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Abstract Corrosion of metallic well and process materials can be caused by water that is co-produced with oil and gas. The corrosion processes involve electrochemical reactions that are dependent on the composition of the produced water. Variation of the produced water composition during oil and gas production can be investigated using electrolyte simulation tools that model the chemical reactions (chemical equilibria) that control the composition of the produced water. This paper describes how electrolyte simulation was used to investigate the failure of 2205 duplex stainless steel (UNS S31803) process pipework on the Shearwater installation, operated by Shell Exploration and Production, in the Central North Sea. The failure of the 2205 duplex stainless steel (22Cr) involved stress corrosion cracking (SCC) initiated from both the outside and inside of the pipework. Cracks initiated from the outside were attributable to a known chloride SCC failure mode of 22Cr. The mechanism involved a high degree of evaporation of seawater on the pipework surface. However, the mechanism that initiated cracks from the inside was unusual because oxygen was not present. Electrolyte simulation tools were used to establish the chemical environment associated with the cracks initiated from the inside. It was demonstrated that evaporation of produced water, resulting from a 90 bar to 15 bar pressure reduction at ~136°C, had created brines with very high calcium and magnesium chloride concentrations. The resulting "exotic" brines had not been anticipated and were outside the range of environments for which the process materials had been qualified. Subsequent laboratory materials testing replicated the field failure in the presence of these brines. This study highlights the need for materials selection to include rigorous evaluation of steady state and transient process environments using both electrolyte and hydrocarbon simulation tools. Special attention should be given to projects that apply materials and processing concepts in novel combinations. The failure illustrated that surface wetting of pipework can initiate corrosion failure even at very low water volume fraction (< 0.5 vol%).

AbstractAddressing energy provision and access in Sub-Saharan Africa is a key global challenge. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders, this paper applies an energy justice framework in overviewing energy realities and policies in Malawi, where electricity access remains among the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa. The use of woodfuel remains high for meeting cooking, heating, and lighting needs leading to indoor air pollution, with serious health consequences, and widespread deforestation. Responses to these dual challenges, a lack of electricity access and ongoing woodfuel use, must be rooted in notions of equity, fairness, and justice. Application of energy justice theorising provides insights into how policy stakeholders are responding to complex and interconnected issues of energy generation and access in low-income settings. Overall, a just response to these energy challenges is possible, but only if it is built on local inclusive governance with fairer and effective systems of investment.

Central to food security interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa stands the value chain approach. The underlying idea is that connecting farmers to input and output markets and sources of knowledge and technology will enhance their food security status. In spite of positive impacts measured in especially food supply, there is scant evidence of the long-term effects on food security. For a better grasp of the impacts of a maize value chain intervention in North Ghana, we have experimented with an approach that focuses on interactions and feedback loops between the value chain and its local context. Such approach allowed us to identify dynamics that affect food security in the long run. In the case of Northern Ghana farming systems, household income and diets are increasingly dependent on maize, which increases risk of food insecurity in case of climate setbacks or market shocks. The exercise reveals how a linear value chain approach obscures the dynamic effects cascading from the intervention that may actually hamper food security in the long run. A systems approach may help to better grasp the consequences of external interventions at the local level.

HIV-related immune-suppression increases the risk of malaria (infection, disease and treatment failure) and probably the circulating parasite biomass, favoring the emergence of drug resistance parasites.The additional malaria parasite biomass related to HIV-1 co-infection in sub-Saharan Africa was estimated by a mathematical model. Parasite biomass was computed as the incidence rate of clinical malaria episodes multiplied by the number of parasites circulating in the peripheral blood of patients at the time symptoms appear. A mathematical model estimated the influence of HIV-1 infection on parasite density in clinical malaria by country and by age group, malaria transmission intensity and urban/rural area. In a multivariate sensitivity analysis, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the Monte Carlo simulation.The model shows that in 2005 HIV-1 increased the overall malaria parasite biomass by 18.0% (95%CI: 11.6-26.9). The largest relative increase (134.9-243.9%) was found in southern Africa where HIV-1 prevalence is the highest and malaria transmission unstable. The largest absolute increase was found in Zambia, Malawi, the Central African Republic and Mozambique, where both malaria and HIV are highly endemic. A univariate sensitivity analysis shows that estimates are sensitive to the magnitude of the impact of HIV-1 infection on the malaria incidence rates and associated parasite densities.The HIV-1 epidemic by increasing the malaria parasite biomass in sub-Saharan Africa may also increase the emergence of antimalarial drug resistance, potentially affecting the health of the whole population in countries endemic for both HIV-1 and malaria.

Alcohol is often consumed to reduce tension and improve mood when exposed to stressful situations. Previous studies showed that moderate alcohol consumption may reduce stress when alcohol is consumed prior to a stressor, but data on the effect of alcohol consumption after a mental stressor is limited. Therefore, our objective was to study whether moderate alcohol consumption immediately after a mental stressor attenuates the stress response. Twenty-four healthy men (age 21-40 y, BMI 18-27 kg/m2) participated in a placebo-controlled trial. They randomly consumed 2 cans (660 mL, ∼26 g alcohol) of beer or alcohol-free beer immediately after a mental stressor (Stroop task and Trier Social Stress Test). Physiological and immunological stress response was measured by monitoring heart rate and repeated measures of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis), white blood cells and a set of cytokines. After a mental stressor, cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentrations were 100% and 176% more reduced at 60 min (P = 0.012 and P = 0.001, respectively) and 92% and 60% more reduced at 90 min (P < 0.001 and P = 0.056, respectively) after beer consumption as compared to alcohol-free beer consumption. Heart rate and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were not influenced by alcohol consumption. Plasma IL-8 concentrations remained lower during the stress recovery period after beer consumption than after alcohol-free beer consumption (P < 0.001). In conclusion, consumption of a moderate dose of alcohol after a mental stressor may facilitate recovery of the endocrine stress response as reflected by decreasing plasma ACTH and cortisol.

In order to reduce the ecological footprint of households and mitigate anthropogenic climate change, policy makers need to understand which incentives drive household energy consumption. Economists tend to rely solely on financial instruments, but these might have unintended consequences on energy consumption through 'non-economic' channels. According to what we call the Hackett-Lutzenhiser hypothesis, the relation between households' cultural background and their energy consumption differs under different payment structures. The electricity consumption of households in the Netherlands is categorized according to two different payment structures: unit metered, where households pay for their private electricity consumption and master metered, where electricity costs are lump sum included in the rent. Our findings show that the range of variation in electricity consumption across cultural backgrounds is lower among unit metered than among master metered households, in line with the Hackett-Lutzenhiser hypothesis. The policy implication is that consumers' preferences cannot be simply taken as given, as is customary in standard economic models, but interact with the structure of financial incentives. Taxes and subsidies, or fixed and flexible rates in energy bills, not only change relative prices but may also interact with people's preferences.

AbstractThe high incidence of lung cancer in Xuanwei County, China has been attributed to exposure to indoor smoky coal emissions that contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The inflammatory response induced by coal smoke components may promote lung tumor development. We studied the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes involved in innate immunity and lung cancer risk in a population‐based case–control study (122 cases and 122 controls) in Xuanwei. A total of 1,360 tag SNPs in 149 gene regions were included in the analysis. FCER2 rs7249320 was the most significant SNP (OR: 0.30; 95% CI: 0.16–0.55; P: 0.0001; false discovery rate value, 0.13) for variant carriers. The gene regions ALOX12B/ALOX15B and KLK2 were associated with increased lung cancer risk globally (false discovery rate value <0.15). In addition, there were positive interactions between KLK15 rs3745523 and smoky coal use (OR: 9.40; Pinteraction = 0.07) and between FCER2 rs7249320 and KLK2 rs2739476 (OR: 10.77; Pinteraction = 0.003). Our results suggest that genetic polymorphisms in innate immunity genes may play a role in the genesis of lung cancer caused by PAH‐containing coal smoke. Integrin/receptor and complement pathways as well as IgE regulation are particularly noteworthy. Environ. Mol. Mutagen., 2009. Published 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.