Performance of Water Desalination and Modern Irrigation Systems for Improving Water Productivity

Desalination is the process that is performed to remove excess salts from water to become potable or agriculture. This applied science is now concerned by many countries suffering from water shortage. Over the next ten years, this science is expected to grow significantly due to the expected water crises in many countries. The consumption of energy in the desalination process is one of the important problems and difficult obstacles that need to be overcome. The Egyptian water strategy should include increasing amount of desalinated water to more than 50%, especially since Egypt is in a very rich location in saltwater sources and they can be utilized to the maximum extent possible. The researchers have attempted to develop varieties of some traditional crops such as wheat, saline resistant to salinity using local selective ecotourism techniques and using genetic engineering through which saline-tolerant genes are added, but it can be said that so far these efforts have not resulted in the production of candidate seawater breeds The maximum salinity of irrigation water in the long term, even for the most salt-tolerant crops such as date palm, is still less than 5 mmol

VvMYBPA2 Regulated the Accumulation of Flavan-3-ols though Forming a Trimeric Complex in ‘Zaoheibao’ Grape

Flavan-3-ols are monomers of Proanthocyanidins (PAs), which are important polyphenolic compounds in grapes. Previous studies had shown that VvMYBPA2 was closely related to grape flavan-3-ol monomers biosynthesis, but its regulatory network is still unclear. Here, we found that the contents of (+)-catechin and (−)-epicatechin, the enzyme activities of anthocyanidin reductase (ANR) and leucoanthocyanidin reductase (LAR) and the expression of VvANR and VvLAR1 were increased in the VvMYBPA2 overexpression grape leaves compared to the control. It was proved that VvMYBPA2 protein interacted with VvWDR1 and VvWDR1 protein interacted with VvMYC2 by yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC). The promoters of VvANR and VvLAR1 were bound by VvMYBPA2 using yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assay. These results suggested that VvMYBPA2 could form a trimeric complex with VvWDR1 and VvMYC2 and jointly regulated the expression of flavan-3-ol monomers related genes VvANR and VvLAR1, thereby affecting the enzyme activities of ANR and LAR and ultimately regulating the contents of flavan-3-ols

Online Variant of Parcel Allocation in Last-Mile Delivery

We investigate the problem of last-mile delivery, where a large amount of crowd-workers have performed a great quantity of location-specific urban logistics parcels. Current existing approaches mainly focus on offline scenarios, where all the spatial-temporal information of parcels and workers are given. However, the offline scenarios can be impractical since parcels and workers appear dynamically in reality, and the information of workers is unknown in advance. In this paper, we study the problem of last-mile delivery on online scenarios to resolve the shortcomings of the offline setting. We first formalize the online parcel allocation in last-mile delivery problem, where all parcels were put in pop-stations in advance, and workers arrive dynamically. Then we propose a baseline algorithm with no competitive ratio, and an algorithm providing theoretical guarantee for the parcel allocation in last-mile delivery. Finally, we verify the effectiveness and efficiency of proposed algorithms through extensive experiments on real and synthetic datasets

Effect of pipes installation by modified machine for subsurface drip irrigation system on maize crop yield costs

The machine of pipes installation of subsurface drip irrigation systems was tested and studied at the Abu-Ghalib farms production (private farm), El-Giza Governorate, Egypt, in growing summer season 2017.  The goal of this research was to study the technical and economical evaluation of the installation subsurface pipes for drip irrigation system by Manual method (M) as control, Semi-Mechanical method (SM), and Quad-Raw Machine method (QRM) using different lateral spacing.  The QRM method of installation is powered by tractor, the SM method consists of three steps: firstly, the drill plow is drilled under the soil using the tractor, then the pipes are extended in the holes by the labors, and the M method of installation is by labors only for all steps for installation subsurface drip irrigation at different lateral spacing (0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 m) on cost analysis for maize crop production.  Production costs of corn crop in US Dollar ($), results showed that net profits were higher by using sub-surface drip system with SM method exceeded 10$ m-3) was the highest with using drip sub-surface irrigation SM method and QRM method compared to the surface drip system by 50% and 51% under both.  Value of the net income from the physical unit of irrigation water used (kg m-3) were increased by 6.6% and 5.2% with subsurface drip irrigation SM method, QRM method relative to surface drip irrigation system QRM.  Authors recommend using sub-surface drip irrigation designs (SM method and QRM method) using different lateral spacing machine installation because it had improved the maize yield and stover production, net profit, and the physical income

The Effect of Sponge City Construction for Reducing Directly Connected Impervious Areas on Hydrological Responses at the Urban Catchment Scale

Low-impact development (LID) has been widely used at both site-specific and local scales to try and mitigate the impact of urban stormwater runoff caused by increasing impervious urban areas. Recently, the concept of a “sponge city” was proposed by the Chinese government, which includes LID controls at the source, a pipe drainage system midway, and a drainage system for excess stormwater at the terminal. There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of sponge city construction at the large urban catchment scale, particularly with different spatial distributions of LIDs that reduce directly connected impervious areas (DCIAs). In this paper, the performances of five design scenarios with different spatial distributions but same sizes of LID controls at the urban catchment scale were analyzed using a geographic information system (GIS) of the United States Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)—based Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and MIKE 11 of Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) in Xining City, China. Results confirmed the effectiveness of sponge city construction in reducing the urban stormwater runoff. The hydrological performance reduction was positively correlated and linearly dependent on DCIA reduction. Peak flow reduction was most sensitive to DCIA reduction, followed by runoff volume and peak time. As rainfall intensity increased, the hydrological performance was more sensitive to rainfall intensity than DCIA reduction. Results of this study provide new insights for stormwater managers to implement LID more effectively at the urban catchment scale

Knockdown of VvMYBA1 via virus-induced gene silencing decreases anthocyanin biosynthesis in grape berries

Anthocyanin in grapevines, regulated by structural and regulatory genes, determines the color of grape berries and is a key factor in wine quality. The transgenic approach is a useful strategy for elucidating gene function. However, it is difficult to obtain transgenic fruit trees, including grapevines. Viral vectors offer an effective strategy for overcoming this challenge. In this study, we successfully knocked down the VvMYBA1 gene in ‘Red Globe’ and ‘JiZaoMi’ grape berries via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) by vacuum infiltration and silencing efficiencies of 73% and 93%, respectively were obtained relative to the control. Total anthocyanins content was reduced by 1.7 and 2.7 folds relative to that in control of ‘Red Globe’ and ‘JiZaoMi’ grape berries, respectively. The expression levels of VvUFGT and VvDFR were reduced by 80% and 8% and by 72% and 42% relative to the control in ‘Red Globe’ and ‘JiZaoMi’ grape berries, respectively in the anthocyanin metabolic pathways. Tobacco rattle virus–mediated VIGS was therefore successfully established in grape berries. These findings provide direct evidence that VvMYBA1 encodes skin color in red grape berries and suggest a possible application of VIGS for gene function studies in other fruits.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Interactive Effects of Drought–Flood Abrupt Alternation on Morpho-Agronomic and Nutrient Use Traits in Rice

The frequent occurrence of drought–flood abrupt alternation (DFAA) in Huaibei Plain has shown a great impact on local rice production. Pot experiments were performed in 2016–2018 to investigate the effects of co-occurring drought and flooding stresses on dry weight (DW), grain yield, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) uptake and use efficiencies (NUE, PUE and KUE) in rice. The results showed that DFAA changed the accumulation of biomass and nutrients among different organs in rice. Compared with control, DFAA significantly reduced the grain yield (−29.8%) and root DW (−30.0%), but increased the DW in stem and leaf (10.2% and 9.7%). The root/shoot ratio and morphological size of the root system in DFAA-treated plants was smaller than those of drought alone and flooding alone. Under DFAA stresses, the specific absorption rate of N, P and K increased significantly (47.9%, 31.8% and 32.8%, respectively), while NUE, PUE and KUE decreased significantly (−27.9%, −10.8% and −19.7%, respectively). The decrease of nutrient use efficiencies was mainly due to the redundant growth of branches and leaves, and the key factor limiting grain yield under DFAA conditions was the effective utilization of N. Compared with the earlier drought, the subsequent flooding might have more influence on rice growth, nutrient utilization and yield formation, but the interaction of the two weakened the cumulative effect of drought and flooding. These findings provide a scientific basis for establishing a nutrient and water management system of rice cultivation under transient soil moisture conditions

Preparation and Characterization of Thiourea-Containing Silica Gel Hybrid Materials for Hg(II) Adsorption

Thiourea-containing silica gel hydrid materials (HO-SG-GPTS-TS and HE-SG-GPTS- TS) were prepared by homogeneous and heterogeneous methods for Hg­(II) adsorption. Structures of HO-SG-GPTS-TS and HE-SG-GPTS-TS were confirmed by FTIR, ¹³C NMR, ²⁹Si NMR, SEM, TGA, and porous structure analysis. Homogeneous preparation is demonstrated to be more efficient than heterogeneous one to load more functional groups and therefore shows better adsorption property. The optimal adsorption pH was 6 for the adsorbent. Kinetics of adsorption was well fitted by a pseudo-second-order model and dominated by film diffusion process. The isotherm adsorption was best described by Langmuir isotherm model and processed by chemical mechanism. Thermodynamics implied the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. Selective adsorption indicated HO-SG-GPTS-TS exhibited excellent selectivity for Hg­(II) in the binary system contains Pb­(II), Ni­(II), and Co­(II)