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The sand fly, Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli, 1786) (Diptera: Psychodidae), is the main vector of Leishmania major Yakimoff and Schokhor, 1914, the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis North Africa, the Middle East, and North Sinai. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of fungi on P. papatasi larvae, pupae, and adults using light microscopic analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and histopathological studies. Specifically, larvae, pupae, and adult P. papatasi were infected with the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae. Scanning electron microscope and histopathological methods were used to investigate the destructive impact of the fungi on the external and internal structures of P. papatasi. The results revealed propagation of the conidia on the cuticles of all P. papatasi life stages, including on the compound eyes, leg setae, thorax, wings, and abdomen of the adults. Histological sections of the control and treated larvae, pupae, and adults showed many alterations and malformations in the body and tissues of all life stages after 72 h. These results demonstrated that B. bassiana was more effective than M. anisopliae as a biological control of phlebotomine sand flies. Further studies to determine the best methods for delivery and application in the diverse ecological settings of the various leishmaniasis vectors are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• RPC based AAM promotes the production of sustainable high strength concrete. • Alkali Activated Metakaoline RPC achieves satisfying results in mechanical strength. • Microwave is the best curing in RPC-AAM due to acceleration in geopolymerization. • Water in AAM weakens the geopolymerization so increase porosity of microstructure. Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is considered a high strength concrete that exhibits a high mechanical and durability properties. Its development requires a high cement demand. Cement production is not a sustainable eco-friendly process. So there is a need to replace the utilization of cement with partially or totally environmental friendly Alkali Activated Materials (AAM) binders. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of RPC developed by AAM under different curing conditions. The utilized AAM in this research are slag and Metakaoine (MK) which are quite available in Middle East. Among the engineering properties studied were the compressive strength, the elastic modulus, porosity and the sorptivity tests. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDS) Spectroscopy and Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) tests were also performed to investigate the concrete microstructure for the mixes under different curing conditions. It was concluded that microwave curing has shown a good impact in the performance of AAM mixes with total replacement of cement more than in the AAM mixes with partial replacement of cement. Steam curing enhances the behaviour of the RPC based cement than microwave curing does. Also a loss in strength reached 30% was observedwhen MK was used in RPC based AAM when compared with slag. MIP measurements proved that the microwave curing leads to reduction of capillary pores. Additional water added to improve the workability of RPC based AAM leads to weaken the geopolymerization process and hence increase the porosity of the microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Steam and autoclave curing enhance the engineering properties of RPC. • Metakaoline is an available alternative to Silica fume in RPC in the Middle East. • Satisfying mechanical strength is achieved in Metakaoline-RPC. • Nanomaterials significantly retrieve the properties of Metakaoline-RPC. Production of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is still limited due to the lack of existence for many of its constituent materials. This paper studies the impact of using metakaoline (MK) as an available alternative pozzolans to replace silica fume (SF) in the development of RPC in Egypt. The influence of incorporating nano materials in RPC is also investigated. Different curing techniques were applied on nineteen different mixes to evaluate the compressive strength, sorptivity, elastic modulus. The microstructure study was also performed with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDS) Spectroscopy analysis in addition to Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry test (MIP). The results showed that the blended SF and MK enhanced the strength and the durability of the RPC. Autoclave curing promotes RPC mixes to early reach their maximum strength. Also it was observed that adding nano materials wouldn't achieve a remarkable enhancement in the compressive strength nor durability of RPC comparing with the enhancement recorded in traditional concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]