Qena City Research Articles

The impact of social exclusion on academic delay among school students: A field study

This study aimed to understand the impact of social exclusion on academic delays among Sociology of Sports students at South Valley University, Qena City, Hurghada Governorate, Egypt, and to investigate any gender-specific effects in this relationship. The study was prompted by the need for further research delineating the impact of social exclusion on academic delays across students from diverse backgrounds and personal circumstances. The study adopted a quantitative descriptive approach, collecting data from a sample of 60 male and female students using a questionnaire focusing on the reasons for social exclusion and its impact on academic delays. The results indicated a moderate effect of social exclusion on academic delays, particularly due to neglect from parents and teachers. Furthermore, the study found no statistically significant differences in this effect based on gender, suggesting that the impact may be similar for male and female students. The study recommends the adoption of educational and social policies that enhance the role of schools as supportive and safe environments for all students.

Performance evaluation and optimization of solar dish concentrator in the upper Egypt region

AbstractThe goal of this study is to optimize and examine the effect of different rim angles and focus lengths on the performance of a solar parabolic dish. To achieve these goals, a solar parabolic dish concentrator was constructed with different focus point positions and tested under the climatic conditions of the Upper Egypt region in Qena city, with the location of (Latitude: 26.16°, Longitude: 32.71°). The preliminary experimental days started on 18th and lasted on 20th of September 2022, and the tested rim angles were 70°, 80°, and 60°. The results showed that the performance of the proposed solar parabolic dish concentrator was enhanced when the rim angle was between 60° and 70°, otherwise, the performance was regressed when the rim angle was between 70° and 80°. To optimize the rim angle, another available rim angle was selected to increase the performance of the solar dish fixed at 65°, and this angle was tested on 21st of September 2022. The results demonstrated that the thermal efficiency of the solar parabolic dish with rim angle of 65° was higher than that of 70°, 80°, and 60°, and the recorded thermal efficiency reached up to 79.5%, 39.4%, 5.84%, and 28.4%, respectively, under the tested rim angles.

COVID-19 Post- vaccination infection among hospital attendants in Qena city

BackgroundThe duration of immunological persistence in COVID-19-vaccinated individuals is considered a matter of concern. Some studies have shown that anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies degrade rapidly. Due to diminishing immunity after vaccination, some people may catch an infection again after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.ObjectivesThe purpose of the present study was to measure the COVID-19 post-vaccination infection reported by the vaccinated participants and to identify possible associated risk factors among hospital attendants in Qena city.Material and methodA cross-sectional study was carried out on 285 participants who received COVID-19 vaccines and were aged 18 years or more. A structured questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection.Results13.7% of the vaccinated participants reported catching the COVID-19 infection after vaccination. Healthcare workers were more susceptible to the COVID-19 infection after vaccination than non-healthcare workers. Post-vaccination infection among participants who received Viral vector vaccines, Inactivated vaccines, and mRNA vaccines were 16.7%, 15.7%, and 3.6%, respectively.ConclusionHealthcare professionals need to take strict preventive measures since, even after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, they are more vulnerable to infection than non-healthcare personnel. mRNA vaccines can be given in place of viral vector vaccinations because they show a reduced incidence of post-vaccination infection.

222Rn and its relation with meteorological conditions and gaseous pollutants in the outdoor environment of Qena City South of Egypt

In the outdoor environment of Qena city, located in southern Egypt, 222Rn concentrations were continuously measured from January 2015 to December 2015 using Alpha-Guard radon monitor, PQ 2000 PRO. Meteorological parameters (air temperature AT, relative humidity RH, and evaporation rate EV) and gaseous pollutants [ozone O3, nitrogen oxide NOx, and particulate matter that has a diameter of less than 10 µm (PM10)] data for the same period were collected from the meteorological station. This work aims to study the potential relationships between 222Rn and each of the meteorological parameters and gaseous pollutants. According to observational data, the yearly average concentrations of 222Rn were 19.35 ± 1.58 Bq/m3, 31.68 ± 1.97 µg/m3 for O3, 9.97 ± 2.27 µg/m3 for NOx, and 109.95 ± 6.48 µg/m3 for PM10. The concentration of 222Rn is positively correlated with relative humidity, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter, whereas it is negatively correlated with air temperature, evaporation rate, and ozone. Descriptive statistical analysis revealed various distribution patterns for 222Rn, meteorological parameters, and gaseous pollutants.

The acceptance and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine among the hospital attendants in Qena city

The acceptance and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine among the hospital attendants in Qena city

Risk assessment and management of vulnerable areas to flash flood hazards in arid regions using remote sensing and GIS-based knowledge-driven techniques

Earth Observation from space has allowed characterizing, detecting, and managing natural hazards in spatiotemporal scale. Flash flood is the most frequent natural disaster that causes destruction to human lives, the economy, and infrastructure. Thus, developing a flash flood hazard zone (FFHZ) map is significant for comprehensive flash flood risk assessment and management to minimize its harmful effects, particularly in residential areas, because of climate change. Therefore, in this article, ten parameters derived from satellite images, including lithology, slope, topographic wetness index (TWI), Stream Power Index (SPI), Stream Transport Index (STI), Terrain Roughness Index (TRI), drainage density (Dd), distance to river, radar intensity map, and rainfall distribution map, were fused to predict the flood-vulnerable areas through GIS-based overlay analysis after normalization and assigning weight by applying Analytical Hierarchy Analysis (AHP). The findings allowed for the identification of the most vulnerable areas and provided an explanation for the flood's effects on New Qena City (NQC). The output FFHZs of the Wadi Qena Basin (WQB) were divided into six hazard zones, i.e., extreme hazard (6.86%), very strong (15.04%), strong (18.74%), moderate (22.58%), low (22.80%), and very low (13.98%) susceptibility. Furthermore, approximately 35% of the under-construction NQC is subject to the extreme to very serious hazards, as opposed to the extension area to NQC east of the Qena-Safaga Road. Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) change detection coherence (CCD) and spatiotemporal analysis of Landsat and Sentinel-2 data revealed steady changes in vegetation and infrastructure from 1984 to present. Based on GIS analyses about 10, and 14% of the NQC can be inundated if the flood extends 500, and 1000 m around the flood canal, respectively. Thus, several strategies were advised to safeguard the development projects, particularly the residential sections of the under construction NQC, including erecting four dams with a total capacity of 300 million m3, reinforce the dam at Wadi Shahadein, constructing concrete chevron bunds along the flood zone, and extending the depths of the flooding canal.

Selected hematological parameters and oxidative stress in red blood cells (RBCs) after accidental cases of nitrate toxicity in the goat fed cabbage

ABSTRACT Nitrate poisoning due to the consumption of cabbages was diagnosed in a small goat flock, in Qena city, Egypt. The methylene blue 1% antidote (1 mg/kg BW) was given intravenously to the poisoned goats. Nitrate poisoning was confirmed in blood plasma, saliva, urine, and cabbage dry matter samples. The dark brown blood and methemoglobin fraction were 47.25 ± 0.58%. Green cabbage containing 7.1% nitrate on dried materials was fed to the goats. The nitrate concentration in the saliva was (59.50 ± 4.67), compared to the healthy goats reared in the same area and tested positive in the plasma and urine of intoxicated goats. Intoxication induced a significant decline in the Red Blood Cells count, hemoglobin concentration, and HCT % (P < 0.001), while the WBC count (P < 0.001), neutrophils (P < 0.001), and monocyte percentage were elevated (P < 0.002) in intoxicated goats, while the lymphocyte % (P < 0.01) significantly decreased when compared to the control. For the oxidative stress in the red blood cells, nitrate toxicity caused a significant elevation in the concentration of Malondialdehyde, (P < 0.001) while Superoxide Dismutase, Glutathione, and Glutathione S-Transferase levels were significantly reduced (P < 0.001) compared to the control. In this current report, the ingestion of goat to cabbage containing a high level of nitrate exhibited nitrate-nitrite intoxication.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Lactational Amenorrhea as Contraception method among Women Attending primary health care units in Qena city

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Lactational Amenorrhea as Contraception method among Women Attending primary health care units in Qena city

Assessment of Antenatal Health Care Services and Degree of Clients’ Satisfaction in Qena city

Assessment of Antenatal Health Care Services and Degree of Clients’ Satisfaction in Qena city

Effect of Comorbidities on Physical Function and Psychological Wellbeing among Elderly at Qena City

Effect of Comorbidities on Physical Function and Psychological Wellbeing among Elderly at Qena City

Comparative study on the performance of solar still equipped with local clay as an energy storage material

The paucity of freshwater is very dangerous in the coming years. Many coastal countries suffer from a scarcity of freshwater. Solar desalination is the cheapest way to produce freshwater from any type of non-drinkable water (brackish water and seawater). In this work, single-slope single-basin solar still for seawater desalination was examined under Upper Egyptian weather conditions of Qena City (latitude 26.16°, longitude 32.71°). The main goal of the work is to compare the performance of conventional solar still, solar still supported with PCM, and solar still supported with local clay material to augment the solar still yield during both daytime and nighttime periods of operation. The results demonstrated that the total production of desalinated water from the simple conventional solar still, the solar still with PCM, and the solar still with local clay reached about 3885, 4704, and 5388.6 ml/m2, respectively. Moreover, compared to the conventional solar still, the yield was increased by about 21% when using the PCM, and about 38.7% when using the local clay material. Furthermore, it can be observed that the daytime productivity in the case of solar still supported with local clay was higher than that for the solar still supported with PCM, while the nighttime productivity was higher in the case of solar still supported with PCM compared with solar still supported with local clay. Moreover, the average daily efficiency of conventional solar still, solar still with PCM, and solar still with local clay reached about 34, 41.2, and 47%, respectively. Therefore, it is recommended to use the solar still with local clay for seawater desalination in such arid and hot climate of Qena City.

Effect of moisture content on the 222Rn mass exhalation rates for different grain-size samples of red brick and cement mortar used in Qena city, Egypt

Effect of moisture content on the 222Rn mass exhalation rates for different grain-size samples of red brick and cement mortar used in Qena city, Egypt

Assessment of Hormonal Contraceptives Use Among Early Married Women in Qena City

Assessment of Hormonal Contraceptives Use Among Early Married Women in Qena City

Geospatial Analysis of Agriculture Land Loss in Qena City, Upper Egypt

Although urbanization presents opportunities for new urban developments, it may have serious problems on environment and land use/cover patterns. The present study aims to evaluate the performance of built‑up delineation index set (BDIS) for mapping agricultural land loss in Upper Egypt. Three Landsat images were obtained for the years 1986, 2000, and 2016 and utilized as inputs to calculate the BDIS variables. Then a supervised classification technique (i.e., support vector machine) was used to classify the images. The findings showed that urban areas have witnessed a dramatic expansion at a growing rate of 44.1% during the 30 years. As a result, the loss of the agricultural land was found to be approximately 64.83 ha, which represents -4%, during the same period because of the urban expansion and the illegal construction of settlements. These findings would support the local decision makers in urban and agriculture land management authorities to develop sustainable development plans that control the spatiotemporal urban expansion and agricultural land loss.

Effect of Educational Program on Knowledge of Early Adulthood Women about Reproductive Tract Infections at Qena City

Abstract Background: Reproductive Tract infections (RTIs) in women is one of the wide spread health concerns. Untreated RTIs can lead to adverse health and pregnancy outcomes, so there is a need for education and consultation on it. Aim: This study aimed to assess effect of educational program on knowledge of early adulthood women about RTIs. Methods: Quasi experimental research design was used in this study. It was conducted at gynecological outpatient clinics of South Valley University’s Hospital and General Qena Hospital. Sample included 380 women. Structured interview questionnaire was used and involved four sections (personal, obstetrics, gynecological and RTIs' knowledge). An educational program about RTIs was implemented on early adulthood women. Results: There is statistical significant difference between pre and post intervention regarding total knowledge about RTIs P- values are 0.001. Conclusion: There was an improvement in the total knowledge about RTIs after implementation educational program about RTIs. Recommendations: Planning and implementing educational program as a routine hospital care with providing a booklet about RTIs and its preventive measures to reduce rate of RTIs among women. Keywords: Educational Program, knowledge, Reproductive Tract Infections, Early Adulthood

Growth behaviour and fruit productivity of watermelon as an affected with grafting onto different rootstock genotypes

The experiments were conducted on watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) at an a private farm in Awlad Amr village, Qena city, Qena, Egypt located between 26° 10′ 0″ N, 32° 43′ 0″ E during the two consecutive spring-summer seasons of 2018 and 2019 respectively to study the effect of three different genotypes used as rootstocks on plant growth performance, fruit yield and quality of three watermelon F1 hybrids. Tongue approach grafting method was used, three hybrids of watermelon which growing on a large scale of the commercial production of watermelons in Egypt namely, Aswan F1, Misr1 F1 and Star F1 was grafted onto three different genotype rootstocks i.e. Cobalt F1, Ferro F1 and New Star F1. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Calculated data revealed that, there are clear significant differences between the grafted and non-grafted plants. Results of yield characteristics and its component, such as fruit weight, fruits length and circumferences and total fruit yield per feddan (ton) (feddan = 0.420 hectares = 1.037 acres), indicated to the superiority of the Misr 1 F1 hybrid which grafted onto Cobalt F1 rootstock, followed by the Aswan F1 when grafted onto Cobalt F1 rootstock. On the other side, Ferro F1 rootstock was poorly adapted with the all commercial hybrids of watermelon under studies.

Comparison of different adsorption pairs based on zeotropic and azeotropic mixture refrigerants for solar adsorption ice maker.

One of the important ways to the efficiently use of low-grade thermal energy is the adsorption refrigeration technology. However, it has some drawbacks such as low specific cooling power and coefficient of performance, especially under using the conventional adsorption pairs. Therefore, new adsorption pairs are tested in solar adsorption ice-maker and compared with other conventional pairs data from open literature to find the tendency of improving the solar adsorption ice-maker performance. The experimental test rig has been built in Upper Egypt in Qena City. Four different new adsorption pairs of granular activated carbon/R-410A, granular activated carbon/R-511A, Maxsorb III/R-410A, and Maxsorb III/R-511A are used. It is demonstrated that Maxsorb III/R-511A pair based solar adsorption ice-maker produced the highest values for specific cooling power, coefficient of performance, and ice production per 1kg of adsorbent of approximately 226.7W/kgads, 0.197, and 1.96kg/kgads, respectively. While granular activated carbon/R-410A based solar adsorption ice-maker produced the lowest values of ice production per 1kg of adsorbent and coefficient of performance of 1.38kg/kgads and 0.104, respectively. Moreover, it can be concluded that the tested pairs are feasible to be used in solar adsorption ice-maker systems, especially in such hot climate of Upper Egypt for food and vaccine preservation and storage.

An improved approach for predicting the groundwater potentiality in the low desert lands; El-Marashda area, Northwest Qena City, Egypt

The harsh environment of Egypt makes the potentiality assessment of the groundwater of high concern where the groundwater considered as the foremost water supply for irrigation and domestic purposes. In the present work, the frequency ratio (FR), analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and evidential belief function (EBF) models were integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS) and Ternary Image (TI) model as a new integrated approach for evaluating groundwater potentiality. The accuracy of our model was compared applying the area under the curve (AUC). The prediction rates of AUC that acquired for AHP, FR, EBF, and TI were about 72%, 77%, 67% and 79.13%, respectively. Consequently, the Ternary image potential zoning map classified well the Northwest Qena city area depending on the water occurrences. The models validation output demonstrates that both AHP and TI proved an efficiency for groundwater potentials zones. Our new integrated approach can be implemented in the similar harsh areas for water resources potentiality prediction in Africa and other alike areas.

Production of low-price carbon for removal of aluminium ions in potable water

Drinking-water plants often use aluminium (Al) salts as coagulant agents in the water-treatment process, which cause increasing aluminum residue levels in water. Aluminum accumulation in the human body has been related to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, senile dementia and breast cancer. This work utilises the available industrial waste as a cheap source of carbon (C) that can be used in aluminium ion elimination from water supplies. The employed sugarcane bagasse activated carbon (SCB-AC) was derived from the waste of a Qus sugar factory in Qena City, Egypt. The activity of SCB-AC was compared with that of commercial activated carbon (Com-AC), and their physico-chemical properties were characterised by various techniques (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy). The findings demonstrate that SCB-AC has high performance for aluminium (III) (Al3+) removal like Com-AC, which reached 80% at a high initial concentration (10 mg/l). The thermodynamic constants revealed that the adsorption process has an exothermic nature. Briefly, SCB-AC is an inexpensive eco-friendly carbon with an excellent adsorptive ability like that of Com-AC for elimination of aluminium (III) in drinking water. The cost of manufacturing SBC-AC would be about US$40/t.

Detection of Mycobiota and Aflatoxigenic Fungi in Wheat Flour from Markets in Qena City, Egypt

Thirty wheat flour samples were collected from different bakeries and markets in Qena city, Egypt over five months were used to measure moisture content, fungi and aflatoxins. Moisture contents ranged from 5.92 % to 14.43%. Twenty-one fungal species belonging to 13 genera were isolated from the wheat flour samples on Czapeks agar media at 28 ᵒC. The most common fungal genera were Aspergillus, Mucor and Penicillium. The correlation coefficient analysis revealed to strong positive correlation between moisture content and average total count of fungi in wheat flour samples (0.92). Qualitative and quantitative determination of aflatoxins in 29 isolates of the A. flavi group (A. flavus, A. flavus var. columnaris and A. parasiticus) were made using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), respectively. The results for (TLC) were as follow: fourteen isolates (48.2%) had the ability to produce aflatoxin B1, five isolates (17.2%) could produce both aflatoxin B1 and aflatoxin B2 and ten (34.4%) isolates were negative. By using HPLC, the concentrations of aflatoxin were 13.416–9229.343, 2.639–152.668 and 6.391–79.507µg/L for AFB1, AFB2, and AFG2, respectively.