Biochar particles size influenced the yield and water productivity of two mint (Mentha sp.) varieties under drip irrigation

In a two-year experiment conducted in 2019 and 2020, evaluation of the interaction between biochar particle sizes (without application (B1), <1 mm (B2), 6.60-9.50 mm (B3) and >13 mm (B4)) and irrigation treatments (120 (I1), 100 (I2) and 80% (I3) ETo) on yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and water productivity (WP) of two mint varieties (spearmint (V1) and peppermint (V2)) was done in the new soil of El-Behira Governorate under drip system. The results showed that, in both cuts, application of I1 and B4 increased the fresh yield by an average of 16.6 % for varieties and seasons, compared to other treatments. The highest oil yield was increased by an average of 28.0% for varieties and seasons under B2 and I3, compared to other treatments. The highest applied irrigation water was 11655 m3/ha under I1 averaged over varieties and seasons, which attained the highest yield under the application of the four biochar treatments. Application of I2 and B2 attained the highest values of WUE, namely 3.29 and 2.75 kg/m3 for V1 and V2, respectively averaged over seasons. The highest values of WP were also found under I2 and B2, namely 2.80 and 2.34 kg/m3. In conclusion, application of B2 could relieve the effect of water deficiency and increase both WUE and WP for both mint varieties. Keywords: Biochar particles size, spearmint (Mentha spicate), peppermint (Mentha piperita L.), water use efficiency, water productivit

Enhancing spearmint productivity and water use efficiency under alternative planting practices

Egypt faces water scarcity to meet the increasing demand. Therefore, better management of irrigation water for crops assumes high priority among which spearmint is a high water demanding plant. Hence, the current study was undertaken at the Medicinal and Aromatic Research Department Experimental Farm, El-Kanater El-Khairiya, Egypt. It is intended to investigate the effect of different planting practices “raised bed, furrows and convention” on yield productivity and water saving, under three irrigation treatments “120%, 100% and 80% of ETo”. The results of two seasons 2016 and 2017 showed that the best vegetative growth and fresh herb yield were obtained using raised bed followed by furrows then conventional planting method under 100% ETo. Essential oil was increased up to 0.7% at 100% ETo under raised bed. It was observed that when compared to planting using conventional methods at 120% ETo, under 80% ETo spearmint yield was increased by about 8.76% and 26.14% for furrows and raised bed in the first season, second season showed same trend. In addition, raised bed under 80% of irrigation applied water produced the maximum amount of water saved when compared to conventional at 120% ETo being 36.14 and 48.38% for 1st and 2nd season, respectively

Applied insight: studying reducing the carbon footprint of the drying process and its environmental impact and financial return

Harnessing solar energy is one of the most important practical insights highlighted to mitigate the severe climate change (CC) phenomenon. Therefore, this study aims to focus on the use of hybrid solar dryers (HSDs) within an environmentally friendly framework, which is one of the promising applications of solar thermal technology to replace traditional thermal technology that contributes to increasing the severity of the CC phenomenon. The HSD, based on a traditional electrical energy source (HSTEE) and electrical energy from photovoltaic panels (HSPVSE), was evaluated compared to a traditional electrical (TE) dryer for drying some medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs). This is done by evaluating some of the drying outputs, energy consumed, carbon footprint, and financial return at 30, 40, and 50°C. The best quality of dried MAP samples in terms of essential oil (EO, %) and microbial load was achieved at 40°C. The HSTEE dryer has reduced energy consumption compared to the TE dryer by a percentage ranging from 37% to 54%. The highest CO2 mitigated ratio using the HSTEE dryer was recorded in lavender, thyme, basil, lemongrass, and sage samples with values ranging from 45% to 54% at 30, and 50°C. The highest financial return obtained from energy consumption reduction and carbon credit footprint was achieved at 50°C, with values ranging from 5,313.69 to 6,763.03 EGP/year (EGP ≈ 0.0352 USD) when coal was used as a fuel source for the generation of electricity. Moreover, the HSPVSE dryer achieved a 100% reduction in traditional energy consumption and then reduced CO2 emissions by 100%, which led to a 100% financial return from both energy reduction and carbon credit. The highest financial returns were observed at 50°C, with values ranging from 13,872.56 to 15,007.02, 12,927.28 to 13,984.43, and 11,981.99 to 12,961.85 EGP/year (EGP ≈ 0.0352 USD) for coal, oil, and natural gas, respectively. The HS dryers show potential for environmental conservation contribution; furthermore, earning money from energy savings and carbon credit could help improve the living standards and maximize benefits for stakeholders

The Effect of Television and Electronic Advertisements on The Mental Image of Women Among A Group of Female Media Professionals

The study aimed to know the effect of television and electronic advertisements broadcast on Arab television screens and on websites on the mental image formed by a group of female media professionals affiliated with the Arab Media Center about women, by answering the sub-questions of the study, the study adopted the descriptive approach through the study tool, which is the questionnaire designed to answer the questions of the study through the respondents, that consisted of 200 female individuals who watch TV advertisements and follow them on the website, and after filling out the questionnaires, analyzing and interpreting them, the following conclusions were reached, the reasons for the respondent’s viewing of advertisements varied, but the largest percentage 94%, was that they watch advertisements involuntarily while watching TV or electronically presented material. This is what is classified as accidental exposure. The percentage of those who believe that the use of women in advertising greatly distorts the image of women is 66.5%. 91% of respondents agreed that women's rights associations and organizations must exert pressure to preserve the image of women and to educate society about their true role through various media, with a rate of 89.5%, the respondents expressed that they were shy when watching an advertisement that aroused in front of family members. 89% of the respondents believe that the ads that appear on social media and YouTube contain in their content greater freedom, and therefore the size of their distance from Arab values is greater, and in the same percentage came the emphasis on the need for some competent authorities to implement training courses for Arab ad directors to comply with our customs and traditions. The percentage of supporters decreased to 30% for the idea that advertising can only be successful by showing the charms of women, the woman's mind by presenting her as a consumer who does not care and only thinks about her elegance and beauty 30%. The study recommended that if a woman must appear in the advertisement, then this appearance should be appropriate to her reality and reflect the real role of women in society. Women's rights associations and organizations must exert pressure to preserve the image of women and educate society about their true role through the various media

Drying Technology Evolution and Global Concerns Related to Food Security and Sustainability

Undoubtedly, rapid population growth has sharply increased global food demand. Although the green revolution, accompanied by food industrialization practices, helped a lot in meeting this demand, the food gap is still huge. Regardless of COVID-19, due to that 14% of the world’s food is lost before even reaching the market, and thus the food insecurity prevalence by rate (9.7%), where the food losses are valued at $400 billion annually according to FAO. In the face of such issues related to food insecurity and food losses, drying technology since its inception has been known as the most common operation in food processing and preservation. However, the excessive use of the drying process and exposure to heat for long periods led to a severe deterioration in the physicochemical quality characteristics of these products. At the same time, growing attention on human health through monitoring the quality and safety of food to avoid chronic diseases led to increasing awareness of the consumer to obtaining products with high nutritional value. Therefore, there has been a great and rapid evolution in drying technology to preserve food with high quality. Hence, this chapter aims to shed light on the drying technology evolution in food processing and preservation as one of the most important post-harvest treatments in the agriculture field

HelpMeBreathe: A Web-Based System for Asthma Management

We present in this paper a web-based system called “HelpMeBreathe” for managing asthma. The proposed system provides analytical tools, which allow better understanding of environmental triggers of asthma, hence better support of data-driven decision making. The developed system provides warning messages to a specific asthma patient if the weather in his/her area might cause any difficulty in breathing or could trigger an asthma attack. HelpMeBreathe collects, stores, and analyzes individuals’ moving trajectories and health conditions as well as environmental data. It then processes and displays the patients’ data through an analytical tool that leads to an effective decision making by physicians and other decision makers

Toxicological, biological, and biochemical impacts of the egyptian lavender (Lavandula multifida L.) essential oil on two lepidopteran pests

The use of essential oils as an eco-friendly tool in pest management stems from their natural origin and the presence of bioactive compounds that exhibit pesticidal properties, offering a sustainable alternative to synthetic chemical pesticides. This study explores the toxicity of Lavandula multifida (lavender) essential oil (EO), as a botanical pesticide against two widespread and destructive Noctuidae pests, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) and Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel). GC-MS was employed to characterize 23 compounds in the EO, with 1,3,3-trimethyl-2-oxabicyclo [2.2.2] octane (eucalyptol) (39.84%), being the primary component. The leaf dipping technique was utilized to assess the toxicity of the EO to both insects. At 96 hours post-treatment, the LC50 of lavender EO to S. littoralis and A. ipsilon larvae were 2.350 and 2.991 mg · ml–1, respectively. Concerning its biological effect, both concentrations of the EO (LC15 and LC50) significantly shortened the duration of the larval (to 15.24 and 14.23 days) and pupal (to 11.19 and 10.55 days) stages of S. littoralis. Biochemical assays revealed that the LC50 of lavender EO significantly inhibited α-esterase activity in S. littoralis at 72- and 96 hours post-treatment (0.031 and 0.063 mmol · min–1 · mg–1), and A. ipsilon at 96 hours post-treatment (0.129 mmol · min–1 · mg–1 protein). Given its significant toxicological, biological, and biochemical effects on S. littoralis, it is suggested that lavender EO could be considered for use in integrated pest management strategies while ensuring its safe application to protect non-target organisms

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century