Analysis of R134a–DMAC vapour absorption refrigeration system with add-on components

AbstractR134a–DMAC vapour absorption refrigeration system (VARS) needs rectifier. Because of incomplete rectification, a small amount of DMAC is carried to evaporator. It results in a temperature gradient and also formation of residual liquid in the evaporator. This liquid causes cooling loss which can be recovered significantly by using liquid vapour heat exchanger (LVHX). The same cooling temperature can be attained at a range of evaporator pressures due to the temperature gradient. For fixed cooling temperature, the system COP enhances with evaporator pressure. The enhancement rate is more when efficiencies of rectifier and LVHX are high. Efficient solution heat exchanger (SHX) is vital owing to its large heat duty. Rectifier loses its importance if high efficiency LVHX is used. Roles of these three components increase at low cooling and high sink temperatures

Sunflowers Meet Sparsity: A Linear-Vertex Kernel for Weighted Clique-Packing on Sparse Graphs

We study the kernelization complexity of the Weighted H-Packing problem on sparse graphs. For a fixed connected graph H, in the Weighted H-Packing problem the input is a graph G, a vertex-weight function w: V (G) → N, and positive integers k, t. The question is whether there exist k vertex-disjoint subgraphs H 1, ⋯, H k of G such that H i is isomorphic to H for each i ∈ [k] and the total weight of these k · |V (H)| vertices is at least t. It is known that the (unweighted) H-Packing problem admits a kernel with O(k |V (H)|-1) vertices on general graphs, and a linear kernel on planar graphs and graphs of bounded genus. In this work, we focus on case that H is a clique on h ≥ 3 vertices (which captures Triangle Packing) and present a linear-vertex kernel for Weighted Kh-Packing on graphs of bounded expansion, along with a kernel with O(k 1+ϵ) vertices on nowhere-dense graphs for all ϵ &gt; 0. To obtain these results, we combine two powerful ingredients in a novel way: the Erdos-Rado Sunflower lemma and the theory of sparsity.</p

Sunflowers Meet Sparsity: A Linear-Vertex Kernel for Weighted Clique-Packing on Sparse Graphs

We study the kernelization complexity of the Weighted H-Packing problem on sparse graphs. For a fixed connected graph H, in the Weighted H-Packing problem the input is a graph G, a vertex-weight function w: V (G) → N, and positive integers k, t. The question is whether there exist k vertex-disjoint subgraphs H 1, ⋯, H k of G such that H i is isomorphic to H for each i ∈ [k] and the total weight of these k · |V (H)| vertices is at least t. It is known that the (unweighted) H-Packing problem admits a kernel with O(k |V (H)|-1) vertices on general graphs, and a linear kernel on planar graphs and graphs of bounded genus. In this work, we focus on case that H is a clique on h ≥ 3 vertices (which captures Triangle Packing) and present a linear-vertex kernel for Weighted Kh-Packing on graphs of bounded expansion, along with a kernel with O(k 1+ϵ) vertices on nowhere-dense graphs for all ϵ &gt; 0. To obtain these results, we combine two powerful ingredients in a novel way: the Erdos-Rado Sunflower lemma and the theory of sparsity.</p

Initiation mode of explosives vis-a-vis blast performance

Considerable progress has been achieved in recent years in the whole field of blasting science and technology. This applies to explosives formulation, initiation systems and blast simulation through advanced numerical codes. The commercial explosives in the market today are not only generally cheaper and safer than before, but also more flexible in their applications, and also geared for easy transport and delivery into the boreholes in very large volumes. The theoretical treatment of detonation process under both ideal and non-ideal conditions are noteworthy, but they are still based on somewhat hypothetical situations. The actual variables that are essential parts of normal blasting practice have not yet been taken into account in such treatments. These include the various initiation practices employed to detonate a column of explosive, from single point initiation to multi-point initiation in blastholes, and the effect of detonation characteristics of both detonators and explosives under multi-deck and multi-hole blasting conditions. The in-the-hole VOD of an industrial explosive is dependent on explosive’s charge diameter and borehole diameter. The in-the-hole VOD of explosives was measured at four experimental sites in India for different borehole diameters i.e. 150 mm to 311 mm, but the explosive composition being same particle size, density, viscosity and loaded into boreholes with the same degree of confinement. The results of the studies demonstrated that there is definite relationship in in-the-hole VOD of the explosive and the diameter of the blasthole. The study also confirmed that the explosives initiated with concentrated boosters yielded higher VOD in comparison with those explosives that were initiated with multi-point priming. The measured increase in VOD of explosives for increasing diameter of holes was up to 24%. The rate of change in in-the-hole VOD of explosives increases with increasing borehole diameter. It can be further stated that the in-the-hole VOD of the explosive reaches a farly constant value after reaching a limiting/threshold diameter of 311 mm

Derivation and validation of a multivariate model to predict mortality from pulmonary embolism with cancer: The POMPE-C tool

BackgroundClinical guidelines recommend risk stratification of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). Active cancer increases risk of PE and worsens prognosis, but also causes incidental PE that may be discovered during cancer staging. No quantitative decision instrument has been derived specifically for patients with active cancer and PE. Methods Classification and regression technique was used to reduce 25 variables prospectively collected from 408 patients with AC and PE. Selected variables were transformed into a logistic regression model, termed POMPE-C, and compared with the pulmonary embolism severity index (PESI) score to predict the outcome variable of death within 30 days. Validation was performed in an independent sample of 182 patients with active cancer and PE. Results POMPE-C included eight predictors: body mass, heart rate &gt; 100, respiratory rate, SaO2%, respiratory distress, altered mental status, do not resuscitate status, and unilateral limb swelling. In the derivation set, the area under the ROC curve for POMPE-C was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.82-0.87), significantly greater than PESI (0.68, 0.60-0.76). In the validation sample, POMPE-C had an AUC of 0.86 (0.78-0.93). No patient with POMPE-C estimate ≤ 5% died within 30 days (0/50, 0-7%), whereas 10/13 (77%, 46-95%) with POMPE-C estimate &gt; 50% died within 30 days. Conclusion In patients with active cancer and PE, POMPE-C demonstrated good prognostic accuracy for 30 day mortality and better performance than PESI. If validated in a large sample, POMPE-C may provide a quantitative basis to decide treatment options for PE discovered during cancer staging and with advanced cancer

Growth of Focal Nodular Hyperplasia is Not a Reason for Surgical Intervention, but Patients Should be Referred to a Tertiary Referral Centre

Background: When a liver lesion diagnosed as focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) increases in size, it may cause doubt about the initial diagnosis. In many cases, additional investigations will follow to exclude hepatocellular adenoma or malignancy. This retrospective cohort study addresses the implications of growth of FNH for clinical management. Methods: We included patients diagnosed with FNH based on ≥2 imaging modalities between 2002 and 2015. Characteristics

Identification of genetic variants by whole genome sequencing in Ankamali pigs of Kerala

Ankamali pig is a domesticated native variety of Kerala which is well known for its disease resistance, lean meat and adaptability to hot tropical environments. Recent breakthrough in genome sequencing technologies have created unparalleled prospects to characterize individual genomic landscapes and identifying mutations between and within populations. The current study aims to determine the genetic variations in Ankamali pigs using whole genome sequencing. The GATK HaplotypeCaller was used to identify the variants. There were over 26 million (26,604,589) single nucleotide variants (SNVs), including more than 21 million SNPs and over 5 million indels. In Ankamali pigs, the total genome length obtained was more than 2.5 billion with an average variant rate of one variant in every 94 bases. The significance of different variant rate on 18 chromosomes were analysed using the chi-square statistics. The variant rates in Sus scrofa chromosomes10 and 13 were significantly different (p<0.01%) in Ankamali pigs. The significantly higher variable rate on chromosome 10 was observed with one variant per 64 bases. Whereas, significantly lower variable rate was observed on chromosome 13, with one variant in every 122 bases. The variant rate reported on Sus scrofa chromosome 12 (SSC12) was also significantly higher (p<0.05%), having one variant per 72 bases. The variability of many genes and QTLs associated with several haematological traits and meat quality traits located on these chromosomes may contribute the phenotypic and genetic uniqueness of Ankamali animals

The influence of gene expression time delays on Gierer-Meinhardt pattern formation systems

There are numerous examples of morphogen gradients controlling long range signalling in developmental and cellular systems. The prospect of two such interacting morphogens instigating long range self-organisation in biological systems via a Turing bifurcation has been explored, postulated, or implicated in the context of numerous developmental processes. However, modelling investigations of cellular systems typically neglect the influence of gene expression on such dynamics, even though transcription and translation are observed to be important in morphogenetic systems. In particular, the influence of gene expression on a large class of Turing bifurcation models, namely those with pure kinetics such as the Gierer–Meinhardt system, is unexplored. Our investigations demonstrate that the behaviour of the Gierer–Meinhardt model profoundly changes on the inclusion of gene expression dynamics and is sensitive to the sub-cellular details of gene expression. Features such as concentration blow up, morphogen oscillations and radical sensitivities to the duration of gene expression are observed and, at best, severely restrict the possible parameter spaces for feasible biological behaviour. These results also indicate that the behaviour of Turing pattern formation systems on the inclusion of gene expression time delays may provide a means of distinguishing between possible forms of interaction kinetics. Finally, this study also emphasises that sub-cellular and gene expression dynamics should not be simply neglected in models of long range biological pattern formation via morphogens

Management of pediatric blunt abdominal trauma in a Dutch level one trauma center

Purpose: Most children with intra-abdominal injuries can be managed non-operatively. However, in Europe, there are many different healthcare systems for the treatment of pediatric trauma patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the management strategies and outcomes of all pediatric patients with blunt intra-abdominal injuries in our unique dedicated pediatric trauma center with a pediatric trauma surgeon. Methods: We performed a retrospective, single-center, cohort study to investigate the management of pediatric patients with blunt abdominal trauma. From the National Trauma Registration database, we retrospectively identified pediatric (≤ 18 years) patients with blunt abdominal injuries admitted to the UMCU from January 2012 till January 2018. Results: A total of 121 pediatric patients were included in the study. The median [interquartile range (IQR)] age of patients was 12 (8–16) years, and the median ISS was 16 (9–25). High-grade liver injuries were found in 12 patients. Three patients had a pancreas injury grade V. Furthermore, 2 (1.6%) patients had urethra injuries and 10 (8.2%) hollow viscus injuries were found. Eighteen (14.9%) patients required a laparotomy and 4 (3.3%) patients underwent angiographic embolization. In 6 (5.0%) patients, complications were found and in 4 (3.3%) children intervention was needed for their complication. No mortality was seen in patients treated non-operatively. One patient died in the operative management group. Conclusions: In conclusion, it is safe to treat most children with blunt abdominal injuries non-operatively if monitoring is adequate. These decisions should be made by the clinicians operating on these children, who should be an integral part of the entire group of treating physicians. Surgical interventions are only needed in case of hemodynamic instability or specific injuries such as bowel perforation