The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of aqueous extracts from five traditional Egyptian medicinal plants in preventing Sphaerotheca fuliginea’s powdery mildew disease, which affects cucumber plants. Aqueous extracts from each of the examined plants suppressed the pathogen’s conidia germination in vitro. In trials using detached leaves and greenhouses, these extracts lessened the severity of the disease. Compared to other plant extracts, Curcuma longa rhizome extract showed the greatest potency against the pathogen. The aqueous extract of Curcuma longa showed the largest improvement in disease suppression compared to the control in the greenhouse experiment. The results showed that total phenol and associated defense enzyme levels (POD and PPO) were elevated by plant extracts from all studied plants. These findings might suggest that total phenol and associated defense enzymes strengthen the cucumber’s resistance to the disease. The C. longa extract had more total phenol than the extracts from the other plants. The phenolic components in the C. longa rhizome extract were varied, and these variations were detected and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The content of curcumin (3220.8 μg · g ^–1 dry weight) was the highest. In comparison to the control, the foliar application of the C. longa extract considerably increased the cucumber fruit yield and its constituent parts. This is the first time, to my knowledge, that the C. longa rhizome extract has been utilized to improve cucumber plants’ production and its constituent parts. The pathogen appeared as small colonies with fewer mycelia and immature conidia in the treated cucumber leaves with 20% of C. longa rhizome extract according to an examination by SEM. Overall, the results indicated that the extract of C. longa rhizome, was a promising, effective, and environmentally friendly management measure against powdery mildew disease of cucumbers, and thus could be used in the production of organically grown vegetables.

This paper presents the results of a study on the level of nitrate leaching from the 0–30 cm layer of grassland (GL) soil in the Lublin Voivodship during the winters of 2018/2019, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. The amounts of leached nitrates were determined using the Burns model. For the calculations based on this model – directly and indirectly, the results determination of residual nitrate nitrogen, texture and organic matter in GL soils, obtained within the framework of agricultural monitoring of soils by the National Chemical and Agricultural Station (KSChR), and results of system meteorological measurements conducted by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute (IMGW-PIB) were used.
The analysed soil samples were taken from 39 permanent control and measurement grassland sites. The research discovered in particular that:
– the average leaching of nitrate nitrogen from GL mineral soil in the three analysed periods was 16.2 and 5.1 kg N∙ha–1 from organic soil;
– on average, in autumn during the entire study period, 55.3% of NO3-N leached from the 0–30 cm layer of GL mineral soil, and 27.3% from organic soil;
– among different agronomic categories of mineral soil, the highest leaching of NO3-N was recorded from medium soil (17.4 kg N∙ha–1) and the lowest from heavy soil (11.5 kg N∙ha–1);
– individually determined values of NO3-N leaching from soil varied significantly from 0 to 68.5 kg N∙ha–1 for mineral soil and from 0.1 to 23.65 kg N∙ha–1 for organic soil.

Punitive damages is a quasi-punishment that aims at prevention. It is not known under European law. They are awarded in exceptional circumstances. Its purpose is to punish the perpetrator of an insidious and intentional illegal action. The author describes the story of the tanker Exxon Valdez, which struck rocks off the coast of Alaska on 23 March 1989. The captain Joseph Hazelwood was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. Because of the resultant pollution thousands offishermen applied for compensation, as did the owners of businesses connected with the maritime environment and of shoreline real estate. Exxon Shipping reached many settlements with plaintiffs, but thirtytwo thousand fishermen and owners of shoreline property rejected settlements, and sued Exxon demanding indemnity and the imposition of punitive damages. On 16 September 1994 a jury imposed punitive damages to the sum five thousand million dollars along with an indemnity of 507.5 million dollars. On appeal the quasi punishment was reduced to 4.5 thousand million dollars. The Appeal Court fixed punitive damages at 2.5 thousand million dollars. Both sides appealed to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court considered whether the punitive damages imposed on Exxon were consistent with the principles of maritime law. On 25 June 2008 it finally determined that in cases similar to that of Exxon Shipping the relation of punitive damages to indemnity should be 1:1, and reduced 2.5 thousand million dollars to 507.5 million dollars, which was the indemnity awarded to the plaintiffs.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of aluminium coagulants basicity on the minimalisation of undesirable effects of coagulation such as decreasing pH and alkalinity, thereby water corrosivity. The experiments involved three types of surface water samples: from the Odra and Oława Rivers and a mountain stream, which differed in physico-chemical composition (especially in pH values and alkalinity). Alum (ALS) and polyaluminium chlorides (PACI) characterized by various basicity (r, %) were used as coagulants. The experimental results showed that decrease in water corrosivity depended on the basicity and dose of coagulant, pH and temperature of water prior to coagulation. With the increment of coagulation basic i ty the chemical stability of treated water improved and coagulants PAX-XL 3 and PAX-XL6 l were the best. Using of polyaluminium chlorides instead of alum decreased not only undesirable effects of coagulation but improved also the efficiency of water treatment.

Chromium exists primarily in two oxidation states. The different toxicities and bioavailabilities of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) are public health concern and therefore require strict control. Some AAS/ICP methods work according to the so-called difference method and they do not allow the simultaneous determination of chromium(III) and (VI). The need of more accurate and rapid analysis of environmental samples has led to investigation of ion chromatography as an alternative to wet chemical chromium analyses. Conventional HPLC, photometric methods and atomic absorption spectroscopy analyse are less interference free than ion chromatography which has been used in a wide variety of chemical species. At present analytical chemists focus on alternative Cr(III)+Cr(Vl) methods which will be faster, more sensitive and cheaper than spectroscopic methods and which will allow to exclude many matrix interferences. This paper describes investigations of application of PDCA as a complexing agent of Cr (III) ions and its using in simultaneous determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in water by means of ion chromatography with UV detector.

This paper presents a numerical analysis of an agitated fully baffled cylindrical vessel with a down pumping four blade worn or unworn pitched blade impeller (α = 45° and 30°) under a turbulent flow regime. CFD simulations predict the pumping capacity of the system equipped by worn and unworn pitched blade impeller. Experimental data were taken from the authors’ previous work and compared with results of numerical computations. A good agreement with experimental data was obtained. The ensemble-average mean velocity field with worn and unworn impellers was computed. It follows from the simulation results that the wear rate of the impeller blade has a significantly negative effect on the velocity distribution in an agitated liquid. The greater the destruction of the worn blade, the higher is the deformation of the velocity field around the rotating impeller, with a simultaneous decrease in impeller pumping capacity.