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Jordan has been facing a rigorous economic problem related to the high cost of energy. One of the main reasons is the cost of subsiding imported fuels to produce electricity for its domestic uses. The importation of energy represents more than 10% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) despite it has plentiful resources of renewable energy that can cover all its needs from electrical energy, while the national resources of energy in Jordan cover only 3-4% of the country’s energy needs. This study investigates the potential of using the technology of Cooling Air by Solar Energy (CASE) for Air-conditioning applications to minimize the consumption of energy in Jordan. The main objectives of this work are to provide an overview of different commercially available CASE technologies and analyze the economic feasibility of selected CASE technology. The study of the economic feasibility has been done on the CASE technologies used for four scenarios. Analysis of data collection and assessment of economic viability in comparison to conventional VCC was also investigated. The results showed the relevance of the economic feasibility with the cost of electricity tariff, it also showed that the use of this device is feasible at a high electricity tariff; while there is a high risk on feasibility at a low electricity tariff.Keywords: adsorption chillers; vapor compression chillers; economic feasibilityJEL Classifications: C54, Q20, Q43, Q55DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11752

We developed a model integrating multimodal quantitative imaging features from tumor and nontumor regions, qualitative features, and clinical data to improve the risk stratification of patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).We retrospectively analyzed 135 patients [mean age, 69 years (43 to 87, range); 100 male patients and 35 female patients] with NSCLC who underwent upfront surgical resection between 2008 and 2012. The tumor and peritumoral regions on both preoperative CT and FDG PET-CT and the vertebral bodies L3 to L5 on FDG PET were segmented to assess the tumor and bone marrow uptake, respectively. Radiomic features were extracted and combined with clinical and CT qualitative features. A random survival forest model was developed using the top-performing features to predict the time to recurrence/progression in the training cohort (The model, consisting of stage, three wavelet texture features, and three wavelet first-order features, achieved a concordance of 0.78 and 0.76 in the training and testing cohorts, respectively, significantly outperforming the baseline stage-only model results of 0.67 (Our radiomic model, consisting of stage and tumor, peritumoral, and bone marrow features from CT and FDG PET-CT significantly stratified patients into low- and high-risk of recurrence/progression.

The segmentation of renal tumor, quantification of tumor indices (i.e., the center point coordinates, diameter, circumference, and cross-sectional area) and uncertainty estimation of segmentation are the key processes for clinical tumor disease diagnosis. However, these tasks have been studied independently so far. Because segmentation and quantification tasks have different optimization types, representing two different tasks as a unified optimization framework is a severe challenge. In this paper, we propose a unified framework (i.e., Mt-UcGAN: multi-task uncertainty-constrained generative adversarial network) for joint segmentation, quantification, and uncertainty estimation of renal tumors on CT. Mt-UcGAN includes a multitasking integrated generator (MtIG) and an uncertainty-constrained discriminator (UcD). MtIG achieves multi-task joint learning by novelly merging skip connections and Monte Carlo sampling. UCD guides the learning of segmentation and quantification networks by innovatively feeding prior information with high uncertainty constraints. Mt-UcGAN effectively corrects tumor prediction errors and improves network performance through continuous adversarial learning and alternate training. Experiments are performed on CT of 113 renal tumor patients. The dice coefficient of Mt-UcGAN is 92.1%, and the \(R^2\) coefficient of tumor circumference is 0.9513. The results show that this method has great potential to be extended to other medical image analysis tasks and clinical application value.

Lipoma arborescens is a rare non-neoplastic condition that affects the synovial lining of joints and bursae accounting for less than 1% of all lipomatous lesions. Characterized by villous proliferation of the synovium, it is an uncommon cause of intra/periarticular mass presenting as a painless, slowly progressive longstanding swelling, and is sometimes accompanied by intermittent monoarticular effusions. We describe a rare case of bilateral lipoma arborescens in the bicipitoradial bursae in a young male referred for MRI evaluation of spontaneous bilateral elbow swelling. We chose to bring this case to light because of the rare simultaneous involvement of the bicipitoradial bursae bilaterally and the role of MR in providing a definite diagnosis, hence obviating the need for biopsy and avoiding consideration of other complex intra/periarticular masses.

The segmentation of the kidney tumor and the quantification of its tumor indices (i.e., the center point coordinates, diameter, circumference, and cross-sectional area of the tumor) are important steps in tumor therapy. These quantifies the tumor morphometrical details to monitor disease progression and accurately compare decisions regarding the kidney tumor treatment. However, manual segmentation and quantification is a challenging and time-consuming process in practice and exhibit a high degree of variability within and between operators. In this paper, MB-FSGAN (multi-branch feature sharing generative adversarial network) is proposed for simultaneous segmentation and quantification of kidney tumor on CT. MB-FSGAN consists of multi-scale feature extractor (MSFE), locator of the area of interest (LROI), and feature sharing generative adversarial network (FSGAN). MSFE makes strong semantic information on different scale feature maps, which is particularly effective in detecting small tumor targets. The LROI extracts the region of interest of the tumor, greatly reducing the time complexity of the network. FSGAN correctly segments and quantifies kidney tumors through joint learning and adversarial learning, which effectively exploited the commonalities and differences between the two related tasks. Experiments are performed on CT of 113 kidney tumor patients. For segmentation, MB-FSGAN achieves a pixel accuracy of 95.7%. For the quantification of five tumor indices, the R2 coefficient of tumor circumference is 0.9465. The results show that the network has reliable performance and shows its effectiveness and potential as a clinical tool.

Erythromycin (ERY) resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes has recently emerged as a problem of growing concern all through the world. We are presenting the comparison of results of the continuous surveillance of erythromycin resistance in S. pyogenes performed since 1989 in the Hospital de Pediatría J.P.Garrahan of Buenos Aires City, with independently observed rates in other five centers of Buenos Aires and seven centers of six other Argentinian cities, obtained between 1999 and 2001. A significant increase of erythromycin resistance was observed among S. pyogenes isolated in the Hospital Garrahan (6.6% in 1998-1999 to 9.9% in 2000). Similar trends were also detected in other centers of other Argentinian cities when recent data were compared to results of a multicenter study performed in 1995. However, lower rates of resistance were recorded in Mendoza, Cipolletti and Neuquén in comparison with data of 1995, 1998 and 1998 respectively. The reason of such decreasing resistance rates deserves to be investigated. The average of ERY-resistance rates obtained in the surveyed centers was 6.7% (range 0.5 - 14.1%). Control of antimicrobial use should be performed to warrant the future effectiveness of macrolide antibiotics regarding the positive association between use and resistance. These results also suggest that susceptibility tests for macrolides should be performed whenever S. pyogenes is isolated in Argentina.La resistencia a la eritromicina en Streptococcus pyogenes ha emergido en los últimos tiempos como un problema creciente en todo el mundo. En este trabajo se presenta la comparación de los resultados de la vigilancia continua de la resistencia a la eritromicina que se viene realizando en el Hospital de Pediatría J.P.Garrahan de Buenos Aires desde 1989, con resultados independientes de otros cinco centros de la ciudad de Buenos Aires y siete de otras seis ciudades argentinas, obtenidos entre 1999 y 2001. Se observó un aumento significativo en el Hospital Garrahan (6.6% en 1998-1999 a 9.9% en el año 2000) y una tendencia similar en otros centros de diversas ciudades argentinas si se comparan estos datos con los de un estudio multicéntrico realizado en 1995. No obstante, se registraron menores porcentajes de resistencia en Mendoza, Neuquén y Cipolletti, en relación a lo hallado en 1995, 1998 y 1998 respectivamente. La razón de esta disminución merece ser investigada. El porcentaje promedio de resistencia a eritromicina obtenido en los distintos centros participantes de este estudio fue de 6.7% (rango 0.5-14.1%). Debe efectuarse un control en el uso de estos antibióticos para garantizar la efectividad futura de los macrólidos, teniendo en cuenta la asociación estrecha entre uso y resistencia. Estos resultados sugieren que deberían realizarse pruebas de sensibilidad a los macrólidos para todos los aislamientos de S. pyogenes en la Argentina.

Erythromycin (ERY) resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes has recently emerged as a problem of growing concern all through the world. We are presenting the comparison of results of the continuous surveillance of erythromycin resistance in S. pyogenes performed since 1989 in the Hospital de Pediatría J.P. Garrahan of Buenos Aires City, with independently observed rates in other five centers of Buenos Aires and seven centers of six other Argentinian cities, obtained between 1999 and 2001. A significant increase of erythromycin resistance was observed among S. pyogenes isolated in the Hospital Garrahan (6.6% in 1998-1999 to 9.9% in 2000). Similar trends were also detected in other centers of other Argentinian cities when recent data were compared to results of a multicenter study performed in 1995. However, lower rates of resistance were recorded in Mendoza, Cipolletti and Neuquén in comparison with data of 1995, 1998 and 1998 respectively. The reason of such decreasing resistance rates deserves to be investigated. The average of ERY-resistance rates obtained in the surveyed centers was 6.7% (range 0.5-14.1%). Control of antimicrobial use should be performed to warrant the future effectiveness of macrolide antibiotics regarding the positive association between use and resistance. These results also suggest that susceptibility tests for macrolides should be performed whenever S. pyogenes is isolated in Argentina.

The NCCLS agar dilution method and Etest are currently accepted methods for susceptibility testing of Neisseria meningitidis to penicillin. We determined the MIC of penicillin V and penicillin G by both the agar dilution method and Etest using 43 strains of N. meningitidis. Although results for reference strains were within the accepted quality control range of penicillin MICs for both drugs, differences of two to three dilutions were seen between the two antibiotics with both methods. Penicillin V results cannot correctly predict the susceptibility to penicillin G for N. meningitidis if penicillin G breakpoints are used for penicillin V. However, adjusting the penicillin V breakpoints two dilutions higher (i.e., Sor = 0.25 and Ror = 8 microg/ml), concordance could be achieved for susceptibility categorization by the two compounds. An agreement of 98% +/- 1 dilution was obtained between Etest and the reference method when using penicillin G strips. We conclude that Etest with penicillin G strips is a convenient and reliable alternative method for determining the MICs of penicillin for N. meningitidis.

To the Editor.— A 66-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Her past history indicated that she had had chronic psoriasis that often underwent exacerbations. Traditional treatment given was not satisfactory. On admission, she had extensive psoriatic lesions on her buttocks, knees, and elbows, with additional isolated lesions on her abdomen and chest. Aggressive treatment of leukemia was begun with 100 mg/sq m/ day of intravenous (IV) cytarabine given continuously for seven days and 40 mg/sq m of IV daunorubicin hydrochloride for three consecutive days. There was a dramatic improvement in her psoriasis, and the psoriatic lesions virtually healed. After the induction treatment, she also had a complete hematologic remission. The hematologic remission is currently maintained by a schedule of monthly five-day treatments with 2 × 100 mg/sq m/day of IV cytarabine, 10 mg/sq m/day of IV daunorubicin hydrochloride, and 2 × 100 mg/ sq