Development of severe secondary hypertension in a patient with systemic entomophthoromycosis

The sudden onset of hypertension mandates investigation for secondary causes. We report the case of a young man with a very rare systemic fungal disease that included massive unilateral perirenal adenopathy. Treatment was associated with the abrupt onset of severe hypertension. Imaging studies suggested progressive constriction of one kidney with treatment, presumably as a result of healing adenopathy. We suggest that this case is a new example of hypertension secondary to constrictive perinephritis (Page kidney).     

CHID1 Is a Novel Prognostic Marker of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

There is an urgent need for identification of new prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we evaluated immune cells markers in 100 NSCLC specimens. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed no prognostic value for the markers studied, except CD163 and CD206. At the same time, macrophage markers iNOS and CHID1 were found to be expressed in tumor cells and associated with prognosis. We showed that high iNOS expression is a marker of favorable prognosis for squamous cell lung carcinoma (SCC), and NSCLC in general. Similarly, high CHID1 expression is a marker of good prognosis in adenocarcinoma and in NSCLC in general. Analysis of prognostic significance of a high CHID1/iNOS expression combination showed favorable prognosis with 20 months overall survival of patients from the low CHID1/iNOS expression group. For the first time, we demonstrated that CHID1 can be expressed by NSCLC cells and its high expression is a marker of good prognosis for adenocarcinoma and NSCLC in general. At the same time, high expression of iNOS in tumor cells is a marker of good prognosis in SCC. When used in combination, CHID1 and iNOS show a very good prognostic capacity for NSCLC. We suggest that in the case of lung cancer, tumor-associated macrophages are likely ineffective as a therapeutic target. At the same time, macrophage markers expressed by tumor cells may be considered as targets for anti-tumor therapy or, as in the case of CHID1, as potential anti-tumor agents.     

Color image DNA encryption using mRNA properties and non-adjacent coupled map lattices

This paper proposes a novel algorithm for encrypting color images. The innovation in this study is the use of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) encoding to import into Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) encoding. For permutation of the plain image bits, we use Arnold’s Cat Map at the bit-level. Then, using Non-Adjacent Coupled Map Lattices (NCML), we apply diffusion operations to the permuted color channels. We also provide the upgrade of the diffusion phase with DNA encoding. In the proposed algorithm, the choices are random depending on the secret key, which is implemented using a simple logistic map. Hashing the string entered by the user, the secret key, parameters, and initial values are generated by the Double MD5 method. The results of tests and security analysis showed that the results of encryption with this scheme are effective, and the key space is large enough to withstand common attacks.

     

Applying a normalized ratio scale technique to assess influences of urban expansion on land surface temperature of the semi-arid city of Erbil

The difference between surface and air temperature within a city and its surrounding area is a result of variations in surface cover, thermal capacity, and 3-dimensional geometry. This research has examined and quantified the decreasing daytime land surface temperature (LST) in Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq, and the influence of rapid urban expansion on urban heat/cool island effect over a 20 year period. Land-use/land-cover change across this time period is also established using pixel samples. The current study proposes the application of the normalized ratio scale (NRS) to adjust the temperature of images acquired at different dates to the same range. Eleven satellite images acquired by Landsat 4, 5, 7, and 8 during the period 1992–2013 are used to retrieve LST. The results indicate that 55.3 km² of city land cover changed from bare soil to urban; consequently, the mean LST of the new urbanized area decreased by 2.28°C. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of Sami Abdul-Rahman (S.A.) Park increased from 0.09 ± 0.01 to 0.32 ± 0.11, resulting in a decrease of the mean LST by 7.29°C. This study shows that the NRS method is appropriate for detecting temperature trends from urbanization using remote-sensing data. It also highlights that urban expansion may lead to a decrease in daytime LST in drylands.     

Analysis of solar desiccant cooling system for an institutional building in subtropical Queensland,Australia

Institutional buildings contain different types of functional spaces which require different types of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. In addition, institutional buildings should be designed to maintain an optimal indoor comfort condition with minimal energy consumption and minimal negative environmental impact. Recently there has been a significant interest in implementing desiccant cooling technologies within institutional buildings. Solar desiccant cooling systems are reliable in performance, environmentally friendly and capable of improving indoor air quality at a lower cost. In this study, a solar desiccant cooling system for an institutional building in subtropical Queensland (Australia) is assessed using TRNSYS 16 software. This system has been designed and installed at the Rockhampton campus of Central Queensland University. The system's technical performance, economic analysis, energy savings, and avoided gas emission are quantified in reference to a conventional HVAC system under the influence of Rockhampton's typical meteorological year. The technical and economic parameters that are used to assess the system's viability are: coefficient of performance (COP), solar fraction, life cycle analysis, payback period, present worth factor and the avoided gas emission. Results showed that, the installed cooling system at Central Queensland University which consists of 10 m² of solar collectors and a 0.400 m³ of hot water storage tank, achieved a 0.7 COP and 22% of solar fraction during the cooling season. These values can be boosted to 1.2 COP and 69% respectively if 20 m² of evacuated tube collector's area and 1.5 m³ of solar hot water storage volume are installed.     

A robust learning based evolutionary approach for thermal-economic optimization of compact heat exchangers

This paper presents a robust, efficient and parameter-setting-free evolutionary approach for the optimal design of compact heat exchangers. A learning automata based particle swarm optimization (LAPSO) is developed for optimization task. Seven design parameters, including discreet and continuous ones, are considered as optimization variables. To make the constraint handling straightforward, a self-adaptive penalty function method is employed. The efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed method are demonstrated through two illustrative examples that include three objectives, namely minimum total annual cost, minimum weight and minimum number of entropy generation units. Numerical results indicate that the presented approach generates the optimum configuration with higher accuracy and a higher success rate when compared with genetic algorithms (GAs) and particle swarm optimization (PSO).     

Optimal design of plate-fin heat exchangers by a hybrid evolutionary algorithm

This study explores the first application of a Genetic Algorithm hybrid with Particle Swarm Optimization (GAHPSO) for design optimization of a plate-fin heat exchanger. A total number of seven design parameters are considered as the optimization variables and the constraints are handled by penalty function method. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through an illustrative example. Comparing the results with the corresponding results using GA and PSO reveals that the GAHPSO can converge to optimum solution with higher accuracy.     

Conversion of waste polystyrene through catalytic degradation into valuable products

Waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) represents a source of valuable chemical products like styrene and other aromatics. The catalytic degradation was carried out in a batch reactor with a mixture of polystyrene (PS) and catalyst at 450 °C for 30 min in case of Mg and at 400 °C for 2 h both for MgO and MgCO₃ catalysts. At optimum degradation conditions, EPS was degraded into 82.20±3.80 wt%, 91.60±0.20 wt% and 81.80±0.53 wt% liquid with Mg, MgO and MgCO₃ catalysts, respectively. The liquid products obtained were separated into different fractions by fractional distillation. The liquid fractions obtained with three catalysts were compared, and characterized using GC-MS. Maximum conversion of EPS into styrene monomer (66.6 wt%) was achieved with Mg catalyst, and an increase in selectivity of compounds was also observed. The major fraction at 145 °C showed the properties of styrene monomer. The results showed that among the catalysts used, Mg was found to be the most effective catalyst for selective conversion into styrene monomer as value added product.     

Energy conservation measures in an institutional building in sub-tropical climate in Australia

In this study, various energy conservation measures (ECMs) on heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems for a four-storied institutional building in sub-tropical (hot and humid climate) Queensland, Australia are evaluated using the simulation software called DesignBuilder (DB). Base case scenario of energy consumption profiles of existing systems are analysed and simulated first then, the simulated results are verified by on-site measured data. Three categories of ECMs, namely major investment ECMs (variable air volume (VAV) systems against constant air volume (CAV); and low coefficient of performance (COP) chillers against high COP chillers); minor investment ECMs (photo electric dimming control system against general lighting, and double glazed low emittance windows against single-glazed windows) and zero investment ECMs (reset heating and cooling set point temperatures) are evaluated. It is found that the building considered in this study can save up to 41.87% energy without compromising occupancies thermal comfort by implementing the above mentioned ECMs into the existing system.     

Reflection properties of small hydrocarbons impinging on tungsten and carbon surfaces

Sticking coefficients of deuterium from are quantified on fusion relevant plasma sprayed tungsten and carbon fibre composite in the incident energy range from about 0-100 eV. The samples that were cut from ASDEX-Upgrade tiles are exposed to a beam of of specific incident energy, E_inc, in the tandem mass spectrometer BESTOF in Innsbruck. Nuclear reaction analysis is performed ex-situ at IPP Garching for the quantification of deuterium content. The deuterium content difference measured on a spot before and after ion-beam exposure of the sample is assigned to the above mentioned species of hydrocarbon molecules sticking on the surface, allowing the calculation of the sticking probability of a specific deuterated molecular ion. The sticking coefficient, S, is found to depend on the incident energy and shows a maximum of about S ∼ 0.4 around E_inc = 30 eV on CFC and about S ∼ 0.1 near E_inc = 20 eV in case of PSW.