Modification of Microclimate for Better Growth and Develop of Summer Tomato Crop

Tomato cultivars grown in Sudan are affected by the hot dry  summer climate and are highly susceptible to Tomato Yellow leaf  Curl Virus disease (TYLCV). Modification of the microclimate may decrease the effects of the hot dry conditions and improve develop- ment and yield of summer tomatoes. The present study was conducted ducted during the summer of 1998 and 1999 at the Gezira University Farm, Wad Medani, Sudan, to investigate the effects of two type of shelterbelts (Abusabeen and pigeon pea) and two irrigation intervals (3 and 7 days) on growth and development of five tomato cultivars )Omdurman, Gezira 96, Summerset 98, Strain B and Peto 86).  The results showed that the short irrigation interval was effective in  reducing the air temperature compared to long irrigation interval  Abusabeen shelter coupled with the short irrigation interval was effective in improving the microclimate, and that the pigeon pea shelter was effective in conserving soil moisture content under the two irrigation intervals. Tomato cultivars Omdurman, Gezira 96 and Summerset 98 had more vigorous growth, larger canopies and  low percentage of. flower shedding per plant within the two types of shelters under the shorter irrigation interval compared to both long irrigation interval and the control

Irrigation and drainage in the new millennium

Presented at the 2000 USCID international conference, Challenges facing irrigation and drainage in the new millennium on June 20-24 in Fort Collins, Colorado.Includes bibliographical references.A field study was conducted at Mashtul Pilot Area MPA (260 feddans' 1 feddan = 4200 m2) situated at north Zagazig to evaluate the performance of the long term constructed subsurface drainage system. The evaluation of grades, alignment and clogging of drain lines can give an indication of the system performance and efficiency. Three drainage units served by the same collector were selected. Four 30 m interval PVC lateral pipes were installed at different depths. The results revealed that, the collector drain slopes were either steep or flat while the overall slope of the collector drain was considered steep for about 45.50% of the sections and flat for the rest. On the other hand, some sections showed an inverse slope which can cause a decrease in the discharge rate. The regularity was classified as good for about 82% of the sections and moderate for the rest. The slope of the lateral drains was correct for 41.7% of those under study (12 lateral drains), steep for 16.60%, and flat for the rest, and the regularity was classified as poor except lateral number 71 which had moderate regularity in the first approach while, in the second approach 41.67% had moderate regularity and poor for the rest. Also the deviation of the drain pipes from the straight line was generally larger than pipe diameter. Consequently, air entrapment and sedimentation resulted. The results also indicated that, the average height of sedimentation inside lateral drains was 12.70 mm (618.30 gm/m drain length) while for collector drains, sediment was in 22.88% of pipe diameter. The average reduction in discharge capacity due to sedimentation for laterals and collectors upstream and downstream parts were 17.17%, 32.80% and 17.60% respectively. Also using Manning, Visser and Wesseling equations leads to different safety factors

Effects of Chemical Preservatives on Weights and Lengths of Bluegill Larvae

Measuring the lenghts and weights of live fish larvae can be tedious and time-consuming. This constraint could be alleviated by preserving the fish larvae in appropriate chemicals for later measurements. There is little or no information on the effects of preservatives on Bluegill larvae. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of five different common preservatives on Bluegill larvae. Individual weights and lengths of fish were measured and then the larvae were preserved for 7 or 26 days. Preservatives were 5% formalin, 10% formalin, 30% ethanol at -19 *C, 70% ethanol, and 90% ethanol. Preliminary average weights of the larvae preserved for 7d were 1.63, 1.30, 4.02, -0.63, and -4.15g in 5% formalin, 10% formalin, 30% ethanol at -19 *C, 70% ethanol, and 90% ethanol, respectively. The average lengths for 26d were -0.63, -0.39, -0.12, -0.03, and 0.22 in 5% formalin, 10% formalin, 30% ethanol at -19 *C, 70% ethanol, and 90% ethanol, respectively. This study indicated that 70% ethanol had the least effect on weights and lengths of Bluegill larvae preserved for 7 and 26d.https://bluetigercommons.lincolnu.edu/lucer-pubs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Location-aware deep learning-based framework for optimizing cloud consumer quality of service-based service composition

The expanding propensity of organization users to utilize cloud services urges to deliver services in a service pool with a variety of functional and non-functional attributes from online service providers. brokers of cloud services must intense rivalry competing with one another to provide quality of service (QoS) enhancements. Such rivalry prompts a troublesome and muddled providing composite services on the cloud using a simple service selection and composition approach. Therefore, cloud composition is considered a non-deterministic polynomial (NP-hard) and economically motivated problem. Hence, developing a reliable economic model for composition is of tremendous interest and to have importance for the cloud consumer. This paper provides “A location-aware deep learning framework for improving the QoS-based service composition for cloud consumers”. The proposed framework is firstly reducing the dimensions of data. Secondly, it applies a combination of the deep learning long short-term memory network and particle swarm optimization algorithm additionally to considering the location parameter to correctly forecast the QoS provisioned values. Finally, it composes the ideal services need to reduce the customer cost function. The suggested framework's performance has been demonstrated using a real dataset, proving that it superior the current models in terms of prediction and composition accuracy

Mannose-binding lectin deficiency in preterm neonates

Background: Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a collagenous protein that plays a role in innate immunity. MBL deficiency is associated with an opsonization defect and has been associated with recurrent infections, especially in immunocompromised individuals. Neonates are considered to be immunocompromised because adaptive immunity has not yet been developed. Objective: This study was done to evaluate the levels of MBL in premature neonates and to determine the relation between MBL deficiency and development of sepsis. Methods: This case- control study was conducted on 64 neonates classified into 2 groups; 39 preterm neonates with gestational age (G.A) <36 weeks and 25 healthy full term neonates. Measurement of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) serum level was done on the first day of life using ELISA technique. Results: Mean MBL plasma level was found to be lower in preterm than full term neonates, yet this difference did not reach statistical significance. There was a negative correlation albeit an insignificant one, between MBL level and GA. The deficient group (those with MBL level ≤0.7μg/ml) had higher incidence of sepsis, albeit an insignificant one, than the non deficient group. A highly significant positive correlation was demonstrated between MBL plasma level in neonatal and umbilical cord blood samples. Conclusion: Premature neonates have low MBL serum levels which could be measured in either their venous or umbilical cord blood efficiently. Further studies are needed to investigate the relationship between MBL deficiency and neonatal sepsis and whether measuring MBL levels might be used to identify which neonates are prone to infections.Keywords: Mannose binding lectin, neonates, preterm, sepsisEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2010;8(2):75-8

EFFECT OF USING NANOFLUIDS AND PROVIDING VACUUM ON THE YIELD OF CORRUGATED WICK SOLAR STILL

ABSTRACT The performance of the corrugated wick solar still with internal reflectors, integrated with external condenser and using different types of nanomaterials is investigated and compared with conventional still under the same metallurgical conditions. The influences of saline water depth (1, 2, and 3 cm) on the corrugated wick solar still performance have been investigated.Experimentations obtained that the productivity of a corrugated wick still with reflectors when providing vacuum was about 180% higher than that of the conventional still. In addition, using the cuprous and aluminum oxides nanoparticles increases the yield of modified corrugated wick still solar still with reflectors when providing vacuum by about 285.10% and 254.88% respectively

Measurement invariance of the scientific curiosity scale: A comparative study across gender and governorate in the Omani environment

هدفت الدراسة إلى التحقق من تكافؤ البنية العاملية بمستوياتها الأربعة (الشكلي، المتري، القياسي، ومستوى البواقي) لمقياس حب الاستطلاع العلمي عبر النوع الاجتماعي والمحافظة بسلطنة عُمان، وقد تكونت عينة الدراسة من657 طالبًا، و587 طالبة من التعليم الأساسي بالصفين التاسع والعاشر في ثلاث محافظات (مسقط، الشرقية شمال، الداخلية)، وتوصلت نتائج الدراسة إلى تحقق تكافؤ البنية العاملية بجميع مستوياتها، مما يعني إمكانية إجراء المقارنات بين المجموعات المختلفة محل الدراسة وفق النوع الاجتماعي والمحافظة. وقد أوصى الباحثون بإمكانية استخدام المقياس في دراسة الفروق بين الجنسين على مستوى المحافظات لمستوى حب الاستطلاع العلمي

POSSIBLE PROTECTIVE ROLE OF SODIUM SALICYLATE NANOEMULSION AND GINGER ON CISPLATIN‑INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN RATS (BIOCHEMICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY)

Objective: To describe the preparation and characterization of nanoemulsion of sodium salicylate loaded butane tetracarboxylic acid (Bt-Sc-NPs). It also investigates the possible protective effects of Bt-Sc-NPs and\or medicinal plant ginger to evaluate the changes of liver functions, oxidative stress and histopathological investigations against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity. Methods: Serum was used to determine alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), δ-glutamyl transferase (δGT), serum human laminin (LN) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase1 (TIMP1). Liver tissue samples collected from the rats were used for the measurement of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and paraoxonase 1 (PON1). Results: The beneficial effects of Bt-Sc-NPs with its anti-inflammatory effect and the medicinal ginger with its antioxidant effect were observed. Injection of rats with cisplatin significantly increased serum ALT, AST, ɤGT, TIMP1 and LN. It also increased cisplatin-induced oxidative stress by a significant elevation in liver MDA, NO content; however, a significant decrease of PON1 content. While protection with Bt-Sc-NPs or ginger significantly improved these parameters. In addition, combination of both Bt-Sc-NPs and ginger significantly induced a decrease in serum ALT, AST, ɤGT, TIMP1 and LN. It also reduced cisplatin-induced oxidative stress by the significant reduction in liver MDA, NO content and elevation of PON1 content much more than protection with Bt-Sc-NPs or ginger alone. Conclusion: Bt-Sc-NPs were synthesized using nanoemulsion with the help of homogenization and ultra-sonication waves. Combination with both of Bt-Sc-NPs and ginger showed a hepatoprotective role in ameliorating cisplatin‑induced hepatotoxicity due to their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects

Optimized submerged batch fermentation strategy for systems scale studies of metabolic switching in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

Background: Systems biology approaches to study metabolic switching in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) depend on cultivation conditions ensuring high reproducibility and distinct phases of culture growth and secondary metabolite production. In addition, biomass concentrations must be sufficiently high to allow for extensive time-series sampling before occurrence of a given nutrient depletion for transition triggering. The present study describes for the first time the development of a dedicated optimized submerged batch fermentation strategy as the basis for highly time-resolved systems biology studies of metabolic switching in S. coelicolor A3(2). Results: By a step-wise approach, cultivation conditions and two fully defined cultivation media were developed and evaluated using strain M145 of S. coelicolor A3(2), providing a high degree of cultivation reproducibility and enabling reliable studies of the effect of phosphate depletion and L-glutamate depletion on the metabolic transition to antibiotic production phase. Interestingly, both of the two carbon sources provided, D-glucose and L-glutamate, were found to be necessary in order to maintain high growth rates and prevent secondary metabolite production before nutrient depletion. Comparative analysis of batch cultivations with (i) both L-glutamate and D-glucose in excess, (ii) L-glutamate depletion and D-glucose in excess, (iii) L-glutamate as the sole source of carbon and (iv) D-glucose as the sole source of carbon, reveal a complex interplay of the two carbon sources in the bacterium's central carbon metabolism. Conclusions: The present study presents for the first time a dedicated cultivation strategy fulfilling the requirements for systems biology studies of metabolic switching in S. coelicolor A3(2). Key results from labelling and cultivation experiments on either or both of the two carbon sources provided indicate that in the presence of D-glucose, L-glutamate was the preferred carbon source, while D-glucose alone appeared incapable of maintaining culture growth, likely due to a metabolic bottleneck at the oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA