This study uses baptismal records from the Italian city of Parma from 1609 to 1637 to chart the sex ratio of male and female infants at baptism. This article measures the Parman sex ratio against the natural sex ratio at birth for live-born infants, as determined by Praven Visaria, and offers preliminary findings that indicate that married couples used infanticide as a means of controlling family size and sex in seventeenth-century Parma. The 28 years studied encompass both relatively strong economic and agricultural years as well as a variety of crises. By selecting a period with both good and bad economic years it is possible to see if parents behaved differently as their household conditions varied. Further, dividing the approximately 30,000 baptisms by rural and urban jurisdictions and familial socioeconomic status makes visible parental recourse to infanticide through unnatural ratios of males and females within different segments of society.

This article is the first rigorous, scientific description of the timing and nature of the singing voice changes of an assigned female singer taking testosterone. It bridges gaps between performing arts pedagogy and medical/clinical perspectives, including both perceptual and clinical voice measures and assessing the relationship between hormone levels and voice changes. It includes illustrative audio recordings of the singer’s changing voice and expands traditional boundaries of voice research by considering the singer’s embodied, emotional experience of their voice.

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The lack of planning for well plug and abandonment (P&A) during the well-construction phase can significantly contribute to the extended operational time and associated high cost of P&A. The impact on time and cost is mainly due to insufficient well data, uncertain casing cement integrity, and lack of information on competent formation for permanent barrier placement. Undocumented pressure and stress evolution, and well events also can contribute to increased time and cost of P&A. Although new technologies can reduce plug and abandonment cost, another approach is to effectively plan for well abandonment during the front end engineering design (FEED) and well-construction phases and during drilling of new wells. This paper examines recommendations for improvement and requirements that should be addressed by the industry, regulators, and operators to introduce clear well-abandonment requirements into FEED and well-construction phases for new drilled wells. –Requirement for planning for well integrity for the entire well life cycle of the well from well construction to well abandonment and after well abandonment–Identify number and position of required barriers for abandonments–Requirement to identify and document competent formation during well-construction phase–Requirement to demonstrate there is cement with good bond / isolation between the casing and the formation in the areas where internal cement plugs are to be set.–Qualification of the formation as possible well barrier–Well monitoring: consider introducing sensors or instrument in cement (cement behind casing) to continuously monitor and track any pressure build-up in the casing annulus.–Completion design: Avoid control lines at the intended well-barrier depth(s) and install production packer(s) in a location enables through-tubing well-abandonment methodologies. Other considerations to be addressed in this paper are the change of regulations between the time the well is constructed, and its final P&A. The novelty of addressing well abandonment requirements in the FEED and well-construction phases will significantly simplify the abandonment phase reducing risks and cost while improving well barrier integrity.

In today’s challenging market conditions, the probability of successful well delivery can be increased and influenced by implementing fit-for-purpose pre-drill and real-time geomechanical solutions. These tailored geomechanical solutions add value to the project by delivering a cost-effective well, with reduced non-productive time (NPT), and a lower risk of health, safety, and environment (HSE) concerns. Geomechanics guided decision making, both in the pre-drill and in the real time phases, has a wide range of applications depending on the complexity present in the drilling environment, e.g., high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) regimes, reactive clays, depleted reservoirs, weak shales, highly stressed areas, etc. This paper discusses the application of advanced geomechanics in three specific drilling environments (a) drilling a highly deviated well in a transitional fault regime, onshore the Nile Delta, (b) mitigating wellbore instability caused by reactive shales, in the Middle East and (c) drilling lateral wells in a highly-stressed carbonate formation. The paper also discusses how integrated pre-drill and real-time geomechanical solutions helped in achieving drilling success without adding major cost to the project. In study (a) the operator had successfully drilled many vertical wells in the onshore field on the Nile Delta without significant problems, yet was having severe issues drilling deviated wells. A detailed pre-drill model revealed the possibility of a transitional faulting regime, in association with anisotropic rocks, drilled by a slick Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA), could be a major reason for this. Real-time geomechanics were deployed to validate the pre-drill understanding, along with mud additive recommendations and a slight modification to the drill string. In a different study (b) performed in another onshore Middle East field, there was a challenge to drill high-angle wells through troublesome shale formations, which resulted in various sidetracks and a significant amount of wellbore instability issues. These issues limited well configuration options for field development to near vertical wells. A pre-drill geomechanical study was carried out to understand the root cause of the failures that resulted in customized mud weight and mud type solutions for drilling higher angle wells. With these customized recommendations and later on a 3D Geomechanical model, horizontal wells have been drilled successfully for optimal draining of the reservoir resulting in breakthrough in field development plan. In study (c) there was significant wellbore instability challenges while drilling lateral wells through highly-stressed carbonate reservoir. A comprehensive study helped in understanding the geomechanical behavior. In example highlighted the drilling team was using lower than required mud weights in a horizontal well. The geomechanical model was adjusted considering time and space for specific case using the geomechanical understanding. The focused geomechanical modeling helped to adjust the mud weight. Suitable mud weight along with pseudo real-time monitoring helped in successful delivery of the horizontal well. The three studies presented are onshore. Conventional wisdom for onshore drilling has a bias for low-cost solutions. However, the complexity of each drilling campaign was different. In all the cases the adoption of integrated geomechanics through the planning and operation phase ensured successful project completion with minimal non-productive time (NPT).