It’s more important than ever to follow up with existing customers. Learn how to save a ton of time by automating your most important follow-up emails.

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MARION — Marion’s 14-member COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force is beginning to work on recommendations of how to get people back to work, while keeping everyone...

VERYL ARDIS HANSEN
Cedar Rapids


Veryl Ardis Hansen passed away Wednesday morning, May 6, 2020. A private family service will be held for Veryl at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. She will be buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Mason City beside her mother and father.
Arrangements are being handled by Cedar Memorial
of Cedar Rapids.
She is survived by her husband, Richard Hansen;
her four children, Daniel, Andrew, Jane and Jill; and a granddaughter, Christine.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Viola Sorensen; father, Harry Sorensen; and brother, Charles Sorensen.
Born Veryl Ardis Sorensen on April 27, 1928, she grew up on a farm between Thornton and Swaledale, Iowa. She graduated from Swaledale High School in 1945. She attended Wartburg College in 1945-46 and graduated from St. Mary's School of Nursing, Rochester, Minn., in 1949. She worked for St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, later in her career she worked as a visiting nurse. While dedicating her life to nursing, she raised four children and pursued numerous interests. She had a lifelong passion for music which she passed on to her children. She also loved the outdoors and wilderness areas. The family regularly took camping trips to parks in the western states, canoed Iowa rivers, and visited the Boundary Waters wilderness area in Minnesota many times. Later, Veryl and Richard continued their travels including a tent trip to Alaska. They also visited Germany, Korea, Japan and China.
Online condolences may be left for the family at www.cedarmemorial.com.

MARION — Marion’s 14-member COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force is beginning to work on recommendations of how to get people back to work, while keeping everyone safe.

“It’s hard to know right now at the beginning the various outcomes that are going to come out of this,” Marion Mayor Nick AbouAssaly told task force members in a meeting held this week via Zoom.

“Community sectors will work independently and report to the steering committee with ideas, strategies or policy recommendations,” he said.

In turn, the task force will consider recommendations to the Marion City Council, and AbouAssaly said he will update the council on the task force meetings.

“Unfortunately, we have to accept that the virus is here to stay,” AbouAssaly said. “It’s part of our life for the time being. We have to be able to plan for getting back to doing things and leading our lives in a way that allows us to exist with the virus in our community.”

Elizabeth Cwik, a Marion resident who works for the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, said there’s a “strong interest” among task force members to provide accurate information to the public about the virus.

“I see clear, consistent messaging from a variety of sectors from the schools, government, businesses and nonprofits. Then that message gets through,” Cwik said. “If that message is, ‘We care, and we want you to come out whole, and we want there to be a vibrant economy to be continued with every citizen’s effort,’ I think that’s a valuable contribution to the recovery.”

In joining the task force, Dr. Jaclyn Price said she hopes to dispel inaccurate information about the coronavirus and help businesses find ways to safely bring their employees back to work.

“I anticipate businesses will be operating at reduced capacities,” she said. “Maybe doing appointments rather than walk-in business, and cleaning more routinely.”

If businesses require employees and customers to wear masks, it will protect others from asymptomatic spread of the virus, she said.

“We will still see virus activity until we get a vaccine or herd immunity,” Price said. “This is going to be a problem for months to come. We’re trying to find ways to open slowly, but also understanding if we reopen everything and have to close it again, that could be more detrimental to people’s psychology or finances of businesses.”

The Rev. Mike Morgan of Marion United Methodist Church said “greater conversation” with government, business, education and health care leaders will help.

“Marion has become a town that is proactive,” Morgan said. “We really seek to have good things happen to our citizenry rather than let things happen and we react to them. ... As a person in the faith community, it’s important for us to be tending to people’s emotional, psychological, spiritual and, to some degree, physical needs.”

Comments: (319) 368-8664; grace.king@thegazette.com

Those serving on the Marion COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force, all Marion residents and volunteers, are:

• Nick AbouAssaly, Marion mayor

• Jill Ackerman, president, Marion Chamber of Commerce

• Shannon Bisgard, Linn-Mar schools superintendent

• Amber Bisinger, communications officer for the city

• Elizabeth Cwik, Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation

• Lee Eilers, executive committee member, Marion Economic Development Corp.

• Nick Glew, president, Marion Economic Development Corp.

• Amber Hoff, marriage and family therapist

• Steve Jensen, Marion City Council member

• Mike Morgan, pastor, Marion United Methodist Church

• Brent Oleson, Linn County supervisor

Lon Pluckhahn, Marion city manager

• Jaclyn Price, M.D., Mercy Clinic-Marion

• Brooke Prouty, program director, Marion Chamber of Commerce

Preset (Everyday) + transform + exposure + graduated filter + radial filter. If shots like this take more than 2 minutes to edit, it’s probably not worth editing. ⏱
—
Boxing Day will be the last day to get my Lightroom presets discounted, which leaves you only 3 more days! Get on it! ???? (at Toronto, Ontario)

Merry Xmas everyone! It’s giveaway time! ????????
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Thank you to all those who participated in my preset giveaway this week! The support makes all the hard work and extra effort worth it!
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Without further ado, the randomly drawn winners of my custom Lightroom presets are @l9lee @rchellau @bokeh.jay! Congrats and check your DMs soon for details! ????
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You still have until tomorrow to grab my presets (which this shot was edited with) for 50% off! They’ll be going back to regular price after so don’t miss out! ???? (at Toronto, Ontario)

I’ve gone subway hopping for photos in every city I’ve been to except the one I live in. ???? (at Toronto, Ontario)

I took this shot about a year ago when I had a very different editing style. A ton of faded blacks and, believe it or not, a subtle green tint (unknowingly inherited from the preset I was using at the time). Re-editing it now, I’m happy with the way my style has evolved, though I can already sense that I’m on the brink of evolving it again. And I’m okay with that. ???? (at London, United Kingdom)

What should all businesses do at least once, and do properly, and (like the title of this blog post suggests) designers need to do repeatedly? The answer is: Understanding the target market they’re catering to. Sure, that makes sense—but why are graphic designers any different? Why do this repeatedly? When you’re in business, you’re in the […]

I'll admit I was late to the HTTPS party.

But post Snowden, and particularly after the result of the last election here in the US, it's clear that everything on the web should be encrypted by default.

Why?

0. You have an unalienable right to privacy, both in the real world

You know what sucks? Having to navigate through dozens of tools, all on separate dashboards, just to get one job done. Nowadays, there’s a tool for everything, and while that’s amazing, it’s very overwhelming sometimes. Oftentimes, some tools are forgotten about completely. How on earth do we tackle this situation? I mean, as time goes […]

Read More at Teamstack: Everything You Need, All in One Place

"This study challenges current perceptions that most people with a sports-related mTBI recover within 10 to 14 days," said lead author Dr. Stephen Kara, from Axis Sports Medicine in Auckland, New Zealand.

Even light exercise can counter the damage of stroke in survivors, a new study suggests.

Having too many WordPress themes to choose among is of course better than having too few. But there are times when searching for what you really need is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. If you’ve been looking for a top-of-the-line multipurpose theme you will probably find it right here. We’ve listed […]

The post “Needle in a haystack” search problem? Check 15 of the very best WordPress themes for 2020 appeared first on WebAppers.

Many photographers think that learning how to find the ideal location and take a picture at the right time is all they need to know. However, this isn’t the case, and in a world where CGI rivals reality and touch-ups via photo editing software are now seen as a necessity to customers, relying on point and click will kill your photography business. Here are seven reasons every photographer should learn how to use Photoshop.   Royalty Free Photo Touch-Ups Are Essential When a family orders school photos, they pay a flat fee for copies of the school pictures and a little more if the child’s name is embossed on the picture. They pay a separate fee if the picture is touched up, whether it is hiding acne or reducing glare on the child’s glasses. Photographers who know how to touch up photos without making it look artificial or cartoonish can ... Read more

The post 7 Reasons Every Photographer Should Learn How to Use Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography Tutorials.

Getting content to center perfectly within an element and then ensuring it responds properly at different screen sizes is one of the biggest challenges that still face front-end designers. It is not that it is difficult, but because there are several ways to go about it, figuring out which method is best can be confusing. […]

The post CSS Vertical Centering – Everything You Need To Know appeared first on Web Designer Wall.

Big tech companies have been spying on us for years. This knowledge isn’t new information, but what could be surprising is exactly to what extent each company does it. Security Baron categories what data six of the biggest tech companies collect from you in The Data Big Companies Have On You infographic, and these are just the ones they admit to collecting on their own privacy pages!

The seemingly endless stream of Facebook privacy scandals of late—including the latest involving users as young as 13 years old—may have you questioning how much the social network and other tech giants actually know about you.

The folks at Security Baron examined the privacy policies of Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Microsoft and put together a handy infographic showing the types of data each company admits to collecting. For Facebook and others, data is money. But just how much these tech giants actually know about you might be surprising.

As you can see in the infographic below, Facebook is particularly data-hungry, even gathering information about your work, income level, race, religion, political views, and the ads you click in addition to more commonly collected data points such as your phone number, email address, location, and the type of devices you use.

"Facebook is unusually aggressive," Security Baron pointed out. "This data can be exploited by advertisers and (hopefully not nefarious) others."

Twitter, in comparison, is "comparatively hands-off," the site notes. The microblogging service, for instance, doesn't collect your name, gender, or birthday (Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all do), but Twitter does know your phone number, email address, time zone, what videos you watch, and more.

Google and Microsoft, meanwhile, are the other big players when it comes to collecting data.

"With Cortana listening in and Gmail seeing all of your emails, the ubiquitous nature of Google and Microsoft gives them access to an uncomfortably large amount of your information," Security Baron wrote.

Check out the full infographic below to see what Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Microsoft may know about you. For tips on securing your digital privacy, check our story, "Online Data Protection 101: Don't Let Big Tech Get Rich Off Your Info.

This is a fairly simple infographic design using a comparison table. I think the use of the icons is particularly effective showing which of Google’s or Microsoft’s apps are collecting the data.

Although the types of data are identified down the left side, I wish there was a way to identify the more sensitive types of data.

Original article can be found at https://www.pcmag.com/

Andrew Rickmann posted a photo:

I take a closer look at some unavoidable challenges to effective speech recognition, and I discuss why you may want to think twice before designing dialogue that is 'conversational' and 'natural'. I also offer five important questions that I think should form the basis of any VUI design kick-off meeting.

Adam says that like drill and ceremony and calling cadence, which start with a first step, so does recovery from a brain injury and/or PTSD.

When it comes to TBI and PTSD, everyone's recovery is different. But Adam shares three key principles that can be crucial for everyone.

The time has come and our loyal reader know already our traditional Advents Calendar. For the people who don’t know, […]

It was surreal to sit down at the mic and record this show after spending the last few years (5 a.m. mornings, late, late nights, and many long weekends hunkered down) writing a book that I’m proud and beyond excited to share with YOU and the world.  It’s called CREATIVE CALLING and it’s officially available for pre-order TODAY! In this episode, you get the little sneak peek at the book (yes, I read a little from it) and a little background on why I needed to write it.  After all, life isn’t about “finding” fulfillment and success – it’s about creating it. Creativity is a force inside every person that, when unleashed, transforms our lives and delivers vitality to everything we do. Establishing a creative practice is therefore our most valuable and urgent task – as important to our well-being as exercise or nutrition. The good news? Creativity isn’t a skill—it’s a habit available to everyone:  beginners and lifelong creators, entrepreneurs to executives, astronauts to zookeepers, and everyone in between. It’s only through small, daily actions that we can supercharge our innate creativity and (re-)discover our personal power in life. Everything you need is inside you right now. Whether your ambition is a creative career, completing a creative […]

The post Everything I Know In One Place appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.

You know her, the award-winning host, author and speaker, Marie Forleo returns to the podcast to talk about her new book , Everything Is Figureoutable. In the New York Times Best-Selling book, Marie gives readers tactics to look at setbacks positively and overcome obstacles creatively, so you can start reaching your dreams.  In this episode, we sit down to talk about how her life experiences influenced the book. She shares stories of fear, failure and always having fun have impacted her life. And we discuss a quote of hers (that I repeat all the time) that can help you get into the creative zone. Enjoy! FOLLOW MARIE: instagram | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe   Watch the Episode  This podcast is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world’s largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker, money/life and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts — Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.

The post Everything is Figureoutable with Marie Forleo appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.

In this short note we give a proof of the famous conjecture of Erd"{o}s-Straus for the case $nequiv13 extrm{ mod } 24.$ The Erd"{o}s--Straus conjecture states that the equation $frac{4}{n}=frac{1}{x}+frac{1}{y}+frac{1}{z}$ has positive integer solutions $x,y,z$ for every $ngeq 2$. It is open for $nequiv 1 extrm{ mod } 12$. Indeed, in all of the other cases the solutions are always easy to find. We prove that the conjecture is true for every $nequiv 13 extrm{ mod } 24$. Therefore, to solve it completely, it remains to find solutions for every $nequiv 1 extrm{ mod } 24$.

[IMAGE-1] Watching Rian Johnson's Knives Out, I was reminded of my middle school English teacher Mrs. Soderbergh, who loved Agatha Christie books almost as much as she loved diagramming sentences. There was a week when she brought in a box stacked high with her own Christie paperbacks, set it down in front of the classroom and had each of us pick a book based solely on the plot summary on the back.…

Ever since Ghostbusters, the go-to tactic for supernatural comedy is to show characters experiencing remarkable, seemingly impossible things and yet reacting with the kind of mild bemusement you get watching someone successfully parallel park.…

At every level of America's food system, mandated closures and outbreaks of COVID-19 have interrupted the finely tuned network that normally gets food from farmers and food processors to restaurants, grocery stores and food banks.…

Don't be caught empty-handed (or empty-hearted) this Valentine's Day, coming up Friday, Feb. 14.…

A library of macrocyclic compounds of the formula (I) where part (A) is a bivalent radical, a —(CH2)y— bivalent radical or a covalent bond;where part (B) is a bivalent radical, a —(CH2)z— bivalent radical, or a covalent bond;where part (C) is a bivalent radical, a —(CH2)t— bivalent radical, or a covalent bond; andwhere part (T) is a —Y-L-Z— radical wherein Y is CH2 or CO, Z is NH or O and L is a bivalent radical. These compounds are useful for carrying out screening assays or as intermediates for the synthesis of other compounds of pharmaceutical interest. A process for the preparation of these compounds in a combinatorial manner, is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a cationic lipid having one or more biodegradable groups located in the mid- or distal section of a lipidic moiety (e.g., a hydrophobic chain) of the cationic lipid. These cationic lipids may be incorporated into a lipid particle for delivering an active agent, such as a nucleic acid. The invention also relates to lipid particles comprising a neutral lipid, a lipid capable of reducing aggregation, a cationic lipid of the present invention, and optionally, a sterol. The lipid particle may further include a therapeutic agent such as a nucleic acid.

Methods and related systems efficiently and effectively recover a significant amount of valuable, useable oil from byproducts formed during a dry milling process used for producing ethanol. The method may include forming a concentrate from the byproduct and recovering oil from the concentrate. The step of forming the concentrate may comprise evaporating the byproduct using a multi-stage evaporator, as well as recovering the oil before the final stage of the evaporator. Further, the step of recovering oil from the concentrate may comprise using a centrifuge and, in particular, a disk stack centrifuge. Other aspects include related methods and subsystems for recovering oil.

The present disclosure relates to compositions and methods for producing nanoparticles to provide relatively more rapid delivery of such particles across the blood-brain barrier. The nanoparticles may be formed from bis-quaternary pyridinium-aldoxime salts that may also be of a specific polymorphic structure and which may be formed in either hydrophobic or hydrophilic type liquid media. In addition, the nanoparticle for transport across the blood-brain barrier may comprise a polymeric resin encapsulating a bis-quaternary pyridinium-2-aldoxime salt.

The instant invention provides for novel cationic lipids that can be used in combination with other lipid components such as cholesterol and PEG-lipids to form lipid nanoparticles with oligonucleotides. It is an object of the instant invention to provide a cationic lipid scaffold that demonstrates enhanced efficacy along with lower liver toxicity as a result of lower lipid levels in the liver. The present invention employs low molecular weight cationic lipids with one short lipid chain to enhance the efficiency and tolerability of in vivo delivery of siRNA.

A computing system resource recovery method can include identifying a resource manager associated with a computing transaction, classifying the computing transaction to determine a predetermined metric, measuring an actual metric of the computing transaction, comparing the predetermined metric to the actual metric to detect abnormal behavior in the transaction and modeling the abnormal behavior to determine how the resource manager is affected by the abnormal behavior.

Data is compressed using content addressable memory without disruption despite error using a plurality of content addressable memories to detect sequentially repeating data elements of the data. Compression information is generated for each sequence of repeating data elements that repeat for at least a compression threshold without any one of the plurality of content addressable memories generating an indication of an error for a matching content addressable memory entry. Individual data elements are output for each of the data elements that do not repeat for the compression threshold. Compression information is generated for each sequence of repeating data elements that repeat for at least the compression threshold and then generating a currently searched data element that matches the repeating data elements when any one of the plurality of content addressable memories generates an indication of an error for a content addressable memory entry that matches the currently searched data element.

A composition and method demulsify a produced emulsion from anionic surfactants and polymer (SP) and alkali, surfactants, and polymer (ASP). The produced emulsion is demulsified into oil and water. In one embodiment, the composition includes a surfactant. The surfactant comprises a cationic surfactant, an amphoteric surfactant, or any combinations thereof.

An aqueous delivery system is described including at least one surfactant and at least one water insoluble wetting agent. Further described are low surface energy substrates, such as microporous polytetrafluoroethylene, coated with such an aqueous solution so as to impart a change in at least one surface characteristic compared to the surface characteristics of the uncoated low surface energy substrate.

A substrate such as a fabric may be provided with a fragrance during washing or rinsing process by the addition to the wash water of a free-flowing solid fragrance-providing composition that comprises a fragrance deposited on a particulate carrier along with a water soluble salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal.

Long-lasting fragrance delivery systems and uses of the systems to provide fragrance-emitting articles with a long-lasting fragrance are disclosed herein. The long-lasting fragrance delivery systems include an emulsion of silicone-based polyurethane, fragrance, and a carrier.

A filtration method is disclosed for recovering purified polyether polyol comprising the steps of providing an aqueous solution of a polyether polyol containing an alkali metal catalyst residual formed from a transesterification process utilizing an alkali metal catalyst, contacting the aqueous solution with a stoichiometric excess of magnesium sulfate, magnesium sulfite or a combination thereof to form a second aqueous solution, wherein said stoichiometric excess is based on the amount of said alkali metal catalyst residual. Water is removed from the second aqueous solution at a temperature above a set limit of said polyether polyol to produce a dehydrated slurry containing a polyether polyol phase substantially free of residual alkali metal and a precipitated solid phase comprising sulfate and/or sulfite salts of the alkali metal catalyst, magnesium hydroxide, and excess magnesium sulfate and/or sulfite, wherein the particle size distribution of said precipitated solid phase is controlled to minimize the amount of particles therein that are smaller than 3 microns. The dehydrated slurry is then passed through a filtration system to separate the polyether polyol phase from the precipitated solid phase.

An improved method for recovering a purified polyether polyol comprising the steps of providing an aqueous solution of a polyether polyol containing an alkali metal catalyst residual formed from a transesterification process, contacting the aqueous solution with a stoichiometric excess of magnesium sulfate to form a second aqueous solution, removing water from said second aqueous solution at a temperature above the melt temperature of said polyether polyol to produce a dehydrated slurry containing a molten polyether polyol phase essentially free of residual alkali metal and a precipitated solid phase comprising sulfate and/or sulfite salts of the alkali metal catalyst, magnesium hydroxide, and excess magnesium sulfate and/or sulfide, passing the dehydrated slurry of through a filtration system comprising a filtration press to separate the molten polyether polyol phase from the precipitated solid phase, wherein the filtration press is treated with a filter aid that is essentially free of transition metal oxide content, separating the molten polyether polyol phase substantially free of water, residual alkali metal catalyst and transition metal contaminants from the precipitated solid phase and recovering polyether polyol from the separated polyether polyol phase.

A system, method, and computer-readable medium are disclosed for realizing server management functionalities in the absence of a routable Internet Protocol (IP) network address of a remote access controller (RAC). A first device, which is operatively coupled to a link-local network, generates a Multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) IP multicast query message, which it then sends to a second device on the link-local network. In response, the second device, which comprises a RAC, returns its link-local IP address to the first device.

An approach is disclosed that facilitates context delivery during communication sessions. The approach may be implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions operable to: render at least one service to a user device through a communication session; collect information of the communication session; and send the information of the communication session to a service provider when a call is setup between the user device and the service provider. The service provider renders the information of the communication session for viewing by the service provider.

The instant invention provides for novel cationic lipids that can be used in combination with other lipid components such as cholesterol and PEG-lipids to form lipid nanoparticles with oligonucleotides. It is an object of the instant invention to provide a cationic lipid scaffold that demonstrates enhanced efficacy along with lower liver toxicity as a result of lower lipid levels in the liver. The present invention employs low molecular weight cationic lipids comprising at least one short lipid chain to enhance the efficiency and tolerability of in vivo delivery of siRNA.

Lactic acid equivalents are recovered from a starting lactide stream by catalytically racemizing a portion of the lactide in the stream at a temperature of 180° C. or below. This increases the proportion of two species of lactide (i.e., at least two of S,S-, R,R- or meso-lactide) at the expense of the third species. The racemized mixture so obtained can be separated to recover some or all of one or more of the lactide species from the remaining lactide species, by a process such as melt crystallization or distillation. Impurities in the starting lactide stream usually are retained mostly in the remaining meso-lactide, so a highly purified S,S- and/or R,R-lactide stream can be produced in this manner. Such a purified S,S- and R,R-lactide stream is suitable for polymerization to form a polylactide.

Disclosed herein are mesocapsules that include agriculturally active ingredients. These mesocapsules are comprised of a polyurea shell and include hydrophilic groups on their surfaces and have a volume-average diameter of about 500 nm or less and some of them have a volume-average diameter on the order of about 300 nm or less. These mesocapsules are suited for delivering active ingredients that are not very soluble in water. Methods for making these mesocapsules include interfacial polycondensation reactions carried out in the presence of surfactants and other methods in which all or most of the surfactant is replaced by adding amino acids to the aqueous phase of the interfacial reaction mixture before forming the final emulsion.

In a decanter centrifuge a bowl is provided and rotates in use around a horizontal axis of rotation, a base plate provided at one longitudinal end of said bowl, the base plate having an internal side and an external side, an outlet opening provided in said base plate, the outlet opening extending through a first angular interval relative to the axis of rotation, and a wall projecting from the external side of said base plate, wherein the wall extends from the vicinity of the outlet opening towards a rim of the base plate, the wall extending through a second angular interval, the second angular interval being at least 30°, and the wall having in a radial plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation an inclination relative to the radial direction of at least 60°.

A method of modelling a hydrocarbon-containing reservoir which is representative of such reservoir in at least one physical characteristic such as reservoir porosity or permeability. Data, such as reservoir porosity is firstly determined. Such data is then transformed into printing instructions for a 3D printer. The 3D printer is used to print a reduced-scale model which is representative of the reservoir in respect of the at least one physical characteristic, such as reservoir porosity. A method of comparative testing of different hydrocarbon recovery techniques on a single hydrocarbon-containing reservoir is also disclosed and claimed.

Systems and methods for subsurface secondary and/or tertiary oil recovery optimization based on either a short term, medium term or long term optimization analysis of selected zones, wells, patterns/clusters and/or fields.