Lipomatosis of Nerve

Lipomatosis of nerve is a benign lesion with increased fibrofatty tissue infiltrating and surrounding nerves, usually occurring in children and young adults as a slowly progressive swelling or mass, which can clinically mimic a tumor or malignancy. Here we report a 59-year-old man who presented with pain in his right foot and a mass that has been mostly stable for years, but which seems to have grown slightly of late, and is clinically suspicious for ganglion cyst. The MRI revealed a fatty mass concerning for lipoma or atypical lipomatous tumor. Consequently, the patient underwent excisional biopsy. The H&E sections showed mature adipose and fibrous tissue infiltrating the nerve, consistent with lipomatosis of nerve. Lipomatosis of the nerve, though most common in upper extremities, can occur in a variety of locations, and providers should be aware of potentially rare presentations like this one to prevent unnecessary surgery and prevent potential nerve damage

Parametric neutronics analyses of lattice geometry and coolant candidates for a soluble-boron-free civil marine SMR core using micro-heterogeneous duplex fuel

Civilian marine reactors face a unique set of design challenges in addition to the usual irradiation and thermal-hydraulic limits affecting all reactors. These include requirements for a small core size, long core lifetime, a 20% cap on fissile loading, and limitations on the use of soluble boron. One way to achieve higher burnup/longer core life is to alter the neutron spectrum by changing the hydrogen-to-heavy-metal ratio, thus increasing the conversion of fertile isotopes in the fuel. In this reactor physics study, we optimize the two-dimensional lattice geometry of a 333 MWth soluble-boron-free marine PWR for 18% 235U enriched micro-heterogeneous ThO2-UO2 duplex fuel and 15% 235U enriched homogeneously mixed all-UO2 fuel. We consider two types of coolant: H2O and mixed 80% D2O + 20% H2O. We aim to observe in which spectrum discharge burnup is maximized in order to improve uranium utilization, while satisfying the constraint on moderator temperature coefficient. It is observed that higher discharge burnup for the candidate fuels is achievable by using either a wetter lattice or a much drier lattice than normal, while epithermal lattices are distinctly inferior performers. The thorium-rich duplex fuel exhibits higher discharge burnup potential than the all-UO2 fuel for all moderation regimes for both coolants. The candidate fuels exhibit higher initial reactivity and discharge burnup with the mixed D2O-H2O coolant than with the H2O coolant in the under-moderated regime, whereas these values are lower for the D2O-H2O coolant in the over-moderated regime

A step forward towards advanced and self-sustainable greenhouse agriculture

It is now time for the future-generation and advanced greenhouse design practices to address a range of issues, from the energy and land use efficiency to providing plant-optimised growth techniques. In this Encyclopaedia record, we report on the practical development of spectrally selective and specialist-type advanced metal-dielectric thin-film filters that produce the optimized illumination spectrum when exposed to natural sunlight that can help maximize the biomass productivity of coated-glass greenhouse crops. Our experimental case study has been performed for the lettuce species, Lactuca sativa, L., yielding promising results

Impact of Hybrid Energy Storage System Topology on Performance: Exploration for Hydropower Hybrids

We investigate the technical performance of six HESS topologies integrated with run-of-river (ROR) hydropower to provide frequency support. We choose ROR hydropower because there are 23 GW of installed ROR hydropower in the U.S. and integrating these plants with energy storage could boost their contribution to grid services. We focus on HESSs composed of batteries and ultra-capacitors because batteries are cost effective for storing energy but degrade more quickly as a function of cycling. In contrast, ultra-capacitors can be cycled millions of times and are cost effective for quick injections of power. We find that active HESS topologies demonstrate the best overall improvement to grid frequency during a contingency while adhering to the power ramping limits of the HESS devices. Future work will investigate other services to identify if one HESS topology performs best for all services of interest or, more likely, different HESS topologies are best suited for specific services

STR-930: CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER WALLS WITH OPENINGS: IN-PLANE STIFFNESS PREDICTION AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is gaining popularity in residential and non-residential applications in the North American construction market. An accurate quantification of in-plane stiffness of the CLT walls with openings is required to design a CLT structure subjected to lateral loads. Nevertheless, till today, no general approach is available for the design of CLT-members loaded in plane and there are no standardized methods for determining the stiffness of CLT shearwalls in the respective material design standards: the CSA O86 in Canada, and the NDS in the US. This study aims to quantify the stiffness of CLT walls with openings under in-plane loading. A finite element (FE) model of CLT walls was developed modelling wood as orthotropic elastic material and the glue-lines between layers using non-linear contact elements. The FE model was verified from test results of CLT panels under in-plane loading. A parametric study was performed to evaluate the change in stiffness of CLT walls with the variation of opening size and shape. A simplified equation to predict the in-plane stiffness of CLT walls with openings was proposed. Subsequently, a sensitivity analysis was performed using Meta-model of Optimal Prognosis (MOP) to evaluate the contribution of each parameter on the model response

STR-931: TIMBER I-JOISTS WITH WEB OPENINGS: REINFORCEMENT, CAPACITY PREDICTION AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Timber I-joists are a popular product in light-frame wood construction in North America. The design with timber I-joists, however, has not yet achieved the same level of refinement compared to reinforced concrete or steel structures. One of the reasons is that timber I-joists have higher variability in their material properties than more homogeneous building materials. Additionally, although very commonly applied in practice, engineers and practitioners have limited knowledge and guidance for I-joists with web opening. As a result, in many cases the design of timber I-joists based on manufacturer’s specifications lead to very conservative solutions. The present research predicts the capacity of unreinforced and reinforced timber I-joists with openings from experimental results. A total of 100 unreinforced and 100 reinforced I-joists with opening were tested under four point loading. The capacity of the I-joists with opening was predicted from regression analysis. A sensitivity analysis was performed for the predicted equations using Meta-model of Optimal Prognosis (MOP) to evaluate the contribution of each parameter on the model responses. The research demonstrates that the reinforcement technique was efficient for I-joists with openings and the proposed equations were very accurate to predict the I-joists capacity

Increasing the yield of Lactuca sativa, L. in glass greenhouses through illumination spectral filtering and development of an optical thin film filter

With the increase in world population, the continued advances in modern greenhouse agriculture and plant growth practices are expected to help overcome the global problem of future food shortages. The next generation greenhouse design practices will need to address a range of issues, ranging from energy and land use efficiency to providing plant-optimized growth techniques. In this paper, we focus on investigating the optimum irradiation spectra matched to the lettuce species (Lactuca sativa, L.), commonly grown in greenhouse environments, in order to develop low-emissivity glass panes that maximize the biomass productivity of glass greenhouses. This low-emissivity glass passes the solar spectral components needed for crop growth, while rejecting other unwanted radiations. This could potentially lead to significant energy savings and other beneficial effects related to greenhouse climate control, in a range of climates. The experimental results show that substantial biomass productivity improvements in lettuce (up to approximately 14.7%) can be attained by using spectrally optimized illumination, instead of white light illumination. This optimized wavelength is then demonstrated as being used to develop an advanced metal-dielectric thin-film filter that produces the optimized illumination spectrum when exposed to sunlight