed piston-like foam propagation with no retardation of a C16/18 AOS foam. Similar observations were made by Osterloh and Jante.4 Kovscek et al. also performed experiments where the core was free from surfactant at the start of foam injection. Then, retardation of the foam front was found, however, demonstrating how surfactant adsorption retards foam propagation. Aarra et al.5 found significant retardation in experiments in cores with residual oil saturation after gas flooding. The cores were presaturated with C14/16 AOS surfactant solution. At a total injection rate of gas and surfactant solution of about 3 m/d (interstitial velocity), the foam propagated with a velocity of 0.036 m/d. In this case, surfactant adsorption cannot explain the slow propagation, and the oil remains the most probable cause for the retardation. Mannhardt and Svorstøl6 also reported slow propagation in systems with surfactant adsorption satisfied. At an injection rate of 1 m/d, the foam used 10 days to propagate the first 40 cm of a core which had 19% pore volume (PV) oil saturation. Without oil, the foam traveled 40 cm in less than half a day, which corresponds approximately to the velocity of the injected fluids. This also points to the oil as one source of propagation delay. At the employed conditions, the foam strength was found to be sensitive to the presence of oil. The literature on oil-free experiments with adsorption satisfied demonstrates that the propagation delay is not intrinsic to foam per se. A quantitative understanding of all effects that control the propagation delay is lacking, however. The present study aims at improving this understanding. The approach taken has been to study foam propagation in well-characterized systems, over large distances (10 m). The porous medium has been characterized by laboratory experiments on the usual core scale, with respect to relative permeability, capillary pressure, and foam flow and surfactant adsorption properties. Then, foam propagation was studied on the semi-reservoir scale, and compared to modeling based on core scale data, in order to learn how to use core data to predict foam propagation in the reservoir. Experiment Flow Apparatus. The semi-reservoir scale flow experiments were carried out at reservoir conditions in a 10-m-long sandpack. The container for the 10 m sandpack was a specially constructed assembly of ten 1 m long tubes made of the corrosion resistant alloy Hastelloy C-276. The outer and inner diameters of the tubes were 25.4 and 18.1 mm, respectively. The 1-m-long tube sections were coupled together with coupling pieces made from the same material. Each coupling piece was equipped with one piston for compression of the sand, one valve for sampling of fluids during flooding, and one port for pressure measurement. Voids in the sand, generated by vibrations during sand filling, were taken up by moving the sand compression pistons. During packing, sand was repeatedly filled at each connection until the pistons could not be moved anymore. This assured that no voids were present at tube connectors. Flow ports and pressure ports were equipped with Hastelloy C-276 wire mesh in order to confine the sand. Each coupling piece changed the direction of flow by 180° such that the entire tube assembly only occupied a volume of 123×40×20 cm3, and could be fitted into a thermostated cabinet. The layout of the apparatus is sketched in Fig. 1. The assembly was designed for a pressure limit of 620 bar at 90°C. Core scale flooding experiments for relative permeability measurements were carried out in a single 1 m section. All flooding experiments were carried out with the tubes oriented horizontally.

To date, discrete event stochastic simulations of large scale biological reaction systems are extremely compute-intensive and time-consuming. Besides, it has been widely accepted that spatial factor plays a critical role in the dynamics of most biological reaction systems. The NSM (the Next Sub-Volume Method), a spatial variation of the Gillespie’s stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA), has been proposed for spatially stochastic simulation of those systems. While being able to explore high degree of parallelism in systems, NSM is inherently sequential, which still suffers from the problem of low simulation speed. Fine-grained parallel execution is an elegant way to speed up sequential simulations. Thus, based on the discrete event simulation framework JAMES II, we design and implement a PDES (Parallel Discrete Event Simulation) TW (time warp) simulator to enable the fine-grained parallel execution of spatial stochastic simulations of biological reaction systems using the ANSM (the Abstract NSM), a parallel variation of the NSM. The simulation results of classical Lotka-Volterra biological reaction system show that our time warp simulator obtains remarkable parallel speed-up against sequential execution of the NSM.I.IntroductionThe goal of Systems biology is to obtain system-level investigations of the structure and behavior of biological reaction systems by integrating biology with system theory, mathematics and computer science [1][3], since the isolated knowledge of parts can not explain the dynamics of a whole system. As the complement of “wet-lab” experiments, stochastic simulation, being called the “dry-computational” experiment, plays a more and more important role in computing systems biology [2]. Among many methods explored in systems biology, discrete event stochastic simulation is of greatly importance [4][5][6], since a great number of researches have present that stochasticity or “noise” have a crucial effect on the dynamics of small population biological reaction systems [4][7]. Furthermore, recent research shows that the stochasticity is not only important in biological reaction systems with small population but also in some moderate/large population systems [7].To date, Gillespie’s SSA [8] is widely considered to be the most accurate way to capture the dynamics of biological reaction systems instead of traditional mathematical method [5][9]. However, SSA-based stochastic simulation is confronted with two main challenges: Firstly, this type of simulation is extremely time-consuming, since when the types of species and the number of reactions in the biological system are large, SSA requires a huge amount of steps to sample these reactions; Secondly, the assumption that the systems are spatially homogeneous or well-stirred is hardly met in most real biological systems and spatial factors play a key role in the behaviors of most real biological systems [19][20][21][22][23][24]. The next sub-volume method (NSM) [18], presents us an elegant way to access the special problem via domain partition. To our disappointment, sequential stochastic simulation with the NSM is still very time-consuming, and additionally introduced diffusion among neighbor sub-volumes makes things worse. Whereas, the NSM explores a very high degree of parallelism among sub-volumes, and parallelization has been widely accepted as the most meaningful way to tackle the performance bottleneck of sequential simulations [26][27]. Thus, adapting parallel discrete event simulation (PDES) techniques to discrete event stochastic simulation would be particularly promising. Although there are a few attempts have been conducted [29][30][31], research in this filed is still in its infancy and many issues are in need of further discussion. The next section of the paper presents the background and related work in this domain. In section III, we give the details of design and implementation of model interfaces of LP paradigm and the time warp simulator based on the discrete event simulation framework JAMES II; the benchmark model and experiment results are shown in Section IV; in the last section, we conclude the paper with some future work.II. Background and Related WorkA. Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES)The notion Logical Process (LP) is introduced to PDES as the abstract of the physical process [26], where a system consisting of many physical processes is usually modeled by a set of LP. LP is regarded as the smallest unit that can be executed in PDES and each LP holds a sub-partition of the whole system’s state variables as its private ones. When a LP processes an event, it can only modify the state variables of its own. If one LP needs to modify one of its neighbors’ state variables, it has to schedule an event to the target neighbor. That is to say event message exchanging is the only way that LPs interact with each other. Because of the data dependences or interactions among LPs, synchronization protocols have to be introduced to PDES to guarantee the so-called local causality constraint (LCC) [26]. By now, there are a larger number of synchronization algorithms have been proposed, e.g. the null-message [26], the time warp (TW) [32], breath time warp (BTW) [33] and etc. According to whether can events of LPs be processed optimistically, they are generally divided into two types: conservative algorithms and optimistic algorithms. However, Dematté and Mazza have theoretically pointed out the disadvantages of pure conservative parallel simulation for biochemical reaction systems [31]. B. NSM and ANSM The NSM is a spatial variation of Gillespie’ SSA, which integrates the direct method (DM) [8] with the next reaction method (NRM) [25]. The NSM presents us a pretty good way to tackle the aspect of space in biological systems by partitioning a spatially inhomogeneous system into many much more smaller “homogeneous” ones, which can be simulated by SSA separately. However, the NSM is inherently combined with the sequential semantics, and all sub-volumes share one common data structure for events or messages. Thus, directly parallelization of the NSM may be confronted with the so-called boundary problem and high costs of synchronously accessing the common data structure [29]. In order to obtain higher efficiency of parallel simulation, parallelization of NSM has to firstly free the NSM from the sequential semantics and secondly partition the shared data structure into many “parallel” ones. One of these is the abstract next sub-volume method (ANSM) [30]. In the ANSM, each sub-volume is modeled by a logical process (LP) based on the LP paradigm of PDES, where each LP held its own event queue and state variables (see Fig. 1). In addition, the so-called retraction mechanism was introduced in the ANSM too (see algorithm 1). Besides, based on the ANSM, Wang etc. [30] have experimentally tested the performance of several PDES algorithms in the platform called YH-SUPE [27]. However, their platform is designed for general simulation applications, thus it would sacrifice some performance for being not able to take into account the characteristics of biological reaction systems. Using the similar ideas of the ANSM, Dematté and Mazza have designed and realized an optimistic simulator. However, they processed events in time-stepped manner, which would lose a specific degree of precisions compared with the discrete event manner, and it is very hard to transfer a time-stepped simulation to a discrete event one. In addition, Jeschke etc.[29] have designed and implemented a dynamic time-window simulator to execution the NSM in parallel on the grid computing environment, however, they paid main attention on the analysis of communication costs and determining a better size of the time-window.Fig. 1: the variations from SSA to NSM and from NSM to ANSMC. JAMES II JAMES II is an open source discrete event simulation experiment framework developed by the University of Rostock in Germany. It focuses on high flexibility and scalability [11][13]. Based on the plug-in scheme [12], each function of JAMES II is defined as a specific plug-in type, and all plug-in types and plug-ins are declared in XML-files [13]. Combined with the factory method pattern JAMES II innovatively split up the model and simulator, which makes JAMES II is very flexible to add and reuse both of models and simulators. In addition, JAMES II supports various types of modelling formalisms, e.g. cellular automata, discrete event system specification (DEVS), SpacePi, StochasticPi and etc.[14]. Besides, a well-defined simulator selection mechanism is designed and developed in JAMES II, which can not only automatically choose the proper simulators according to the modeling formalism but also pick out a specific simulator from a serious of simulators supporting the same modeling formalism according to the user settings [15].III. The Model Interface and SimulatorAs we have mentioned in section II (part C), model and simulator are split up into two separate parts. Thus, in this section, we introduce the designation and implementation of model interface of LP paradigm and more importantly the time warp simulator.A. The Mod Interface of LP ParadigmJAMES II provides abstract model interfaces for different modeling formalism, based on which Wang etc. have designed and implemented model interface of LP paradigm[16]. However, this interface is not scalable well for parallel and distributed simulation of larger scale systems. In our implementation, we accommodate the interface to the situation of parallel and distributed situations. Firstly, the neighbor LP’s reference is replaced by its name in LP’s neighbor queue, because it is improper even dangerous that a local LP hold the references of other LPs in remote memory space. In addition, (pseudo-)random number plays a crucial role to obtain valid and meaningful results in stochastic simulations. However, it is still a very challenge work to find a good random number generator (RNG) [34]. Thus, in order to focus on our problems, we introduce one of the uniform RNGs of JAMES II to this model interface, where each LP holds a private RNG so that random number streams of different LPs can be independent stochastically. B. The Time Warp SimulatorBased on the simulator interface provided by JAMES II, we design and implement the time warp simulator, which contains the (master-)simulator, (LP-)simulator. The simulator works strictly as master/worker(s) paradigm for fine-grained parallel and distributed stochastic simulations. Communication costs are crucial to the performance of a fine-grained parallel and distributed simulation. Based on the Java remote method invocation (RMI) mechanism, P2P (peer-to-peer) communication is implemented among all (master-and LP-)simulators, where a simulator holds all the proxies of targeted ones that work on remote workers. One of the advantages of this communication approach is that PDES codes can be transferred to various hardwire environment, such as Clusters, Grids and distributed computing environment, with only a little modification; The other is that RMI mechanism is easy to realized and independent to any other non-Java libraries. Since the straggler event problem, states have to be saved to rollback events that are pre-processed optimistically. Each time being modified, the state is cloned to a queue by Java clone mechanism. Problem of this copy state saving approach is that it would cause loads of memory space. However, the problem can be made up by a condign GVT calculating mechanism. GVT reduction scheme also has a significant impact on the performance of parallel simulators, since it marks the highest time boundary of events that can be committed so that memories of fossils (processed events and states) less than GVT can be reallocated. GVT calculating is a very knotty for the notorious simultaneous reporting problem and transient messages problem. According to our problem, another GVT algorithm, called Twice Notification (TN-GVT) (see algorithm 2), is contributed to this already rich repository instead of implementing one of GVT algorithms in reference [26] and [28].This algorithm looks like the synchronous algorithm described in reference [26] (pp. 114), however, they are essentially different from each other. This algorithm has never stopped the simulators from processing events when GVT reduction, while algorithm in reference [26] blocks all simulators for GVT calculating. As for the transient message problem, it can be neglect in our implementation, because RMI based remote communication approach is synchronized, that means a simulator will not go on its processing until the remote the massage get to its destination. And because of this, the high-costs message acknowledgement, prevalent over many classical asynchronous GVT algorithms, is not needed anymore too, which should be constructive to the whole performance of the time warp simulator.IV. Benchmark Model and Experiment ResultsA. The Lotka-Volterra Predator-prey SystemIn our experiment, the spatial version of Lotka-Volterra predator-prey system is introduced as the benchmark model (see Fig. 2). We choose the system for two considerations: 1) this system is a classical experimental model that has been used in many related researches [8][30][31], so it is credible and the simulation results are comparable; 2) it is simple but helpful enough to test the issues we are interested in. The space of predator-prey System is partitioned into a2D NXNgrid, whereNdenotes the edge size of the grid. Initially the population of the Grass, Preys and Predators are set to 1000 in each single sub-volume (LP). In Fig. 2,r1,r2,r3stand for the reaction constants of the reaction 1, 2 and 3 respectively. We usedGrass,dPreyanddPredatorto stand for the diffusion rate of Grass, Prey and Predator separately. Being similar to reference [8], we also take the assumption that the population of the grass remains stable, and thusdGrassis set to zero.R1:Grass + Prey ->2Prey(1)R2:Predator +Prey -> 2Predator(2)R3:Predator -> NULL(3)r1=0.01; r2=0.01; r3=10(4)dGrass=0.0;dPrey=2.5;dPredato=5.0(5)Fig. 2: predator-prey systemB. Experiment ResultsThe simulation runs have been executed on a Linux Cluster with 40 computing nodes. Each computing node is equipped with two 64bit 2.53 GHz Intel Xeon QuadCore Processors with 24GB RAM, and nodes are interconnected with Gigabit Ethernet connection. The operating system is Kylin Server 3.5, with kernel 2.6.18. Experiments have been conducted on the benchmark model of different size of mode to investigate the execution time and speedup of the time warp simulator. As shown in Fig. 3, the execution time of simulation on single processor with 8 cores is compared. The result shows that it will take more wall clock time to simulate much larger scale systems for the same simulation time. This testifies the fact that larger scale systems will leads to more events in the same time interval. More importantly, the blue line shows that the sequential simulation performance declines very fast when the mode scale becomes large. The bottleneck of sequential simulator is due to the costs of accessing a long event queue to choose the next events. Besides, from the comparison between group 1 and group 2 in this experiment, we could also conclude that high diffusion rate increased the simulation time greatly both in sequential and parallel simulations. This is because LP paradigm has to split diffusion into two processes (diffusion (in) and diffusion (out) event) for two interactive LPs involved in diffusion and high diffusion rate will lead to high proportional of diffusion to reaction. In the second step shown in Fig. 4, the relationship between the speedups from time warp of two different model sizes and the number of work cores involved are demonstrated. The speedup is calculated against the sequential execution of the spatial reaction-diffusion systems model with the same model size and parameters using NSM.Fig. 4 shows the comparison of speedup of time warp on a64X64grid and a100X100grid. In the case of a64X64grid, under the condition that only one node is used, the lowest speedup (a little bigger than 1) is achieved when two cores involved, and the highest speedup (about 6) is achieved when 8 cores involved. The influence of the number of cores used in parallel simulation is investigated. In most cases, large number of cores could bring in considerable improvements in the performance of parallel simulation. Also, compared with the two results in Fig. 4, the simulation of larger model achieves better speedup. Combined with time tests (Fig. 3), we find that sequential simulator’s performance declines sharply when the model scale becomes very large, which makes the time warp simulator get better speed-up correspondingly.Fig. 3: Execution time (wall clock time) of Seq. and time warp with respect to different model sizes (N=32, 64, 100, and 128) and model parameters based on single computing node with 8 cores. Results of the test are grouped by the diffusion rates (Group 1: Sequential 1 and Time Warp 1. dPrey=2.5, dPredator=5.0; Group 2: dPrey=0.25, dPredator=0.5, Sequential 2 and Time Warp 2).Fig. 4: Speedup of time warp with respect to the number of work cores and the model size (N=64 and 100). Work cores are chose from one computing node. Diffusion rates are dPrey=2.5, dPredator=5.0 and dGrass=0.0.V. Conclusion and Future WorkIn this paper, a time warp simulator based on the discrete event simulation framework JAMES II is designed and implemented for fine-grained parallel and distributed discrete event spatial stochastic simulation of biological reaction systems. Several challenges have been overcome, such as state saving, roll back and especially GVT reduction in parallel execution of simulations. The Lotka-Volterra Predator-Prey system is chosen as the benchmark model to test the performance of our time warp simulator and the best experiment results show that it can obtain about 6 times of speed-up against the sequential simulation. The domain this paper concerns with is in the infancy, many interesting issues are worthy of further investigated, e.g. there are many excellent PDES optimistic synchronization algorithms (e.g. the BTW) as well. Next step, we would like to fill some of them into JAMES II. In addition, Gillespie approximation methods (tau-leap[10] etc.) sacrifice some degree of precision for higher simulation speed, but still could not address the aspect of space of biological reaction systems. The combination of spatial element and approximation methods would be very interesting and promising; however, the parallel execution of tau-leap methods should have to overcome many obstacles on the road ahead.AcknowledgmentThis work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSF) Grant (No.60773019) and the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No. 200899980004). The authors would like to show their great gratitude to Dr. Jan Himmelspach and Dr. Roland Ewald at the University of Rostock, Germany for their invaluable advice and kindly help with JAMES II.ReferencesH. Kitano, "Computational systems biology." Nature, vol. 420, no. 6912, pp. 206-210, November 2002.H. Kitano, "Systems biology: a brief overview." 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Blom, "Spatial stochastic modelling of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase (pts) pathway in escherichia coli," Bioinformatics, vol. 22, no. 15, pp. 1895-1901, August 2006.D. Ridgway, G. Broderick, and M. Ellison, "Accommodating space, time and randomness in network simulation," Current Opinion in Biotechnology, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 493-498, October 2006.J. V. Rodriguez, J. A. Kaandorp, M. Dobrzynski, and J. G. Blom, "Spatial stochastic modelling of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase (pts) pathway in escherichia coli," Bioinformatics, vol. 22, no. 15, pp. 1895-1901, August 2006.W. G. Wilson, A. M. Deroos, and E. Mccauley, "Spatial instabilities within the diffusive lotka-volterra system: Individual-based simulation results," Theoretical Population Biology, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 91-127, February 1993.K. Kruse and J. Elf. Kinetics in spatially extended systems. In Z. Szallasi, J. Stelling, and V. Periwal, editors, System Modeling in Cellular Biology. From Concepts to Nuts and Bolts, pages 177–198. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2006.M. A. Gibson and J. Bruck, "Efficient exact stochastic simulation of chemical systems with many species and many channels," The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol. 104, no. 9, pp. 1876-1889, March 2000.R. M. Fujimoto, Parallel and Distributed Simulation Systems (Wiley Series on Parallel and Distributed Computing). Wiley-Interscience, January 2000.Y. Yao and Y. Zhang, “Solution for analytic simulation based on parallel processing,” Journal of System Simulation, vol. 20, No.24, pp. 6617–6621, 2008.G. Chen and B. K. Szymanski, "Dsim: scaling time warp to 1,033 processors," in WSC '05: Proceedings of the 37th conference on Winter simulation. Winter Simulation Conference, 2005, pp. 346-355.M. Jeschke, A. Park, R. Ewald, R. Fujimoto, and A. M. Uhrmacher, "Parallel and distributed spatial simulation of chemical reactions," in 2008 22nd Workshop on Principles of Advanced and Distributed Simulation. Washington, DC, USA: IEEE, June 2008, pp. 51-59.B. Wang, Y. Yao, Y. Zhao, B. Hou, and S. Peng, "Experimental analysis of optimistic synchronization algorithms for parallel simulation of reaction-diffusion systems," High Performance Computational Systems Biology, International Workshop on, vol. 0, pp. 91-100, October 2009.L. Dematté and T. Mazza, "On parallel stochastic simulation of diffusive systems," in Computational Methods in Systems Biology, M. Heiner and A. M. Uhrmacher, Eds. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2008, vol. 5307, ch. 16, pp. 191-210.D. R. Jefferson, "Virtual time," ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst., vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 404-425, July 1985.J. S. Steinman, "Breathing time warp," SIGSIM Simul. Dig., vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 109-118, July 1993. [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/174134.158473 S. K. Park and K. W. Miller, "Random number generators: good ones are hard to find," Commun. ACM, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 1192-1201, October 1988.

Water coning is one of the most serious problems encountered in active bottom-water drive reservoir. It increases the cost of production operations, reduces the efficiency of the depletion mechanism, and decreases the overall oil recovery. Therefore, preventive measures to curtail water coning damaging effects should be well delineated at the early stages of reservoir depletion. Production rate, mobility ratio, well completion design, and reservoir anisotropy are few of the major parameters influencing and promoting water coning. The objective of this paper is to develop a depletion strategy for an active bottom-water drive reservoir that would improve oil recovery, reduce water production due to coning, delay water breakthrough time, and pre-identify wells that are candidates to excessive water production. The proposed depletion strategy does not only take into consideration the reservoir conditions, but also the currently available surface production facilities and future development plan. Analytical methods are first used to obtain preliminary estimates of critical production rate and water breakthrough time, then comprehensive numerical investigation of the relevant parameters affecting water coning behavior is conducted using a single well 3D radial reservoir simulation model.

The reliably creating amounts of restorative computerized pictures and the need to share them among bosses and facilities for better and continuously exact end require that patients' security be guaranteed. Biomedical signs from various sources including heart, cerebrum and endocrine structure speak to a test to analysts who may need to confine delicate signs getting in contact from various sources spoiled with antiquated rarities and fuss. Biomedical signs as a result of its colossal moderations are extensively associated in a couple of restorative applications; Electrocardiogram, Electroencephalogram and Electromyogram are to give a few precedents. Regardless, these signs experience the development of racket and result in an inefficient presentation. In the present open society and with the advancement of human rights, people are progressively increasingly stressed over the security of their information and other basic information. This examination uses electrocardiography (ECG) information in order to verify singular information. An ECG flag can't solely be used to analyze ailment, yet furthermore to give critical biometric information to unmistakable evidence and affirmation. ECG watermarking can ensure the security and immovable nature of a customer's information while reducing the proportion of information. In the appraisal, we apply as far as possible, piece botch rate (BER), motion to-disturbance extent (SNR), pressure extent (CR), and stuffed flag to commotion extent (CNR) strategies to assess the proposed . In the present work a solidified arrangement of applying denoising and pressure for biomedical signs using wavelets has been presented. An unequivocal examination of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) denoising using distinctive wavelet families on biomedical signs (ECG, EMG and EEG) is shown in the hypothesis. The standard desire for the work is to explore the wavelet work that is perfect in perceiving and denoising the diverse biomedical signs.

Photograph by Gonzalo Echeverria (2010)“Beyond reasonable doubt” is the standard of proof for criminal cases in a court of law. However, what happens when doubt, reasonable or otherwise, is embedded in the media reporting of criminal cases, even before charges have been laid? This paper will analyse newspaper reports of recent rape cases involving Australian footballers, and identify narrative figures that are used to locate blame solely with the alleged victims, protecting the footballers from blame. I uncover several stock female “characters” which evoke doubt in the women’s claims: the Predatory Woman, who hunts down footballers for sex and is always sexually available to any and all footballers; the Woman Scorned, who makes a false rape complaint out of revenge; and the Gold Digger, who makes a false complaint for money. I will argue that the news media thus effectively provide footballers with a criminal defence, before the cases can even reach court. Rape and Football in Australia The issue of football and rape first came to mass public attention in February 2004, when six players from National Rugby League (NRL) team the Canterbury Bulldogs allegedly raped a woman while at a New South Wales resort. Two weeks later, two players from the St Kilda Australian Football League (AFL) team allegedly raped a woman following their pre-season cup victory. These two football codes are the nation’s most popular, with rugby league dominating the north-eastern states, with the southern, eastern and western the domain of Australian Rules. In neither case were charges laid, and although at least twenty distinct cases have been reported in the Australian media, involving more than fifty-six footballers and officials, only one–NRL star Brett Stewart–has yet been tried. Stewart was acquitted in September 2010. Former AFL footballer Andrew Lovett has also been ordered to stand trial in July 2011 for allegedly raping a woman on Christmas Eve, 2009. Nevertheless, the majority of cases never reach court. In criminal cases, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ultimately decides whether to pursue charges through the courts, and, as most cases will be decided by a jury drawn from the general public, the DPP must decide whether the general public would accept the prosecution’s evidence as proof of guilt “beyond reasonable doubt.” This means that if a jury retains any doubt that the accused person is guilty, as long as that doubt is reasonable, they must return a verdict of “not guilty.” Public opinion in high-profile cases is therefore extremely important. If the DPP perceives a high level of public scepticism about a particular case, this indicates that the likelihood of the general public accepting the prosecution’s evidence is low, and they will often decide not to pursue the case. My analysis will show that media reports of the cases, which were published before any decision about laying criminal charges was made, can in fact work to create doubt, taking popular, victim-blaming stories to cast doubt on the complainants’ testimonies. Thus “reasonable doubt,” or a doubt that seems reasonable to many or most readers, is created before the case can even reach court. Predatory Women, Gold Diggers and Women Scorned When debate began in 2004 and explanations were sought for the high numbers of cases, stories abounded in which women have consensual sex with footballers, and then make a false rape complaint. I identify the principal characters of these stories as the Predatory Woman, Gold Digger and Woman Scorned. These stories were particularly prevalent amongst football representatives, blog contributors and talkback radio callers. Some media commentators provided alternative explanations (Magnay, for example), and others were explicitly critical of such stories (Pinkney, Wilson, for example); however, other journalists in fact evoked these same stereotypes. All of these characters have “common currency” (Smart 39), and have been used by defence lawyers in criminal trials for centuries, which means they are likely to be believed. These commentators therefore (indirectly) portray the complainants as liars, and reinforce the pervasive victim-blaming discourses in the wider public. The Predatory Woman The Predatory Woman character can be traced back at least as far as the early nineteenth century, when so-called “fallen” women were frequently “scorned as predatory creatures who lured young men into sin” (Clark 59). In her study of newspaper articles on football and sexual assault, gender theorist Kim Toffoletti identified the “predatory female” as a recurrent figure who is used to portray footballers as victims of “deviant” female sexuality (432-3). Toffoletti argues that the assumption underlying the use of the predatory female is that “incidents of sexual assault can occur when women deviate from the ‘conventions’ of heterosexual relations that expect them to be passive and sexually available, and men to exude sexual virility” (433). However, I argue that commentators’ usage often carries this further, and rather than using the story to claim that a victim of rape “deserved” it, the Predatory Woman actually serves as a replacement for the Raped Woman, therefore implicitly claiming that the complainant was lying. The Predatory Woman is the aggressor in all sexual encounters with footballers, a “sexual predator” (McCabe 31) who is said to “target” players and “hunt in packs” (Lyon 1). In a 2004 interview, one footballer described the phenomenon as “frightening” (McCabe 31), and another in 2009 claimed that footballers are “given temptations,” and “some of them [women] are downright predators” (Cunningham 30). The hunting animal metaphor clearly represents women as sexual aggressors, virtually suggesting that they are committing violent acts–moving in on unsuspecting footballers for the “kill” (sex). Thus portraying a complainant as one who seeks out sex with footballers implies that she victimised the players. As a woman cannot be both sexual aggressor and rape victim, the character of the Predatory Woman replaces that of the Raped Woman, therefore invalidating a complainant’s testimony and creating doubt. The Woman Scorned The Woman Scorned, another popular character in footballer sexual assault narratives, has also been evoked by the defence in criminal rape trials for centuries (Sanday; Benedict 2, 39-40, 83; Larcombe 100, 104-106, 111; Lees 78). The prevalence of footballers’ beliefs in the Woman Scorned story when NRL player Simon Williams commented about the prevalence of group sex/rape incidents involving NRL players on the 2009 Four Corners “Code of Silence” episode: It’s not during the act, it’s the way you treat them after it. Most of them could have been avoided, if they [players] had put them [women] in a cab and said thanks or that sort of thing not just kicked her out and called her a dirty whatever. It’s how you treat them afterwards that can cover a lot of that stuff up. Williams’ implicit claim here is that no woman would make a rape complaint as long as footballers always “said thanks” after sex. He thus implies that “most” of the complaints have been about revenge from women who felt mistreated after consensual sex: Women Scorned. The Gold Digger The Gold Digger is also an established character in both football rape stories and criminal rape trials; Peggy Sanday identifies her in cases dating from the eighteenth century. In rape cases, the Gold Digger can be evoked when a prominent and/or wealthy man–such as a noble in the eighteenth century, or a footballer in the present context–is accused of rape, whether or not the alleged victim seeks or receives a financial settlement. Many football fans evoked the Gold Digger on Internet blog sites, even when there were no observable characteristics corresponding to the Gold Digger in any of the media narratives. One declared: “My mum said she was probably being a slut, then after they ‘did’ her, she decided 2 say summin coz she thought she could get money or summin out of it [sic]” (in Baird 41). The Gold Digger stereotype invalidates a rape complaint, as a woman who alleges rape for financial gain must be lying, and was therefore not raped. Her claims are to be doubted. Narrative Immunity From 2009 onward, although traces of these characters remained, the focus of the debate shifted, from the possibility of sexual assault to players’ alcohol intake and the prevalence of “group sex.” Nina Philadelphoff-Puren identifies implicit claims that the complainants were lying in the statements of football representatives (37, 41-43), which imply that they must be Predatory Women, Women Scorned or Gold Diggers. In order to show clearly how journalists mobilised these characters more directly to evoke doubt, I conducted a search of the “Newsbank” newspaper database, for opinion pieces that sought to explain why the allegations were made, using varying combinations of the search terms “AFL,” “NRL,” “football,” “sexual assault,” “rape,” “rugby,” “sexual violence,” “sex” and “women.” Articles were sought in broadsheet newspapers The Age (Melbourne) and The Sydney Morning Herald, and tabloids The Herald Sun (Melbourne) and Daily Telegraph (Sydney), the most widely read newspapers in the cities where the alleged incidents occurred. The time-frame selected was 27 February 2004 to 1 May 2004, which covered the period from when the Canterbury Bulldogs case was first reported, until debate died down after the announcement that no charges would be laid against St Kilda footballers Steven Milne and Leigh Montagna. Twenty articles were collected for analysis: two from the Daily Telegraph, eight from the Herald Sun, seven from the Age, and three from the Sydney Morning Herald. Of these, half (ten) overtly blamed the alleged victims, with seven of those explicitly evoking Predatory Woman, Woman Scorned and/or Gold Digger stereotypes, and one strongly implying them. Although it might be expected that tabloid newspapers would be much more likely to (re-)produce popular stereotypes than broadsheets, the same numbers were found in each type of newspaper. The “common currency” (Smart 39) these stories have means that they are more likely to be considered credible than other stories. Their use by respected media commentators–particularly broadsheet journalists, whose publications lay claim to an educated readership and more progressive attitudes–is of even greater significance. In this paper, I will analyse three broadsheet articles in detail, in order to illustrate the various strategies used to evoke the stereotyped characters for an educated readership. The articles selected are by writers from very different backgrounds–a former footballer, a feminist and a “life-skills” coach to AFL footballers–and although it might seem that they would provide markedly different perspectives on the issue, I will show that all three evoke stereotypes that cast doubt on the complainants’ claims. The Story of the “Insider” Former AFL footballer Tim Watson’s “AFL Players and the Trouble Zone” was published shortly after the allegations against the St Kilda AFL players were made public in 2004. The article features a number of Predatory Women, who make “victims” of footballers; however, while Watson does not provide direct narrative accounts of the alleged rapes, he instead recounts narratives of other interactions between footballers and women. Predatory Women therefore come to replace Raped Women as characters and invalidate the alleged victims’ claims; as Watson represents these women as the sole agents, full responsibility for these incidents is attributed to women. The bulk of Watson’s article relates two stories unconnected with any (known) sexual assault cases, about AFL teams travelling to the country for training and being harassed by women. Placing the narratives immediately after warnings about “trouble zones,” when the article is clearly responding to the sexual assault allegations, suggests that his narratives explain what “potential trouble” and “trouble zones” are. He therefore implies that his narratives illustrate what “really” happened with the St Kilda (and Canterbury) players. The only instances where players are given grammatical agency in this narrative is when they “mingled with the locals” and “left the function as a group”; all the narrative action is attributed to women. Mingling has no sexual connotation, and “the locals” is a gender neutral term, implying that the players’ only action at the function was to interact with men and women in a non-sexual way. The characters of “a couple of girls” are introduced, and according to Watson these “girls” made it clear to everyone that they were keen to attract the attention of a couple of the players. One girl was so convinced of her intentions that she sidled up to the coach to explain to him what she planned to do later in the night to one of his players. The team left the function as a group and went back to the hotel without the adoring fans. In order to portray the women more clearly as the sole sexual aggressors–Predatory Women–Watson leaves out any events where players actively participate, events which are highly likely to have occurred. For example, in Watson’s narrative there is no two-way flirtation, and the players do not seek out, encourage or even respond in any (positive) way to the female attention they receive, although anecdotal evidence suggests this is extremely unlikely to have happened (Mewett and Toffoletti 170, 172-73). The women are only grammatical agents with intentions–their agency relates to what they plan to do–however, emphasising the fact that the team left as a group suggests that it was only this defensive action which prevented the women from carrying out their intentions and instigating sexual activity. Using “sidled” rather than “went” or “approached” characterises the woman as sly and manipulative, casting her in a negative light and adding to the sense that she was solely responsible. The second story is described as “almost identical” to the first, but Watson takes even greater pains to emphasise the players’ passivity, again portraying them as victims of Predatory Women. Watson attaches only the passive voice to the players: he says that they were “woken in their hotel rooms” and “subject to determined, but unwanted, advances.” The women are entirely absent from these statements. They appear only as shadows presumed responsible for waking the players and making the unwanted advances. This erasure of the female agent only emphasises the players’ passivity in the face of female seduction and general resistance to overwhelming female sexual aggression. As in the first story, the only action attributed to a footballer is defensive: a senior player convincing the women to leave. This reinforces the idea that male footballers are the victims when it comes to casual sexual relations, and casts doubt on any claims of rape. The Story of the “Insider-Outsider” The second article, “When an Elite Footballer Has Sex with a Girl…,” is by “life skills” coach to AFL players Damien Foster, who calls himself “a classic insider-outsider” to football (SBS). As a partial outsider, Foster would therefore presumably have less vested interest in protecting footballers than Watson; however, his narrative also denies the complaints’ credibility, clearly evoking a victim-blaming character: the Woman Scorned. Foster obliquely claims that the St Kilda and Canterbury cases arose simply because women and men view sex differently and therefore “a footballer may land himself in trouble because it just doesn’t occur to him to develop tactful, diplomatic methods of saying goodbye”. He continues, “When the girl [sic] realises the total indifference with which she is being treated after intimacy, bitterness sets in and it lingers. There are many girls in Australia now in this situation.” While Foster does not directly say that the “girls” who made rape complaints against the Bulldogs and St Kilda are Women Scorned, the fact that this story is used to explain why the allegations were made says it for him. According to Foster’s logic, if footballers learnt to say “thanks, love, that was great” after sex, then no rape complaints would ever be made. A “Feminist” Story? Controversial feminist Germaine Greer would seem even more likely to avoid victim-blame than men involved with football clubs, and she does not follow Watson’s portrayal of utterly passive, squeaky-clean footballers, or Foster’s narrative of undiplomatic players. In “Ugly Sex Has Just Got a Lot Louder,” she does acknowledge that some harm may have been done; however, Greer nevertheless portrays the complainants as Predatory Women, Women Scorned and Gold Diggers. Greer elects to tell a “history” of male footballer-female interactions, establishing male athletes’ disrespect for and mistreatment of women as a given. However, she goes on to evoke the Predatory Woman, portraying her as utterly desperate and willing to go to any lengths to have contact with players. Greer laments, good family men have been known to succumb to the groupies’ onslaught, believing that as long as they don’t kiss these desperate creatures, as long as they make no move that could be interpreted as a sign of affection, they haven’t been genuinely unfaithful to their wives and sweethearts. Indeed, the more brutal the treatment of the women they have casual sex with, the less they have to reproach themselves for. Pack rape in such circumstances can come to seem guiltless, a condign punishment for being a stupid slag, even. This explanation of footballers’ behaviour contains several grammatical patterns which represent the players as passive and not responsible for anything that takes place. In the first sentence, the only things these footballers actually do are succumbing and believing, both passive verbs; the rest of the sentence is devoted to what they do not do: “as long as they don’t kiss… as long as they make no move.” Thus it would seem that the players do not actively participate in the sexual activity instigated by these women, that they simply lie back and allow the women to do as they will. That the women are labelled “desperate creatures” who launch an “onslaught” to which footballers “succumb” confirms their sexual aggression. Although the second and third sentences depict violence and rape, these actions are not directly attributed to the players. The brutal treatment of the women the players have casual sex with has no grammatical agent–“the more brutal the treatment of the women they have casual sex with”–dissociating them from the brutality and subtly implying that “someone else” is responsible for it. Similarly, “pack rape” has no agent: no player commits or is involved in it, and it appears to happen independently of them. As Susan Ehrlich demonstrates, this denial of agency is a common tactic for accused rapists to use, in order to deny that they were responsible for their actions (36-61). Thus Greer uses the same grammatical patterns which deflect blame away from footballers, even when the behaviour involved is violent rape. This continual emphasis on the players’ passivity reinforces the portrayal of the women as sexually aggressive Predatory Women. Greer also introduces the figures of the Woman Scorned and Gold Digger. She claims that the only difference between the “old days” and the present scenarios is that now women are “not embarrassed to say that they agreed to sex with one man they’d only just met, or even with two, but they hadn’t agreed to being brutalised, insulted or humiliated, and they want redress.” This paragraph appears almost directly after the one where Greer mentions pack rape and violence, and it may seem therefore that the redress these women seek is for rape. However, since Greer claims that at least some of the women who “want redress” want it because they have been “insulted or humiliated,” rather than raped, this evokes the Woman Scorned. Greer continues by introducing the Gold Digger as a further (and complementary) explanation for these insulted and humiliated women to seek “redress.” Greer writes that women now “also seem quite interested in another factor in sex with footballers – namely, indecent amounts of money.” With this statement, she implies that some women have sex with footballers just so that they can make a rape complaint afterwards and obtain a large payment. She concedes that the women who make allegations against footballers may have been “abused,” but she trivialises them by claiming that they “scream and holler,” portraying them as hysterical. She thus discredits them and casts doubt on their claims. Greer ignores the fact that only one woman has either sought or obtained a financial settlement from footballers for a case of rape, and this woman only applied for it after charges against the players responsible were dropped. Whilst this argument is clearly unfounded, the strength of the Gold Digger story, along with the Woman Scorned and Predatory Woman, is likely to give the impression that the rape complaints made against the footballers were unfounded. Conclusion: The Benefit of the Doubt The fact that a significant number of media commentators employed tactics similar to those defence lawyers use in rape trials suggests that a de facto “trial” took place; one in which stories that discredit the complainants were prominent. These stories were enough to evoke “(un)reasonable doubt” in the women’s claims, and the accused footballers were therefore “acquitted.” That doubt can be evoked so easily in such high-profile cases is particularly problematic as rape cases in general are those least likely to be believed (Jordan 64-83). Further, many victims state that the fear of disbelief is one of the most important factors in deciding not to pursue criminal charges (Warshaw 50). Even if one leaves aside the likelihood that the prevalence of doubt in the media and the “blogosphere” contributed to the DPP’s decision not to pursue charges, the media “acquittal” is likely to have two further effects: it may deter future complainants from coming forward, if they assume that their claims will similarly be doubted; and it contributes to more generalised beliefs that women habitually lie about rape, particularly those who accuse footballers. While of course any accused person must be held innocent until proven guilty, it is equally important to give an alleged victim the benefit of the doubt, and not presume that all rape complainants are liars unless proven otherwise. References “Code of Silence.” Four Corners. ABC, 11 May. 2009. Television. Baird, Julia. “All Together, Boys, for a Weekend Roast.” Sydney Morning Herald 28 February. 2004: 41. Benedict, Jeff. Athletes and Acquaintance Rape. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1998. Clark, Anna. Women’s Silence, Men’s Violence: Sexual Assault in England 1770-1845. New York: Pandora Press, 1987. Cunningham, Ryan. “A Footballer’s Life: Confusion, Temptation and Guilt by Association.” Sydney Morning Herald 19 Jun. 2009: 30. Ehrlich, Susan. Representing Rape: Language and Sexual Consent. London: Routledge, 2001. Foster, Damien. “When an Elite Footballer Has Sex with a Girl...” Age 23 Mar. 2004: 13. “Foul Play.” Insight. SBS, 16 Apr. 2004. Television. Greer, Germaine. “Ugly Sex Has Just Got a Lot Louder.” Age 23 Mar. 2004: 1, 17. Jordan, Jan. The Word of a Woman?: Police, Rape and Belief. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Larcombe, Wendy. Compelling Engagements: Feminism, Rape Law and Romance Fiction. Sydney: Federation Press, 2005. Lees, Sue. Ruling Passions. Buckingham: Open UP, 1997. Lyon, Karen. “They Love Their Footy, But Can They Keep the Faith?” Age 20 Mar. 2004: 1. Magnay, Jacquelin. “What Dogs Do.” Sydney Morning Herald 28 Feb. 2004: 31 McCabe, Helen. “Perilous Games of Sport and Sex.” Daily Telegraph 1 May. 2004: 31. Mewett, Peter, and Kim Toffoletti. “Rogue Men and Predatory Women: Female Fans’ Perceptions of Australian Footballers’ Sexual Conduct.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport 43.2 (2008): 165-80. Pinkney, Matthew. “Don’t Make Their Excuses.” Herald Sun 22 March. 2004: 18. Philadelphoff-Puren, Nina. “Dereliction: Women, Rape and Football.” Australian Feminist Law Journal 17. (2004): 35-51. Sanday, Peggy Reeves. A Woman Scorned: Acquaintance Rape on Trial. Berkeley: U of California P, 1996. Smart, Carol. Feminism and the Power of Law. London: Routledge, 1989. Toffoletti, Kim. “How Is Gender-Based Violence Covered in the Sporting News? An Account of the Australian Football League Sex Scandal.” Women’s Studies International Forum 30 (2007): 427-38. Warshaw, Robin. I Never Called It Rape: The Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting, and Surviving Date and Acquaintance Rape. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. Watson, Tim. “AFL Players and the Trouble Zone.” Age 18 Mar. 2004: 16. Wilson, Caroline. “All the Dirty Linen Must — and Will — Be Aired.” Age, 21 Mar. 2004: 4.

Introduction How do we measure intimacy? What are its impacts on our social, political and personal lives? Can we claim a politics to our intimate lives that escapes the normative confines of archaic institutions, while making social justice claims for relationship recognition? Negotiating some of these disparate questions requires us to think more broadly in contemporary public debates on equality and relationship recognition. Specifically, by outlining the impacts of the popular "gay marriage" debate, this paper examines the impacts of queer theory in association with public policy and community lobbying for relationship equality. Much of the debate remains polarised: eliminating discrimination is counterposed to religious or reproductive narratives that suggest such recognition undermines the value of the "natural" heterosexual family. Introducing queer theory into advocacy that oscillates between rights and reproduction problematises indexing intimacy against normative ideas of monogamy and family. While the arguments circulated by academics, lawyers, politicians and activists have disparate political and ethical impacts, when taken together, they continue to define marriage as a public regulation of intimacy and citizenship. Citizenship, measured in democratic participation and choice, however, can only be realised through reflexive politics that value difference. Encouraging critical dialogue across disparate areas of the marriage equality debate will have a significant impact on how we make ethical claims for recognising intimacy. (Re)defining Marriage In legislative terms, marriage remains the most fundamental means through which the relationship between citizenship and intimacy is crystallised in Australia. For example, in 2004 the Federal Liberal Government in Australia passed a legislative amendment to the Marriage Act 1961 and expressly defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. By issuing a public legislative amendment, the Government intended to privilege monogamous (in this case understood as heterosexual) intimacy by precluding same-sex or polygamous marriage. Such an exercise had rhetorical rather than legal significance, as common law principles had previously defined the scope of marriage in gender specific terms for decades (Graycar and Millbank 41). Marriage as an institution, however, is not a universal or a-historical discourse limited to legal or political constructs. Socialist feminist critiques of marriage in the 1950s conceptualised the legal and gender specific constructs in marriage as a patriarchal contract designed to regulate female bodies (Hannam 146). However, Angela McRobbie notes that within a post-feminist context, these historical realities of gendered subjugation, reproduction or domesticity have been "disarticulated" (26). Marriage has become a more democratic and self-reflexive expression of intimacy for women. David Shumway elaborates this idea and argues that this shift has emerged in a context of "social solidarity" within a consumer environment of social fragmentation (23). What this implies is that marriage now evokes a range of cultural choices, consumer practices and affective trends that are incommensurable to a singular legal or historical term of reference. Debating the Politics of Intimacy and Citizenship In order to reflect on this shifting relationship between choice, citizenship and marriage as a concept, it is necessary to highlight that marriage extends beyond private articulations of love. It is a ritualised performance of heterosexual individual (or coupled) citizenship as it entrenches economic and civil rights and responsibilities. The private becomes public. Current neo-liberal approaches to same-sex marriage focus on these symbolic and economic questions of how recognising intimacy is tied to equality. In a legal and political context, marriage is defined in s5 Marriage Act as "the union between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life." While the Act does not imbue marriage with religious or procreative significance, such a gender dichotomous definition prevents same-sex and gender diverse partners from entering into marriage. For Morris Kaplan, this is a problem because "full equality for lesbian and gay citizens requires access to the legal and social recognition of our intimate associations" (201). Advocates and activists define the quest for equal citizenship by engaging with current religious dogma that situates marriage within a field of reproduction, whereby same-sex marriage is seen to rupture the traditional rubric of monogamous kinship and the biological processes of "gender complementarity" (Australian Christian Lobby 1). Liberal equality arguments reject such conservative assertions on the basis that desire, sexuality and intimacy are innate features of human existence and hence always already implicated in public spheres (Kaplan 202). Thus, legal visibility or state recognition becomes crucial to sustaining practices of intimacy. Problematising the broader social impact of a civil rights approach through the perspective of queer theory, the private/public distinctions that delineate citizenship and intimacy become more difficult to negotiate. Equality and queer theory arguments on same-sex marriage are difficult to reconcile, primarily because they signify the different psychic and cultural investments in the monogamous couple. Butler asserts that idealisations of the couple in legal discourse relates to norms surrounding community, family and nationhood (Undoing 116). This structured circulation of sexual norms reifies the hetero-normative forms of relationships that ought to be recognised (and are desired) by the state. Butler also interrogates this logic of marriage, as a heterosexual norm, and suggests it has the capacity to confine rather than liberate subjects (Undoing 118-20). The author's argument relies upon Michel Foucault's notion of power and subjection, where the subject is not an autonomous individual (as conceived in neo liberal discourses) but a site of disciplined discursive production (Trouble 63). Butler positions the heterosexuality of marriage as a "cultural and symbolic foundation" that renders forms of kinship, monogamy, parenting and community intelligible (Undoing 118). In this sense, marriage can be a problematic articulation of state interests, particularly in terms of perpetuating domesticity, economic mobility and the heterosexual family. As former Australian Prime Minister John Howard opines: Marriage is … one of the bedrock institutions of our society … marriage, as we understand it in our society, is about children … providing for the survival of the species. (qtd. in Wade) Howard's politicisation of marriage suggests that it remains crucial to the preservation of the nuclear family. In doing so, the statement also exemplifies homophobic anxieties towards non-normative kinship relations "outside the family". The Prime Ministers' words characterise marriage as a framework which privileges hegemonic ideas of monogamy, biological reproduction and gender dichotomy. Butler responds to these homophobic terms by alluding to the discursive function of a "heterosexual matrix" which codes and produces dichotomous sexes, genders and (hetero)sexual desires (Trouble 36). By refusing to accept the binary neo-liberal discourse in which one is either for or against gay marriage, Butler asserts that by prioritising marriage, the individual accepts the discursive terms of recognition and legitimacy in subjectifying what counts as love (Undoing 115). What this author's argument implies is that by recuperating marital norms, the individual is not liberated, but rather participates in the discursive "trap" and succumbs to the terms of a heterosexual matrix (Trouble 56). In contradistinction to Howard's political rhetoric, engaging with Foucault's broader theoretical work on sexuality and friendship can influence how we frame the possibilities of intimacy beyond parochial narratives of conjugal relationships. Foucault emphasises that countercultural intimacies rely on desires that are relegated to the margins of mainstream (hetero)sexual culture. For example, the transformational aesthetics in practices such as sadomasochism or queer polyamorous relationships exist due to certain prohibitions in respect to sex (Foucault, History (1) 38, and "Sex" 169). Foucault notes how forms of resistance that transgress mainstream norms produce new experiences of pleasure. Being "queer" (though Foucault does not use this word) becomes identified with new modes of living, rather than a static identity (Essential 138). Extending Foucault, Butler argues that positioning queer intimacies within a field of state recognition risks normalising relationships in terms of heterosexual norms whilst foreclosing the possibilities of new modes of affection. Jasbir Puar argues that queer subjects continue to feature on the peripheries of moral and legal citizenship when their practices of intimacy fail to conform to the socio-political dyadic ideal of matrimony, fidelity and reproduction (22-28). Puar and Butler's reluctance to embrace marriage becomes clearer through an examination of the obiter dicta in the recent American jurisprudence where the proscription on same-sex marriage was overturned in California: To the extent proponents seek to encourage a norm that sexual activity occur within marriage to ensure that reproduction occur within stable households, Proposition 8 discourages that norm because it requires some sexual activity and child-bearing and child-rearing to occur outside marriage. (Perry vs Schwarzenegger 128) By connecting the discourse of matrimony and sex with citizenship, the court reifies the value of marriage as an institution of the family, which should be extended to same-sex couples. Therefore, by locating the family in reproductive heterosexual terms, the court forecloses other modes of recognition or rights for those who are in non-monogamous relationships or choose not to reproduce. The legal reasoning in the case evinces the ways in which intimate citizenship or legitimate kinship is understood in highly parochial terms. As Kane Race elaborates, the suturing of domesticity and nationhood, with the rhetoric that "reproduction occur within stable households", frames heterosexual nuclear bonds as the means to legitimate sexual relations (98). By privileging a familial kinship aesthetic to marriage, the state implicitly disregards recognising the value of intimacy in non-nuclear communities or families (Race 100). Australia, however, unlike most foreign nations, has a dual model of relationship recognition. De facto relationships are virtually indistinguishable from marriage in terms of the rights and entitlements couples are able to access. Very recently, the amendments made by the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws - General Reform) Act 2008 (Cth) has ensured same-sex couples have been included under Federal definitions of de facto relationships, thereby granting same-sex couples the same material rights and entitlements as heterosexual married couples. While comprehensive de facto recognition operates uniquely in Australia, it is still necessary to question the impact of jurisprudence that considers only marriage provides the legitimate structure for raising children. As Laurent Berlant suggests, those who seek alternative "love plots" are denied the legal and cultural spaces to realise them ("Love" 479). Berlant's critique emphasises how current "progressive" legal approaches to same-sex relationships rely on a monogamous (heterosexual) trajectory of the "love plot" which marginalises those who are in divorced, single, polyamorous or multi-parent situations. For example, in the National Year of Action, a series of marriage equality rallies held across Australia over 2010, non-conjugal forms of intimacy were inadvertently sidelined in order to make a claim for relationship recognition. In a letter to the Sydney Star Observer, a reader laments: As a gay man, I cannot understand why gay people would want to engage in a heterosexual ritual called marriage … Why do gay couples want to buy into this ridiculous notion is beyond belief. The laws need to be changed so that gays are treated equal under the law, but this is not to be confused with marriage as these are two separate issues... (Michael 2) Marriage marks a privileged position of citizenship and consumption, to which all other gay and lesbian rights claims are tangential. Moreover, as this letter to the Sydney Star Observer implies, by claiming sexual citizenship through the rubric of marriage, discussions about other campaigns for legislative equality are effectively foreclosed. Melissa Gregg expands on such a problematic, noting that the legal responses to equality reiterate a normative relationship between sexuality and power, where only couples that subscribe to dyadic, marriage-like relationships are offered entitlements by the state (4). Correspondingly, much of the public activism around marriage equality in Australia seeks to achieve its impact for equality (reforming the Marriage Act) by positioning intimacy in terms of state legitimacy. Butler and Warner argue that when speaking of legitimacy a relation to what is legitimate is implied. Lisa Bower corroborates this, asserting "legal discourse creates norms which universalise particular modes of living…while suppressing other practices and identities" (267). What Butler's and Bower's arguments reveal is that legitimacy is obtained through the extension of marriage to homosexual couples. For example, Andrew Barr, the current Labor Party Education Minister in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), noted that "saying no to civil unions is to say that some relationships are more legitimate than others" (quoted in "Legal Ceremonies"). Ironically, such a statement privileges civil unions by rendering them as the normative basis on which to grant legal recognition. Elizabeth Povinelli argues the performance of dyadic intimacy becomes the means to assert legal and social sovereignty (112). Therefore, as Jenni Millbank warns, marriage, or even distinctive forms of civil unions, if taken alone, can entrench inequalities for those who choose not to participate in these forms of recognition (8). Grassroots mobilisation and political lobbying strategies around marriage equality activism can have the unintentional impact, however, of obscuring peripheral forms of intimacy and subsequently repudiating those who contest the movement towards marriage. Warner argues that those who choose to marry derive pride from their monogamous commitment and "family" oriented practice, a privilege afforded through marital citizenship (82). Conversely, individuals and couples who deviate from the "normal" (read: socially palatable) intimate citizen, such as promiscuous or polyamorous subjects, are rendered shameful or pitiful. This political discourse illustrates that there is a strong impetus in the marriage equality movement to legitimate "homosexual love" because it mimics the norms of monogamy, stability, continuity and family by only seeking to substitute the sex of the "other" partner. Thus, civil rights discourse maintains the privileged political economy of marriage as it involves reproduction (even if it is not biological), mainstream social roles and monogamous sex. By defining social membership and future life in terms of a heterosexual life-narrative, same-sex couples become wedded to the idea of matrimony as the basis for sustainable intimacy and citizenship (Berlant and Warner 557). Warner is critical of recuperating discourses that privilege marriage as the ideal form of intimacy. This is particularly concerning when diverse erotic and intimate communities, which are irreducible to normative forms of citizenship, are subject to erasure. Que(e)rying the Future of Ethics and Politics By connecting liberal equality arguments with Butler and Warner's work on queer ethics, there is hesitation towards privileging marriage as the ultimate form of intimacy. Moreover, Butler stresses the importance of a transformative practice of queer intimacy: It is crucial…that we maintain a critical and transformative relation to the norms that govern what will not count as intelligible and recognisable alliance and kinship. (Undoing 117) Here the author attempts to negotiate the complex terrain of queer citizenship and ethics. On one hand, it is necessary to be made visible in order to engage in political activism and be afforded rights within a state discourse. Simultaneously, on the other hand, there is a need to transform the prevailing hetero-normative rhetoric of romantic love in order to prevent pathologising bodies or rendering certain forms of intimacy as aberrant or deviant because, as Warner notes, they do not conform to our perception of what we understand to be normal or morally desirable. Foucault's work on the aesthetics of the self offers a possible transformational practice which avoids the risks Warner and Butler mention because it eludes the "normative determinations" of moralities and publics, whilst engaging in an "ethical stylization" (qtd. in Race 144). Whilst Foucault's work does not explicitly address the question of marriage, his work on friendship gestures to the significance of affective bonds. Queer kinship has the potential to produce new ethics, where bodies do not become subjects of desires, but rather act as agents of pleasure. Negotiating the intersection between active citizenship and transformative intimacy requires rethinking the politics of recognition and normalisation. Warner is quite ambivalent as to the potential of appropriating marriage for gays and lesbians, despite the historical dynamism of marriage. Rather than acting as a progressive mechanism for rights, it is an institution that operates by refusing to recognise other relations (Warner 129). However, as Alexander Duttmann notes, recognition is more complex and a paradoxical means of relation and identification. It involves a process in which the majority neutralises the difference of the (minority) Other in order to assimilate it (27). However, in the process of recognition, the Other which is validated, then transforms the position of the majority, by altering the terms by which recognition is granted. Marriage no longer simply confers recognition for heterosexual couples to engage in reproduction (Secomb 133). While some queer couples may subscribe to a monogamous relationship structure, these relationships necessarily trouble conservative politics. The lamentations of the Australian Christian Lobby regarding the "fundamental (anatomical) gender complementarity" of same-sex marriage reflect this by recognising the broader social transformation that will occur (and already does with many heterosexual marriages) by displacing the association between marriage, procreation and parenting (5). Correspondingly, Foucault's work assists in broadening the debate on relationship recognition by transforming our understanding of choice and ethics in terms of "queer friendship." He describes it as a practice that resists the normative public distinction between romantic and platonic affection and produces new aesthetics for sexual and non-sexual intimacy (Foucault, Essential 170). Linnell Secomb argues that this "double potential" alluded to in Foucault and Duttman's work, has the capacity to neutralise difference as Warner fears (133). However, it can also transform dominant narratives of sexual citizenship, as enabling marriage equality will impact on how we imagine traditional heterosexual or patriarchal "plots" to intimacy (Berlant, "Intimacy" 286). Conclusion Making an informed impact into public debates on marriage equality requires charting the locus of sexuality, intimacy and citizenship. Negotiating academic discourses, social and community activism, with broader institutions and norms presents political and social challenges when thinking about the sorts of intimacy that should be recognised by the state. The civil right to marriage, irrespective of the sex or gender of one's partner, reflects a crucial shift towards important democratic participation of non-heterosexual citizens. However, it is important to note that the value of such intimacy cannot be indexed against a single measure of legal reform. While Butler and Warner present considered indictments on the normalisation of queer intimacy through marriage, such arguments do not account for the impacts of que(e)rying cultural norms and practices through social and political change. Marriage is not a singular or a-historical construction reducible to state recognition. Moreover, in a secular democracy, marriage should be one of many forms of diverse relationship recognition open to same-sex and gender diverse couples. In order to expand the impact of social and legal claims for recognition, it is productive to rethink the complex nature of recognition, ritual and aesthetics within marriage. 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