Abnormal miRNA expression has been evidenced to be directly linked to HCC initiation and progression. This study was designed to detect possible prognostic, diagnostic, and/or therapeutic miRNAs for HCC using computational analysis of miRNAs expression. Methods: miRNA expression datasets meta-analysis was performed using the YM500v2 server to compare miRNA expression in normal and cancerous liver tissues. The most significant differentially regulated miRNAs in our study undergone target gene analysis using the mirWalk tool to obtain their validated and predicted targets. The combinatorial target prediction tool; miRror Suite was used to obtain the commonly regulated target genes. Functional enrichment analysis was performed on the resulting targets using the DAVID tool. A network was constructed based on interactions among microRNAs, their targets, and transcription factors. Hub nodes and gatekeepers were identified using network topological analysis. Further, we performed patient data survival analysis based on low and high expression of identified hubs and gatekeeper nodes, patients were stratified into low and high survival probability groups. Results: Using the meta-analysis option in the YM500v2 server, 34 miRNAs were found to be significantly differentially regulated (P-value <= .05); 5 miRNAs were down-regulated while 29 were up-regulated. The validated and predicted target genes for each miRNA, as well as the combinatorially predicted targets, were obtained. DAVID enrichment analysis resulted in several important cellular functions that are directly related to the main cancer hallmarks. Among these functions are focal adhesion, cell cycle, PI3K-Akt signaling, insulin signaling, Ras and MAPK signaling pathways. Several hub genes and gatekeepers were found that could serve as potential drug targets for hepatocellular carcinoma. POU2F1 and PPARA showed a significant difference between low and high survival probabilities (P-value <= .05) in HCC patients. Our study sheds light on important biomarker miRNAs for hepatocellular carcinoma along with their target genes and their regulated functions.

Enhancing the ship power transmission is surely a target sought by all those involved in the marine applications, mainly due to its beneficial results regarding making tangible reduction in fuel oil consumption, consequently considerable reduction in emissions to environment. The oil film lubrication within journal bearings is certainly a key factor in attaining that goal. Besides, journal bearings being essentially intrinsic structures by which numerous experimental tests could successfully be carried out. The first vital step in the uninterrupted series of the research efforts at hand has been to design and construct a journal bearing test rig (JBTR) characterized by sufficient validity for embracing all aspired experiments. Additionally, following the construction of the test rig, there emerged the need to realize the second step which mainly focused on enhancing and promoting the range and capabilities of the journal bearing, which ultimately turned it into a universal journal bearing test rig (UJBTR). Such step has granted the structure the ability to embrace even more sophisticated and much wider range of experiments. Further, one of the main consequences resulting from conducting versatile experiments and tests are the inevitable errors, or rather more precisely the uncertainties. Conducting such essential tests would entail making measurements, which in turn would incur necessary uncertainties. Consequently, there arose the need to introduce the current paper presenting a thorough investigation relating to the uncertainty measurement with view to better identifying the nature of such errors, with view to keeping them to a minimum and trying to overcome their hazardous consequences in as far as the experimentation procedures and outcomes are related.

In fact, attaining the final most beneficial target of improving the oil film lubrication for marine ‎‎purposes can be ‎said to have passed through several main stages up till now. The first stage ‎has ‎involved the initial design and ‎construction of the journal bearing test rig marked by ‎sufficient ‎validity for embracing the potential experimental ‎studies. Those studies were ‎concerned with ‎the lubricating oil within the journal bearing [1]. Notwithstanding, the ‎need ‎has then arisen for the ‎second stage which involved carrying out a comprehensive ‎modification and ‎conversion in ‎regard to the journal bearing test rig, aiming at enlarging its ‎capacity and range to endure more ‎‎sophisticated experiments. The modification has involved ‎adding a hydraulic loading system as ‎well as full ‎monitoring process via SCADA system, for ‎the sake of facilitating conducting all ‎potential experiments relating the ‎critical operating ‎factors that might otherwise affect the journal ‎bearing performance. This paper is representing the ‎‎second step in the long uninterrupted series of efforts seeking to ‎outline the results of a ‎proposed research program ‎for marine applications under the title of ‎‎ “Theoretical and ‎‎Experimental Analysis of the Performance of Journal ‎Bearing”. ‎ The program ‎will deal with ‎‎different design and construction aspects of journal bearing, with special ‎‎reference ‎to marine ‎applications. ‎

Egyptians are at a crossroad between Africa and Eurasia, providing useful genomic resources for analyzing both genetic and environmental factors for future personalized medicine. Two personal Egyptian whole genomes have been published previously by us and here nine female whole genome sequences with clinical information have been added to expand the genomic resource of Egyptian personal genomes. Here we report the analysis of whole genomes of nine Egyptian females from different regions using Illumina short-read sequencers. At 30x sequencing coverage, we identified 12 SNPs that were shared in most of the subjects associated with obesity which are concordant with their clinical diagnosis. Also, we found mtDNA mutation A4282G is common in all the samples and this is associated with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO). Haplogroup and Admixture analyses revealed that most Egyptian samples are close to the other north Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and European, respectively, possibly reflecting the into-Africa influx of human migration. In conclusion, we present whole-genome sequences of nine Egyptian females with personal clinical information that cover the diverse regions of Egypt. Although limited in sample size, the whole genomes data provides possible geno-phenotype candidate markers that are relevant to the region's diseases.

Lubrication of journal bearing in ship shafting systems is facing a problem in the slow speed range, where oil film created pressure depends on shaft speed, among many other factors. Hence, the slower the speed the lower the pressure will be, which shifts lubrication from hydrodynamic to boundary one. An experimental journal bearing test rig (JBTR) has been designed and established to simulate typical journal bearing for ship’s shafting system. A theoretical validation study has been undertaken and good agreement with the test rig pressure readings was found. The test rig is capable of carrying out wide range of tests to investigate oil film pressure profile dependence on many parameters regarding design modification, oil properties, material properties, and many other factors. A new Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model has been built for the sake of coupling future experimental investigations with computerized ones. The CFD model was created using the well-known CFD package Ansys ver. 15.0. The effect of shaft speed on oil film pressure profile was studied using the CFD model as a verification test. The model results were contrasted to the experimental results and an acceptable deviation range was found.

A multi-function test rig was designed to facilitate experimental studies for journal bearing boundary lubrication behaviour improvement. The test rig components were designed and manufactured. It consisted of drive motor, drive shaft, bearing assembly, foundation, automatic control and data acquisition system. Fabrication and setup of the test rig were conducted taking into account industrial safety and risk assessment. Components have been individually tested and finally, overall test was performed, and was found to be quite satisfactory. The test rig unit is capable of being used for a wide range of journal bearing lubrication tests e.g., bearing material composition, lubricant additives, speed variation and bearing geometry study. Several test trials were conducted, with the aim of verifying that the mathematical outcomes derived were in complete accordance with the experimental results reached. Those endeavours have culminated in a guarantee that the practically assembled target test rig was in harmony with the inferred mathematical calculations on which the structuring process was primarily based.

The increase of marine shipping industry leads to search for the use of clean source of energy such as natural gas to use in the primary propulsion systems. The LNG propulsion systems have been applied for years in different disciplines. Recently, the same are reused with the modern technologies and improvement. Over the years the steam turbine propulsion proved to be the dominant type of propulsion system used in Natural Gas Carriers, even though this system has been for years there was always the need to search for further improvements with the main goal to meet the mandatory requirements of the International Marine Organization. The current trend in the market is the implementation of a waste heat recovery system with dual fuel diesel engines with two main goals, first is to reduce the emission and second is to increase the overall efficiency. The current study is concerned with seeking further improvements that coincide with the market trend, thus a proposed system of a dual fuel diesel engine with a waste heat recovery system implemented is studied to investigate the possibility of those improvements and compared with the available propulsion systems.

Problems resulting from gas emissions lead to increase the concern about safety and health issues with the demand to reduce the emissions from marine shipping. Marine power plants are considered as one of the greatest contributors in the pollutants around the world. Waste heat recovery systems when implemented with ship propulsion system can reduce emissions, fuel consumption and improve the overall efficiency of power generation and utilization. The present article describes the waste heat recovery technology and the potential for ship operators to lower the fuel costs, exhaust emissions, and the effect on the EEDI of the ship. The main research target is to improve the propulsion machinery efficiency of liquefied natural gas carrier using WHRS. The proposed system leads to meet the requirements and regulations set by the IMO for TIER III.

Bulk carriers are one of the three dominating merchant ship types together with grain and container vessels.Today, bulk carriers comprise about one third of the world fleet in tonnage terms. The demand for raw materials likecoal, iron, copper, …etc., has increased considerably since the turn of the millennium. Moreover, the bulk carrier hasspecific nature due to the loaded bulk cargo’s parameters which may slosh, liquefy, shift...etc.The intact stability of bulk carriers is investigated, with respect to the latest regulations developed by IMO. Theeffect of loading conditions and types of cargoes on ship stability and cargo earning capacity are studied. It is found thatin some cases of loading conditions with certain types of cargo we have to use ballast water to satisfy the new grainregulations. This will lead to a reduction in the cargo earning capacity of the ship. The study under consideration is veryimportant from the economic point of view of the vessel’s operation. Ship’s owners and charters must know which typeof bulk cargoes is more profitable in case they have a choice to carry different types of bulk cargoes.A computer program is developed to carry out the stability calculations. Firstly we should get the vessel’s linesplans drawings, then using these drawings to prepare the vessel’s tables of offsets. Using these tables of offsets andModel Maker Program, full model of ship’s sections at different stations and the general arrangement can be obtained.Take this model in the Auto Hydro program to do the different loading conditions calculations. A programingcode is written and to be run to check the compliance with the intact stability criteria

There are many formulae for estimating the principal dimensions of OSVs (offshore supply vessels) depending on previous data of existing ships. Some formulae are not suitable for modern design, because of the great development in ship engineering. Therefore, it was necessary to get new formulae to estimate the principal dimensions of OSVs. The aim of this paper is to introduce and update the data that can be used to quickly predict the main dimensions of OSVs in preliminary (basic/pre-contract) design stage. For this purpose, data from statistical survey of 80 existing modern OSVs have been reviewed and reintroduced in the form of charts and equations .Finally, it has to be noted that these charts and equations need to be updated from time to time to cope with the continuous developments in the industry of OSVs . The obtained results were compared with previous formulae, and it was found that the obtained results are closer to the existing unit particulars.

Each year, thousands of tons of crude oil and petroleum products are spilled in the seas as a result of collision between ships. So, as a part of the overall effort to promote maritime safety and environmental protection an integrated software package of collision analysis is developed and used to calculate mid-ship plastic neutral axis position, moment of inertia about the plastic neutral axis in addition to maximum and minimum ship sectional modulus for actual and smeared mid-ship section for the intact ship. The minimum required moment of inertia and section modulus as required by the common structural rules in damaged condition are also calculated. Moreover, the program calculates the working bending moment in both cases; hogging and sagging conditions either for actual mid-ship section or smeared mid-ship section. The critical penetration, damaged mid-ship plastic neutral axis position, damaged moment of inertia about the plastic neutral axis and critical maximum and minimum ship sectional modulii are calculated. Finally the program calculates a new proposed strength safety factor based on the residual strength of the ship after collision and which ensures adequate structural redundancy to survive in the event that the ship’s hull is accidently damaged. All the results will be appeared in a printable reports.

This paper deals with the problem of double hull oil tankers loss due to the reduction of their longitudinal strength following a collision (and not due to lack of buoyancy or stability which is another problem). For this purpose the theoretical procedure which was developed by Hegazy to calculate the residual longitudinal strength of a struck ship after collision, is applied to double hull oil tanker to find out a relation between the extent of damage resulting from collision and the strength of the ship after collision. The residual strength of three double hull oil tankers is studied. The modulus of sections of these ships before and after damage were calculated and were compared with the minimum modulus of section required by the common structural rules. A new concept of structural safety for ship’s hull is introduced based on the residual strength of ships after collision.

The goal of a dimensional prediction model is to offer values that represent the potential full-scale vessel within acceptable tolerances.The paper presents relations among main design parameters of the high speed ro-pax aluminium catamaran ships.The presented relations are derived from the collected data of twenty five existing high speed ro-pax aluminium catamaran ships.The paper focused on identifying design trends and relations between basic ship particulars such as: pay load, ship's overall length, waterline length, depth, beam, power output, and finally service speed.The proposed relations can be used for the preliminary estimation of the principle dimensions of the high speed ro-pax aluminium catamaran ships at the preliminary design stage or may be a basis for rational selection of the range of variation of main dimensions in high speed ro-pax aluminium catamaran ships series.Another goal of the paper is to update the data and hence the relations that can be used to quickly predict the main dimensions of High Speed RO-PAX Catamarans in preliminary (basic/pre-contract) design stage.For this purpose, the obtained results were compared to other statistical survey made by Fragiskos Zouradkis (2005).It was found that the statistical relations slightly differs from 2005 till 2011, while the only exception was the draft where, it's noticed that recently high speed ro-pax aluminium catamaran have less draft.Finally, the obtained results were compared with previous formulae, and it was found that the obtained data are nearer to the real one.

The effects of gamma and e-beam irradiation on mechanical and structural properties of nylon 66 (Ny 66), nylon 6 (Ny 6) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics used in tyres were investigated. The untreated (greige), treated cords and calendered fabrics were irradiated at different doses. It is found that the effects of high energy irradiation on greige, treated cords and calendered fabrics are similar. No protective effect of compounds used in calendering was observed against radiation-induced oxidative degradation. The deterioration effect of gamma irradiation on mechanical properties is much higher than that of e-beam irradiation for all types of samples. Limiting viscosity numbers of both gamma and e-beam irradiated nylon 6 and nylon 66 cords were found to decrease with increasing dose. It is concluded that PET calendered fabric has higher resistance to ionizing radiation. Ny 6 and Ny 66 calendered fabrics are more sensitive even at low doses. Therefore, the effects of high energy irradiation on tyre cords have to be taken into consideration during tyre design reinforced with particularly Ny fabrics if pre-vulcanization with high energy radiation is to be applied.

Crosslinked CMC-N/PAAm hydrogel were prepared using electron beam irradiation. The factors affecting the degree of crosslinking and swelling behavior of the prepared copolymer were determined. As the irradiation dose and/or PAAm concentration increase, the gel content increases. Preparation of super-porous hydrogel was attained by the addition of ammonium carbonate as a gas-blowing agent during the irradiation process. The surface morphology and pore structure of such a prepared hydrogel were examined using scanning electron microscopy. The ability of the prepared hydrogel to absorb and retain large amount of water and as simulating urine was measured. The results suggested the possible use of CMC-Na/PAAm hydrogels in the personal care product industry.