Vol. 19 Issue 2
S.A.S. Omar, R. Misak, H. Minkarah, P. King, A. Kwarting, H. Abo-Rizq and W. Roy
A land use survey was undertaken at a scale 1:100,000 for the State of Kuwait. Land use is classified into 19 map units based on field survey and interpretation of Landsat imagery. The latest topographic map coverage for the State of Kuwait was used as a base map. The Geographic Information System (GIS) was used for the storage analysis and presentation of spatial data. Summary statistics of total areas of each map unit are presented in nine 1:100,000 map sheets, and percentage areas of the different land uses were identified. Land use is dominated by rangeland (75.12%) which is used primarily for grazing activities, and also recreational activities such as spring camping and hunting. Oil fields (7%) include areas of existing development of wells and associated infrastructure. Water reservoir areas represent the surficial extent of aquifers and natural water fields. Military areas (4%) are scattered throughout the country. Other significant land uses include the built-up areas of Kuwait City (3.5%), and agricultural areas (3%). Quarries borrow pits and dumps of building debris, communication facilities, cemeteries. parkland, encampments, power stations, racetracks and unused land (7%). Land use information can be used as the basis for future land use planning applications.
E.A.A. Abdulqader
The selectivity of 9.5, 11.4, and 14.0 cm mesh size gillnet was tested experimentally in the Bahrain waters. A total of 12 hau Is were conducted during the period from 5th June to 27th December 1999. Significant differences in the first girth indicted smaller (mean fork length 75.2 SD ± 5.0) and mainly immature Spanish mackerel were caught by 9.5 mesh panels. Milk Shark Rizoprionodon acutus numbers exceeded the Spanish mackerel numbers, and made up 85% of the total bycatch. Most of these sharks were caught in the 9.5 mesh panel. The importance of the shark issue in the management of the Spanish mackerel fishery was highlighted by the present study. It is suggested that future management of the Spanish mackerel fishery should take into the consideration the conservation of the shark stocks. It is also suggested that better management results can be achieved by increasing the lower limit of mesh size to 14.0cm. This study provides a preliminary list of the drift gillnet bycatch species. This is probably the first attempt to provide information on drift gillnet bycatch in the Arabian Gulf.
S.I. Al-Mously and A.Z. Abdalla
This paper describes sensitivity of microwaves to the chemical specification variations of an oil fill used in a combustion engine. The evaluation of used oil quality degradation in a combustion engine by measuring the complex dielectric constant (complex permittivity) in the frequency range of X-band (8.5- 10.5 GHz) and Ku-band (17.63-18.07 Ghz) is investigated. A completely filled short-circuited waveguide technique was used to perform these dielectric measurements. The results have shown that for the frequencies in both X and Ku bands, the dielectric constant and the loss tangent increase as a function of oil usage measured by mileage. The measurements in the X-band give more variation in the complex dielectric constant than the measurements in the Ku-band. It is believed that the oil quality degradation is related not only to the amount of oil usage, but also to the combustion engine state. The analysis procedure as well as experimental results are presented
M.M. Al-Rawi
The effect of starvation on the content and distribution of RNA, proteins and glycogen in the spinal cord and testis of mice was studied. The spinal cord and testis were taken from mice both, nonstraved and after one, two and three days of total starvation. In the neurons of the spinal cord, starvation decreased RNA and proteins early in the fast; decreases in glycogen occurred more slowly, late in the fast. In the testis there was no obvious decrease in RNA and proteins content and a very slight decrease of the glycogen granules; i.e. the mice conserved testis RNA, proteins and glycogen during prolonged starvation. Moreover, it has been found that the effect of starvation on RNA, protein and glycogen of the testis and spinal cord was variable.
M.A. Anjum
Protoplasts were isolated from stem-derived cell suspensions of S. tuberosum cvs. Desiree and Maris Piper using three enzyme mixtures. The enzyme mixture containing 1% cellulase ("Onozuka" R-10) and 0.1% Pectolyase Y-23 in 0.5 M Mannitol with an incubation period of 3h resulted in high protoplast yield. Isolated protoplasts were cultured in different media. In MS-KM liquid medium, they divided and formed small cell colonies. Resulting calluses were transferred either to MS medium containing 0.05 µM NAA, 2.85 µM zeatin riboside and 0.03 µM GA8 or to modified MS medium containing 0.54 µM NAA, 0.29 µM IAA, 2.22 µM BAP, 2.28 µM zeatin, 0.93 µM kinetin and 0.58 µM GA3 for shoot regeneration. Shoot regeneration was 2 weeks earlier on the former medium.
F.A. Al-Mana, M.A. Bacha, E.L. Hamdy and S.M. Sabbah
This investigation was conducted to study the effect of Ethrel foliar spray at concentrations of 0, 200, and 400 ppm on changes in morphological characters of shoot and root systems of Menefi and Barhi cultivars of date palm seedlings (normal), and other seedlings that had had their seed residual removed (emasculated at three stages of leaf formation (first, second, and third leaf). The morphological characters were studied when the seedlings reached about 20 months old. Data showed that Ethrel treatments had no effects on the morphological characters of the seedlings at the first leaf stage. At the second leaf stage, stem diameter and fresh and dry weights of shoot system in all seedlings of both cultivars. Ethrel foliar spray at 200 ppm increased leaf length in the seedlings that had had their seed residual removed in both cultivars. However, at the third stage, this treatment increased lead number in Menefi and increased lead length in Barhi as compared with the untreated seedlings. The results showed that Ethrel treatments at the second leaf stage had no effect on most root morphological characters of the normal seedlings of both cultivars an in Barhi seedlings had had their seed residual removed. However, Ethrel treatments decreased fresh and dry weights of the root system in Menefi seedlings that had had their seed residual removed. Ethrel treatments at the third leaf stage decreased the weight of the root system in the normal seedlings of both cultivars. Generally, in the second and third leaf stages of the Menefi seedlings, there were no significant differences in most of the morphological characters of shoot and root systems between the normal seedlings and the seedlings that had had their seed residual removed, but there were significant differences in most shoot and some root characters in Barhi seedlings.
A.A. Al-Salamah and A.E. Al-Sunaiher
A total of 200 naturally diseased live tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fishes were collected from 15 freshwater fish farms from three provinces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period of Muharram to Shaban 1419 H. These fishes were subjected to clinical, microbiological and postmortem examination. The results obtained revealed different forms of clinical signs and pathological lesions with various intensities due to Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria.
The analysis of the data obtained on the incidence of P. fluorescens bacteria among naturally infected fishes showed remarkable differences from one province to another, the incidence was (28.90%) in Riyadh Province, (12.76%) in Eastern Province and (16.0%) in Makkah Province. The total incidence in all infected fishes was 23.5%. The bacteriological examinations resulted in recovery of 47 P. fluorescens strains.
In vitro antibiotic susceptibility clarified the sensitivity of recovered strains of Gentamicin, Neomycin, Oxytetracycline, Ceftazidime, Sulfonamide Compounds, Kanamycin and Nalidixic acid and their resistance to Erythromycin, Chloramphenicol and Nitrofurantoin. Experimental infection with isolated strains resulted in the development if different clinical signs and pathological lesions resembling those seen in fishes naturally infected with the same microbe. The finding of this study proved the occurrence of P. fluorescens infections among cultured fish in the fish farms of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.