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Optimal growth and development of a child depends mostly on proper breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. However, many children yet suffer from malnutrition and the recommended practices of complementary feeding have yet not been established among the majority of the population. In this observational study, we looked for the causes behind the improper complementary feeding practices among the mothers attending the outdoor and indoor units of the Department of Pediatrics, Faridpur Medical College Hospital, Faridpur, Bangladesh, from January 2018 to January 2019. A total of 447 mothers were interviewed regarding their complementary feeding practices and data were analyzed to find out the demographic and social influences. The majority of the respondents were between the age group of 21-25 years (54%). Thirty five percent were illiterate, 60% were from the rural area, 78% were housewives, 64% came from a nuclear family, and 87% had a monthly family income of 5000-20000. Most of the deliveries were conducted at home (58%) and the most common source of feeding related information was healthcare workers (66%). Only 41% of the mothers started complementary feeding at the age of 6 months. The most common complementary food was Suji, 60% of them lacked the knowledge of food preparation and 35% of them practice forceful feeding to the children. The promotion of proper complementary feeding needs to be ensured to achieve the children's catch-up growth and development. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. 2021;16(1):30-33

Indoor pollution has of late risen considerably which leads to several adverse health effects. To combat this gradual rise in indoor pollution, there has been various developments. Accordingly, the present work throws light on the development of a novel sensor with the capacity for precise detection of volatile gas. The sensor comprises of clad modified optical fiber with SnO2:Cuo. With a limit of detection (LOD) of 10 ppm, the current sensor outperforms other sensors already reported in literatures. Ensuring a suitable tweaking with Arduino, the sensor gets laced with the provision of wireless adaptability so that readout can be obtained in remote conditions too.

Background: Lung disease is viewed as perhaps the most far reaching and deadly malignancies all throughout the planet. The most seasoned and most crucial technique is based on sputum cytology. The last outskirts for getting sufficient material are fine needle yearning cytology (FNAC) of bronchial development. Aims and Objective: To relate the meaning of sputum cytology and fine needle goal cytology of bronchial tissue under CT rules for diagnosing cellular breakdown in the lungs. Materials and Methods: This potential observational investigation was completed by the division of medication in Chattogram Medical College Hospital, Chattogram, Bangladesh. Where data was collected from January 2019 to June 2020. A total of 50 patients with a suspected history, symptoms, and risk profile of having primary lung cancer, as demonstrated by chest radiography and CT scan, were chosen for the research population. Fifty patients with clinical and biochemical verification of suspected. All collected data were coding and input in SPSS-25 for further analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were tested. Results: Among the 50 patients the vast majority of the patients were 51-60 years of age and the biggest number of the (94 %) patients were male. Sputum cytology is 8% touchy which isn’t steady with different examinations and CT guided FNAC is 94% sensitive. Conclusion: A definitive point of picture guided histological or cytological examination is to stay away from unnecessary thoracotomy and accomplish a particular determination with sensible exactness and least results. So, in this examination we found that sputum cytology is 8% delicate which isn’t steady with different investigations and CT guided FNAC is 94% touchy to last histological analysis of lung cancer. The discoveries recommended that CT guided FNAC discovered to be protected, feasible and viable.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) as part of an integrated control program, both in highly endemic settings and during cholera epidemics. The available and internationally recommended WHO-prequalified OCVs (Dukoral, Shanchol, Euvichol) contain multiple heat and formalin-killed V. cholerae strains of Inaba and Ogawa serotypes. MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. in technical collaboration with University of Gothenburg, Sweden has developed a new single strain OCV, Hillchol. This vaccine consists of formaldehyde-inactivated whole cell El Tor V. cholerae O1 bacteria engineered into the Hikojima serotype for stable expression of both the Ogawa (AB) and Inaba (AC) LPS antigens on the bacterial surface. We evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of this novel and potentially much less expensive OCV in comparison with Shanchol.We conducted a randomized, non-inferiority, age-descending clinical trial of OCV (Hillchol vs. Shanchol) in the Mirpur area of Dhaka city from July 2016 to May 2017. This study was carried out in three different age cohorts (1-5, 5-17 and ≥18 years old). Two doses of vaccine were given at 14 days intervals to 560 healthy participants.No serious adverse events were reported. There were no significant differences in the rates of adverse events between the test vaccine (Hillchol) and the comparator (Shanchol) group. Serum vibriocidal antibody responses in all age groups combined were comparable for all the O1 Ogawa (59% vs. 67%; 90% CI of difference: -14.55, -0.84) and Inaba (70% vs. 71%; 90% CI of difference: -7.24, 5.77) serotypes, showing that the Hillchol vaccine was non-inferior to Shanchol. This new vaccine was also non-inferior to Shanchol in the different age strata.The safety and immunogenicity profile of the new OCV Hillchol is comparable to Shanchol in persons residing in a cholera-endemic setting. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT02823899.

Postmenopausal estrogen deprived state causes various types of vasomotor symptoms, urogenital symptoms, and long-term health hazards. Among the postmenopausal women, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence of urogenital complaints, epidemiological studies relating with recurrent UTI, and to observe the changing pattern of bacterial resistance to commonly used antibiotics for UTI. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Faridpur, Bangladesh, from January-December 2019. Total 244 postmenopausal women attending the clinic with various complaints were selected as the study population. In-depth history, clinical examination, and relevant investigations were done. Urinary culture and sensitivity were done to isolate the causative organism and to identify the current antibiotic resistance and sensitivity pattern. Among the study population, 94.7% had urinary complaints as their first concern. However, upon query, 85.2% of them revealed that they had other postmenopausal syndromes. Among the study population, 43.4% had recurrent UTI. Burning micturition was the most common (79.2%) urinary complaint. On urinary culture, 57.5% cases had no growth; among the rest, the most common organism was E. coli (19.8%) followed by Proteus (12.3%) and Klebsiella (10.4%). In Proteus and Klebsiella isolates, a high number of resistances for Nitrofurantoin have been found (75% and 66.7% accordingly). Urinary complaints are the most common presentation of postmenopausal women attending the gynecology clinic. They are seeking treatment not to improve the quality of life with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but getting rid of the pain of recurrent UTI. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. 2020;15(2): 85-91

Prematurity is one of the major causes of neonatal death in developing countries like Bangladesh. Appropriate protocol for nutritional support of the preterm infants is essential to achieve a postnatal growth rate similar to that of a normal fetus. Objective of the study was to assess the effects of the existing nutritional support protocol of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the early postnatal growth velocity of the preterm infants.This quasi-experimental study was conducted in the Department of Neonatology, BSMMU, Bangladesh from January to December 2015. All admitted infants aged

Oral cholera vaccination protects against cholera; however, responses in young children are low and of short duration. The best current correlates of protection against cholera target Vibrio cholerae O-specific polysaccharide (anti-OSP), including vibriocidal responses. A cholera conjugate vaccine has been developed that induces anti-OSP immune responses, including memory B-cell responses. To address whether cholera conjugate vaccine would boost immune responses following oral cholera vaccination, we immunized mice with oral cholera vaccine Inaba CVD 103-HgR or buffer only (placebo) on day 0, followed by parenteral boosting immunizations on days 14, 42, and 70 with cholera conjugate vaccine Inaba OSP: recombinant tetanus toxoid heavy chain fragment or phosphate buffered saline (PBS)/placebo. Compared with responses in mice immunized with oral vaccine alone or intramuscular cholera conjugate vaccine alone, mice receiving combination vaccination developed significantly higher vibriocidal, IgM OSP-specific serum responses and OSP-specific IgM memory B-cell responses. A combined vaccination approach, which includes oral cholera vaccination followed by parenteral cholera conjugate vaccine boosting, results in increased immune responses that have been associated with protection against cholera. These results suggest that such an approach should be evaluated in humans.

Considering the high risk of neonatal sepsis in low and middle-income countries, empirical antibiotic therapy is commonly employed in most cases to clinically suspected septic neonates without the aid of culture and antibiotic sensitivity report. Increasing antimicrobial resistance is posing a threat to these practices and urges the obligation for understanding the causative organisms and their changing resistance pattern at the local level. Aim of this study was to identify the pathogens responsible for neonatal sepsis and understand their current antimicrobial resistance pattern. This prospective study was undertaken in the Special Care Newborn Unit of the Faridpur Medical College Hospital from October 2017 to November 2018. Venous blood culture and antimicrobial susceptibility of 56 suspected neonatal sepsis cases were studied. Among the 56 clinically suspected cases 86% had culture positive isolates in the specimen. Predominant isolates were Klebsiella (42%) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (25%). Of all the identified bacteria, 88% were resistant to >_ 3 classes of antibiotics. Eighty-five percent of Klebsiella isolates were found to be carbapenem-resistant along with 100% of E. coli isolates and 95% of Klebsiella isolates had possible extended spectrum b -lactamase production. Seventy-five percent of Acinetobacter isolates were multidrug-resistant and 100% of coagulase-negative staphylococci were methicillin resistant. The array of causative organisms and their increasing resistance to commonly practiced antibiotics are alarming. It is urgent to develop strategies focusing on all healthcare levels to cease the spread of antimicrobial resistance in an effort to reduce the burden of neonatal sepsis. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. Jan 2020;15(1): 28-33

Neonatal hypoglycemia is one of the common metabolic problems causing neonatal mortality and neurodevelopmental impairments. In developing countries, where the classic risk factors for neonatal hypoglycemia prevail; understanding the prevalence and association of hypoglycemia in different settings is essential. Our aim of this study was to identify the incidence and associated risk factors that predicted the occurrence of neonatal hypoglycemia during the first 48 hours of life. This hospital-based prospective case-control study was undertaken in the Department of Pediatrics in Faridpur Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh; from June 1, 2019 to July 31, 2019. Blood glucose levels of all the admitted newborns were noted on two occasions at 24 hours apart. Hypoglycemic neonates were selected as case and 3 euglycemic neonates for each case with similar age and sex were selected as control. Clinical characteristics of the mother and the baby were analyzed statistically in relation to the occurrence of hypoglycemia. We have found the incidence of neonatal hypoglycemia was 17.2%. Prematurity, low birth weight, small and large for gestational age, perinatal asphyxia, hypothermia, and delay in the initiation of breast feeding were significant neonatal factors. Maternal factors such as gestational diabetes mellitus, eclampsia, and fever during delivery had strong association as well. Understanding the incidence and risk factors may help prompt identification of hypoglycemic baby may also help to take early and effective measures to prevent the sequels of neonatal hypoglycemia. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. Jan 2020;15(1): 12-15

With the persistent rise of COVID-19 cases, it is imperative to have rapid assessment of infection with minimal logistics. Although different diagnostic techniques for SRAS-CoV-2 are available, there are limitations in terms of turn-around time, sensitivity, and specificity issues. In this direction, this work reports the effective exploitation of fiber optic biosensor especially for in vivo identification of SARS-CoV-2. The proposed catheter like probe is envisioned to alleviate the need for sample storage as well as other allied complicacies. The scheme for qualitative as well as quantitative assessment is elaborately presented here for this portable probe. The proposed probe equipped with rapid diagnosis is believed to have immense potential through adaptive measures.

Steganography, the hiding technique used to secure sensitive data (i.e., images, audio ) while communication takes place. In this paper, the message is embedded in color image in frequency domain exploiting Genetic Algorithm (GA) which provides the robustness i.e., the algorithm can withstand against any rigorous testing and brutal attack except destruction of the stego image. The fragmentation of 8-bit binary stream of each color component to 4-bit and applying Genetic Algorithm (GA) to increase the robustness of the scheme. Random Multiple bits are chosen to embed secret message which increases security along with the payload. The use of transform domain, hash function based random pixel and bit selections for data hiding, secrete data encryption and more over use of Genetic Algorithm (GA) for optimization is the novelty of the proposed work. Perspective and meticulous statistical analysis has been done to immune the algorithm from any attack. The algorithm proposed here is tested with benchmark tools like StirMark 4.0, Confusion Matrix (Receiver Operating Curve Characteristic (ROC) curve) along with steganalysis and statistical tools. Visual disturbance and distortion in stego image is also very insignificant here.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare, life-threatening heart disease of unclear origin and is characterized by heart failure of sudden onset between the final weeks of pregnancy and 5 months after delivery. Incidence varies over geography and ethnicity. Risk factors include advanced maternal age, multiparity, preeclampsia, multiple pregnancy, anaemia, and so many other causes. PPCM is often not diagnosed until late in its course, because of its clinical manifestations are highly variable and a heart disease may not be suspected at first. Frequent presenting symptoms of PPCM, such as lassitude, shortness of breath on mild exertion and coughing are often initially misinterpreted as evidence of pneumonia or as physiological accompaniments of pregnancy and delivery. The clinical picture of PPCM corresponds to a dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) with signs of severe heart failure. Medical management is similar to other causes of systolic heart failure, except for the ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers are avoided in pregnancy. As there are lots of physiological changes during pregnancy and immediately after delivery, it is usually difficult to measure PPCM effectively. Complications include cardiac arrhythmia, thromboembolism, and refractory heart failure. Maternal deaths are not uncommon. Recently the role of abnormal prolactin metabolism and resulting myocardial toxicity have been explored and bromocriptine has shown promise as a potential treatment option. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. Jul 2018;13(2): 93-96

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder responsible for subfertility in young women. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of Letrozole over Clomiphene citrate (CC) for ovulation induction in patients with PCOS. It was a prospective randomized trial in a private practice setting. The study period was 3 years, which includes 240 sub fertile patients with PCOS. Patients were divided into two groups. Group-A: 120 patients got Letrozole (2.5 mg) tab, 2 tabs once daily from D2-D6 for 3 cycles. Group-B: 120 patients took tab. Clomiphene citrate (50mg), 2 tabs once daily from D2-D6 for 3 cycles. Trans-vaginal ultrasound was done on D12-D13 to document number of follicles, measurement of dominant follicle and endometrial thickness. Ovulation and pregnancy rate was measured. Results showed that Letrozole have significantly better effect on endometrial thickness (Let 9.2 mm vs CC 8.1mm) and pregnancy rate (Let 44% vs CC 24%). In CC, multiple follicles were found (CC 44% vs Let 30%). Ovulation occurred in 65% with Letrozole group and 64% in CC group without a significant statistical difference. The study concluded that Letrozole have better effect for induction of ovulation in PCOS patient in comparison to CC. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. Jul 2018;13(2): 78-81

Advancement of information and communication techniques have led to share big amount of information which is increasing day by day through online activities and creating new added value over the internet services. At the same time threats to the security of cyber world has been increased with increasing number of heterogeneous connection points having powerful computational capacity. Internet being used to interact and control such automatic network devices connected to it. But hackers/crackers can exploit this network environment by putting malicious dummy node(s) or machine(s) called Botnet(s) to co-ordinate the attacks on security such as Denial of Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS). The proposed method attempts to identify those mallicious Botnet traffic from regular traffic using novel deep learning approaches like Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Gatted Recurrent Units (GRU), Long or Short Term Memory (LSTM) model. The proposed model demonstrates significant improvement of all previous works. The testing dataset, Bot-IoT dataset is the latest and one of the largest public domain dataset used to justify improvement. Testing shows 99.7% classification accuracy which is precise and better than all previous works done. Results analysis and comparison shows the accuracy and supremacy over the latest work done on this field.

— Big Data analytics has come a long way since its inception. This field is growing day by day. With the advent of large handling capacity of computational analysis of modern computing systems as well as Internet of Things (IoT), this field has revolutionized the way we think about data. It has influenced the major domains such as healthcare, automobile, computing, climatology, and space communications. Of late, the health care sector has been largely influenced by this. This communication deals with the areas of healthcare where big data analytics has been largely influential. Encompassing the basics of Big Data Analytics (BDA) driven by IoT, the applications of it in healthcare sector are outlined, accompanied by future expectations. Additionally, it also presents a comprehensive analysis of recent application with special reference to Covid-19 in this sector.

Steganography is the growing field of research, where hiding techniques are used to secure the communicative elements (e.g., images). In this paper, the message is hidden in the color image in spatial domain, exploring multi-bit Least Significant Bit (mLSB) steganography. Path trace, based on eccentricity of pixels gives the potential pixels to capacitate more hiding scope. Perspective based technique and meticulous statistical analysis are applied to immune the algorithm from sterilization along with other attacks. The algorithm overcome different tests done by benchmark like StirMark Benchmark 4.0, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Visual Steganalysis and statistical tools like Dual Statistical Method and Histogram Difference are used to test the security and imperceptibility.The algorithm also ensures security with insignificant visual disturbance/distortion. Capacity per pixel after embedding, ranges from 9-bits to 12-bits and the minimum capacity per color per pixel is 2.37 and maximum is 2.69. The time complexity of the proposed algorithm is O(n2). The robustness is increased by unpredictable selection of bit for embedding.

A key challenge for detection circuits is the capability of rapidly quantifying target molecules with lower level of limit of detection. An additional obstacle in this direction is also the ease of fabrication of sensing probes. In such cases, D-shaped optical fiber probe can be utilized to shrink the footprint as well as provide ample scope of surface modification of the sensing surface. The detection of D-shaped fiber probe functionalized by chitosan modified gold nanoparticle is comprehensively and procedurally investigated and demonstrated toward detection of lead ions. Through adoption of a very inexpensive intensity interrogation approach, the scheme renders limit of detection of 2 ppb, with a remarkable linearity of ∼0.98 within a range 1–20 ppb. Even in presence of interfering ions, the scheme provides brilliant selectivity toward lead, suggesting the potential for this scheme in integrated photonic architectures.

We report a volatile liquid detector by engaging metal oxide sensor, which is further assisted by an Arduino kit to develop a prototype of alcohol detection. We have used ethanol as the main volatile liquid to design the prototype. To verify the most selective nature of the metal oxide sensor towards alcohol, we have compared with Methanol, Isopropyl alcohol, Acetone and Ammonia along with Ethanol. The proposed sensing device has been found to be highly sensitive towards ethanol with an excellent linearity closing to unity. With a working domain of ~ 230–800 ppm, the probe renders good degree of reproducibility. Through a little up scaling, the proposed device can be used as a transducer to reduce the speed of a running car when the exhale of driver exceeds dangerous concentration of alcohol.

This work represents a detection technique of lead ion (Pb2+) in aqueous medium based on optical fiber sensor. U-shaped optical fiber is chosen for this work due to higher sensitivity and point of care capability. Oxalic acid functionalized AuNPs were coated in the sensing probe. Corresponding to variation in concentration of lead ion, output voltage, power and intensity are measured with respect to time using optical photo detector. From the linear fiting of curves, it is found that voltage, power and intensity response curve has limit of detection 1.87, 1.75 and 2.10 ppb, R2 value of 0.98, 0.99 and 0.98 with the linear range is 1–20 ppb. Other heavy metal ions have negligible effect on this sensing element, thus affirming selectivity towards lead ion. Adoption of U-shaped probe with optical detector in lieu of spectrometer makes this sensor probe compact and cost effective.

Lead is a very toxic element whose presence in aqueous solutions in high concentration levels leads to several undesirable consequences. In this work, we report a detection mechanism of lead ion through an optical method. This SPR based technique measures output response of the sensor probe in terms of voltage of different analytes such as arsenic, copper, cadmium, nickel, mercury, iron and lead. The proposed sensor probe is coated with chitosan and glutathione. It is observed that this sensor probe has good voltage response for lead ions solutions in particular. This technique has limit of detection 1.3 ppb with a sensitivity of 0.28 mV/ppb. Use of optical fiber, LED and photodiode ha made this technique low cost, easily hand able and environment friendly.

We report a highly sensitive Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) based photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensor by embedding an array of gold nanospheres into the first layer of air-holes of PCF. We present a comprehensive analysis on the basis of progressive variation of refractive indices of analytes as well as sizes of the nanospheres. In the proposed sensing scheme, refractive indices of the analytes have been changed from 1 to 1.41(RIU), accompanied by alteration of the sizes of nanospheres ranging 40–70 nm. The entire study has been executed in the context of different material based PCFs (viz. phosphate and crown) and the corresponding results have been analyzed and compared. We observe a declining trend in modal loss in each set of PCFs with increment of RI of the analyte. Lower loss has been observed in case of crown based PCF. The sensor shows highest sensitivity ∼27,000 nm/RIU for crown based PCF for nanosphere of 70 nm with average wavelength interrogation sensitivity ∼5333.53 nm/RIU. In case of phosphate based PCF, highest sensitivity is found to be ∼18,000 nm/RIU with an average interrogation sensitivity ∼4555.56 nm/RIU for 40 nm of Au nanosphere. Moreover, the additional sensing parameters have been observed to highlight the better design of the modelled LSPR based photonic crystal fiber sensor. As such, the resolution (R), limit of detection (LOD) and sensitivity (S) of the proposed sensor in each case (viz. phosphate and crown PCF) have been discussed by using wavelength interrogation technique. The proposed study provides a basis for detailed investigation of LSPR phenomenon for PCF utilizing noble metal nanospheres (AuNPs).

Background: Given the paucity of data on the nutritional standard of the Himachali children, the present study was conducted to assess the physical growth and malnutrition of adolescent school-going boys of Himachal Pradesh within the age group of 15-17 years.Methods: Boys were selected from both government and private schools of the non- hilly regions of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. Height, weight, and BMI were determined. Stunting was evaluated from height-for-age Z-score, and thinness, overweight, and obesity were estimated from BMI-for-age Z-score using the WHO recommended cut-off values.Results: Mean height varied between 167.2 to 168.7 cm. Weight varied between 52.4 to 56.1 kg with a corresponding BMI between 18.7 to 19.7 kg/m2.The overall prevalence of stunting and wasting were 5.7% and 15.8% respectively. The coexistence of stunting and wasting was not found in any of the age groups. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 5.4% and 1.7% respectively.Conclusions: Himachali boys appeared to be taller than most of the Indian population of boys of similar age groups. Prevalence of the different categories of over nutrition and undernutrition were also lower as compared to that obtained for other Indian studies on adolescent boys. The existence of overweight and obese individuals points towards the double burden of malnutrition.

Refractive index is directly proportional to the concentration of medium. Based on this principle, we report two schemes of measuring varying concentration of solvent by measuring output response through intensity interrogation. In the first case, we use evanescent field by exposing certain portion of a cladding to varying concentration of fossil fuels. In the second case, we utilize reflectance through a displacement scheme for measuring the same analyte. Accordingly, all results are comprehensively analyzed and all sensing performances are procedurally investigated. The sensitivity of both the schemes are estimated and compared. The evanescent fiber optic set-up renders better response as compared to the displacement one. Due to simplicity in design approach, the all fiber optic schemes prove to be highly adaptable to sense other chemical contaminants.

We report here a novel experimental scheme for the measurement of strain that utilizes a simple intensity based interrogation system, based on optical fibers. Corresponding to splicing of a multimode fiber between two single mode fibers, the transmittance was measured by subjecting them to strain at multi points. The results corresponding to those multi points are found to mimic MMI interfere considerably. The set-up has the potential to be applied in crack propagation analysis., Comment: 9, 2

In order to develop the effective transmission in photonic crystal fiber (PCF), the (realizable fiber i.e.,) losses arising from bending as well as splicing are very vital issues. We report here macrobending loss of PCFs in different material composites. Further, we make comprehensive numerical analysis related to splice loss issues arising from joining PCF with PCF and single mode fiber as well. We additionally investigate dependence of all these losses with respect to structural parameters of PCF. Hetero core systems are found to yield lower losses as compared to their identical counterpart. The numerical estimates reported here will provide a base for engineering effective communication guides in the context of material and hybrid core domain.

The dependence of modal parameter on different photonic crystal fiber has been taken into consideration for a comparative analysis. We consider here phosphate glass and crown glass photonic crystal fiber for our modal analysis for seven air-hole missing photonic crystal fiber. By the use of effective index method, the analysis has been put forwarded for L and C communication bands. Crown glass is found to be a good candidate for spot size and single mode application. Also most importantly, it is very much reliable for low loss and dispersion in comparison with theoretically computed phosphate glass and experimental results of silica core photonic crystal fiber.

We report here a low-cost evanescent field wave fiber optic temperature sensor. The amount of rays guided along the fiber probe is the result of the absorption of evanescent waves produced at the core-cladding interface. We systematically investigate the wavelength dependence of this sensor during the measurement of the temperature. The degree of variation with respect to the temperature is also determined by alteration of measuring liquid. We observe an enhanced responsivity of the fiber sensor towards a higher wavelength side. The sensor set-up offers simultaneous detection of refractive indices when correlated with temperature variation. All the results reported here bear a good repeatability.

We examine concentration of solution with the help of a set-up with two experimental fiber optic sensors, utilizing intensity modulation by reflection as well as evanescent wave absorption. The output by evanescent field sensor shows good sensitivity along with change in concentration as compared to the reflection based sensor. It has been observed that former set-up provides a significant marginality of 0.0275 V/g ml over the latter with utilization of same analyte with good degree of repeatability.

Nanophotonic structures of indium telluride having barbed wire morphology exhibits second order non-linearity. This distinctive non-linear behavior is leading to the generation of second harmonics. Here, we demonstrate low power driven SHG by barbed wire indium telluride system by tuning polarization of the fundamental laser beam in a perpendicular orientation to the axis of the nanostructures. The energy corresponding to the second harmonic is found to be saturating toward higher range of polarizing angles. This study will lead to implementation of the structure in photonic applications negating the influence of polarization to a wide extent. Apart from this, when the nanostructure is subjected to low potential driven Kerr opto-electric non-linearity, the system reveals a critical electric field exhibiting intensity reversal.

We report a simple, cost-efficient fiber-optic sensor for monitoring pressure fluctuations in ON/OFF state. The working principle of the proposed sensor is based on light intensity modulation of a reflected signal when external pressure fluctuations cause coupling optical signal variation between two multimode optical fibers placed side by side in front of a plane reflecting mirror attached on a pressure-sensitive diaphragm. The proposed sensing technique is found to be suitable for monitoring both periodic and nonperiodic forms of pressure variations in ON/OFF state. With our proposed sensor design, pressure variation as small as 1.5×10-5 N/cm2 can be measured with accuracy and repeatability.

We report here the transmission characteristics of a step index multimode–single mode–multimode fiber (MSM) optic integrated system. Owing to a good coupling between the fibers, the designed system reveals band-elimination filter characteristics. The variability of the stop-bandwidth for this system is incurred by altering the length and core diameter of the mid-single mode fiber. The observed stop band in the range of 80 nm, having good consistency with numerical results, is found to be dependent on the length of the mid-single mode fiber (SMF). Further, the core diameter of the SMF is also varied to tune the band eliminated output from the proposed MSM structure, which results in a narrow bandwidth of 50 nm, giving a margin of 30 nm with respect to the former. The attained results possess higher potential in the field of optical communications, such as a trimmer, etc.

Background: The occupational health status scenario in unorganised sector is not impressive. There is a lack of awareness on occupational health and safety issues and manual labour is still obligatory . Ergonomic and work physiological studies conducted among different unorganised sector occupations are scanty. Aims and Objective: The present study intended a physiological evaluation of workload in small scale aluminium casting works. In accordance, cardiac strain of the workers is assessed in actual work situation. Methods: Seventeen regular male workers (mean age 32.6 ± 10.9; range 22 – 55) years, were examined for the magnitude of physiological strain. Different tasks performed were identified including work and rest hours. Working heart rate, net cardiac cost, relative cardiac cost and recovery heart rates were determined. Tasks performed were analysed in terms of heaviness, recommended strain level and thermal stress of the workplace. Results: Work study revealed the predominant static nature of the tasks performed. Overall strain of the job appeared to be moderate in nature with mean working heart rate of 99 ± 5.2 beats/min. Recovery patterns were inadequate for majority of the workers. Thermal stress prevailing was more than the recommended level. Conclusion: The subjects were exposed to cumulative circulatory stress which might have deleterious long term effect particularly on older workers. Interventions are required to ameliorate ergonomic stressors, which indicate further scope of study. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijosh.v2i2.6565 International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health, Vol 2. No 2 (2012) 8-13

Cardiac strain was evaluated in terms of working heart rate (WHR), relative cardiac cost (RCC), net cardiac cost (NCC) and other recovery indices among six younger (mean age 34.2 +/- 2.7 yr) and sixteen older (mean age 48.9 +/- 5.4 yr) drillers working in a manual underground coal mine over two spells of work. The mean WHR was within the range of 117-132 beats / min with corresponding mean relative cardiac cost between 44-48% of heart rate reserve for the younger group and 53-55% for their older counterparts. The mean NCC was above 50 beats/min for both age groups. It was seen that the workers surpassed the recommended limits of cardiac strain indices. The intensity of workload indicates the job to be "heavy" to "extremely heavy" in accordance with the heaviness scales based on WHR, NCC and recovery heart rates. Heat stress prevailing in the workplace in terms of effective temperature (ET) and wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), was above the recommended limits as per the guidelines proposed by WHO and ACGIH. High physiological demands of the job which requires predominate static muscular exertions coupled with high heat stress were found to hinder the recovery process and may prove deleterious particularly for the older workers. Therefore, in the present context, the need of ergonomic interventions for job organization and quick reparation of environmental condition are strongly indicted.

Thirty-nine healthy carriers (23-57 years of age) were investigated in underground manual coal mines in West Bengal, India during two different work spells of a single work shift. We compared physiological strain of workers40 andor =40 years of age. For both groups, mean heart rate was 124-133 beats/min, with a mean corresponding relative cardiac cost of 50-66%. Maximum aerobic capacities were estimated indirectly, following a standard step test protocol. Average oxygen consumption was 1.07-1.1 l/min, with an energy expenditure of 5.35-5.5 kcal/min among both age groups. Acceptable levels of physiological strain were well encroached, and older workers faced the maximum burden. The tasks studied were heavy to very heavy in nature. The weight of load carriage at a spontaneously chosen speed and the prevailing environmental conditions merit serious attention. There is extreme need of ergonomic interventions in reducing the postural load and musculoskeletal discomforts in this population.

Lignocellulosic biomass resources especially agricultural and forests residues, perennial crops, farm wastes, and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste hold significant potential for the widespread production of sustainable fuels, chemicals, and bioproducts worldwide. For biochemical conversion processes, deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass into its components (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) for further microbial conversion has been a major challenge due to the recalcitrant nature of lignocellulose. Thus pretreatment is prerequisite for efficient hydrolysis of lignocellulose and cost for such treatment is currently about one third of the overall processing costs in a cellulosic biorefinery. Thus, the development of a more efficient and cost-effective pretreatment method is crucial for the commercialization of lignocellulosic biorefineries. Wet explosion (WEx), a thermochemical pretreatment method with additional features of oxygen addition and explosive decompression, can be adjusted to different biomass feedstock and to subsequent bio-catalytic and microbial processes. The WEx pretreatment method has been successfully applied in combination with both microbial fermentation and anaerobic digestion processes using both agricultural and forest residues as well as manure fibers. Steam explosion, represents a related process to WEx pretreatment where high pressure is used but no oxygen is added. This process has been tested in demonstration scale while WEx is on its way to commercialization. Presented here is a summary of the basic concepts and parameters involved in WEx pretreatment.

Introduction Chikungunya is an arthropod-borne virus endemic to Africa, Southeast Asia and India that causes acute febrile polyarthralgia and arthritis. In this short case series, we discuss six Bangladeshi patients with chikungunya fever. Though Bangladesh is in endemic zone, it is not common here, hence it demands attention for proper diagnosis and management. Case presentation The six cases of chikungunya we report occurred in native Bangladeshi women with ages ranging from 20 to 50 years and all having a middle class family background. Three women had severe incapacitating arthralgia as well as a maculo-papular rash and a high fever. The other three had a high grade fever and arthralgia only, but no rash. They were tested for chikungunya immunoglobulin M antibody and found to be positive in all cases. They were treated symptomatically with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and found responsive in most cases. Conclusion From this case series, it is evident that chikungunya is not that uncommon in Bangladesh. But the concomitant presence of other arthropod-borne infections with similar courses of illness makes most physicians less aware of this infection. An awareness and clinical knowledge are necessary to diagnose chikungunya infection properly.

We have explored a new dimension in image steganography and propose a deft method for image– secret data – keyword (steg key) based sampling, encryption and embedding the former with a variable bit retrieval function. The keen association of the image, secret data and steg key, varied with a pixel dependant embedding results in a highly secure, reliable L.S.B. substitution. Meticulous statistical analyses have been provided to emphasize the strong immunity of the algorithm to the various steganalysis methods in the later sections of the paper.

This paper on 'COLOR IMAGE STEGANOGRAPHY IN DCT DOMAIN' portrays a new arena in steganography in color images in frequency domain or more precisely that in Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) domain. In this paper the authors have proposed the exploration of a deft method for image-secret data-steg pass based sampling along with encryption and embedding in frequency domain with a variable bit retrieval function where the secret data becomes more secure by hiding with the steg password, so that without knowing the steg password one cannot get the secret data explored. The strong adhesion amongst the color images, secret data and steg password, varied with a pixel dependant embedding in DCT domain yields a highly protected and reliable substitution. A group of 8×8 quantized DCT Coefficient (QDC) is selected as our secret data carrier for the color image. The variable bit operation is applied to the proper QDCs to embed a byte of secret data, where the variable bit operation is dependent on the pixel value. Assiduous statistical analysis has been done and provided to emphasize the strong security of the algorithm to the various steganalysis methods. This will also help to reveal its huge carrier capacity and stego image quality.

Ad-hoc network is extensively used to create a communication hotspot exploiting the Wi-Fi and Wi-Max technologies which give rise to a smart network that can be used in a broader perspective. Here, we design Rapidly Deployable Ad-hoc Network(RADAN) for handling state or national level crisis where the emergency communication network will be deployed rapidly that will reduce/eliminate the communication gap between the catastrophe or disaster zone and the survived existing communication networks. Our design motto is to provide adequate wireless coverage in the affected area rapidly so that the communication to Command and Control (C2) headquarter can be activated within minimum time and the mitigation procedure of the affected area can be started quickly to prevent loss of lives and property. We are implementing some application in different devices to update the status of the situation and the requirements in the form of Short Message Services(SMS), Short Voice Service(SVS) and the images of the affected zone to the Headquarter so that they can take vital decisions and send the requisite commodities to the affected zone.

A natural Disaster or a catastrophe is a sudden incident which disturbs the normal conditions or equilibrium of an area both intensively and extensively by threatening human life and property where resources required for combating the scenario substantially exceeds what is locally available. In this paper we present a technique of deployment of Command and Control (C2) Network to generate an effective response necessary to meet the constraint of the hour. Here we make an endeavor to analyze the existing systems, their merits and demerits and finally propose a network which will carry the command to control the situation in case of an incident. Initially, we design a hierarchical commanding jurisdiction or we use an existing one and then we fit our designed network into it so that the command can be directed to the incident area without any ambiguity. Next, we check the compatibility of the Command and Control (C2) network with an existing hierarchical administrative system as a case study.

Miners fitness test was assessed in terms of determination of maximum aerobic capacity by an indirect method following a standard step test protocol before going down to mine by taking into consideration of heart rates (Telemetric recording) and oxygen consumption of the subjects (Oxylog-II) during exercise at different working rates. Maximal heart rate was derived as 220−age. Coal miners reported a maximum aerobic capacity within a range of 35–38.3 mL/kg/min. It also revealed that oldest miners (50–59 yrs) had a lowest maximal oxygen uptake (34.2±3.38 mL/kg/min) compared to (42.4±2.03 mL/kg/min) compared to (42.4±2.03 mL/kg/min) the youngest group (20–29 yrs). It was found to be negatively correlated with age (r=−0.55and −0.33 for younger and older groups respectively) and directly associated with the body weight of the subjects (r=0.57–0.68,P≤0.001). Carriers showed maximum cardio respiratory capacity compared to other miners. Indian minersVO2maxwas found to be lower both compared to their abroad mining counterparts and various other non-mining occupational working groups in India.

Context: In India, a wide variety of occupations are performed in adverse indoor working environment. Work physiological studies in these jobs are scanty as compared to investigations done on more arduous outdoor occupations. Aims and Objectives: Physiological strain of workers engaged in sweet making activities was assessed in terms of cardiac strain indices in relation to heat stress. Setting and Design: 33 full-time workers from eastern India were compared for cardiac strain profile obtained during summer and winter during their regular work shift. A comparison was also done in between younger (n=12) and older (n=16) subjects. Materials and Methods : Working heart rate (WHR) was recorded continuously during work. The pulse deceleration index (PDI) was obtained from recovery heart rate (RHR). Net cardiac cost (NCC) and relative cardiac cost (RCC) were the main indices used to evaluate physical strain. Thermal stress assessed from wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT). Statistical Analysis: Students' t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank paired tests were used for comparing physiological responses. Values were considered significant when P < 0.05. Results: Work load was significantly higher in summer for all workers. RCC of younger workers in winter and summer ranged between 18% and 26%. This was significantly lower as compared to the RCC of older workers which was 27% in winter and 30% in summer. The physiological workload appeared to be moderate in nature. The WBGT index was above the recommended range in summer for both the groups. Older workers showed a no recovery pattern in terms of recovery pulse that indicated toward a cumulative stress which may be attributed to a combined effect of heat and work in summer and extra amount of work performed in winter season. Conclusion: The physical workload is aggravated with various ergonomic stressors present in the work place. An ergonomic intervention has been indicated as further scope of this study.