Chromium(VI)(Cr(VI)),a toxic metal ion,is widely present in industrial wastewater.To reduce the contamination of Cr(VI),many technologies for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI)to Cr(III)have been developed in the ...Chromium(VI)(Cr(VI)),a toxic metal ion,is widely present in industrial wastewater.To reduce the contamination of Cr(VI),many technologies for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI)to Cr(III)have been developed in the past decades.However,the practical application of photocatalysts for the reduction of Cr(VI)inwastewater treatment is often hindered by the complicated photoreduction processes due to the sedimentation and stratification of catalyst particles that present during the treatment of the wastewater.Probing and understanding the influences of the sedimentation and stratification of the catalyst particles on the photoreduction processes are long-term challenges in the field.Herein,we demonstrate that this issue can be solved by using layer location integrated low-field time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance(LF-NMR)relaxometry.With paramagnetic Cr(III)cation as the molecular probe,we successfully monitored the Cr(VI)photoreduction processes by operando probing the 1 H T2 relaxation time of the photoreduction systems.The influences of catalyst sedimentation and the light wavelength on photocatalysis were studied and discussed.The results showed the great potential of LF-NMR relaxometry in the study of Cr(VI)photoreduction processes during industrial wastewater treatments.展开更多
Low-field(nuclear magnetic resonance)NMR has been widely used in petroleum industry,such as well logging and laboratory rock core analysis.However,the signal-to-noise ratio is low due to the low magnetic field strengt...Low-field(nuclear magnetic resonance)NMR has been widely used in petroleum industry,such as well logging and laboratory rock core analysis.However,the signal-to-noise ratio is low due to the low magnetic field strength of NMR tools and the complex petrophysical properties of detected samples.Suppressing the noise and highlighting the available NMR signals is very important for subsequent data processing.Most denoising methods are normally based on fixed mathematical transformation or handdesign feature selectors to suppress noise characteristics,which may not perform well because of their non-adaptive performance to different noisy signals.In this paper,we proposed a“data processing framework”to improve the quality of low field NMR echo data based on dictionary learning.Dictionary learning is a machine learning method based on redundancy and sparse representation theory.Available information in noisy NMR echo data can be adaptively extracted and reconstructed by dictionary learning.The advantages and application effectiveness of the proposed method were verified with a number of numerical simulations,NMR core data analyses,and NMR logging data processing.The results show that dictionary learning can significantly improve the quality of NMR echo data with high noise level and effectively improve the accuracy and reliability of inversion results.展开更多
In this paper,we proposed a novel method for low-field nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)inversion based on low-rank and sparsity restraint(LRSR)of relaxation spectra,with which high quality construction is made possible...In this paper,we proposed a novel method for low-field nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)inversion based on low-rank and sparsity restraint(LRSR)of relaxation spectra,with which high quality construction is made possible for one-and two-dimensional low-field and low signal to noise ratio NMR data.In this method,the low-rank and sparsity restraints are introduced into the objective function instead of the smoothing term.The low-rank features in relaxation spectra are extracted to ensure the local characteristics and morphology of spectra.The sparsity and residual term are contributed to the resolution and precision of spectra,with the elimination of the redundant relaxation components.Optimization process of the objective function is designed with alternating direction method of multiples,in which the objective function is decomposed into three subproblems to be independently solved.The optimum solution can be obtained by alternating iteration and updating process.At first,numerical simulations are conducted on synthetic echo data with different signal-to-noise ratios,to optimize the desirable regularization parameters and verify the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed method.Then,NMR experiments on solutions and artificial sandstone samples are conducted and analyzed,which validates the robustness and reliability of the proposed method.The results from simulations and experiments have demonstrated that the suggested method has unique advantages for improving the resolution of relaxation spectra and enhancing the ability of fluid quantitative identification.展开更多
Low field NMR technique was applied to investigate the hydration of cement pastes with different water to cement ratios or addition of superplasticizer. As a nondestructive method, this technique can be used to monito...Low field NMR technique was applied to investigate the hydration of cement pastes with different water to cement ratios or addition of superplasticizer. As a nondestructive method, this technique can be used to monitor the hydration kinetics process by following the changes of longitudinal relaxation time (T1) of water constrained in the pastes. The experimental results indicate that the T1 distributions of water in the fresh paste normally exhibite bimodal distribution, where the large peak is corresponding to the free water while the small one is contributed by the water stored in the flocculations. Time dependence of the weighted average T1 has a good agreement with the hydration process and could be divided into four stages, i e, initial period, dormant period, accelerated period and steady period. The hydration mechanism of each stage was described based on the theory of cement chemistry. In addition, the total signal intensity, which is proportional to the content of the physically bound water in the samples, decrease successively during the hydration reflecting the consumption of physically bound water by hydration reactions.展开更多
Development of microstructure of early cement paste(0-6 h) was investigated with1H lowfield NMR.It was found that T 2(transverse relaxation time) distributions of fresh cement paste were bimodal and two peaks were ‘l...Development of microstructure of early cement paste(0-6 h) was investigated with1H lowfield NMR.It was found that T 2(transverse relaxation time) distributions of fresh cement paste were bimodal and two peaks were ‘long component' and ‘short component'.Separation degree of two peaks was a sign of exchange of water within flocculation and outside flocculation.Factors such as water cement ratio,specific surface area and dosage of superplasticizer had influences on the separation degree: the separation degree increased with the water cement ratio;the separation degree of cement paste prepared with cement with a high specific surface area was zero;dosage of superplasticizer will decrease separation degree.Results also suggested that T2 distribution gradually moved to the left and T2 of long component and initial fluidity were linearly correlated.展开更多
CO_(2)geological storage and utilization(CGSU)is considered a far-reaching technique to meet the demand of increasing energy supply and decreasing CO_(2)emissions.For CGSUs related to shale gas reservoirs,experimental...CO_(2)geological storage and utilization(CGSU)is considered a far-reaching technique to meet the demand of increasing energy supply and decreasing CO_(2)emissions.For CGSUs related to shale gas reservoirs,experimental investigations have attracted variable methodologies,among which low-field NMR(LF-NMR)is a promising method and is playing an increasingly key role in reservoir characterization.Herein,the application of this nondestructive,sensitive,and quick LF-NMR technique in characterizing CGSU behavior in shale gas reservoirs is reviewed.First,the basic principle of LF-NMR for 1H-fluid detection is introduced,which is the theoretical foundation of the reviewed achievements in this paper.Then,the reviewed works are related to the LF-NMR-based measurements of CH_(4)adsorption capacity and the CO_(2)-CH_(4)interaction in shale,as well as the performance on CO_(2)sequestration and simultaneous enhanced gas recovery from shale.Basically,the reviewed achievements have exhibited a large potential for LF-NMR application in CGSUs related to shale gas reservoirs,although some limitations and deficiencies still need to be improved.Accordingly,some suggestions are proposed for a more responsible development of the LF-NMR technique.Hopefully,this review is helpful in promoting the expanding application of the LF-NMR technique in CGSU implementation in shale gas reservoirs.展开更多
NMR serves as an important technique for probing rock pore space,such as pore structure characterization,fluid identification,and petrophysical property testing,due to the reusability of cores,convenience in sample pr...NMR serves as an important technique for probing rock pore space,such as pore structure characterization,fluid identification,and petrophysical property testing,due to the reusability of cores,convenience in sample processing,and time efficiency in laboratory tests.In practice,NMR signal collection is normally achieved through polarized nuclei relaxation which releases crucial relaxation messages for result interpretation.The impetus of this work is to help engineers and researchers with petroleum background obtain new insights into NMR principals and extend existing methodologies for characterization of unconventional formations.This article first gives a brief description of the development history of relaxation theories and models for porous media.Then,the widely used NMR techniques for characterizing petrophysical properties and pore structures are presented.Meanwhile,limitations and deficiencies of them are summarized.Finally,future work on improving these insufficiencies and approaches of enhancement applicability for NMR technologies are discussed.展开更多
NMR relaxation analysis provides a unique and non-invasive probe of fluid dynamics within porous materials,and may be applied to the interpretation of a wide variety of material and interfacial characteristics.Here,we...NMR relaxation analysis provides a unique and non-invasive probe of fluid dynamics within porous materials,and may be applied to the interpretation of a wide variety of material and interfacial characteristics.Here,we report two-dimensional^(1)H T_(1)-T_(2)relaxation correlation measurements of a range of three-carbon adsorbates(1-propanol,2-propanol and propanoic acid)imbibed within the mesoporous metal oxide gamma-alumina.Our data,acquired across field strengths of 2 MHz,12.7 MHz and 43 MHz,clearly reveal two populations in each measurement,identified as the alkyl and hydroxyl moieties of each adsorbate.These results expand the range of materials in which such functional group resolved relaxation is known to occur,and demonstrate the clear persistence of such phenomena using a range of typical benchtop NMR systems employed to study fluid-saturated porous media.展开更多
To evaluate the molecular dynamics and the molecular regions presented in the cinnamon types it was chosen to evaluate them without any treatment, and for that it was used low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) th...To evaluate the molecular dynamics and the molecular regions presented in the cinnamon types it was chosen to evaluate them without any treatment, and for that it was used low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) through the pulse sequence such as MSE-FID, an NMR sequence in the time domain, and from the longitudinal relaxation time (with a time constant T1), employing the inversion-recovery pulse sequence. The low-field NMR results indicate that the techniques chosen were a very good alternative to evaluate these types of samples food and their structural organization according to their constituents. The molecular mobility is different.展开更多
该文对不同发酵阶段的黄酒样品进行低场核磁共振(low-field nuclear magnetic resonance,LF-NMR)检测,比较了陈酿时间、酒精度和品牌对黄酒低场核磁弛豫特性的影响,最后对9个品牌黄酒的LF-NMR弛豫信息进行了主成分分析。结果表明,发酵...该文对不同发酵阶段的黄酒样品进行低场核磁共振(low-field nuclear magnetic resonance,LF-NMR)检测,比较了陈酿时间、酒精度和品牌对黄酒低场核磁弛豫特性的影响,最后对9个品牌黄酒的LF-NMR弛豫信息进行了主成分分析。结果表明,发酵后样品的单组分弛豫时间(T_(2W))显著缩短,而陈酿后黄酒的T_(2W)又相对延长。多组分弛豫图谱(T_(2))表明,对照组和浸米样品均只有1个峰。发酵后样品的T_(2)图谱均出现2个峰。从第一次发酵到煎酒期间,T_(21)和T_(22)不断缩短,而陈酿期间T_(21)和T_(22)相对延长。同一品牌及陈酿时间的黄酒,酒精度越大,体系的T_(2W),T_(21)和T_(22)越短;同一品牌及酒精度下,陈酿时间仅对T_(21)有一定影响。不同品牌黄酒因酿造工艺的区别而使弛豫分布有一定特点。主成分分析表明,不同酒精度、陈酿时间、品牌及种类的黄酒的弛豫特性的PCA分布及间距不同。说明应用LF-NMR技术可实现对不同工艺生产的黄酒的快速辨别。展开更多
Aiming at obtaining an accurate porosity of gas shale,various approaches are attempted.Therein,nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR),being treated as a kind of new-developed technique,possesses the representative significan...Aiming at obtaining an accurate porosity of gas shale,various approaches are attempted.Therein,nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR),being treated as a kind of new-developed technique,possesses the representative significance.However,as a booming technique,the reliability of NMR-based porosity of shale is not exactly defined.Depending on NMR device,this work measured the porosity of shale experiencing different water soaking time,accordingly,judging the reliability of NMR-based porosity.Results indicate the NMR outcomes vary with the water soaking time,making a doubt about the objectivity of NMRbased porosity in reflecting the real shale porosity.Furthermore,some supplementary means were adopted to verify the water soaking-induced variation in the pore system of shale sample,which intensities the suspicion if the NMR-based porosity is reliable or not.To sum up,this work considers that the NMR-based porosity of shale is not reliable enough when water is used as the probe.Besides,this work also offers some suggestions on how to enhance the reliability of NMR-based porosity of shale sample.Basically,this work selects a fresh perspective to analyze the NMR approach in determining shale porosity,which is hopefully helpful in promoting the development of NMR technique in the shale-related field.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant nos.22072045,21603073,and 21574043)the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China(grant no.2018YFC1602800)Xing-FuZhi-Hua Foundation of ECNU and Microscale Magnetic Resonance Platform of ECNU and the Microscale Magnetic Resonance Platform of ECNU.
文摘Chromium(VI)(Cr(VI)),a toxic metal ion,is widely present in industrial wastewater.To reduce the contamination of Cr(VI),many technologies for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI)to Cr(III)have been developed in the past decades.However,the practical application of photocatalysts for the reduction of Cr(VI)inwastewater treatment is often hindered by the complicated photoreduction processes due to the sedimentation and stratification of catalyst particles that present during the treatment of the wastewater.Probing and understanding the influences of the sedimentation and stratification of the catalyst particles on the photoreduction processes are long-term challenges in the field.Herein,we demonstrate that this issue can be solved by using layer location integrated low-field time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance(LF-NMR)relaxometry.With paramagnetic Cr(III)cation as the molecular probe,we successfully monitored the Cr(VI)photoreduction processes by operando probing the 1 H T2 relaxation time of the photoreduction systems.The influences of catalyst sedimentation and the light wavelength on photocatalysis were studied and discussed.The results showed the great potential of LF-NMR relaxometry in the study of Cr(VI)photoreduction processes during industrial wastewater treatments.
基金supported by Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum,Beijing(Grant Number ZX20210024)Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant Number 2021M700172)+1 种基金The Strategic Cooperation Technology Projects of CNPC and CUP(Grant Number ZLZX2020-03)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Number 42004105)
文摘Low-field(nuclear magnetic resonance)NMR has been widely used in petroleum industry,such as well logging and laboratory rock core analysis.However,the signal-to-noise ratio is low due to the low magnetic field strength of NMR tools and the complex petrophysical properties of detected samples.Suppressing the noise and highlighting the available NMR signals is very important for subsequent data processing.Most denoising methods are normally based on fixed mathematical transformation or handdesign feature selectors to suppress noise characteristics,which may not perform well because of their non-adaptive performance to different noisy signals.In this paper,we proposed a“data processing framework”to improve the quality of low field NMR echo data based on dictionary learning.Dictionary learning is a machine learning method based on redundancy and sparse representation theory.Available information in noisy NMR echo data can be adaptively extracted and reconstructed by dictionary learning.The advantages and application effectiveness of the proposed method were verified with a number of numerical simulations,NMR core data analyses,and NMR logging data processing.The results show that dictionary learning can significantly improve the quality of NMR echo data with high noise level and effectively improve the accuracy and reliability of inversion results.
基金supported by “National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42204106)”“China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2021M700172)”+1 种基金“The Strategic Cooperation Technology Projects of CNPC and CUP (Grant No. ZLZX2020-03)”“Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant No. 20KJD430002)”
文摘In this paper,we proposed a novel method for low-field nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)inversion based on low-rank and sparsity restraint(LRSR)of relaxation spectra,with which high quality construction is made possible for one-and two-dimensional low-field and low signal to noise ratio NMR data.In this method,the low-rank and sparsity restraints are introduced into the objective function instead of the smoothing term.The low-rank features in relaxation spectra are extracted to ensure the local characteristics and morphology of spectra.The sparsity and residual term are contributed to the resolution and precision of spectra,with the elimination of the redundant relaxation components.Optimization process of the objective function is designed with alternating direction method of multiples,in which the objective function is decomposed into three subproblems to be independently solved.The optimum solution can be obtained by alternating iteration and updating process.At first,numerical simulations are conducted on synthetic echo data with different signal-to-noise ratios,to optimize the desirable regularization parameters and verify the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed method.Then,NMR experiments on solutions and artificial sandstone samples are conducted and analyzed,which validates the robustness and reliability of the proposed method.The results from simulations and experiments have demonstrated that the suggested method has unique advantages for improving the resolution of relaxation spectra and enhancing the ability of fluid quantitative identification.
基金Funded by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China(‘973’ Program) (No. 2009CB623105)
文摘Low field NMR technique was applied to investigate the hydration of cement pastes with different water to cement ratios or addition of superplasticizer. As a nondestructive method, this technique can be used to monitor the hydration kinetics process by following the changes of longitudinal relaxation time (T1) of water constrained in the pastes. The experimental results indicate that the T1 distributions of water in the fresh paste normally exhibite bimodal distribution, where the large peak is corresponding to the free water while the small one is contributed by the water stored in the flocculations. Time dependence of the weighted average T1 has a good agreement with the hydration process and could be divided into four stages, i e, initial period, dormant period, accelerated period and steady period. The hydration mechanism of each stage was described based on the theory of cement chemistry. In addition, the total signal intensity, which is proportional to the content of the physically bound water in the samples, decrease successively during the hydration reflecting the consumption of physically bound water by hydration reactions.
基金Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51178339)the National Basic Research Program(No.2009CB623104-5)
文摘Development of microstructure of early cement paste(0-6 h) was investigated with1H lowfield NMR.It was found that T 2(transverse relaxation time) distributions of fresh cement paste were bimodal and two peaks were ‘long component' and ‘short component'.Separation degree of two peaks was a sign of exchange of water within flocculation and outside flocculation.Factors such as water cement ratio,specific surface area and dosage of superplasticizer had influences on the separation degree: the separation degree increased with the water cement ratio;the separation degree of cement paste prepared with cement with a high specific surface area was zero;dosage of superplasticizer will decrease separation degree.Results also suggested that T2 distribution gradually moved to the left and T2 of long component and initial fluidity were linearly correlated.
基金the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province(Nos.2021YFH0048 and 2021YFH0118)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.20826041E4199)+3 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.20740099)the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing,China(No.CSTB2022NSCQ-BHX0721)the Chongqing Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scientists(No.cstc2021jcyj-jqX0007)the Key Laboratory of Shale Gas Exploration,Ministry of Natural Resources(No.KLSGE-202103).
文摘CO_(2)geological storage and utilization(CGSU)is considered a far-reaching technique to meet the demand of increasing energy supply and decreasing CO_(2)emissions.For CGSUs related to shale gas reservoirs,experimental investigations have attracted variable methodologies,among which low-field NMR(LF-NMR)is a promising method and is playing an increasingly key role in reservoir characterization.Herein,the application of this nondestructive,sensitive,and quick LF-NMR technique in characterizing CGSU behavior in shale gas reservoirs is reviewed.First,the basic principle of LF-NMR for 1H-fluid detection is introduced,which is the theoretical foundation of the reviewed achievements in this paper.Then,the reviewed works are related to the LF-NMR-based measurements of CH_(4)adsorption capacity and the CO_(2)-CH_(4)interaction in shale,as well as the performance on CO_(2)sequestration and simultaneous enhanced gas recovery from shale.Basically,the reviewed achievements have exhibited a large potential for LF-NMR application in CGSUs related to shale gas reservoirs,although some limitations and deficiencies still need to be improved.Accordingly,some suggestions are proposed for a more responsible development of the LF-NMR technique.Hopefully,this review is helpful in promoting the expanding application of the LF-NMR technique in CGSU implementation in shale gas reservoirs.
基金financially supported by the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars(51525404)the National Science and Technology Major Project(No.2016ZX05002002)the National Science and Technology Major Project(2016ZX05048-004-006)。
文摘NMR serves as an important technique for probing rock pore space,such as pore structure characterization,fluid identification,and petrophysical property testing,due to the reusability of cores,convenience in sample processing,and time efficiency in laboratory tests.In practice,NMR signal collection is normally achieved through polarized nuclei relaxation which releases crucial relaxation messages for result interpretation.The impetus of this work is to help engineers and researchers with petroleum background obtain new insights into NMR principals and extend existing methodologies for characterization of unconventional formations.This article first gives a brief description of the development history of relaxation theories and models for porous media.Then,the widely used NMR techniques for characterizing petrophysical properties and pore structures are presented.Meanwhile,limitations and deficiencies of them are summarized.Finally,future work on improving these insufficiencies and approaches of enhancement applicability for NMR technologies are discussed.
基金the Forrest Research Foundation.Carmine D’Agostino would like to acknowledge the EPSRC for grant no.EP/S019138/1.
文摘NMR relaxation analysis provides a unique and non-invasive probe of fluid dynamics within porous materials,and may be applied to the interpretation of a wide variety of material and interfacial characteristics.Here,we report two-dimensional^(1)H T_(1)-T_(2)relaxation correlation measurements of a range of three-carbon adsorbates(1-propanol,2-propanol and propanoic acid)imbibed within the mesoporous metal oxide gamma-alumina.Our data,acquired across field strengths of 2 MHz,12.7 MHz and 43 MHz,clearly reveal two populations in each measurement,identified as the alkyl and hydroxyl moieties of each adsorbate.These results expand the range of materials in which such functional group resolved relaxation is known to occur,and demonstrate the clear persistence of such phenomena using a range of typical benchtop NMR systems employed to study fluid-saturated porous media.
文摘To evaluate the molecular dynamics and the molecular regions presented in the cinnamon types it was chosen to evaluate them without any treatment, and for that it was used low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) through the pulse sequence such as MSE-FID, an NMR sequence in the time domain, and from the longitudinal relaxation time (with a time constant T1), employing the inversion-recovery pulse sequence. The low-field NMR results indicate that the techniques chosen were a very good alternative to evaluate these types of samples food and their structural organization according to their constituents. The molecular mobility is different.
文摘该文对不同发酵阶段的黄酒样品进行低场核磁共振(low-field nuclear magnetic resonance,LF-NMR)检测,比较了陈酿时间、酒精度和品牌对黄酒低场核磁弛豫特性的影响,最后对9个品牌黄酒的LF-NMR弛豫信息进行了主成分分析。结果表明,发酵后样品的单组分弛豫时间(T_(2W))显著缩短,而陈酿后黄酒的T_(2W)又相对延长。多组分弛豫图谱(T_(2))表明,对照组和浸米样品均只有1个峰。发酵后样品的T_(2)图谱均出现2个峰。从第一次发酵到煎酒期间,T_(21)和T_(22)不断缩短,而陈酿期间T_(21)和T_(22)相对延长。同一品牌及陈酿时间的黄酒,酒精度越大,体系的T_(2W),T_(21)和T_(22)越短;同一品牌及酒精度下,陈酿时间仅对T_(21)有一定影响。不同品牌黄酒因酿造工艺的区别而使弛豫分布有一定特点。主成分分析表明,不同酒精度、陈酿时间、品牌及种类的黄酒的弛豫特性的PCA分布及间距不同。说明应用LF-NMR技术可实现对不同工艺生产的黄酒的快速辨别。
基金financially supported by the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province(Grant Nos.2021YFH0048 and 2021YFH0118)the Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant No.2020M683253)
文摘Aiming at obtaining an accurate porosity of gas shale,various approaches are attempted.Therein,nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR),being treated as a kind of new-developed technique,possesses the representative significance.However,as a booming technique,the reliability of NMR-based porosity of shale is not exactly defined.Depending on NMR device,this work measured the porosity of shale experiencing different water soaking time,accordingly,judging the reliability of NMR-based porosity.Results indicate the NMR outcomes vary with the water soaking time,making a doubt about the objectivity of NMRbased porosity in reflecting the real shale porosity.Furthermore,some supplementary means were adopted to verify the water soaking-induced variation in the pore system of shale sample,which intensities the suspicion if the NMR-based porosity is reliable or not.To sum up,this work considers that the NMR-based porosity of shale is not reliable enough when water is used as the probe.Besides,this work also offers some suggestions on how to enhance the reliability of NMR-based porosity of shale sample.Basically,this work selects a fresh perspective to analyze the NMR approach in determining shale porosity,which is hopefully helpful in promoting the development of NMR technique in the shale-related field.