Search

This study was conducted to evaluate the culture potentiality and growth performance of Spirulina (Spirulina platensis) in supernatant digested rotten guava (DRG) in replacement of Kosaric Medium (KM). The Spirulina was inoculated to grow in digested rotten guava media (DRGM) (treatments) with the addition of 9.0 g/L NaHCO3 and micronutrients and KM for a period of 14 days. The cell weight of spirulina was attained a maximum of 12.43±0.20 mg/L (dry wt. basis) in KM followed by 0.818 ± 0.003, 0.815 ± 0.0015 and 0.809± 0.0012 mg/L in supernatant of 60 (T1), 20 (T2) and 40% DRGM (T3), respectively on the 10th day of culture. The cell weight of spirulina grown in these media had highly significant (PSpirulina platensis.

Background: Updated data on chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are vital in their prevention, control, and treatment in the path to achieving the third UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a one-third reduction in premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2030. We provided global, regional, and national estimates of the burden of CRDs and their attributable risks from 1990 to 2019.Methods: Using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, we estimated mortality, years lived with disability, years of life lost, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), prevalence, and incidence of CRDs, i.e. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, pneumoconiosis, interstitial lung disease and pulmonary sarcoidosis, and other CRDs, from 1990 to 2019 by sex, age, region, and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) in 204 countries and territories. Deaths and DALYs from CRDs attributable to each risk factor were estimated according to relative risks, risk exposure, and the theoretical minimum risk exposure level input. Findings: In 2019, CRDs were the third leading cause of death responsible for 4.0 million deaths (95% uncertainty interval 3.6–4.3) with a prevalence of 454.6 million cases (417.4–499.1) globally. While the total deaths and prevalence of CRDs have increased by 28.5% and 39.8%, the age-standardised rates have dropped by 41.7% and 16.9% from 1990 to 2019, respectively. COPD, with 212.3 million (200.4–225.1) prevalent cases, was the primary cause of deaths from CRDs, accounting for 3.3 million (2.9–3.6) deaths. With 262.4 million (224.1–309.5) prevalent cases, asthma had the highest prevalence among CRDs. The age-standardised rates of all burden measures of COPD, asthma, and pneumoconiosis have reduced globally from 1990 to 2019. Nevertheless, the age-standardised rates of incidence and prevalence of interstitial lung disease and pulmonary sarcoidosis have increased throughout this period. Low- and low-middle SDI countries had the highest age-standardised death and DALYs rates while the high SDI quintile had the highest prevalence rate of CRDs. The highest deaths and DALYs from CRDs were attributed to smoking globally, followed by air pollution and occupational risks. Non-optimal temperature and high body-mass index were additional risk factors for COPD and asthma, respectively.Interpretation: Albeit the age-standardised prevalence, death, and DALYs rates of CRDs have decreased, they still cause a substantial burden and deaths worldwide. The high death and DALYs rates in low and low-middle SDI countries highlights the urgent need for improved preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic measures. Global strategies for tobacco control, enhancing air quality, reducing occupational hazards, and fostering clean cooking fuels are crucial steps in reducing the burden of CRDs, especially in low- and lower-middle income countries. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Additional file 2. Detailed description of MMH

Additional file 1. Existing Handwashing facility Types

Without adaptive immunity, invertebrates have evolved innate immune systems that react to antigens on the surfaces of pathogens. These defense mechanisms are included in horseshoe crab hemocytes’ cellular responses to pathogens. Secretory granules, large (L) and small (S), are found on hemocytes. Once the invasion of pathogens is present, these granules release their contents through exocytosis. Recent data in biochemistry and immunology on the granular constituents of granule-specific proteins are stored in large and small granules which are involved in the cell-mediated immune response. L-granules contain most clotting proteins, which are necessary for hemolymph coagulation. They also include tachylectins; protease inhibitors, such as cystatin and serpins; and anti-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) factors, which bind to LPS and agglutinate bacteria. Big defensin, tachycitin, tachystatin, and tachyplesins are some of the essential cysteine-rich proteins in S-granules. These granules also contain tachycitin and tachystatins, which can agglutinate bacteria. These proteins in granules and hemolymph act synergistically to fight infections. These biomolecules are antimicrobial and antibacterial, enabling them to be drug resistant. This review is aimed at explaining the biomolecules identified in the horseshoe crab’s hemolymph and their application scopes in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) using wearable devices such as smart watches embedded with Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors has various applications relevant to our daily life, such as workout tracking and health monitoring. In this paper, we propose a novel attention-based approach to human activity recognition using multiple IMU sensors worn at different body locations. Firstly, a sensor-wise feature extraction module is designed to extract the most discriminative features from individual sensors with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Secondly, an attention-based fusion mechanism is developed to learn the importance of sensors at different body locations and to generate an attentive feature representation. Finally, an inter-sensor feature extraction module is applied to learn the inter-sensor correlations, which are connected to a classifier to output the predicted classes of activities. The proposed approach is evaluated using five public datasets and it outperforms state-of-the-art methods on a wide variety of activity categories.

Çalışmanın amacı, gama ışınları ve kimyasal (NaOH) işlemin ananas/ epoksi kompozitlerinin fiziko- mekanik özellikleri üzerine etkilerinin araştırılmasıdır. Ananas yapraklarından elde edilen lifler ile oluşturulan kumaşların takviye elemanı olarak kullanıldığı kompozitler, el ile yatırma tekniği kullanılarak üretilmiştir. Kompozitin dış yapısının anlaşılabilmesi için taramalı elektron mikroskobundan (SEM) faydalanılmıştır. Kompozitin dış yapısındaki silikonun mevcudiyeti ve Si–O–Si/C–O–Si çapraz bağlarının konfigürasyonu FTIR ve EDS analizleri ile tanımlanmıştır. Deneysel sonuçlar sayesinde, gama ışınları uygulanan kompozit numunelerinin mekanik özelliklerinin kimyasal işlem uygulanan ve uygulanmayan kumaşlar ile takviye edilmiş kompozit numunelerine göre önemli derecede iyileşme sağladığı belirlenmiştir. Gama ışınları uygulanan kompozitlerin kimyasal işlem uygulanmamış kompozitlere göre çekme dayanımı (ÇD), çekme modülü (ÇM), eğilme dayanımı (ED), eğilme modülü (EM) ve darbe dayanım (DD) değerleri yaklaşık olarak sırası ile %71,26, %461,29, %72,45, %24,52 ve %40,44 oranlarında artmıştır. Bu duruma ek olarak, gama ışınları uygulanan kompozitler kimyasal işlem uygulanmış kumaşların takviye elemanı olarak kullanıldığı kompozitlere göre %49,98 ÇD, %40,46 ÇM, %35,82 ED, %11,21 EM ve %12,44 DD oranlarında artış sağlamıştır. Gama ışınları uygulanın numunenin fiziko- mekanik özelliklerinin iyileşmesinin sebebi matris ve lif molekülleri arasında çapraz bağların oluşmasıdır. Ayrıca kompozitlerin su absorbsiyon davranışları test edilmiştir., The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of gamma irradiation and chemical (NaOH) treatment on the physico-mechanical properties of the pineapple/epoxy composites. The manual lay-up process was used here in fabricating pineapple leaf fabric (PALF fabric) reinforced composites. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been exploited for understanding the outward structure of composites. FTIR and EDS analysis recognized the existence of silicon and Si–O–Si/C–O–Si cross-linked configurations on the outward structure of composites. From the experimental results, it was found that gamma irradiation subjected composite sample had significant improvement in mechanical properties in comparison with composites reinforced with chemical treated pineapple leaf fabric and untreated composite. Tensile strength (TS), tensile modulus (TM), bending strength (BS), bending modulus (BM) and impact strength (IS) of gamma irradiated composite increased by approximately 71.26 %, 461.29%, 72.45%, 24.52% and 40.44% respectively compared to untreated composites. Furthermore, Gamma irradiated composite exhibited an increase of 49.98% TS, 40.46% TM, 35.82% BS, 11.21% BM and 12.44% IS compared to chemical treated pineapple leaf fabric composites. The reason for the improved physico-mechanical properties of gamma irradiated sample is due to the formation of crosslink in fiber and matrix molecules. The water absorption behavior of the composites was also tested.

Monitoring underwater habitats is a vital part of observing the condition of the environment. The detection and mapping of underwater vegetation, especially seagrass has drawn the attention of the research community as early as the nineteen eighties. Initially, this monitoring relied on in situ observation by experts. Later, advances in remote-sensing technology, satellite-monitoring techniques and, digital photo- and video-based techniques opened a window to quicker, cheaper, and, potentially, more accurate seagrass-monitoring methods. So far, for seagrass detection and mapping, digital images from airborne cameras, spectral images from satellites, acoustic image data using underwater sonar technology, and digital underwater photo and video images have been used to map the seagrass meadows or monitor their condition. In this article, we have reviewed the recent approaches to seagrass detection and mapping to understand the gaps of the present approaches and determine further research scope to monitor the ocean health more easily. We have identified four classes of approach to seagrass mapping and assessment: still image-, video data-, acoustic image-, and spectral image data-based techniques. We have critically analysed the surveyed approaches and found the research gaps including the need for quick, cheap and effective imaging techniques robust to depth, turbidity, location and weather conditions, fully automated seagrass detectors that can work in real-time, accurate techniques for estimating the seagrass density, and the availability of high computation facilities for processing large scale data. For addressing these gaps, future research should focus on developing cheaper image and video data collection techniques, deep learning based automatic annotation and classification, and real-time percentage-cover calculation., Comment: 36 pages, 14 figures, 8tables

About 800,000 tons of bagasse is obtained per year as a by-product from sugar industries in Bangladesh. Bagasse is one of the most readily available lignocellulosic biomass that is a potential source for ethanol production through enzymatic saccharification and hydrolysis. Pretreatment enhances saccharification by removing lignin and hemicellulose. In this study pretreatment of bagasse was done using hot compressed water (HCW), (HCW+H3PO4) and (HCW+NH3). Effects of different pretreatment parameters such as temperature, residence time, concentration of NH3 and H3PO4 were studied in detail. (HCW+H3PO4) system was found to be more effective compared to other systems investigated in this study. A maximum yield of glucose (60%) and xylose (71%) was obtained in case of (HCW+H3PO4) system at temperature180°C and 160°C and residence time of 30 min and 15 min, respectively.

Rapid demographic aging in countries around the world has prompted an interest in understanding the mobility patterns of seniors. While much research has been conducted in terms of motorized modes, the promotion of healthy aging argues for new research to investigate the multi-modal travel behavior of seniors including active travel. It is generally agreed that walking is a convenient, safe, and adequate activity for all ages and particularly for seniors, because it places the right amount of stress on their joints. It also is an inexpensive mode of transportation under a wide range of circumstances and can help achieve physical activity guidelines without imposing additional time demands. The objectives of this dissertation are fourfold. The first two objectives investigate the factors that influence use, length, frequency of two motorized (transit and car) and one active mode of transportation (walking) of seniors. The third objective is to introduce a concept of Compliance Potential Mapping (CPM) that produces maps to show spatial variation in percentage of physical activity requirements seniors obtain from their regular walking for transport. Finally, the dissertation implements a street segment sampling approach and investigates the attributes of walkable environments from the perspective of seniors. A joint discrete-continuous modeling framework was used to model mode use and trip length simultaneously and, on the other hand, a trivariate ordered probit model was used for estimating the multi-modal trip generation of seniors. CPM concept used simple map algebra operations on maps of spatial variations in trip length and frequency in order to produce potential maps of physical activity compliance. Lastly, the street sampling approach used multinomial spatial scan statistic to detect cluster of street segments where walkability audits can be conducted. Data were drawn from Montreal’s Household Travel Survey of 2008. A broad array of covariates related to personal, mobility tools (possession of driver’s licence and automobile), neighborhood, and accessibility variables were considered in the models of mode use, trip length, and trip frequency for the Montreal Island. The results of the analyses reveal a significant degree of geographical variability in the travel behavior of seniors in the Island. In particular, estimates for seniors with different socio- demographic profiles show substantial intra-urban variability in walking behavior, and the role of neighborhood design attributes and accessibility in influencing the mobility of seniors. Demonstration of CPM indicates that seniors in the central parts of Montreal Island obtain higher percentage of physical activity guidelines from walking, but with variations according to gender, income, possession of driver’s licence and vehicle. The results of the walkability analysis suggest that, other factors being equal, walking is more prevalent in street segments with marked cross–walks, horizontal and vertical mixtures in land uses, and low traffic volume. Other factors being equal, walking was less prevalent in segments with unmarked cross–walks, single residential and/or vacant land use, and high traffic volume. Thesis Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Number of seniors across Canada is increasing. Regular physical activity among these growing seniors can help them to maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, seniors are not active in their leisure time. This study shows how much seniors are active in travel behavior. In other way, how much walking seniors are undertaking as part of their travel needs and how much it contributes towards their recommended physical activity guidelines. In addition, this study also examines the street-scale built environment that encourages seniors to walk more and drive less.

Malaysia held its 13th general election on May 5, 2013 which was a contest between two coalitions, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The latter’s expectations for an outright win did not materialise. The election results have shown a rather status quo with minor losses and gains for the two coalitions. This study analysed the 13th election and found a number of noticeable trends. The Chinese voters have voted overwhelmingly for the opposition. The political culture of Malaysia is also shifting toward more participatory type with increased social and economic mobility. The days of one-party dominance in Malaysia are apparently over. The electoral politics in Malaysia might become more polarised along ethnic lines which may require reshuffling of its coalition framework and design.

The study of spatial structure of a city always fascinates urban planners. City's spatial structure can assist urban planners to predict future development trend and help them to develop appropriate strategies to guide the current spatial structures. But, there is no such type of previous studies of the city structure in Bangladesh. In this study, the researchers made an attempt to find out spatial structure of cities in Bangladesh. Using spatial distribution of population and land use the researchers tried to explain the present scenario in Bangladesh. The researchers have found that for most of the cases there is a density gradient, which represents relationship between population density and distance from city centre to periphery, with high R square value follows a negatively sloped exponential curve from city centre to periphery of an urban area except in Barisal City Corporation (BCC). The density is high at the centre and it gradually decreases towards periphery. The Central Business District (CBD) of BCC is relatively larger than other municipalities/ paurashavas where commercial land use is dominant type of land uses. People are living outside the CBD due to high concentration of commercial and institutional land uses in the centre is the main reason of positively sloped exponential curve for BCC. The first important finding from land use analysis is that in most of the Paurashavas, there is a CBD which have been developed alongside a river network and newly developed commercial land uses have taken place along the major highway in that area. The study also showed that after three kilometers from the city center, agriculture is dominant type of land uses although there is a high rate of urbanization in Bangladesh. The researchers as urban planners conclude that, there is natural tendency of compactness in Bangladesh which should be encouraged.Read Complete Article at ijSciences: V1201212114

The broad objective of this study is to empirically estimate the export supply model of Bangladesh. The techniques of cointegration, Engle-Granger causality and Vector Error Correction are applied to estimate the export supply model. The econometric analysis is done by using the time series data of the variables of interest which is collected from various secondary sources. The study has empirically tested the hypothesis, long run relationship and casualty between variables of the model. The cointegration analysis shows that all the variables of the study are co-integrated at their first differences meaning that there exists long run relationship among the variables. The VECM estimation shows the dynamics of variables in the export supply function and the short run and long run elasticities of export supply with respect to each independent variable. The error correction term is found negative which indicates that any short run disequilibrium will be turned into equilibrium in the long run.

A critical factor in transit mode share analysis is the level of accessibility to transit services. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationships between accessibility and the built environment, and the use of transit. To do so, the proportion of transit users is modeled as a function of socio-economic characteristics, transit level of service, and built environment characteristics. While accessibility to transit has been the object of previous research, accessibility by transit is a factor that has received only limited attention in prior transit modal share research. The case study is the city of Hamilton, and the geographic unit of analysis is the Dissemination Area. A logistic model for proportions with a spatial filter (for spatial autocorrelation) and an over-dispersion parameter is found to provide the best fit and statistical properties. The results of analysis at the meso-scale show that accessibility by transit contributes positively to usage of transit. The possibility that factors at the micro-scale may also influence use of transit, suggests the development of a methodology, based on the use of spatial filtering, to systematically select walkability audit sites. The proposed methodology is demonstrated by means of a case study of neighborhoods in Hamilton. Statistical analysis of walkability audit information shows that the proposed selection strategy can be used to better target limited resources for field-based work, and produce valuable insights into the micro-level factors that may affect transit use. Master of Arts (MA)

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies Bangladesh is a densely populated, agriculture-based country and is recognized as one of the areas most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming and climate change. This is due to its unique geographic location, dominance of floodplains, low elevation, high population density, high levels of poverty, and overwhelming dependence on nature for its resources and services. The country experiences severe flood and cyclone events and, in recent years, water logging has become a catastrophic problem along the coast. These coastal areas play important economic and environmental roles in the country. The present paper attempts to show the extent of water logged areas, caused by sea level rise and the sectoral impacts of settlement, agriculture and fisheries in the south-western coastal areas of Bangladesh. A multi-temporal analysis method has been used with remote sensing (LandSat 1975 and LandSat 2000) data. SRTM data has been used to show the actual land elevation and to predict the future height of water logging in the study area. In 2000, 182418 hectares area was inundated by water and almost 50 percent of the study area is classified having high vulnerability. Saline line has entered upto 20 to 35 km into the mainland since 1967 which has great impact on agriculture and health. Many educational institutions of the study area are in vulnerable condition as some of them inundated completely or partially and even some of them are being used as shelter by local victimized due to water logged into their fragile houses. The largest mangrove forest of the world is also at risk to water logging and saline intrusion from the sea. To the Government of Bangladesh, NGOs, policymakers, planners and other interested parties it is important to measure and monitor present issues and to predict the future impacts of climate change. This will help to facilitate effective management and is particularly important where a lagre number of people are threatened. In this regard the present study is expected to be useful and will have strong implications in coastal planning and other climate change adaptation measures.