Mechanical processing of banana slices-stem for fiber extraction

This research aimed to manufacture a simple fiber extraction machine. The machine prototype consisted of available raw materials. The beater cylinder is the most significant component in this machine. The electric motor of 0.75 kW was used to rotate the beater cylinder. The machine theory is based on the repeated rapid beating of the beaters on a slice-stem of banana. This beating simulated what labor does by using hand hammers to eliminate the juice and extract the fibers. The machine was tested under three rotational speeds of the beater cylinder 650, 750, and 850 rpm and using three beater cylinders with a different number of beaters 8, 10, and 12. The fibers produced by the machine were straight, of good quality, and not shredded, this was achieved in abundance when using the cylinder that has 10 beaters with 750 rpm rotational speeds of the beater cylinder. Thus, under these operating conditions, the extraction efficiency, the time required, and machine productivity were 88%, 40 min, and 8.6 kg h-1, respectively. The minimum value of the power required was 0.45 kW at the rotational speed of 650 rpm and using the eight beaters. While the maximum value of the power required was 0.64 kW at the rotational speed of 850 rpm and using the number of beaters 12. At the machine productivity of 8.6 kg h-1, the production cost will be 2.7 L.E. kg-1. While the costs of manual extracting of the fibers were 10 L.E. kg-1

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Performance of Loaded Thermal Storage Unit with a Commercial Phase Change Materials based on Energy and Exergy Analysis

This work presents an energy/exergy analysis to investige performance of thermal storage unit which loaded with a commercial phase change material (Plus ICE H190). The influence of fluid parameters on the energy/exergy effectiveness was examined. The temporal changes of the energy and exergy rate and performace of the storage unit are obtained  in the results. Latent heat principle is considered an efficient method to gain a higher effectiveness of system from an energy and exergy aspects. The fluid mass flow rate during charging and discharging periods were 2.50 kg/min and 1.26 kg/min, respectively. The results showed a significant increase of thermal resistance on the thermal storage unit performance. Fluid and phase change material show significant temperature difference on the rate of energy/exergy quantites and the time of melting or soldification. Ther results indicated that the average rate of energy and exergy were 1.3 kW and 0.54 kW, respectively. Wheras, energy and exergy  average rate during discarging periods were 1.1 kW and 0.31 kW, respectively. Also, the global rate during the experimetal periods were about 84% and 54%, respectively. Article History: Received July 6th 2017; Received in revised form September 15th 2017; Accepted 25th Sept 2017; Available online How to Cite This Article: Olimat, A.N., Awad, A.S., Al-Gathain, F.M., and Shaban, N.A.. (2017) Performance of Loaded Thermal Storage Unit With A Commercial Phase Change Materials Based on Energy and Exergy Analysis. International Journal of Renewable Energy Develeopment, 6(3),283-290. https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.3.283-29

Pancreatic surgery outcomes: multicentre prospective snapshot study in 67 countries

Background: Pancreatic surgery remains associated with high morbidity rates. Although postoperative mortality appears to have improved with specialization, the outcomes reported in the literature reflect the activity of highly specialized centres. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes following pancreatic surgery worldwide.Methods: This was an international, prospective, multicentre, cross-sectional snapshot study of consecutive patients undergoing pancreatic operations worldwide in a 3-month interval in 2021. The primary outcome was postoperative mortality within 90 days of surgery. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore relationships with Human Development Index (HDI) and other parameters.Results: A total of 4223 patients from 67 countries were analysed. A complication of any severity was detected in 68.7 percent of patients (2901 of 4223). Major complication rates (Clavien-Dindo grade at least IIIa) were 24, 18, and 27 percent, and mortality rates were 10, 5, and 5 per cent in low-to-middle-, high-, and very high-HDI countries respectively. The 90-day postoperative mortality rate was 5.4 per cent (229 of 4223) overall, but was significantly higher in the low-to-middle-HDI group (adjusted OR 2.88, 95 per cent c.i. 1.80 to 4.48). The overall failure-to-rescue rate was 21 percent; however, it was 41 per cent in low-to-middle-compared with 19 per cent in very high-HDI countries.Conclusion: Excess mortality in low-to-middle-HDI countries could be attributable to failure to rescue of patients from severe complications. The authors call for a collaborative response from international and regional associations of pancreatic surgeons to address management related to death from postoperative complications to tackle the global disparities in the outcomes of pancreatic surgery (NCT04652271; ISRCTN95140761)