Sana'a University Journal of Applied Sciences and Technology

Mushroom cultivation is virtually non-existent in Yemen, despite it becoming increasingly common as an effective biotechnological practice for recycling agricultural by-products into valuable human food. Most farmers dispose of their agricultural waste, while it could be utilized beneficially as substrates for mushroom production.This study was conducted to investigate the effect of available agricultural waste mixtures on the growth of fungus Pleurotus ostreatus, yield and their components when used as substrates. Various agricultural waste and their mixtures were used, including banana, sorghum, barley, (banana + sorghum in a 1:1 ratio), (banana + barley in a 1:1 ratio) (sorghum + barley in a 1:1 ratio) and (banana + sorghum + barley in a 1:1:1 ratio), as substrates for improving fungus Pleurotus ostreatus growth. The experiment was carried out using a completely randomized design. The substrates were sterilized after preparation and packed into heat-resistant polypropylene bags. They were then inoculated with spawn and incubated. The results indicated that the shortest incubation period was observed (21.67 days) when using barley straw as a substrate. Additionally, the shortest duration for incubation and the formation of pinheads was achieved with the mixture of sorghum and barley, with durations of (25.67 and 10 days, respectively). The results showed that the highest number of clusters was obtained when using the substrate composed of a mixture of sorghum + barley, reaching 3.33 clusters. The maximum average number of fruits was recorded for the substrate mixtures when using the composed mixture of banana and barley, with a count of 7.00 fruit/cluster. Furthermore, the highest total productivity was obtained from the substrate composed of a mixture of (sorghum + barley), amounting to (810 g) with a biological efficiency of 91.2%. The fruiting bodies were analyzed for protein content, and the highest protein percentage (32.09%) was recorded when using the substrate mixture of (banana + sorghum + barley). Based on the research findings, we can conclude that agricultural waste mixtures can lead to increased productivity of oyster mushrooms and utilize the abundance of agricultural waste for mushroom production, enhancing their properties by incorporating them with barley residues. This, in turn, provides an alternative protein source.

This research outlines the production of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) through the use of a combined culture of Lactobacillus sp. And Bacillus sp. The study evaluated the antibacterial performance of the TiO2 NPs against strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus that are resistant to multiple drugs. Characterization techniques such as UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to analyze the TiO2 NPs. The results indicate that the biosynthetic process leveraging a bacterial consortium is superior in both speed and efficiency to methods using a single type of bacteria. The XRD analysis substantiated the biological origin of the TiO2 NPs, while FTIR spectroscopy suggested the existence of a protein layer enveloping the nanoparticles, potentially facilitating their synthesis and enhancing their stability. TEM imaging showed that the nanoparticles were spherical in shape with sizes ranging from 5.31 to 19.5 nm. Notably, the biologically synthesized TiO2 NPs exhibited more potent antibacterial activity against S. aureus than against P. aeruginosa.

Oral flora is important for maintaining dental health, but some situations may disturb the oral microbiota, which can support the growth of Microbial Pathogens. 28 pathogenic bacteria:17 G+ve and 11 G-ve) were isolated from dental plaques of 192 dental patients and identified by the VITEK 2 Compact System after culturing and studying their morphological features using Gram stain. About 13 (9 G+vecocci and 4 G-ve bacilli) and 24 (13 G+ve cocci, 1 G+ve bacilli, and 10 G-ve bacilli) pathogenic bacteria were isolated from the dental plaques of 46 males and 146 Female patients, respectively. Moreover, Streptococcus mitis exhibited the highest prevalence among the 28 isolated pathogenic bacteria. Furthermore, Serratia marcescens, and Streptococcus parasanguinis showed the highest mean number of colonies among the pathogenic bacteria isolated from male patients with dental plaques. Similarly, Serratia odorifera exhibited the highest mean number of colonies among the pathogenic bacteria isolated from female Patients with dental plaques.

Yemen is home to many coffee cultivars due to its unique topography and soil, especially in mountain areas. Soil samples were collected from twelve coffee plantations located in three districts from three governorates. The soil texture of the four coffee cultivars (Bura’ai, Dawairi, Tufahi, and Udaini) ranged from sandy loam to loamy sand. The soil chemical features ranged between 7.08- 8.28 for pH; 3.2 to 4.9% for Nitrogen, 10 to 80 ppm for Sodium, 4 to 6 ppm for Potassium, 21.3 to 33 ppm for Phosphorous, 10.4 to 19.2ppm for Iron, 0.64 to1.93ppm for Manganite, 0.83 to 2.78 ppm for Zinc, 10 to16% for Calcium Carbonate amounts and by employing the Two Way Cluster Analysis, the four main coffee cultivars in Yemen were divided into two categories. The first category included Tufahi while the second category included Bura’ai, Dawairi, and Udaini, this can guide farmers when cultivating new coffee crops.

Almonds are rich in phenolic compounds with health benefits, but their matrix complexity makes measuring an- tioxidants challenging, requiring a sufficient extraction technique and high method sensitivity. This study aimed to develop, optimize, and validate an extraction method to assay the total antioxidant activity (TAA), total polyphenol content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC) of different parts of almonds, including whole, kernel, and skin almond samples. Conventional extraction methods were compared with ultrasound assisted extraction efficiency. This study was performed on 34 cultivated Yemeni samples and 12 samples of imported almonds. The results showed that the combined vortex/sonication extraction method with methanol: acetone: water at a ratio of 1:1:1v/v/v was the most efficient, yielding the highest quantity of TAA, TPC, and TFC contents from the almond samples. The extraction method had high linearity and good sensitivity with a limit of detection (LOD) values of 0.019, 0.024, and 0.099 ppm for ascorbic acid, gallic acid, and quercetin respectively. The Yemeni almond had a higher antioxidant content than the imported types, with TAA, TPC, and TFC values ranging from 2.54±0.01–8.20±0.01 mg AAE/g (Ascorbic Acid Equivalent per g of almond sample), 0.75±0.01-1.91±0.03 mg GAE/g (Gallic Acid Equivalent per g of almond sample), 0.03±0.002-0.24±0.020 mg QE/g (Quercetin Equivalent per g of almond sample) respectively.

Currently, the number of consumers of tobacco products in the world is growing rapidly. In this regard, the number of tobacco companies and varieties is increasing. Many tobacco companies write a small amount of the ingredients found in a cigarette on the product package. This study aimed to determine the nicotine contents in different brands of cigarette smoke. The paper presents the results of the quantitative determination of nicotine in cigarette smoke samples through the practical application of a validated GC-FID method. The isolation of nicotine was performed by extraction with propanol. The GC-FID and method validation was performed through the parameters: linearity, precision, limits of detection (LOD), and quantification (LOQ). The correlation coefficient was 0.9998 over the nicotine standard range (5 to 500 ppm). The relative standard deviation (%RSD) ranged from 0.71 to 6.67 % and the obtained LOD and LOQ were 0.0926 and 0. 2777 ppm, respectively. For method validation, the correlation coefficient was 0.9987 over the spiked nicotine cigarette range (0.1 to 1.0 mg/cig.). The relative standard deviation (%RSD) ranged from 0.71 to 6.67% and the obtained LOD and LOQ were 0.1056 and 0.3166 ppm, respectively, which is much lower than the accepted value of 0.6 mg/cigarette according to the reference standards based on the results obtained from this work. The content of nicotine from 87 tobacco cigarettes samples was determined. For the local 19 of 21 and imported 45 of 66 tobacco samples exceeded the permitted limit, the variation limits of the nicotine content were more restricted (0.512-1.564 and 0.640-2.415 mg/cig.), respectively

Mobile ad-hoc networks are deployed in different fields and it can be effective in applications that depend on the inter-node interaction such as search and rescue, surveillance, and battlefield reconnaissance. Due to this importance, in this article, we have reviewed the latest energy optimization solutions for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANET). Since the typical layered inflexible architecture is unable to handle the features of MANETs, battery consumption is the primary concern in the context of MANETs. Along with this, authors proposed categorizing energy optimization solutions into seven categories: techniques based on load balancing adaptation algorithms, methods based on multicast algorithms, and schemes based on the radio state adaptation algorithms, position-based routing protocols, schemes based on proactive algorithms, energy efficient reactive protocols, and techniques based on control of transmission energy algorithms. The authors reviewed the suggested resolutions in every domain, providing details on the methodology utilized, metrics for performance assessment, and the advantages and disadvantages related to each suggestion. We believe that the review presented in this article will be been sufficiently useful for researchers to optimize energy consumption for MANETs. Dummy text.

The healthcare performance measurement system is a critical indicator for assessing hospital management performance. This study aims to identify the most frequent critical performance indicators (CSFs) in measuring and evaluating healthcare performance. This paper conducts a systematic review based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA). A literature review that includes "key performance indicators for health facility management (FM) or analyzing the most used key performance indicators," and an in-depth view were used to classify relevant KPIs for healthcare FM performance measurement. The findings show that patient satisfaction, cash flow, infection rate, length of stay, average waiting time, number of accidents per year, incidents and errors, and bed occupancy are the most significant CSFs for health facility management (HFM). The results of this paper provide valuable insights to inform future KPI development for the Yemeni healthcare environment. In future work, the Delphi method and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) will be employed to prioritize the performance indicators of the Yemeni healthcare environment.

Bacterial vaginal infection (BV) is an imbalance in the normal vaginal flora with decreased levels of the usual predominant lactobacilli. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of BV among women attending obstetrics and gynecology clinics in Sana’a city, Yemen; to isolate and identify the causative of VB; to assess risk factors associated with the prevalence of BV, and to determine the effect of some antibiotics. In this cross-sectional study, 150 vaginal swab samples were collected. All specimens were examined by microscope, cultural and biochemical tests, in addition to conducting an antibiotics sensitivity test for positive samples. In this study, BV was the highest among women aged less than 20 years old. The bacteria isolated were Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterobacter spp, Proteus mirabilis, Streptococcus pyogenes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The most effective antibiotics were Cefotaxime, Gentamycin and Ciprofloxacin.

For the purpose of etablishing a database on benthic foraminifera in Yemen, two hundred and twelve recent benthic foraminifera species have been recorded from 32 sandy samples collected from different localities in Socotra Island during January 2017 and Hadhramout coastline, Yemen during August 2018 from a depth of 0 - 4 m, to identify benthic foraminiferal taxa to the species level. These samples were processed to extract the foraminiferal tests using a water saline brine based on the difference between the density of the shells and the solution. The extracted benthic foraminifera were separated according to the type of wall into three groups; the Agglutinated, Porcellaneous and hyaline walled foraminifera. Porcellaneous tests represent the largest number in the collected samples of the two study areas. One hundred and four species were identified. These species belonging to twenty-eight genera, four superfamilies and eight families. Twenty-nine species of these belong to the genus Quinqueloculina d’Orbigny which are discussed here and illustrated. The systematic classification of the species recorded from these samples was mentioned and compared with the type species. The previous recordings of these species, their geographical distribution regionally and globally, and their abundance in the study samples were tracked. The samples were deposited at the Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Sana’a University.

Theoretically, this study investigates the influence of Gaussian beam spot size on the trapping forces exerted on dielectric particles by continuous and pulsed beams. We analyzed the dependence of trapping efficiency on spot size in terms of both the force value and force influence area. Our theoretical framework considers a dielectric sphere immersed in a water medium and irradiated by these beams. The results demonstrated that pulsed Gaussian beam achieves superior and more consistent trapping efficiency compared to continuous beam for a wider range of spot sizes.