An experimental field trial was conducted at El-Ayat, El-Giza Governorate, Egypt (latitude 30°11"I3"N, longitude 31°41'38"E, and mean altitude 74 m above sea level) during the growing season of 2017 and 2018. The study aimed to assess the suitable irrigation interval and applied water volume for drip-irrigated green beans, based on water production functions and water use-yield relationships. The field trial was arranged in a split-plot design with 3 irrigation intervals (F1, F2 and F3 irrigation events, once every 1, 2 and 3 days, respectively) and 3 irrigation regimes (I1: 1.00, I2: 0.80, and I3: 0.60 of the crop evapotranspiration, ETc). The results showed that the yield and water use efficiency (WUE) increased with increasing irrigation interval. Maximum and minimum yield of 12 030 and 4 879 kg-ha-1 were obtained in F1I2 and F3I3 treatment, respectively, in the winter season of 2017, and were 12 364 and 4 678 kg-ha-1 for the corresponding treatments in the winter season of 2018. WUE ranged from 56.55 kg-ha-1-mm-1 in F1I2 to 23.80 kg-ha-1-mm-1 in F3I3. Plant growth parameters were significantly affected by the irrigation schedule. The highest plant growth parameters were obtained under F1 and F2. The seasonal yield response factors (k y) were 0.845 and 0.856 in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The relationship between yield and seasonal crop ET was best explained by a power function for all irrigation schedules for both growing seasons. It is recommended that the F1I2 irrigation treatment is the suitable one for green beans grown under field conditions, in order to achieve the highest yield and WUE.

Moldes, dentaduras e outros dispositivos odontológicos podem estar contaminados com a microflora oral ou outros microorganismos de patogenicidade variada do sangue ou saliva de pacientes. O controle da transmissão de infecção por meio de moldes tem sido tentado de diversas maneiras e, uma vez que a desinfecção é menos eficaz e apresenta muitos obstáculos para moldagens, vários métodos de esterilização têm sido propostos. Este estudo avaliou a reprodutibilidade de moldes de borracha após a esterilização por diferentes métodos. A estabilidade dimensional e molhabilidade de dois materiais de moldagem (polisiloxano de vinil e poliéter) foram avaliadas após esterilização por três métodos bastante conhecidos (imersão em glutaraldeído 2% por 10 h, autoclavagem e radiação por microondas). Moldes não-esterilizados foram usados como controle. O efeito do material da moldeira na precisão da moldagem e o efeito de surfatante tópico na molhabilidade também foram avaliados. ANOVA com método Dunnett foram usados para análise estatística. Todos os métodos de esterilização reduziram a reprodutibilidade das moldagens, porém nem sempre esta redução foi significante. A esterilização por microondas teve pequeno efeito na estabilidade e molhabilidade. Os maiores efeitos dos outros métodos puderam ser eliminados utilizando-se moldeiras de cerâmica e borrifando as superfícies dos moldes com surfatante antes de vazar o gesso. Houve uma exceção: o glutaraldeído diminuiu a estabilidade dimensional mesmo com o uso de moldeiras de cerâmica e surfatante. Concluiu-se que a esterilização dos moldes de borracha obtidos com moldeiras de acrílico esteve geralmente associada a certo grau de alteração dimensional. Energia de microondas parece ser uma técnica eficaz para esterilizar moldagens de borracha. A aplicação tópica de surfatantes ajudou a restaurar a molhabilidade de modelos esterilizados.

Impressions, dentures and other dental appliances may be contaminated with oral micro-flora or other organisms of varying pathogenicity from patient's saliva and blood. Several approaches have been tried to control the transmission of infectious organisms via dental impressions and because disinfection is less effective and has several drawbacks for impression characterization, several sterilization methods have been suggested. This study evaluated the reproducibility of rubber impressions after sterilization by different methods. Dimensional accuracy and wettability of two rubber impression materials (vinyl polysiloxane and polyether) were evaluated after sterilization by each of three well-known methods (immersion in 2% glutaraldehyde for 10 h, autoclaving and microwave radiation). Non-sterilized impressions served as control. The effect of the tray material on impression accuracy and the effect of topical surfactant on the wettability were also evaluated. One-way ANOVA with Dunnett's method was used for statistical analysis. All sterilizing methods reduced the reproducibility of rubber impressions, although not always significantly. Microwave sterilization had a small effect on both accuracy and wettability. The greater effects of the other methods could usually be overcome by using ceramic trays and by spraying impression surfaces with surfactant before pouring the gypsum mix. There was one exception: glutaraldehyde still degraded dimensional accuracy even with ceramic trays and surfactant. We conclude that a) sterilization of rubber impressions made on acrylic trays was usually associated with a degree of dimensional change; b) microwave energy seems to be a suitable technique for sterilizing rubber impressions; c) topical surfactant application helped restore wettability of sterilized impressions.