Case Report Deep Peroneal Nerve Palsy Caused by an Extraneural Ganglion Cyst: A Rare Case

Lower extremities peripheral neuropathies caused by ganglion cysts are rare. The most frequent location of occurrence is the common peroneal nerve and its branches, at the level of the fibular neck. We report the case of a 57-year-old patient admitted with foot drop, due to an extraneural ganglion of the upper tibiofibular syndesmosis, compressing the deep branch of the peroneal nerve. Although there have been many previous reports of intraneural ganglion involvement with the lower limb nerves, to our knowledge, this is the second reported occurrence of an extraneural ganglion distinctly localized to the upper tibiofibular syndesmosis and palsying deep peroneal nerve. The diagnosis was made preoperatively using MRI. The common peroneal nerve and its branches were recognized and traced to its bifurcation during the operation, and the ganglion cyst was removed. Two months after surgery, the patient was pain-free and asymptomatic except for cutaneous anesthesia in the distribution of the deep peroneal nerve

Multi-criteria decision-making methodology for the selection of cargo hold coating for bulk carriers

The coating of cargo holds of bulk carriers constitute the primary source of protection of the vessel’s structure against corrosion, while in the same time ensure the proper cleanliness in holds and thus protection of cargoes against contamination. Therefore, it plays a significant role in the vessel’s commercial operation, trading and lifecycle, making the correct selection of the coating system very important for the shipowner throughout the lifecycle of the vessels (design and construction and operation) and especially during the scheduled maintenance and recoating of the vessel’s cargo holds in dry-dockings. The herein presented study presents a method for ranking and assessing coatings in a systematic, quantitative and qualitative way in terms of the desired merits of the ideal coating system by applying three entirely different coatings at both laboratory and full scale

MindSpaces:Art-driven Adaptive Outdoors and Indoors Design

MindSpaces provides solutions for creating functionally and emotionally appealing architectural designs in urban spaces. Social media services, physiological sensing devices and video cameras provide data from sensing environments. State-of-the-Art technology including VR, 3D design tools, emotion extraction, visual behaviour analysis, and textual analysis will be incorporated in MindSpaces platform for analysing data and adapting the design of spaces.</p

Dynamic modeling and energy analysis of renewable heating and electricity systems at residential buildings using phase change material based heat storage technologies

Several heat storage systems for domestic application can be used to promote Renewable Energy Sources (RES) penetration by storing excess energy, which would otherwise be rejected during curtailments. The present study investigates two types of PV powered latent heat storage technologies for delivering heat and/or electricity at residential buildings and compares them against a reference case which uses a conventional heat pump as a heating system, also powered by a PV. One technology involves a low temperature PCM thermal energy storage system (LT-TES) heated by either an electric resistance or a heat pump and the other technology involves an ultra-high temperature TES (UHT-TES). It is revealed that any case with heat storage is preferable for better exploiting the produced renewable energy than the conventional one which does not include heat storage. The most favorable from this aspect are the cases which include the UHT-TES, which provide both heat and electricity. Focusing exclusively on heat supply, the most preferable case from a technical performance aspect is the one which includes a heat pump and a LT-TES system, albeit not providing any electricity. On the other hand, the most advantageous only in terms of electricity supply is the case which includes the UHT-TES system

MPO&ndash;ANCA-Positive Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis with Rapidly Progressive Glomerulonephritis and Saddle-Nose Deformity: A Case Report

Early diagnosis and initiation of appropriate immunosuppressive treatment remain the cornerstone of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis at the cost of significant toxicity. In this report, we present a case of a 69-year-old female who presented with advanced renal insufficiency and evidence of pulmonary hemorrhage and was MPO&ndash;ANCA-positive with a clinical phenotype of granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Organ involvement included rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (GN), along with extrarenal manifestations (skin, upper and lower respiratory system involvement, and onset of saddle-nose deformity). Kidney biopsy established the diagnosis of pauci-immune crescentic, sclerotic GN. She received therapy with glucocorticoids and cyclophosphamide, mainly due to life-threatening extra-renal manifestations, such as pulmonary hemorrhage. She avoided vasculitis-related death but she developed severe therapy-related toxicity, resulting in the discontinuation of immunosuppressive therapy. Continuous re-evaluation of patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis in terms of response to immunosuppressive therapy and treatment-related toxicity is crucial for their management

Dynamic Simulation and Performance Enhancement Analysis of a Renewable Driven Trigeneration System

Research activity in the field of combined cooling heating power (or trigeneration) systems with high renewable energy source (RES) contributions has increased rapidly over the last few years, in line with the European Union legislation about energy communities. However, technical challenges arise regarding the synergetic, sustainable and optimal integration of RES in local energy systems. In the present study, the operation of a trigeneration system located in the student residences of Democritus University of Thrace in Greece is examined. The system involves a combination of highly promising renewable and storage technologies, including solar thermal energy and biomass for heat generation, hot water tanks for thermal energy storage, absorption refrigeration for cooling, along with Organic Rankine Cycle and photovoltaic systems for electricity generation. System modeling and simulation have been implemented in Dymola environment with the use of Modelica equation-based modeling language. The accuracy of the model response has been validated against available measurements. Specific design and control measures have been proposed, simulated in a transient fashion and evaluated in terms of (i) RES generation, (ii) solar fraction and (iii) temporal flexibility. The measures examined, including the placement of a Li-ion battery, resulted in an increase of 24.6% in the heating demand solar contribution and of 7.9% in the renewable energy generated for the electricity demand, over the examined periods

Dynamic Simulation and Performance Enhancement Analysis of a Renewable Driven Trigeneration System

Research activity in the field of combined cooling heating power (or trigeneration) systems with high renewable energy source (RES) contributions has increased rapidly over the last few years, in line with the European Union legislation about energy communities. However, technical challenges arise regarding the synergetic, sustainable and optimal integration of RES in local energy systems. In the present study, the operation of a trigeneration system located in the student residences of Democritus University of Thrace in Greece is examined. The system involves a combination of highly promising renewable and storage technologies, including solar thermal energy and biomass for heat generation, hot water tanks for thermal energy storage, absorption refrigeration for cooling, along with Organic Rankine Cycle and photovoltaic systems for electricity generation. System modeling and simulation have been implemented in Dymola environment with the use of Modelica equation-based modeling language. The accuracy of the model response has been validated against available measurements. Specific design and control measures have been proposed, simulated in a transient fashion and evaluated in terms of (i) RES generation, (ii) solar fraction and (iii) temporal flexibility. The measures examined, including the placement of a Li-ion battery, resulted in an increase of 24.6% in the heating demand solar contribution and of 7.9% in the renewable energy generated for the electricity demand, over the examined periods