Effects of contact resistance and metal additives in finned-tube adsorbent beds on the performance of silica gel/water adsorption chiller

Recently interest in adsorption cooling systems has increased due to their capability to utilise low grade heat sources and environmentally friendly refrigerants. Currently, most of the commercially available adsorption cooling systems utilise granular packed adsorbent beds. Enhancing the heat transfer process inside the adsorbent bed will improve the overall efficiency of the adsorption system. Using recently developed empirical lumped analytical simulation model for a 450 kW two-bed silica gel/water adsorption chiller, this paper theoretically investigates the effects of various adsorbent bed heat transfer enhancement techniques on the adsorption system cooling capacity. Firstly, coating the first adsorbent layer to the metal part and packing the rest of adsorbent granules to eliminate the thermal contact resistance between heat exchanger metal and granules while keeping the same level of permeability. Secondly, adding metal particles to the adsorbent in order to enhance the granules thermal conductivity. The effective thermal conductivity of adsorbent/metal mixtures were determined and validated by comparing it with published experimental data. Also, the combined effect of using both techniques simultaneously was investigated. All these investigations were carried out at various adsorption bed fin spacing. Results of the combined techniques showed that the enhancement in the cooling capacity and system coefficient of performance (COP) increased with increasing the fin spacing ratio to reach maximum of 25% and 10% respectively at fin spacing ratio of 2

Texture evaluation of whey protein concentrate incorporated ice cream by Back Extrusion technique

Back extrusion technique was employed to evaluated texture properties of partial substituted whey protein concentrate (WPC) with milk solids not fat (1, 2, 3 and 4%) in ice cream formula. There was no remarkable effect of adding WPC on total solids or fat %. Total protein increased, while ash, and lactose content were significantly decreased. Back-extrusion results represented a decrease in hardness values of resultant ice cream, while, during storage, there was a slight increase. Energy input values decreased by increasing substitution levels of WP. Although, energy output inversely correlated with substitution levels of WP it correlated with storage period indicating a strong structure for stored ice cream. Load at target deformation (50%) applied to the samples when fresh and after 14 days storage showing decreased values proportional to increasing substitution levels of WP. The resilience showed decreased ratio indicating more visco-elastic properties in fresh ice cream. The recovered height and deformation increased with increasing substitution levels of WP and storage period. Therefore, more sticking properties were obtained in resultant ice cream. Adhesive force decreased significantly with increasing substitution levels of WP and storage period. Adhesiveness values were significantly higher in all treatments than control. The texture of the ice cream became smoother by replacing milk solid not fat with WPC up to 3%. From the data obtained, it could be recommended that ice cream can be produced with high quality by substituting milk solid not fat with WPC up to 3%

Impact of Augmented Reality on Pattern Designing Using Origami-Style among Clothing and Textile Students

The study aimed to examine the effects of augmented reality technology on the development of origami-style pattern designing skills among female students in the clothing and textile field, as well as to explore their attitudes towards this technology. The quasi-experimental approach was employed to achieve the research objectives, with a sample of 24 female students from the Fourth Grade of the Department of Clothing and Textile, Faculty of Home Economics at Al-Azhar University. The participants were divided into two groups: a control group of 12 students who studied in the traditional way, and an experimental group of 12 students who used augmented reality technology to learn. The study was conducted in the second semester of the academic year 2020/2021. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference (at a significance level of 0.01) between the average scores of the control group and the experimental group in both cognitive achievement and skill performance, with the experimental group performing better. Additionally, the retention of learned information was higher among the experimental group, and they had a more positive attitude towards using augmented reality technology in learning

Breast cancer image classification using pattern-based Hyper Conceptual Sampling method

The increase in biomedical data has given rise to the need for developing data sampling techniques. With the emergence of big data and the rise of popularity of data science, sampling or reduction techniques have been assistive to significantly hasten the data analytics process. Intuitively, without sampling techniques, it would be difficult to efficiently extract useful patterns from a large dataset. However, by using sampling techniques, data analysis can effectively be performed on huge datasets, to produce a relatively small portion of data, which extracts the most representative objects from the original dataset. However, to reach effective conclusions and predictions, the samples should preserve the data behavior. In this paper, we propose a unique data sampling technique which exploits the notion of formal concept analysis. Machine learning experiments are performed on the resulting sample to evaluate quality, and the performance of our method is compared with another sampling technique proposed in the literature. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and competitiveness of the proposed approach in terms of sample size and quality, as determined by accuracy and the F1-measure. 2018This contribution was made possible by NPRP-07-794-1-145 grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Scopu

Renal Transplant Outcomes in Amyloidosis

Background: Outcomes after renal transplantation have traditionally been poor in systemic amyloid A (AA) amyloidosis and systemic light chain (AL) amyloidosis, with high mortality and frequent recurrent disease. We sought to compare outcomes with matched transplant recipients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and diabetic nephropathy (DN), and identify factors predictive of outcomes. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 51 systemic AL and 48 systemic AA amyloidosis patients undergoing renal transplantation. Matched groups were generated by propensity score matching. Patient and death-censored allograft survival were compared via Kaplan–Meier survival analyses, and assessment of clinicopathological features predicting outcomes via Cox proportional hazard analyses. Results: One-, 5- and 10-year death-censored unadjusted graft survival was, respectively, 94, 91 and 78% for AA amyloidosis, and 98, 93 and 93% for AL amyloidosis; median patient survival was 13.1 and 7.9 years, respectively. Patient survival in AL and AA amyloidosis was comparable to DN, but poorer than ADPKD [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.12 and 3.09, respectively; P 12 mm (HR = 26.58; P = 0.03), while survival was predicted by haematologic response (very good partial or complete response; HR = 0.07; P = 0.018). In AA amyloidosis, recurrent amyloid was associated with elevated serum amyloid A concentration but not with outcomes. Conclusions: Renal transplantation outcomes for selected patients with AA and AL amyloidosis are comparable to those with DN. In AL amyloidosis, IVSd thickness and achievement of deep haematologic response pre-transplant profoundly impact patient survival

Mutual Relationships: Saudi Universities and The Private Sector for Economic Development

The purpose of this research is to determine the level of the mutual relationship between Saudi universities and the private sector to achieve Economic development in light of the Kingdoms 2030 vision. The researcher relied heavily on the questionnaire as the primary instrument for data collection for the study, employing a descriptive research design and a quantitative methodology in order to accomplish the goals of the study. The investigation was carried out with a sample size of 180 universities leaders in the southern region of Saudi Arabia, all of them were chosen at random. The findings of this study indicated that leaders had high expectations for a mutual relationship between Saudi universities and the private sector. In addition, the findings demonstrated that there are no statistically significant variations in the mutual relationship between Saudi universities and the private sector with regard to the variables of academic rank, and years of experience

Electronic patient-reported outcomes from home in patients recovering from major gynecologic cancer surgery: A prospective study measuring symptoms and health-related quality of life

We previously reported on the feasibility of a Web-based system to capture patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in the immediate postoperative period. The purpose of this study was to update the experience of these patients and assess patient and provider satisfaction and feedback regarding the system

Echocardiographic phenotype and prognosis in transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis

AIMS: Transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is an increasingly recognized cause of heart failure. We sought to characterize the structural and functional echocardiographic phenotype across the spectrum of wild-type (wtATTR-CM) and hereditary (hATTR-CM) transthyretin cardiomyopathy and the echocardiographic features predicting prognosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 1240 patients with ATTR-CM who underwent prospective protocolized evaluations comprising full echocardiographic assessment and survival between 2000 and 2019, comprising 766 with wtATTR-CM and 474 with hATTR-CM, of whom 314 had the V122I variant and 127 the T60A variant. At diagnosis, patients with V122I-hATTR-CM had the most severe degree of systolic and diastolic dysfunction across all echocardiographic parameters and patients with T60AhATTR-CM the least; patients with wtATTR-CM had intermediate features. Stroke volume index, right atrial area index, longitudinal strain, and E/e' were all independently associated with mortality (P < 0.05 for all). Severe aortic stenosis (AS) was also independently associated with prognosis, conferring a significantly shorter survival (median survival 22 vs. 53 months, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The three distinct genotypes present with varying degrees of severity. Echocardiography indicates a complex pathophysiology in which both systolic and diastolic function are independently associated with mortality. The presence of severe AS was independently associated with significantly reduced patient survival

Urinary retinol binding protein predicts renal outcome in systemic immunoglobulin light-chain (AL) amyloidosis

Summary: Renal risk stratification in systemic immunoglobulin light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is according to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary protein creatinine ratio (uPCR), the latter attributed to glomerular dysfunction, with proximal tubular dysfunction (PTD) little studied. Urinary retinol binding protein 4 (uRBP), a low molecular weight tubular protein and highly sensitive marker of PTD, was prospectively measured in 285 newly diagnosed, untreated patients with systemic AL amyloidosis between August 2017 to August 2018. At diagnosis, the uRBP/creatinine ratio (uRBPCR) correlated with serum creatinine (r = 0·618, P 30 ml/min/1.73 m2 [HR 4·11, (95% CI 1·45–11·65); P = 0·008] and those who failed to achieve a deep haematological response to chemotherapy within 3 months of diagnosis [HR 6·72, (95% CI 1·83–24·74); P = 0·004], and also predicted renal progression [HR 1·91, (95% CI 1·18–3·07); P = 0·008]. Elevated uRBPCR indicates PTD and predicts renal outcomes independently of eGFR, uPCR and clonal response in systemic AL amyloidosis. The role of uRBPCR as a novel prognostic biomarker merits further study, particularly in monoclonal gammopathies of renal significance

Cardiac Structural and Functional Consequences of Amyloid Deposition by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Echocardiography and Their Prognostic Roles

OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the functional and structural cardiac abnormalities that occur across a spectrum of cardiac amyloidosis burden and to identify the strongest cardiac functional and structural prognostic predictors in amyloidosis using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and echocardiography. BACKGROUND: Cardiac involvement in light chain and transthyretin amyloidosis is the main driver of prognosis and influences treatment strategies. Numerous measures of cardiac structure and function are assessed by multiple imaging modalities in amyloidosis. METHODS: Three hundred twenty-two subjects (311 systemic amyloidosis and 11 transthyretin gene mutation carriers) underwent comprehensive CMR and transthoracic echocardiography. The probabilities of 11 commonly measured structural and functional cardiac parameters being abnormal with increasing cardiac amyloidosis burden were evaluated. Cardiac amyloidosis burden was quantified using CMR-derived extracellular volume. The prognostic capacities of these parameters to predict death in amyloidosis were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Left ventricular mass and mitral annular plane systolic excursion by CMR along with strain and E/e' by echocardiography have high probabilities of being abnormal at low cardiac amyloid burden. Reductions in biventricular ejection fractions and elevations in biatrial areas occur at high burdens of infiltration. The probabilities of indexed stroke volume, myocardial contraction fraction, and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) being abnormal occur more gradually with increasing extracellular volume. Ninety patients (28%) died during a median follow-up of 22 months (interquartile range: 10 to 38 months). Univariable analysis showed that all imaging markers studied significantly predicted outcome. Multivariable analysis showed that TAPSE (hazard ratio: 1.46; 95% confidence interval: 1.16 to 1.85; p < 0.01) and indexed stroke volume (hazard ratio: 1.24; 95% confidence interval: 1.04 to 1.48; p < 0.05) by CMR were the only independent predictors of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Specific functional and structural abnormalities characterize different burdens of cardiac amyloid deposition. In a multimodality imaging assessment of a large cohort of amyloidosis patients, CMR-derived TAPSE and indexed stroke volume are the strongest prognostic cardiac functional markers