This paper aims to answer the following questions: 1-what is the actual number of near-endemic taxa in the Egyptian flora?, 2-what are the reasons and justifications for addition or exclusion of plants to or from the final list of near-endemic taxa?, 3-what are the conservation categories of near-endemic taxa according to IUCN?, 4-How can we make a red list of these taxa?, 5-what are the services and goods offered by near-endemic taxa?, and 6-what are the threats that impact these taxa most?. These aims are achieved through preparing a recent list for the near-endemic taxa and their habitats in the Egyptian flora. The lists were analyzed in terms of taxonomic diversity, life and sex forms, size structure, flowering activity, dispersal types, economic potential, threats and national floristic distribution, and IUCN categories. The total number of near-endemic taxa in the prepared recent list is 73, belonging to 58 genera and 28 families; and were recorded in 11 habitats. The life form represented most is the therophytes while the ballochores and pogonochores are the most represented dispersal types. There was a gradual increase in the frequency of the flowered taxa until reaching a maximum value from March to May, and then decreased again reaching a minimum value from August to January. Near endemics are distributed in Egypt and adjacent countries as follows: 39 taxa with Palestine, 19 with Libya, 8 with Saudi Arabia, 4 with Sudan, 2 with Jordan, and only one with Lebanon. Fifty-one taxa had a distribution in only one phyto-geographical region, while the remaining taxa had a distribution in two or more regions. All near-endemic taxa have at least one aspect of economic goods and exposed to at least one type of threats, where the most represented good was the medicinal uses, while over-collecting and over-cutting were the most represented threats. In this paper, 30 near-endemics were evaluated according to IUCN categories as follows: 12 endangered, 5 critically endangered, 4 extinct and 1 vulnerable, while 8 species are data deficient. In addition, 36 near-endemics were also evaluated in previous studies according to IUCN categories as follows: 15 endangered, 11 critically endangered, 7 vulnerable, 2 rare and 1 least concern.

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The ability to get clean water is the most urgent birthright for human beings. The scarcity of safe drinking water is a major challenge in both developed and developing countries. Due to overpopulation, industrial revolution advancements, and agricultural evolution, this challenge has become crucially influential. Several studies on solar desalination are being conducted to create novel models that will improve the efficiency and production of these units. Because of their higher evaporation, condensing, exposure, and output rates than traditional stills, vertical distillers have lately piqued the interest of numerous academics. In this study, the scholars investigated the impact of varying water depth at the best rotating speed of discs from their earlier work (1.5 rpm) on the thermal productivity of vertical distillers. Numerous water depths (5, 8, 11, and 14 cm) were studied at 1.5 rpm to specify the best depth. The results indicated that utilizing moving discs enhanced the distillers' productivity. Besides, the peak distiller performance was obtained at 1.5 rpm and 5 cm. Furthermore, the yield of the modified single-stage vertical distiller (MSSVD) and modified double-stage vertical distiller (MDSVD) was increased by 350 and 617.4%, respectively, over the conventional tilted distiller (CTD) productivity of 2.3 L/m2 day. MSSVD and MDSVD had the highest efficacy rates of 48.4 and 77.2%. Lastly, for CTD, CVD, MSSVD, and MDSVD, the pure water cost was 0.025, 0.0477, 0.0180, and 0.0193 $/L, respectively.

Freshwater is one of the most essential needs of society. Due to the limited amount of potable water on Earth, guaranteeing the supply of clean water to society is a major challenge. By utilizing abundant sunshine, solar still could be utilized to provide the necessary amount of drinking water in remote locations. The issue of restricted daily production inspires researchers to investigate novel ways for enhancing the thermal performance of desalination techniques while lowering expenses. In this work, the scholars improved a unique distillation method related to solar stills. The authors presented a novel improvement to the vertical distiller design to enhance the exposure area while decreasing the thickness of the water layer as much as possible. Thus, two rotational discs (flat type) covered with wick were integrated into the vertical distiller basin at 1.5 rpm and 5 cm water depth. Furthermore, providing vacuum via a fan with an external condenser. Besides, various rotating speeds (from 400 to 2000 rpm) were tested to determine the perfect fan speed that provides the maximum yield. The experimental findings revealed that the modified vertical distiller produced more pure water than the conventional distiller. Moreover, the rotation of wick discs and vacuum fan enhanced the yield of distillers enormously. Besides, the highest distiller performance was obtained at 1.5 rpm (wick disc speed) and 1600 rpm (fan speed, 10 min ON, and 10 min OFF). Moreover, the daily freshwater output was 19.1 L/m2 day for MDSVD without the fan and 23.65 L/m2 day for MDSVD with the fan. So, the yield of MSSVD without/with vacuum fan was improved by 548.65% and 660.45%, respectively, over that of CTD. The best thermal efficacy for MDSVD without/with vacuum fan was 77.47% and 84.05%, respectively. Lastly, the average cost of freshwater was 0.021, 0.0177, and 0.0164 $/L for CTD, MDSVD without/with vacuum fan, respectively.