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Large Language Models (LLMs) are gaining significant popularity in recent years for specialized tasks using prompts due to their low computational cost. Standard methods like prefix tuning utilize special, modifiable tokens that lack semantic meaning and require extensive training for best performance, often falling short. In this context, we propose a novel method called Semantic Knowledge Tuning (SK-Tuning) for prompt and prefix tuning that employs meaningful words instead of random tokens. This method involves using a fixed LLM to understand and process the semantic content of the prompt through zero-shot capabilities. Following this, it integrates the processed prompt with the input text to improve the model's performance on particular tasks. Our experimental results show that SK-Tuning exhibits faster training times, fewer parameters, and superior performance on tasks such as text classification and understanding compared to other tuning methods. This approach offers a promising method for optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of LLMs in processing language tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Careful consideration of processing parameters to mitigate defect formation is crucial to ensure reliability of components produced by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). In this work, additive manufacturing parameter optimization and flaw type dependent tensile properties of 15‐5 precipitation hardened (PH) stainless steel produced by LPBF is examined to understand the correlation among processing parameters, flaw types, and corresponding tensile mechanical behavior. It is reported that LPBF samples with keyhole (KH) pores exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to those induced with lack‐of‐fusion (LOF) flaws, for a given relative density level. Diminished mechanical properties in samples with LOF flaws is correlated to the flaws' irregular shapes and sharp corners, causing stress concentration. Minimal improvements to the mechanical properties of LOF‐induced samples, despite increasing relative density, indicate even small amounts of LOF flaws cause stress concentration and crack initiation. Conversely, KH pores exhibit high circularity and lower curvature values, and samples with KH pores demonstrate a strong correlation between tensile properties and relative density. Findings from this study suggest that when suboptimal LPBF processing is inevitable, favoring excessive energy input to induce KH pores over LOF flaws can lead to more predictable mechanical behavior of LPBF components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is an essential input for many aspects of transportation engineering, and an accurate estimation of VMT is critical for practicing engineers. Linear regression models are a popular method to estimate VMT as they provide insight into the relationships between VMT and other external factors. In linear regression models the prediction of the response variable has a non-zero probability of resulting in a negative value. For this reason, the natural logarithm of VMT is often used as the response variable to force a positive outcome. However, these log-linear regression (LLR) models provide median VMT estimate instead of the mean estimate. To overcome this limitation of LLR models, this study proposes using heteroskedastic LLR and count data methods to estimate VMT. These methods are found to have better performance than LLR models in terms of data fit and prediction accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic crashes vary in the manner in which the collision occurs (collision type), and countermeasures to reduce crashes might vary significantly based on this collision type. The inherent complexity in their mechanism has motivated this study to identify significant factors influencing collision types, with the goal of better countermeasure deployment. The objective of this work is to compare the performances of statistical and machine learning (ML) models in classifying crashes based on collision type, and assess their generalizability and interpretability. Discrete choice models, Bayesian classifiers, tree-based algorithms, and support vector machines are among the data-driven methods considered for comparison. Results indicate that tree-based algorithms perform consistently well and offer a higher interpretability, with out-of-distribution robustness. However, while ML models provide a flexible framework for modeling large data volumes, statistical models provide additional interpretability on the effect of critical variables on crash mechanisms – which is relevant from a safety management standpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the Small Tea Plantations (STP) in Romjanpara and Radhanagar villages of Atwari Subdistrict under the northernmost district of Bangladesh, Panchagarh and its impact on the local farmers. More specifically, how STP was integrated in the local farming, the socioeconomic conditions of the small tea growers and the problems they face in the trading of tea leaves. The northernmost part of Bangladesh was economically insolvent before the advent of STP. Now the economic condition is growing and more lands are coming under STP. But behind this scene, there are stories of class formation and exploitation of the small tea growers. The first-hand data is collected using Case Study, KII, FGD, Semi-structured Interview, and observation. Adopting Political economy of agrarian change as theoretical framework and based on qualitative interviews, this research provides an analysis of the socioeconomic conditions and problems that the small tea growers face. The findings show that the factories create and often perpetuate these problems and thus reproduce the existing socioeconomic differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a popular additive manufacturing (AM) technique that has demonstrated the capability to produce sophisticated engineering components. This work reports the crack-free fabrication of an SS316L/IN718 bimetallic structure via LPBF, along with compositional redistribution, phase transformations and microstructural development, and nanohardness variations. Constituent intermixing after LPBF was quantitatively estimated using thermo-kinetic coefficients of mass transport and compared with the diffusivity of Ni in the austenitic Fe-Ni system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology has become extremely demanding for delivering RNA-products and other drugs. However, there is no platform to manufacture pharmaceutical-grade LNPs with desired particle size from a wide range in continuous mode. We have developed a unique platform to obtain any specific size-range of LNPs from 60 to 180 nm satisfying pharmaceutical regulatory requirements for polydispersity index, sterility, dose uniformity and bio-functionality. We applied design of experiment (DoE) methodology and identified the critical process parameters to establish the process for global application. Cross-point validation within the response map of DoE confirmed that the platform is robust to produce specific size (± 10 nm) of LNPs within the design-range. The technology is successfully transformed to production scale and validated. Products from R&D, pilot and production batches for a candidate SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-vaccine generated equivalent biological responses. The data collectively established the robustness and bio-uniformity of doses for global RNA-vaccine/drug formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Valuation of water quality index (WQI) is one of the simplest, easily understandable, and efficacious techniques to evaluate the quality and suitability of water for drinking as well as other purposes. This research was aimed to investigate the drinking water quality of tube wells from different areas in Khulna City, Bangladesh, by developing the WQI. Water samples from 59 tube wells were collected from different locations during the pre-monsoon time. pH, electric conductivity (EC), dissolve oxygen (DO), total dissolved solid (TDS), chloride (Cl−), nitrate (NO3−), and total hardness of the collected water samples were analyzed for the calculation of WQI. The mean value for pH, EC, DO, TDS, Cl−1, NO3−, and total hardness was 7.30, 1650 μS/cm, 1.60 mg/l, 1188.7 mg/l, 414.6 mg/l, 0.029 mg/l, and 52.03 mg/l, respectively. The calculated WQI values for individual places were distributed spatially through mapping by using ArcGIS software. Based on the WQI values, the drinking water was categorized into excellent, good, poor, very poor, and unfit for drinking purposes. The calculated WQI values ranged from 40.11 to 454.37 with an average value of 108.94. Among all the groundwater samples, 11.86% were excellent, 54.24% were good, 23.73% were poor, 1.69% were very poor, and 8.47% were unfit for drinking purpose based on WQI. The results showed that the groundwater quality of most of the studied areas of Khulna city could be considered safe and suitable for drinking barring the elevated EC and chloride content in some areas. Since Khulna city is situated in the southwestern part of Bangladesh and gradually approaches toward the base level of the Bay of Bengal which might be the source of salt concentration in the groundwater of Khulna city, Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the voltage regulation problem in low-voltage power distribution networks integrated with increased amount of solar photovoltaics (PV) has been addressed. This paper proposes and evaluates the cooperative performance of a novel proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control scheme for PV interfacing inverter based on intelligent adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and an ANFIS-based supervisory storage energy management system (EMS) for regulating the voltage of three-phase grid-connected solar PV system under any nonlinear and fluctuating operating conditions. The proposed ANFIS-based PID control scheme (ANFISPID) dynamically controls the PV inverter to inject/ absorb appropriate reactive power to regulate the voltage at point of common coupling (PCC) and provides robust response at any system worst case scenarios and grid faults. And the proposed ANFIS-based supervisory EMS controls the charge/discharge of the energy storage system when there is voltage deviation to cooperate with ANFISPID in PCC voltage regulation. The proposed ANFISPID-based PV inverter control scheme and ANFIS-based supervisory EMS are developed and simulated in MATLAB/ Simulink environment and their dynamic cooperative performances are compared with cooperative performances of conventional PID-based PV inverter control scheme and state-based EMS. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment in Bangladesh is empiric or based on qualitative drug-susceptibility testing (DST) by comparative growth in culture media with and without a single drug concentration. Methods: Adult patients were enrolled throughout Bangladesh during the period of 2011–2013 at MDR-TB treatment initiation. Quantitative DST by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing for 12 first and second-line anti-TB drugs was compared to pretreatment clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes. MIC values at or one dilution lower than the resistance breakpoint used for qualitative DST were categorized as borderline susceptible, and MIC values one or two dilutions greater as borderline resistant. Results: Seventy-four patients were enrolled with a mean age of 35 ±15 years, and 51 (69%) were men. Of the rifampin isolates with MIC >1.0 μg/ml, 12 (19%) were fully susceptible or borderline susceptible to rifabutin (MIC ≤0.5 μg/ml). Amikacin was fully susceptible in 73 isolates (99%), but kanamycin in only 54 (75%) (p<0.001). Ofloxacin was borderline susceptible in 64%, and fully susceptible in only 14 (19%) compared to 60 (81%) of isolates fully susceptible for moxifloxacin (p<0.001). Kanamycin non-susceptibility and receipt of the WHO Category IV regimen trended with interim treatment failure: adjusted odd ratios respectively of 5.4 [95% CI 0.82–36.2] (p = 0.08) and 7.2 [0.64–80.7] (p = 0.11). Conclusions: Quantitative MIC testing could impact MDR-TB regimen choice in Bangladesh. Comparative trials of higher dose or later generation fluoroquinolone, within class change from kanamycin to amikacin, and inclusion of rifabutin appear warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of some management practices to minimise jute yellow mosaic virus disease. The management practices were employed at natural condition and placed randomly with four replications. The treatments were spraying malathion 57 EC, rouging and field sanitation, top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser, mulching with straw and untreated control. The highest percentage of mosaic incidence was recorded in control and the lowest incidence was recorded in top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser. Among the treatments, top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser showed the best performance in terms of increasing yield (3.05?t/ha). The second highest was obtained in rouging and field sanitation which was statistically similar to spraying malathion 57 EC. The best gross margin ($379.02/ha) and increase of gross margin (63.00%) compared to control were achieved in top dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser with the highest benefit-cost ratio (4.84). However, the treatments were found significantly profitable compared to the control indicating the usefulness of the cultural practices in integrated disease management programme for healthy and profitable jute cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six amino acids viz. DL-methionine, DL-valine, DL-serine, DL-phenylalanine, L-proline and L-histidine were tested against root knot of tomato caused byMeloidogyne javanica. All amino acids showed significant response in plant growth characters with corresponding reduction in the number of galls, adult females, egg masses and juvenile stages within the treated plants. DL-phenylalanine gave significantly higher response in reducing the hatch of egg masses and survival of juveniles inin vitrotest compared to control. The highest plant growth and maximum reduction of galling incidence of tomato were recorded in the DL-phenylalanine- treated plants followed by L-proline and L-histidine. All the amino acids gave positive response in suppressing the development of the nematode in the treated plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was set out to investigate the magnitude, patterns and molecular characterization of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains at a tertiary referral hospital in Bangladesh. Methods: Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients admitted at National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital from February 2002 to September 2005 with or without previous history of TB and/or other complications were randomly interviewed. Among 265 participants enrolled, M. tuberculosis isolates from 189 patients were finally tested for susceptibility to rifampicin (RMP), isoniazid (INH), ethambutol (ETM) and streptomycin (STM). Genotyping of M. tuberculosis was done using deletion analysis and spoligotyping. Results: Eighty-eight percent (n = 167) of the patients had history of previous anti-TB treatment while the remaining 12% were new TB cases. Of the 189 isolates, 9% were fully susceptible to the first line anti-TB drugs and 73.5% were multi-drug resistant TB. Other susceptibility results showed 79.4%, 77.2%, 76.7% and 78.8% resistance to INH, RMP, ETM and STM respectively. Multi-drug resistance was significantly higher among the 130 (78%) patients with previous history of antituberculosis treatment (95% confidence interval, p = 0.001). Among the 189 analyzed isolates, 69% were classified as "modern" M. tuberculosis strains (i.e. TbD1- strains, lacking the M. tuberculosis-deletion region TbD1), whereas the remaining 31% were found to belong to the "ancestal" TbD1+ M. tuberculosis lineages. One hundred and five different spoligotype patterns were identified in which 16 clusters contained 100 strains and 89 strains had unique pattern. Strains with a spoligotype characteristic for the "Beijing" cluster were predominant (19%) and most of these strains (75%) were multi-drug resistant (MDR). Conclusions: A high level of drug resistance observed among the re-treatment patients poses a threat of transmission of resistant strains to susceptible persons in the community. Proper counseling of patients and attention towards the completion of the anti-TB treatment is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are limited data on TB among prison inmates in Bangladesh. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), its drug resistance and risk factors in Dhaka Central Jail, the largest prison in Bangladesh. Methods: Cross sectional survey with, active screening of a total number of 11,001 inmates over a period of 2 years. Sputum samples from TB suspects were taken for acid- fast bacilli (AFB) microscopy, culture and drug susceptibility testing. Results: Among 1,781 TB suspects 245 (13.8%) were positive for AFB on microscopy and/or culture. The prevalence rate of sputum- positive pulmonary TB was 2,227/100,000. Fifty three cases (21.6% of 245 cases) were AFB- negative on microscopy but were found positive on culture. Resistance to isoniazid, rifampicin, streptomycin and ethambutol was 11.4%, 0.8%, 22.4% and 6.5% respectively. No multidrug resistance was observed. The main risk factors of TB in prison were exposure to TB patients (adjusted odds ratio 3.16, 95% CI 2.36-4.21), previous imprisonment (1.86, 1.38-2.50), longer duration of stay in prison (17.5 months for TB cases; 1.004, 1.001-1.006) and low body mass index which is less than 18.5 kg/m² (5.37, 4.02-7.16). Conclusions: The study results revealed a very high prevalence of TB in the prison population in Dhaka Central Jail. Entry examinations and active symptom screening among inmates are important to control TB transmission inside the prison. Identifying undiagnosed smear-negative TB cases remains a challenge to combat this deadly disease in this difficult setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background No population-based studies to determine the magnitude of the asthma problem have been carried out in Bangladesh. This study aimed to define the prevalence of asthma as well as to identify the risk factors of asthma in the general population of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present work correlates the quasi-static, tensile mechanical properties of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V extra low interstitial (ELI, Grade 23) alloy to the phase constituents, microstructure, and fracture surface characteristics that changed with post-heat treatment of stress relief (670 °C for 5 h) and hot isostatic pressing (HIP with 100 MPa at 920 °C for 2 h under an Ar atmosphere). Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy tensile specimens in both the horizontal (i.e., X and Y) and vertical (Z) directions were produced by the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technique. Higher yield strength (1141 MPa), higher tensile strength (1190 MPa), but lower elongation at fracture (6.9%), along with mechanical anisotropy were observed for as-stress-relieved (ASR) samples. However, after HIP, consistent and isotropic mechanical behaviors were observed with a slight reduction in yield strength (928 MPa) and tensile strength (1003 MPa), but with a significant improvement in elongation at fracture (16.1%). Phase constituents of acicular α′ phase in ASR and lamellar α + β phases in HIP samples were observed and quantified to corroborate the reduction in strength and increase in ductility. The anisotropic variation in elongation at fracture observed for the ASR samples, particularly built in the build (Z) direction, was related to the presence of "keyhole" porosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented regarding the low HIV infection rates among tuberculosis patients in Dhaka, Bangladesh.