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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for October

  • Engineering Career Conference

    Sat, Oct 01, 2005 @ 08:30 AM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    The Engineering Career Conference is an annual event designed specifically for undergraduate engineers - freshmen through seniors. Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to benefit from the advice and expertise of alumni and company representatives. You must register to attend. Pick up a registration form in RTH 218 today! Deadline is September 23.

    Audiences: Undergraduate Engineering Students

    Contact: Viterbi Career Services

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  • Fluid shear stress on vascular oxidative stress - Seminar Series

    Mon, Oct 03, 2005 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Tzung K. Hsiai, MD, PhD
    Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and
    Cardiovascular Medicine, USC
    "Fluid shear stress on vascular oxidative stress: Implications for MEMS and Nano Sensors"

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - -132

    Audiences: Graduate

    Contact: Darryl Hwang

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  • Water Clusters and Health

    Fri, Oct 07, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Environmental Engineering SeminarSpeaker:Dr. Shui-Yin Lo
    Director, Quantum Health Research Institute
    Pasadena, CAAbstractDr. Shui-Yin Lo earned his Ph. D. in the department of physics at the University of Chicago in 1966. He is a noted author, inventor, and a faculty member at several major universities. He founded the Quantum Health Research Institute in 2003 and devoted himself to unifying the quantum theory for the advancement of human health.Both East and West acknowledge that water is the source of life. We propose more specifically that stable water clusters are the source of life. Stable water clusters are formed in phase transition from ordinary very dilute solution similar to the phase transition from conductor to superconductor, or iron to magnet. Electron microscope and atomic force microscope pictures are shown. Some novel properties of stable water clusters are discussed. It is further proposed that meridians in Chinese medicine are composed of these stable water clusters. "Qi" another central concept in Chinese medicine, is considered to be quantum oscillations on meridians. Public demonstration will be conducted to show the existence of external qi.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Materials Science Program Seminar

    Mon, Oct 10, 2005

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    THE MORK FAMILY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE PRESENTS A SEMINAR
    BYSannakaisa Virtanen
    University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
    Dept. of Materials Sci., WWIV-LKO
    Martensstr. 7, D-91058 Erlangen, GermanyElectrochemical behavior and corrosion modes of metallic materials used for biomedical applicationsAbstractThe goal of the studies is to determine critical factors in the chemical and electrochemical stability of metallic implant materials, as well as to elucidate interactions between the implant surface and the specific biological environment. The materials investigated include Ti, Ti-alloys as well as Co-Cr-Mo alloys. All these materials are generally highly corrosion-resistant. However, specific problems in the chemical and mechanical stability are being encountered with these materials, which in many cases have been attributed to the conjoint action of chemical and mechanical attack, so-called fretting corrosion. Further, clinical observations often show unexpected high accumulation of metal ions of the implant materials in tissue. The influence of various internal and external factors on passivity and its breakdown were elucidated for different implant alloys. The electrochemical behavior of the alloys was studied under simulated body conditions using conventional electrochemical techniques. For certain alloys, microelectrochemical experiments are being carried out to evaluate the local electrochemical behavior of different surface sites (i.e., different phases of two-phase alloys). Apart from metal ion release mechanisms, modification of the passive film/electrolyte-interface by specific interactions of ions present in the simulated body solution (especially Ca2+, PO43-) with the metal surfaces are being investigated by electrochemical and surface analytical techniques. In vitro metal ion release modes as well as changes in the surface characteristics are compared with results from in vivo studies. The relevance of the findings for long-term stability of implant systems will be discussed. October 21, 2005
    2:45-3:30 PM
    (Refreshments will be served at 2:30 PM)
    VHE 217**All first year materials science majors are required to attend**

    Location: Vivian Hall of Engineering (VHE) - 217

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Petra Pearce

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  • Using Feedback to Increase Information About Quantum States

    Wed, Oct 12, 2005 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Kurt Jacobs, Griffith UniversityAbstract: We consider using feedback control to increase the rate at which a continuous measurement extracts information about a quantum system. We show that there is a purely quantum effect which may be exploited to this end, as well as an essentially classical algorithm which involves directing the system to states which are well-distinguished by the measurement.Bio: Kurt Jacobs completed his masters degree under Dan Walls at the university of Auckland in 1995, and his PhD under Peter Knight at Imperial College in 1998. From there he went to Los Alamos National Laboratory where he spect three years as a postdoctoral research associate with Salman Habib. After that he worked in Paris for a year at a small supercomputing company doing numerical finance, and for the last 2 and half years has been a research fellow at the Griffith University, at the Center for Quantum Computer Technology, with Howard Wiseman. He is about to take up another postdoctoral position with Jonathan Dowling at LSU in Baton Rouge.Host: Professor Todd A. Brun, tbrun@usc.edu

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

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  • Lyman Handy Colloquium

    Thu, Oct 13, 2005

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    SpeakerProf. Horia Metiu
    Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
    University of California, Santa Barbara Abstract "Doped oxides as catalysts, why gold clusters are reactive, and electronic
    manipulation of catalysis" I will talk about three distinct subjects, all connected to catalysis. In the first I will explore whether doped oxides (for example, AuxCe1-xO2) might provide us with a new class of oxidation catalysts. We do this by using density functional calculations, to determine the binding energies of various compounds and the activation energies of the possible reactions. We use CO oxidation as a test of the oxidizing power of the doped oxides. In the second topic I discuss experiments done in collaboration with Moskovits and Kolmakov in which we test whether manipulating the number of electrons in a nano-catalyst can affect the catalytic activity. The experiments study CO oxidation by a SnO2 nanowire, which is part of an electric circuit and sits on top of a gate. We find that we can manipulate the reaction rate by changing (with the gate) the number of electrons in the wire. Finally, if there is any time left I will discuss a possible reason why small Au clusters are good catalysts, while large clusters are not. We and others have proposed that the clusters are reactive because they have many low coordination sites on the surface. Here I want to amend that picture and propose that the reactivity depends on what I call "orbital roughness", not on geometrical (low coordination) roughness.

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Petra Pearce

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  • Engineering Issues in Watershed Management

    Fri, Oct 14, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker:Professor Jiin-Jen Lee, Ph.D.,P.E.Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
    University of Southern CaliforniaAbstractA general overall view will be presented on the engineering issues in watershed management including precipitation, basin recharge, runoff, sediment and debris production, storage reservoirs, detention and debris basins, as well as water quality control of storm water. Some of the special characteristics of the watersheds in the southern California region will be discussed.The key results of a USC study on economic impact evaluation of the proposed storm water treatment for Los Angeles County will be summarized and discussed to illustrate its far reaching implications.Two recent USC graduate research studies on debris production will also be discussed. Results from a statistical model will be compared with results from an artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to show its applicability and limitations in watershed management.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • MESA Math Physics Technology Institute Follow-up

    Sat, Oct 15, 2005 @ 08:30 AM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Follow-up sessions to the MESA Summer Math Physics Technology Institute using Texas Instruments Calculator technology.

    Audiences: MESA Teachers

    Contact: Larry Lim

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  • MESA Math Physics Technology Institute Follow-up

    Sun, Oct 16, 2005 @ 08:30 AM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Follow-up sessions to the MESA Summer Math Physics Technology Institute using Texas Instruments Calculator technology.

    Audiences: MESA Teachers

    Contact: Larry Lim

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  • High Frequency Ultrasonic Transducers and their Applications - Seminar Series

    Mon, Oct 17, 2005 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Jonathan Cannata, PhD
    Research Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, USC"High Frequency Ultrasonic Transducers and their Applications"

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - -132

    Audiences: Graduate

    Contact: Darryl Hwang

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  • Stability Optimal Resource Allocation in Gaussian MIMO-BC: Theory and Practical Approaches

    Tue, Oct 18, 2005 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Mari Kobayashi, Technical University of CatalunyaAbstract: In this talk, we address the resource allocation problem in the Gaussian MIMO broadcast channels (BC) where transmission buffer queues destined to each user are located in the transmitter.Under the random packet arrival assumption, stabilizing the transmission buffers is the single most important criterion for "fairness''. We review the well-known results on MIMO-BC and MIMO-Multiple Access Channel (MAC), stability region, and an adaptive policy achieving the largest stability policy (referred to "max-stability policy"). In the first part, we assume perfect channel state information at transmitter (CSIT). We propose a simple iterative waterfilling algorithm to implement the max-stability policy based on the capacity achieving dirty-paper coding (DPC). As a more practical signaling strategy, we consider linear beamforming because it can be generalized to the non-perfect CSIT case. The comparison in terms of average delay shows that the linear beamforming scheme achieves near DPC performance especially for the case of two transmit antennas.In the second part, we shift to more realistic scenario where CSIT is assumed non-perfect due to the fact that the channels are time-varying and the feedback link is delayed. Under non-perfect CSIT, the rate allocation should take into account the outage event, i.e. the event that the transmission rate is above the rate supported by the channel. We compare two schemes based on linear beamforming with different types of CSI feedback : a novel linear beamforming scheme with "analog feedback" and improved opportunistic beamforming with SNR feedback. In "analog feedback", each user sends back its estimated channel vector without quantizing and coding.It is found that the proposed linear beamforming scheme outperforms improved opportunistic beamforming for any channel Doppler bandwidth with a similar amount of feedback. Specifically, for moderate to fast fading channels, the proposed linear beamforming scheme tends to allocate the whole power to one user by operating in a TDMA mode while improved opportunistic beamforming becomes strongly interference-limited and thus unstable.Bio: Mari Kobayashi received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Keio University, Yokohama, Japan, in 1999, the M.S. degree in Radio Communications, and the Ph.D. from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris, France, respectively in 2000 and 2005. Her current research interests include space-time coding, multiuser communication theory.Host: Dr. Giuseppe Caire, x.04683, caire@usc.edu

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -539

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

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  • Materials Science Program Seminar

    Wed, Oct 19, 2005

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    THE MORK FAMILY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE PRESENTS A SEMINAR
    BYPhilippe MarcusLaboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Surfaces
    CNRS-ENSCP (UMR 7045)Nanostructure and reactivity of ultra-thin oxide films on metal
    and alloy surfacesAbstractThe growth mechanisms, the structure and the stability of oxide films produced electrochemically on metal and alloy surfaces (Cu, Ni, Cr, and stainless steels) will be presented, with emphasis on high resolution data obtained by in situ Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy, combined with ex situ X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The surface hydroxylation of oxides, the crystallinity, and the role of defects in the stability of passive films will be examined. The results of recent DFT calculations on the interaction of Cl- with hydroxylated nickel oxide surfaces will be presented, and the experimental and theoretical data will be compared.October 19, 2005
    1:00-2:00 pm
    VHE 217

    Location: Vivian Hall of Engineering (VHE) - 217

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Petra Pearce

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  • THE DIGITAL ALLPASS FILTER: A VERSATILE SIGNAL PROCESSING BUILDING BLOCK

    Thu, Oct 20, 2005 @ 10:30 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Sanjit K. Mitra
    Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
    University of California, Santa Barbara, CaliforniaAbstract:
    The digital allpass filter is a computationally efficient signal
    processing building block which is quite useful in many signal
    processing applications. In this talk we review the properties of
    digital allpass filters, and provide a broad overview of the diversity
    of applications in digital filtering such as notch filtering, low
    sensitivity digital filter implementation, tunable filter design,
    complementary filtering and filter banks, multirate filtering, digital
    audio, image zooming, etc.

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Alma Hernandez

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  • POWER-AND RELIABILITY-AWARE DESIGN: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

    Thu, Oct 20, 2005 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    DISTINGUISHED LECTURER SERIES"Power-and Reliability-Aware Design: Challenges and Opportunities"Dr. Pradip BoseIBM T.J. Watson Research CenterAbstract:The problem of escalating power dissipation at the processor, chip and system levels is quite well known. Thermal hot spots and resulting lifetime reliability concerns have also been highlighted in recent publications and talks. The problem of soft errors (which is not always a byproduct of the thermal problem) is also a hot topic of discussion within the microprocessor R&D community. In this particular talk, I will review some of those challenges from the perspective of early-stage microarchitecture and system design, and point to a range of solution approaches that are currently on the horizon. As part of my talk, I will also try to highlight some of the open research problems and issues that we need help with from the academic research community. One of the themes that I would like to touch on, in this context, is that of the formulation of technically sound metrics of evaluation when we strive for efficiency in design, related to the dimensions of power, performance and reliability. The challenge of developing acceptably accurate pre-silicon evaluation models is of course the larger problem that the metrics issue naturally leads into.Bio:Pradip Bose is a Research Staff Member and Manager of the Reliability- and Power-Aware Microarchitecture department at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY. He received his undergraduate engineering degree from I.I.T Kharagpur in India, and his M.S. and Ph.D degrees in electrical and computer engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been with IBM Research since 1983, where he was part of the first super scalar RISC R&D group at the T. J. Watson Research Center. Since then, Pradip has been involved in all the POWER-series microprocessor development projects within IBM. His current research interests are in high performance computer architecture, power- and reliability-aware design and related pre-silicon modeling methodologies. Pradip is active in all the leading architecture conferences, and is currently the editor-in-chief of IEEE Micro magazine.Host: Prof. Timothy Pinkston, x04482 [A reception will follow at 3:00p.m.]

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - ontology Auditorium

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Rosine Sarafian

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  • Materials Science Program Seminar

    Fri, Oct 21, 2005

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    THE MORK FAMILY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE PRESENTS A SEMINAR
    BYSannakaisa Virtanen
    University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
    Dept. of Materials Sci., WWIV-LKO
    Martensstr. 7, D-91058 Erlangen, GermanyElectrochemical behavior and corrosion modes of metallic materials used for biomedical applicationsAbstractThe goal of the studies is to determine critical factors in the chemical and electrochemical stability of metallic implant materials, as well as to elucidate interactions between the implant surface and the specific biological environment. The materials investigated include Ti, Ti-alloys as well as Co-Cr-Mo alloys. All these materials are generally highly corrosion-resistant. However, specific problems in the chemical and mechanical stability are being encountered with these materials, which in many cases have been attributed to the conjoint action of chemical and mechanical attack, so-called fretting corrosion. Further, clinical observations often show unexpected high accumulation of metal ions of the implant materials in tissue. The influence of various internal and external factors on passivity and its breakdown were elucidated for different implant alloys. The electrochemical behavior of the alloys was studied under simulated body conditions using conventional electrochemical techniques. For certain alloys, microelectrochemical experiments are being carried out to evaluate the local electrochemical behavior of different surface sites (i.e., different phases of two-phase alloys). Apart from metal ion release mechanisms, modification of the passive film/electrolyte-interface by specific interactions of ions present in the simulated body solution (especially Ca2+, PO43-) with the metal surfaces are being investigated by electrochemical and surface analytical techniques. In vitro metal ion release modes as well as changes in the surface characteristics are compared with results from in vivo studies. The relevance of the findings for long-term stability of implant systems will be discussed. October 21, 2005
    2:45-3:30 PM
    (Refreshments will be served at 2:30 PM)
    VHE 217**All first year materials science majors are required to attend**

    Location: Vivian Hall of Engineering (VHE) - 217

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Petra Pearce

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  • Mathematical Modeling at Amgen: A Systematic Approach - Seminar Series

    Mon, Oct 24, 2005 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Sunil Dalal, PhD, Mark Durst, PhD, and David Balaban, PhD
    Systems Informatics Group, Amgen Corp., Thousand Oaks, CA"Mathematical Modeling at Amgen: A Systematic Approach"

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - -132

    Audiences: Graduate

    Contact: Darryl Hwang

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  • Efficiency of Nonequilibrium Plasma for the Enhancement of Ignition and Combustion

    Wed, Oct 26, 2005 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Svetlana Starikovskaia (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology)
    This talk reviews investigations of the detailed spatial and temporal structure of a high-voltage pulsed nanosecond discharge implemented in the form of a fast ionization wave. Distinctive features of this type of discharge include a high propagation velocity (1-10 cm/ns), and good reproducibility of both the discharge parameters and spatial homogeneity over a large gas volume. The time and spatially resolved electric field, electron and excited state concentrations are analyzed on the basis of experimental data within the framework of a unified kinetic approach. The efficiencies of nonequilibrium plasma resulting from pulsed gas discharges, which have potentially important practical applications in ignition and combustion, will be discussed; and examples of experimental data and the results of numerical simulations for the verification of the main concepts will be represented.

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 230

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht

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  • Physical Layer Issues in Wireless Networks

    Wed, Oct 26, 2005 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Saswat Chakrabarti, GS Sanyal School of Telecommunications, Indian Institute of Technology, KharagpurAbstract: Significance and need for newer solutions to problems related to the physical layer of wireless data networks are unfolding with varieties of demands in applications. A brief overview of wireless research at IIT Kharagpur will be followed by outline presentation on three topics, namely a) outage analysis for voice -data integrated services in correlated shadowing, b) frequency synchronization in OFDM based adhoc networks and c) turbo-equalization. Indicative analytical and simulation results will be presented.Bio: Dr. Chakrabarti ranked among the top ten students at the state-level public examinations at 10th as well as 12th Std. He received his Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering (1984) from Jadavpur University, Kolkata and M.Tech (1986) and PhD (1992) in Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. Dr. Chakrabarti joined the Dept. of Electronics & Electrical Communications Engineering, IIT Kharagpur as a Lecturer in 1991 and is presently serving as an Associate Professor in the GS Sanyal School of Telecommunications, IIT Kharagpur. He has industrial experience of more than three years including a one-year stint as Asst. General Manager (R&D) at the R&D Division of Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd. at New Delhi in 1999.Dr. Chakrabarti has taught extensively at undergraduate and graduate levels for about 14 years. The broad area of his research interest has been wireless communications and networks with emphasis on modulation, error control coding, channel modeling and MA issues. He has supervised Ph.D thesis work of two candidates and presently eight Ph.D students are working with him. He has about eight journal papers and more than fifty conference papers to his credit. He has been associated with more than 15 sponsored projects and is a member of IEEE.Host: Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

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  • Graduate Seminar

    Fri, Oct 28, 2005 @ 01:45 AM

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
    Graduate Seminar“Integration of Laboratory, Modeling and Field Studies to Evaluate a Waterflooded Vuggy Carbonate Reservoir for Application of Improved Oil Recovery Methodsâ€ÂDr. Kaveh Dehghani
    ChevronAbstract A waterflooded vuggy carbonate reservoir in Permian Basin was considered for application of Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) methods. An integrated laboratory, modeling and field study was used for the evaluation process. The following shows different parts of the evaluation process: A methodology was developed to model and successfully history match the primary and waterflood phases in a 15 well, 100 acre vuggy portion of the field. This method is based on a derived log trace of secondary porosity calculated by subtracting sonic porosity (matrix only) from a core calibrated total porosity transformed from Density and Neutron-logs. Log signatures of vugular intervals were developed recognizing significant differences in matrix and total porosity. A detailed geostatistical distribution of total porosity was first generated and permeability was assigned using a cloud transform of core data from nearby wells. Two geostatistical distributions of secondary porosity with different correlation lengths were then generated using the developed secondary porosity trace. Vugular zones were assumed to have a secondary porosity of 8% or greater. These models were superimposed on the permeability cube by assigning exceptional high permeability values to the vuggy zones. Using a general scale up method, the detailed permeability cubes were scaled-up for simulation studies. The models incorporating vuggy permeability distributions showed a far superior history match of primary and waterflood performance than those without vuggy permeability distributions. Good history match was also obtained on individual well basis. Sensitivity of the match to vuggy zone permeability and correlation length was analyzed. Results from these simulation runs provide insight into the spatial distribution and permeabilities of the vuggy zones. During the process of this examination it was recognized that this reservoir was a potential candidate for the steam injection process. Thin zones of vuggy high porosity and high permeability within the main pay interval have threatened the effectiveness of waterflood, leaving a major portion of oil by-passed in the lower permeability matrix. Feasibility of increasing recovery by steam injection in this part of the field was investigated using thermal compositional models. The analysis of the results from this modeling practice showed that primary recovery produced 14% of OOIP and waterflood added a 12% incremental recovery. The results also showed that combining a short steamflood cycle followed by a blow-down cycle from all wells (including the injectors) resulted in a big kick in both oil production rate and cumulative oil production curves (e.g., 2.5 years of flood followed by 2.5 years of production). The best scenario of well configuration was 10 acre 5 spots with incremental oil recovery of 18% of OOIP. A preliminary economic calculation showed steam injection to be economically feasible. We also conducted laboratory experiments on a core sample from this reservoir in order to quantify the recovery mechanisms. These comprise thermal expansion, thermally enhanced solution gas drive, vaporization, and in-situ steam drive. Computed Tomography (CT) imaging of a miscible flood was used to characterize the connectivity of the vugs and matrix rock. A series of blow-down tests were then conducted by heating the core to 300 â—‹ F. The backpressure regulator on the system was set just above the bubble point of the oil at 300 â—‹ F. The pore pressure was then reduced at a constant rate from one end of the core sample. The first blow-down test was with the core at initial oil saturation with pressure reduction from the top of the sample; the second at initial oil saturation with pressure reduction from the bottom; and the third at residual oil saturation to water with pressure reduction from the top. The volumes and compositions of the produced fluids were measured in all the blow-down tests. The initial and final oil saturation distribution for the second blow-down experiment was also CT imaged. The CT images reveal that the core sample contains vugs, high permeability matrix, and low permeability matrix rock; and that the vugs are connected through the high permeability matrix. The blow-down experiments show that 50-68% of the oil is recovered; with 8-20% due to thermal expansion, 20-24% due to thermally enhanced solution gas drive, 12-16% due to dry distillation, and 8-10% due to in-situ steam drive.Friday, October 28, 2005
    Refreshments at 1:30 p.m. â€" HED Lobby
    Seminar at 1:45 p.m.
    HED 116
    The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited

    Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Petra Pearce

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  • Congestion Control in Differentiated Services Networks Using Fuzzy Logic

    Fri, Oct 28, 2005 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    CONTROLS SEMINAR"Congestion Control in Differentiated Services Networks Using Fuzzy Logic"Andreas Pitsillides Associate Professor of Computer ScienceUniversity of CyprusAbstract:Network management and control is a complex problem that requires robust, possibly intelligent, control methodologies to obtain satisfactory performance. Active Queue Management (AQM) mechanisms have been introduced to assist the TCP congestion control. We briefly discuss the modelling and control approach followed by a number of representative AQM schemes, and address possible limitations to meet the diverse needs of today's Internet. Fuzzy Logic Control is adopted due to its reported strength in controlling non-linear systems using linguistic information. Emphasis is given towards the ability of effectively controlling the congestion in TCP/IP networks. The talk will mainly focus on differentiated services. The provision of quality of service (QoS) in a differentiated services (Diff-Serv) environment requires an adequate differentiation between high-priority/assured and low-priority/best-effort classes of service in the presence of congestion, giving priority/preference to assured-tagged traffic. For this purpose, a new active queue management scheme, implemented within the Diff-Serv framework, is presented that provides congestion control in TCP/IP networks using a fuzzy logic control approach. The proposed fuzzy logic approach for congestion control allows the use of linguistic knowledge to capture the dynamics of nonlinear probability marking functions, uses multiple inputs to capture the dynamic state of the network more accurately, and can offer effective implementation. A simulation study over a wide range of traffic conditions - considering multiple bottleneck links - shows that the fuzzy logic based controller outperforms the Random Early Detection (RED) implementation for Diff-Serv in terms of link utilization, packet losses, and queue fluctuations and delays. Also, the proposed scheme can offer better differentiation among assured and best-effort traffic, thus it can provide better QoS to different types of data streams, such as TCP/FTP traffic or TCP/Web-like traffic, whilst maintaining high utilization.Bio:Andreas Pitsillides, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Cyprus (UCY), spent 6 years in industry and 18 years in academia (7 with Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia). Serves as Chairman of the Cyprus Research and Academic Network (CYNET). Andreas heads the Networks Group. His research interests include fixed and mobile/wireless networks, Internet technologies and their application in Mobile e-Services, especially e-health. He has a particular interest in adapting tools from various fields of applied mathematics such as control theory, and computational intelligence to solve problems in computer networks. Published over 120 referred journal, conference papers and book chapters, participates in numerous EC and locally funded research projects, presented invited lectures at major research organisations, short courses at international conferences and short courses to industry. Regularly serves on international conference executive committees (e.g. INFOCOM 2001-2003, and ICT98), general chair, technical committees, guest co-editor, invited speaker, and as a regular reviewer for conference and journal submissions. Andreas is also a member of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Technical Committee (TC) on Networked Systems and the IFIP working group WG 6.3. (http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/networksgroup)Host: Prof. Petros Ioannou, x04452

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Rosine Sarafian

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  • Origins of CO2 and Its Accumulation in Sedimentary Basins

    Fri, Oct 28, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker:
    Tongwei Zhang, Ph.D.
    Power, Energy and Environmental Research Center Caltech
    Covina, CA Abstract: The content of CO2 in natural gas is in a wide range from less than 0.1% to as high as 99.6%, and high CO2 concentrations (>20%) in natural gas are encountered in many sedimentary basins. The presence of CO2 would reduce the resource value by lowering methane content and increase the infrastructure to remove and dispose it from natural gas to prevent the corrosion. For the risk assessment of encountering high concentration of CO2 gases in natural gas accumulation in a specific sedimentary basin, gas geochemistry provides an effective tool to discriminate the different origins of CO2 in natural gas.
    In general, there are four major sources for CO2 generation in sedimentary basins. They are organic matter decomposition (oil, kerogen ), thermal decomposition of carbonate minerals (calcite, dolomite and so on), mantle degassing/ exsolution from magmas and hydrocarbon oxidation by thermochemical sulfate reduction.
    A successful model to identify different origins of CO2 in natural gas by means of gas geochemistry approach will be presented from the geological case study of Huanghua depression, China. CO2 content in natural gas has a so wide range from 30ppm to 99.6% in the depression that understanding high-content CO2 origin is of very significant importance both in economic and academic aspects. According to the characterization of gas geochemistry and the fault development, we have determined that CO2 in Huanghua depression has three kinds of origins, i.e. organic matter decomposition, carbonate decomposition and mantle degassing.
    Also, it is the first time to successfully simulate petroleum-anhydrite reactions to generate H2S and CO2 in the laboratory and found that the presence of magnesium ions in solution is crucial for sulfate reduction. The complex formation of Mg(OH)2:MgSO4 in the co-existence of magnesium and sulfate ions results in increasing [H+] concentration of the solution at high temperature of laboratory's conditions. With Talc-silica as mineral buffering, we experimentally determined that the yield ratio of CO2/H2S in mole is about 1.33 while CaSO4 is almost totally reduced by octane in the presence of magnesium ion catalyst.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Molecular Imaging of Cancer with PET - Seminar Series

    Mon, Oct 31, 2005 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Hossein Jadvar, MD, PhD, MPH
    Associate Professor of Radiology & Biomedical Engineering, USC"Molecular Imaging of Cancer with PET"

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - -132

    Audiences: Graduate

    Contact: Darryl Hwang

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