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PPurpose: To study the Sociodemographic factors leading to blindness or visual impairment in diabetic patients living in Upper Egypt. Setting: The study included 200 patients recruited from screening campaigns in the Fayoum and Beni Suef governorates in Egypt. Methods: Patients included in the study were legally blind diabetics (visual acuity ≤ 6/60), and patients answered a specially designed questionnaire when recruited in the study. Results: Patients' knowledge of the ophthalmic effects and complications was as low as 31%. Laser treatment patients were more aware of diabetic consequences (p≤0.02). However, with the increase in education level, a noticeable increase in patient knowledge regarding diabetic ocular complications also occurred. (p≤0.001), patients obtained their knowledge about diabetic complications from their ophthalmologists (p≤0.02), rather than from the media or the Internet. Conclusions: The media and internets should have a greater role in informing diabetics regarding the importance of controlling blood glucose levels and regular follow-ups in reducing ocular diabetic complications. This can be achieved by increasing the patients' level of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ORC (organic Rankine cycle) is a promising technology for conversion of heat into useful work. This study utilizes the ORC in an existing gas treatment plant in Egypt, as a case study, to recover the waste heat and convert it into electricity. A simulation model using Aspen HYSYS v7.1 has been built up for the case study. Two different cycles, the basic and the regenerative cycles, have been studied. Various working fluids have been investigated using different parameters such as net work produced, efficiency, volumetric flow rate and the irreversibility. To be more confident about the best working fluid, a capital cost and profitability analysis has been performed for the most two promising working fluids. The simulation has shown that regenerative cycle using either benzene or cyclohexane is the most promising choice. However, the capital cost and profitability study has shown that benzene is more suitable as working fluid than cyclohexane. Finally, an optimization study on the parameters indicates that the turbo expander inlet pressure of 4.1 MPa and temperature of 290 °C–300 °C are the most appropriate working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]