EVALUATION OF SAMAAR MORR (JUNCUS ACUTUS) PLANT AS RAW MATERIAL FOR PAPER MAKING

The potential use of Samaar Morr (JUNCUS A CUTUS) plant as fibrous material in papermaking was evaluated in this study. The chemical analysis and fibre charactersitcs of this plant were determined for better understanding its behaviour in papermaking. Samaar morr stalks were subjected to sulfur-free three-stage (peroxyformic acid, formic acid, peroxyformic acid) Milox process. Some conventional pulping experiments such as soda,soda-anthraquinon (S-AQ), kraft and kraft-AQ pulping in addition to two- and one-stage peroxyformic acid pulping were also carried out for comparison with the three-stage peroxyformic acid pulping method. It was found that the pulping with Milox process produces pulp with good properties compared to the pulp produced from the other methods. The physical and optical properties of different pulps were also examined. The behaviour of Milox samaar morr pulp towards bleaching with alkaline hydrogen peroxide has been investigated in presence and absence of formic acid. The results showed that the final brightness about 81.5% ISO could be achieved after 3% peroxide in two bleaching steps with formic acid treatment between the two steps.     

Non-invasive prenatal measurement of the fetal genome

The vast majority of prenatal genetic testing requires invasive sampling. However, this poses a risk to the fetus, so one must make a decision that weighs the desire for genetic information against the risk of an adverse outcome due to hazards of the testing process. These issues are not required to be coupled, and it would be desirable to discover genetic information about the fetus without incurring a health risk. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to non-invasively sequence the entire prenatal genome. Our results show that molecular counting of parental haplotypes in maternal plasma by shotgun sequencing of maternal plasma DNA allows the inherited fetal genome to be deciphered non-invasively. We also applied the counting principle directly to each allele in the fetal exome by performing exome capture on maternal plasma DNA before shotgun sequencing. This approach enables non-invasive exome screening of clinically relevant and deleterious alleles that were paternally inherited or had arisen as de novo germline mutations, and complements the haplotype counting approach to provide a comprehensive view of the fetal genome. Non-invasive determination of the fetal genome may ultimately facilitate the diagnosis of all inherited and de novo genetic disease.     

Investigation of the microstructure of kidney stones (oxalate type) by high voltage electron microscopy and electron diffraction

Summary The organic matrix of this type of urinary calculus contains 3 components, which differ in form and in amorphous/crystalline content. Deposition of crystalline material in the early stages of mineralisation seems to be epitaxially related to the orientation of the organic matrix.Acknowledgments. The authors are indebted to Ass. Prof. N. Allouba of Ein-Shams University (Cairo) for supplying the kidney stones and medical information, and to the Physiology and Zoology Departments of Cambridge University for assistance in cutting the sections. The work was performed during the tenure by K. E. S. of a research bursary from the British Council.     

Influence of three synergists on the action of some insecticides against parental and resistant strains of the Egyptian cotton leafworm

Summary Piperonyl butoxide, MGK 264 and DEF acted as synergists when used together with endrin and methomyl against the Egyptian cotton leafwormSpodoptera littoralis. The synergistic effect was higher with resistant strains than with the parental strain. The three substances tested as synergists actually antagonized the action of phospholan and cypermethrin on the parental strain, though they had some activity as synergists with these insecticides on resistant strains. The synergistic effect of DEF was higher than that of piperonyl butoxide or MGK 264, particularly on resistant strains.     

High temperature oxidation behavior of aluminide on a Ni-based single crystal superalloy in different surface orientations

An investigation on oxidation behavior of coated Ni-based single crystal superalloy in different surface orientations has been carried out at1100 ℃. It has been found that the {100} surface shows a better oxidation resistance than the {110} one, which is attributed that the {110}surface had a slightly higher oxidation rate when compared to the {100} surface. The experimental results also indicated that the anisotropic oxidation behavior took place even with a very small difference in the oxidation rates that was found between the two surfaces. The differences of the topologically close packed phase amount and its penetration depth between the two surfaces, including the ratio of α-Al2O3 after 500 h oxidation, were responsible for the oxidation anisotropy.