Objective The COVID-19 outbreak and associated physical distancing measures altered the social world for most older adults, but people who live alone may have been disproportionately affected. The current study examined how living alone was associated with daily social contact and emotional well-being among older adults during the pandemic. Method Adults (N = 226) aged 69+ completed a brief survey assessing their living situation, social contact with different social partners (in person, by phone, electronically), and emotions during the morning, afternoon and evening the prior day. Results Older adults who live alone were less likely to see others in person or to receive or provide help. Living alone was associated with more positive emotions concurrent with in-person contact. In contrast, phone contact was associated with higher levels of negative affect among those living alone, but not among those who live with others. Older adults who live alone were more likely to have contact with friends (rather than family). Discussion Findings suggest older adults who live alone may be more reactive to social contact during the COVID-19 outbreak than older adults who reside with others. In-person contact may confer distinct benefits not available via telephone contact, suggesting that possible interventions during the pandemic may work best with safe forms of in-person contact, possibly with non-family members.
In this paper, mutual interactions between each of three different crude oils and CO 2 are experimentally studied. Three crude oils include two light crude oils and one medium crude oil. First, a series of saturation tests are conducted to determine the onset pressure of asphaltene precipitation for each crude oil-CO 2 system. Second, the equilibrium interfacial tension (IFT) between each crude oil and CO 2 is measured as a function of the equilibrium pressure. The so-called minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) of each crude oil-CO 2 system is determined by applying the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique. Third, the oil-swelling effect and initial strong light-components extraction are observed during the IFT measurements. It is found that the onset pressure of asphaltene precipitation is lower if the asphaltene content of the crude oil is higher. It is also found that the measured equilibrium IFT is reduced almost linearly with the equilibrium pressure in three distinct pressure ranges for the two light crude oil-CO 2 systems and in two different pressure ranges for the medium crude oil-CO 2 system. The determined MMP is higher if the crude oil is heavier. The oil-swelling effect occurs at a low pressure, but the initial strong light-components extraction becomes dominant at a high pressure.
In this paper, two commercial polymers, poly(vinyl ethyl ether) (PVEE) and poly(1-decene) (P-1-D), are tested to thicken CO 2 for CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR). First, a series of laboratory tests are conducted to measure the cloud-point pressures of either polymer at different polymer solubilities in supercritical CO 2 and the equilibrium interfacial tensions (IFTs) of a light crude oil-pure or polymer-thickened CO 2 system under different reservoir conditions. Second, a capillary viscometer is used to measure the viscosities of polymer-thickened CO 2 at different test pressures. Third, a total of six high-pressure CO 2 coreflood tests are performed to examine the effects of polymer-thickened CO 2 on the total CO 2 EOR. It is found that at the same and low polymer solubility in pure CO 2 , the measured cloud-point pressure of PVEE is much lower than that of P-1-D. The measured equilibrium IFT for polymer-thickened CO 2 at a high pressure is much lower than that for pure CO 2 . The PVEE-or P-1-D-thickened CO 2 viscosity is approximately (13 to 14) times higher than the pure CO 2 viscosity. The CO 2 coreflood test results show that PVEE-or P-1-Dthickened CO 2 flooding can further enhance oil recovery after a pure CO 2 breakthrough. The CO 2 breakthrough can be significantly delayed if polymer-thickened CO 2 is injected directly.
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