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The status of current advances in modifying surfaces for the protection of materials is reviewed in this research. The main goal of material selection is to improve and reinforce surface functionalities. A few examples of surface modification techniques include sol-gel, cladding, electroplating, plasma and thermal spraying, physical deposition of vapors (PVD), vapor chemical deposition (CVD) and beam electron physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD). Strengthening by flame, induction, laser or electron beam is one type of surface modification procedure. Other types include plasma-immersed ion implantation and ion implantation at high energies, as well as diffusion treatments like carburizing and nitriding. Friction control, improved surface corrosion and wear resistance and changes to a component's mechanical or physical qualities are all possible using surface modification methods. The study also contains contemporary research in laser therapy, PVD, EB-PVD, thermal spraying and ion implantation. Additionally, magnetron sputtering (MS) is a widely used and successful approach for thin film coating in the current study. It is crucial to remember that each approach has a distinct set of restrictions, and the method's parameters might change based on the one that is selected, such as deposition targets, overall vacuum substrate temperature, reactive or mixed gas type, pressure percentage and bias voltage, which all have impacts on the PVD technique's layer qualities. Phase formation, change in phase, hardness and film structure of monolayer and multilayer films formed on the substrate under various circumstances also cause variations in the characteristics. Additionally, ion implantation enhances the surface characteristics of layers by implanting ions such as N+, B+, C+, etc. The study shows that the higher layers of multilayer enhance the degree of hardness and lower friction coefficients. To enhance the protection of thermal resistance, a thermal spraying barrier coating was coated on substrate nickel-base alloys, and the surface materials' texture, hardness and wear rate were altered by laser beam. Additionally, a heat pipe's performance was improved by a factor of 300 by adding a tiny coating of gold.

Thermophysical properties such as latent heat, viscosity and melting temperature could be changed for different physical properties of dispersed nanoparticle such as size, shape, and concentration. In this study, Nanocomposites-Enhanced Phase Change Materials NePCM are formed by dispersing Aluminium (Al) and Copper (Cu) nanoparticles into paraffin wax in various mass fractions (0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 1, 2.5 and 5%). The impact on the thermophysical properties of paraffin wax by the nanoparticles is also investigated. Heat conduction and differential scanning calorimeter experiments are used to investigate the effects of different nanoparticle concentrations on the melting point, solidification point, and latent capacity of nanocomposites. Experimental results show that the dispersion of nanoparticles of Al and Cu can decrease the melting temperature and increase the solidification temperature of PCM. this dispersion could also be limited due to increase in dynamic viscosity of the NePCM. Furthermore, Al and Cu nanocomposites with mass fractions of 2% and 1%, respectively, show better enhancements in the thermal storage characteristics of the paraffin compared to the next higher mass fraction.

Background. Left ventricular (LV) remodeling is an adverse consequence after acute myocardial infarction.Aim. To assess the role of speckle tracking in the evaluation of LV remodeling after streptokinase infusion in patients with acute anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).Material and methods. A total of 200 patients with first acute anterior STEMI received streptokinase as a reperfusion therapy were included. Conventional echocardiography and speckle tracking were performed within 3 days of admission and 3 months later. According to the development of LV remodeling, patients were classified into two groups. Group (I) patients with LV remodeling (60 patients) and group (II) patients without remodeling (140 patients).Results. Patients with LV remodeling had lower global longitudinal (GLS) and circumferential (GCS) strain values (-13.19±4.57 vs. -18.90±4.23 % and -13.16±4.27 vs. -17.16±3.3 %, respectively, p-13.5 was shown to have the best diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity =60.0% & specificity =87.1%) in predicting LV remodeling (AUC 0.816, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.754-0.877, p-16.21 was shown to have the best diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity =75.0% & specificity =71.4%) in predicting LV remodeling (AUC 0.785, 95%CI 0.719-0.85, p

The paper introduces the feasibility of achieving zero energy on University buildings in Egypt through retrofitting three buildings affiliated to Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University) two of them are existing buildings and the third one is under construction (. The paper used the design Builder software, that was used to calculate energy consumption for each building and then to upgrade them. Also, a simulation tool was used to optimize the electricity consumption of the building that is under construction through getting the optimal cooling system. It is evident from the results that retrofitting decreases energy consumption by 50 -90% with the possibility of achieving zero energy by using renewable energy sources such as solar cells.

Abstract Background Allelopathy is an alternative safe strategy for chemical herbicides in controlling weeds. So, two successive greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the phytotoxicity of pea seed powder on two weeds chard- (broad leaf) and canary grass (grass weed)-infested wheat. Pea seed powder was added to the soil surface at successive rates 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 g/pot. The pots were cultivated on time (at sowing application) or 1 week after the addition of the pea seed powder. Results The results indicated that the pea seed powder at 100 g/pot controlled more than 70–80% of both weeds in comparison to the corresponding controls. On the other hand, the inhibitory effect of the pea seed powder on weeds was accompanied by increases in the growth as well as photosynthetic pigments content and consequently wheat yield especially at 80 g/pot. Conclusion This study suggested that the pea seed powder has allelopathic and phytotoxic effects that controlled investigated weeds in wheat. Analysis of the allelopathic pea seed powder at the applied rates revealed the presence of phenolic compounds and flavonoids. Both allelopathic compounds showed high levels with increasing the pea seed powder rate. The mixing of pea seed powder with the soil surface at 80 g/pot 1 week before sowing was the most efficient treatment in controlling weeds under investigation that consequently achieved the highest wheat yield.

Abstract Background Shortage of water is a major problem facing Egypt; thus, it becomes necessary to use non-traditional sources of water such as saline water in irrigation. Overcoming the adverse effects of saline water and enhancing plant tolerance to salinity stress is the main challenge for increasing plant growth and productivity. Using a natural compound such as cysteine amino acid has an important effect in alleviating the adverse effect of salinity stress on different plant crops. Materials and methods Two pot experiments were carried out during two successive summer seasons to study the beneficial role of cysteine (0, 20, and 40 mg/l) in enhancing growth, some metabolic process, and seed yield quality and quantity of soybean plant grown under salinity stress (0, 3000, and 6000 mg/l). Results Salinity stress (3000 and 6000 mg/l) caused decreases in soybean growth criteria (plant height, number of branches and leaves/plant, dry weight of leaves and stem/plant), photosynthetic pigments and some element contents (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)), and seed yield and yield components (number of pods/plant, weight of pods/plant and number of seeds/plant) as well as oil%. Meanwhile, proline, H2O2 and MDA contents, and superoxide dismutase activity were gradually increased by increasing salinity level. On the other hand, cysteine treatments improved growth and yield of soybean plant either irrigated with tap water or saline water. Cysteine treatments could alleviate the adverse effect of salinity stress on growth and yield of soybean plant through increasing photosynthetic pigments; proline content; N, P, and K contents; superoxide dismutase and catalase activities; and oil% accompanied by decreases in H2O2 and MDA contents as compared with their corresponding controls. In addition, cysteine treatments and/or salinity stress exhibited differences in protein pattern from 112 to 19 kD molecular weight. The appearance of new protein bands reflected the expression of cysteine treatments and salinity stress. Conclusion Cysteine treatments had a beneficial role in alleviating the adverse effect of salinity stress on soybean plant. Forty milligrams per liter of cysteine was the most effective treatment in enhancing salinity tolerance of soybean plant.

The impact of climate on crop production has vital importance. Climate variables affect the different crops during different stages of the growth and the development. This research aims to study the environmental factors affecting the growth and production of barley (Hordeum Sp., Gramineae) in a hydroponic system, to provide information to farmers and decision makers by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Model for production prediction. Multilayer feed-forward ANN (fully connected) was used in supervised manner and the training method was the back-propagation algorithm by using MATLAB program. The inputs in the ANN model of barley were: seeds density (kg/m2), lighting duration (h/day), light intensity (Lux), temperature (cº), relative humidity (%) and growing period (days). The outputs were: plant length (cm), yield (kg/m2), protein (%), dry matter (%), and conversion factor. Results revealed that the optimal configuration for the ANN model consisted of four layers (6-25-30-5). The hidden layers had 25 and 30 nodes in the first and second hidden layers respectively for the ANN model. Hyperbolic tangent transfer function was employed in hidden and output layers of the ANN model. The learning rate and the momentum parameter were 0.005 and 0.9 respectively for the ANN model. Iterations were 10000 epochs during training process for the ANN model. The results showed that the variation between target and predicted outputs was small while the correlation coefficient (R) was 0.99. Also, the results revealed that the major parameters affecting on all the outputs were seeds density and the duration of the lighting followed by the other factors i.e. temperature (cº), relative humidity (%), growing period (days) and light intensity (Lux). Seeds density has a higher percent relative importance, on yield, plant length, protein (%), DM (%) and conversion factor equal to 22.8%, 24%, 25%, 24% and 22.8% respectively. The developed ANN model was beneficial tool for barley production prediction. The barley yield prediction could be helpful for farmers, decision makers and planning to manage their crop better by providing a series of recommendations about crops planting and clarifying its impact on changes to these factors under the study in order to avoid losses and reach the best benefit (maximization of yield).

Abstract Background Quinoa seeds contain highly nutritive compounds, so it acquired increasing interest during the last years Materials and methods A field experiment was conducted at the experimental station of Agricultural Production and Research Station, National Research Centre, El Nubaria Province, El Behaira Governorate, Egypt, during two successive winter seasons (2016/2017 and 2017/2018). In this experiment, quinoa plants were sprayed with clove extract of garlic or leaf extract of Eucalyptus globulus with concentrations 5, 10 and 15% in addition to the untreated control treatment. Quinoa plants were sprayed twice 86 and 93 DAS (days after sowing). Results The results of vegetative growth stages indicated increases in quinoa growth due to the treatments with different concentrations of the two mentioned extracts. The results also revealed increases in photosynthetic pigments constituents (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids) of quinoa leaves. The results also indicated increases in yield and oil content as well as different studied metabolic activity. Conclusion We can conclude from these results that spraying quinoa plants with natural clove extract of garlic or leaf extract of Eucalyptus for increasing growth and consequently yield.

Abstract Background Two field experiments were conducted at the Research and Production Station, National Research Centre, El-Nubaria Province, El-Behira Governorate, Egypt, during the two successive winter seasons of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. This work aimed to study the enhancement effect of foliar application of nicotinamide at 5, 10, and 20 mg/L and/or humic acid at 5% on quality and quantity of faba bean plants (cultivar Sakha 4) grown under sandy soil conditions. Results Data show that nicotinamide at 5, 10, and 20 mg/L and/or humic acid at 5% had a positive effect on growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, seed yield, and yield components as well as some biochemical constituents of the yielded faba bean seeds (total carbohydrate, total phenolic content, proline, and free amino acids). Individually, nicotinamide treatments had a more positive effect than humic acid treatment and their effect was increased by increasing nicotinamide concentrations. The most promising treatment appeared due to the interaction between nicotinamide at 10 mg/L and humic acid. Hence, this treatment increased plant dry weight/plant by 32.67%, total photosynthetic pigments by 113.2%, seed yield/feddan by 110.16%, total carbohydrate by 9.4%, total phenolic content by 0.33%, proline by 24.83%, and free amino acids by 21.33%. Conclusions We can conclude that nicotinamide and/or humic acid had a positive effect on growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, seed yield, and yield components as well as some biochemical constituents of the yielded faba bean seeds. The most promising treatment appeared due to the interaction between nicotinamide at 10 mg/L and humic acid.

A pot experiments was conducted to study the possible role of melatonin (50 µM or 100 µM) alone or in combination with Basagran herbicide at recommended dose or ½ recommended dose in reducing the deleterious effect of weed associated with Vicia faba plants. Results show that all applied treatments significantly reduced the weed dry weight at 45 DAS and at harvest accompanied by significant increase in growth parameters of bean plants (at 45 DAS), all components of photosynthetic pigments, seed yield/plant and its components relative to unweeded treatment. It is obvious that herbicide at recommended dose was more effective than herbicide at ½ recommended dose. Similarly, melatonin at 50 ξM was more effective than melatonin at 100 ξM. It is worthy to mention that interaction between melatonin at 50 ξM and herbicide at recommended dose was the most pronounced treatments, since it significantly decreased weed dry weight by 97.49 % at 45 DAS and at harvest by 94.11% and significantly increased dry weight of plant by 171%, total photosynthetic pigments by 31.75%, faba bean seed yield/plant by 152%, and total carbohydrate of the yielded seeds by 17.77% relative to unweeded treatment. It could be concluded the availability of using the antioxidant as melatonin with basagran herbicide to decrease the deleterious basagran herbicide effect on growth and yield of Vicia faba plants without affecting the efficacy of the herbicide on weeds and decreased weed propagation with significant degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgical site infection (SSI) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. A total of 254 bacterial isolates were collected from 303 surgical specimens which were isolated from 92 males (53.2%) and 81 females (46.8%), their mean ages were 39.6±16.05 years (ranged from 1 month to 74 years). These isolates were identified as Staphylococcus aureus,Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonasaeruginosa and commensal Gram+ve and Gram-ve bacteria. The most effective antibiotics were imipenem while ampicillin and penicillin G (First and second generation of b-Lactam) showed much lower activity against all types of bacterial strains. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of imipenem determined by E-test were 0.047- 0.064 , 0.125, 0.19, 0.25 and 0.75mg/ml against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiellapneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa respectively.