Water deficit has devastating impacts on legume production, particularly with the current abrupt climate changes in arid environments. The application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) ...is an effective approach for producing natural nitrogen and attenuating the detrimental effects of drought stress. This study investigated the influence of inoculation with the PGPR Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae (USDA 2435) and Pseudomonas putida (RA MTCC5279) solely or in combination on the physio-biochemical and agronomic traits of five diverse Vicia faba cultivars under well-watered (100% crop evapotranspiration ETc), moderate drought (75% ETc), and severe drought (50% ETc) conditions in newly reclaimed poor-fertility sandy soil. Drought stress substantially reduced the expression of photosynthetic pigments and water relation parameters. In contrast, antioxidant enzyme activities and osmoprotectants were considerably increased in plants under drought stress compared with those in well-watered plants. These adverse effects of drought stress reduced crop water productivity (CWP) and seed yield-related traits. However, the application of PGPR, particularly a consortium of both strains, improved these parameters and increased seed yield and CWP. The evaluated cultivars displayed varied tolerance to drought stress: Giza-843 and Giza-716 had the highest tolerance under well-watered and moderate drought conditions, whereas Giza-843 and Sakha-4 were more tolerant under severe drought conditions. Thus, co-inoculation of drought-tolerant cultivars with R. leguminosarum and P. putida enhanced their tolerance and increased their yield and CWP under water-deficit stress conditions. This study showed for the first time that the combined use of R. leguminosarum and P. putida is a promising and ecofriendly strategy for increasing drought tolerance in legume crops.
A double passes solar air collector–coupled modified solar still, with Phase Change Material (PCM), have been experimentally investigated to enhance the freshwater productivity. The influence of the ...injected hot air on the performance of a modified still, with PCM, is investigated. A comparison between a modified still, with both PCM and hot air injection, and the conventional still is carried out to evaluate the enhancement in the freshwater productivity. The experiments were carried out under the same atmospheric conditions. The experimental results show that, the freshwater productivity approximately reached 9.36 (L/m2day) for the double passes solar air collector–coupled modified solar still, with PCM, while its value is recorded 4.5 (L/m2day) for the conventional still. The freshwater productivity of the double passes solar air collector–coupled modified solar still with PCM is 108% higher than that of the conventional still on average. This percentage is obtained during the period from June to July 2015 under the Egyptian climatic conditions.
•A solar air collector-coupled modified solar still with phase change material have been investigated•A comparison between modified still with and conventional still is carried out•The augmentation of freshwater productivity for modified still reached 109 % compared to conventional still
Abstract
In this work, Ni and Ni-graphene, Ni-G, films were electrodeposited on copper substrate by potentiostatic deposition. To achieve superhydrophobicity, myristic acid, MA, was used to modify ...the surface of the electrodeposited coatings. The manufactured Ni film modified with myristic acid, Ni-MA, and the Ni-G film modified with myristic acid, Ni-G-MA, show excellent superhydrophobic, SHP, properties with a water contact angle of 159° and 162°, respectively. The surface morphology of the prepared SHP films was investigated using a Scanning Electron Microscope, and the results revealed micro-nano structures in both Ni-MA and Ni-G-MA films. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer data showed that the Ni-MA and Ni-G-MA films were successfully grafted on the copper metal. The Ni-G-MA film possessed higher chemical stability and mechanical abrasion resistance than Ni-MA. The Ni-MA and Ni-G-MA films exhibit long-term durability in the outdoor environment for more than four months. The potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results demonstrated that the SHP films on the copper substrate exhibit remarkable corrosion resistance in 0.5 M NaCl.
Corrugated plate heat exchanger review Abou Elmaaty, Talal M.; Kabeel, A.E.; Mahgoub, M.
Renewable & sustainable energy reviews,
04/2017, Letnik:
70
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The developments and the enhancements in all the heat transfer equipments are mainly purposed for energy savings and savings in projects capital investment, through reducing the costs (energy or ...material). The better heat exchanger is one that transfer's high heat rate at low pumping power with a minimum cost. The spent of money for the research and development in corrugated plate heat exchangers, in last decades, from some companies, offered different and versatile types and models of that heat exchanger. In the current study I made a focus on researcher's efforts in research and developments for corrugated plate heat exchanger. This type of heat exchangers is widely used for different engineering fields and applications. Research reactors represent one of the important engineering fields that extensively use corrugated plate heat exchangers due to their simplicity in assembly/disassembly and their easy maintainability. The corrugated plate heat exchanger has a great flexibility than the other types of heat exchangers; both its heat transfer area and its cooling flow could be increased or decreased easily, so; it is commonly used for enlargement and upgrading works. The current revision incorporated different topics like; the plate heat exchanger structure, thermal performance, heat transfer enhancement mechanisms as well as plate heat exchanger advantages and limitations. The corrugated plate heat exchanger works efficiently in both single phase and two phase flow, while the two phase flow region still needs a lot of research work. Also; the corrugated plate heat exchanger thermal performance and pressure drop behaviours when using nano-fluids were discussed in the current revision.
For the first time, a facile and environmentally friendly approach for producing high-quality graphene from the biomass of banana leaves is described in this paper. Two rough coats of Ni-graphene, ...Ni@G, and Ni-graphene doped with chromium, Ni@Cr-G, were created on steel substrates by electrostatic deposition. These coatings were then submerged in an ethanolic solution of myristic acid, MA, to produce a superhydrophobic, SHP, surface. The Raman spectra demonstrated that the generated graphene was of high quality. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy findings confirm the modification of the Ni@G coating by MA, Ni@G@MA, and the modification of the Ni@Cr-G composite with MA, Ni@Cr-G@MA. The results of the scanning electron microscope revealed that the created SHP coatings have nanoscale features. The wettability results showed that the water contact angle values for Ni@G@MA and Ni@Cr-G@MA coatings are 158° and 168°, while the water sliding angle values for both coatings are 4.0
and 1.0°, respectively. The atomic force microscopy results show that both Ni@G and Ni@Cr-G coatings increase the roughness of the steel. The chemical and mechanical stability of the Ni@Cr-G@MA coating was higher than those of the Ni@G@MA coating. The coated steel by Ni@Cr-G@MA exhibits UV stability up to 110 h, while the SHP-coated steel by Ni@G@MA exhibits UV stability for 60 h. The potentiodynamic polarization results show that the value of the corrosion current density for bare steel is 13 times that of steel coated with Ni@G@MA, and 21 times that of coated steel with Ni@Cr-G@MA. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, EIS, results show that the charge transfer resistance for steel coated with Ni@G@MA is 38 times that of bare steel, while steel coated with Ni@Cr-G@MA is 57 times that of bare steel. Potentiodynamic polarization and EIS results show that the SHP Ni@Cr-G@MA film exhibits higher corrosion resistance than Ni@G@MA film.
Purpose To assess the one-year effectiveness and safety of ranibizumab 0.5 mg in treatment- naïve patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) enrolled in the real-world LUMINOUS study. Patients and ...methods A 5-year, prospective, observational, open-label, global study which recruited 30,138 patients across all approved indications. Consenting patients (≥18 years) who were treatment-naïve or previously treated with ranibizumab or other ocular treatments were treated as per the local ranibizumab label. Here, we present the change in visual acuity (VA) (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letter score; primary treated eye) at Year 1, as well as the change in VA based on injection frequencies (≤4 and ≥5), treatment exposure, and the overall adverse events (AEs) and serious AEs (SAEs) in treatment-naïve DME patients. Results Of the 4,710 DME patients enrolled in the study, 1,063 were treatment-naïve. At baseline, mean age was 64.5 years, 54.7% were male, and 69.2% were white. At 1 year, mean VA letter score improved by +3.5 (n = 502) from a baseline of 57.7 with a mean of 4.5 injections. Presented by injection frequencies ≤4 and ≥5, VA letter score gains were 0.5 (n = 264) and 6.9 (n = 238) from baseline letter scores of 56.6 and 59.0, respectively. Over 5 years, the incidence of ocular/non-ocular AEs and SAEs was 7.2%/10.1% and 0.3%/5.8%, respectively. No endophthalmitis cases were reported. Conclusions The LUMINOUS study included patients with DME with more diverse baseline characteristics than those in randomized clinical trials. The 1-year data showed improvement in VA with low number of injections in treatment- naïve patients with DME. Greater VA gains were observed in patients who received ≥5 injections. No new safety findings were identified. LUMINOUS confirms the effectiveness and safety of ranibizumab for the treatment of patients with DME in a real-world clinical practice.
The Paleozoic Wajid Sandstone in southwestern Saudi Arabia comprises four members known as Dibsiyah, Sanamah, Khusayyayn and Juwayl. The study characterizes the sedimentary facies of the Juwayl ...Member from five outcrop localities in Wadi Ad-Dawasir area. The objective is to reveal the influence of facies heterogeneity on the reservoir distribution and quality. The field investigations involve facies description, sampling and architectural elements identification. The second step involves the interpretation of facies associations to predict the depositional environments and controls. The petrographic analysis, of thin section, SEM and XRD, helped to define the diagenetic controls that affected the quality and heterogeneity of rock properties such as porosity and permeability. The facies analysis revealed ten lithofacies corresponding to glacio-fluvial and braided-fluvial depositional environments. The glacio-fluvial deposits consist of pebbly to conglomeratic sandstone lithofacies that suggest high to medium energy conditions within a proximal fluvial setting. The braided-fluvial deposits are of medium to coarse-grained, trough to planner cross-bedded sandstone lithofacies. These lithofacies indicate a lower energy distal condition of laterally switching channels. The remaining lithofacies include overbank deposits of fine-grained argillaceous-ferruginous sandstone lithofacies, observed at the top of fining upward sequences. The study classified Juwayl sandstone as mineralogically mature quartz arenite with good to very good porosity and permeability. It dominates by (90%) quartz, and other components of calcite, clay and iron oxides with subordinate K-feldspars. The diagenetic controls including cementation, grain-size reduction, quartz overgrowth and clay minerals are affecting the Juwayl sandstone porosity and permeability. The depositional environments of Juwayl sandstone indicate a system switching from high energy glacio-fluvial to lower energy braided-fluvial setting. The thickness and width of the sandstone bodies tend to vary in this model implying vertical and lateral sandstone heterogeneity. Clay, hematite and calcite cements contributed to porosity reduction, while grain dissolution, clay coats and rims contributed to porosity enhancement. Macro-scale outcrop heterogeneity in terms of facies, paleonvironments and stratigraphic architecture and microscopic scale in terms of texture, composition and diagenesis, all might provide guides for subsurface reservoir assessment, comparison and correlations.
•Facies characteristic and paleoenvironments of glacio-fluvial paleo-valley.•High energy glacio-fluvial to lower energy braided stream mouthwash.•Controls on reservoir heterogeneity quality and architecture.
Inflammation is a part of the body's intricate biological reaction to noxious stimuli and defensive reactions. So, the aim of this investigation was to study the anti-inflammatory activity of ...exopolysaccharide (EPSSM) using carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats. A halophilic bacterial strain was isolated from marine sediments in the Red Sea in Egypt. The isolate has been visually and physiologically recognized, as well as by analyzing its 16S rRNA gene, which confirms Kocuria sp. clone Asker4. This particular isolate can be referenced using the accession number OL798051.1. EPSSM was subjected to purification and fractionation by a DEAE-cellulose column. Preliminary chemical analysis of EPSSM indicated that the monosaccharides were fructose, glucuronic acid, and xylose, with 2.0, 0.5, and 1.0, respectively. The antioxidant potential of EPSSM was investigated, and it was discovered that the level of activity increased independently of the concentrations, reaching a maximum threshold of 94.13% at 100 µg/mL of EPSSM for 120 min. Also, EPSSM at 50 mg/kg orally produced a significant anti-inflammatory effect on the carrageenan model at 2, 3, and 4 intervals. The EPSSM intervention resulted in reductions in the levels of catalase and superoxide dismutase enzymes, as well as a decrease in glutathione. Furthermore, the levels of nitric oxide, lipid peroxidation, and reactive oxygen species resulting from carrageenan-induced edema showed a significant reduction subsequent to the administration of EPSSM. Moreover, the findings indicated that the protein expression levels of cyclooxygenase-2 and interleukin-6 were reduced following treatment with EPSSM, resulting in a reduction of paw edema.
Microbial endophytes organize symbiotic relationships with the host plant, and their excretions contain diverse plant beneficial matter such as phytohormones and bioactive compounds. In the present ...investigation, six bacterial and four fungal strains were isolated from the common bean (
L.) root plant, identified using molecular techniques, and their growth-promoting properties were reviewed. All microbial isolates showed varying activities to produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and different hydrolytic enzymes such as amylase, cellulase, protease, pectinase, and xylanase. Six bacterial endophytic isolates displayed phosphate-solubilizing capacity and ammonia production. We conducted a field experiment to evaluate the promotion activity of the metabolites of the most potent endophytic bacterial (
PB2 and
PB5) and fungal (
PF2 and,
PF3) strains in comparison to two exogenously applied hormone, IAA, and benzyl adenine (BA), on the growth and biochemical characteristics of the
L. Interestingly, our investigations showed that bacterial and fungal endophytic metabolites surpassed the exogenously applied hormones in increasing the plant biomass, photosynthetic pigments, carbohydrate and protein contents, antioxidant enzyme activity, endogenous hormones and yield traits. Our findings illustrate that the endophyte
(PB5) provides high potential as a stimulator for the growth and productivity of common bean plants.
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