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Background: This study was performed to assess the prevalence of dry eye syndrome with diabetic retinopathy in patients with type2 diabetes mellitus and their contributing factors. Objective: To investigate whether Dry Eye Syndrome is related with Diabetic Retinopathy in patients with Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus. Methodology: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Department of Ophthalmology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University from october 2016 to february 2019 to assess relation of Dry Eye Syndrome with type-2 Diabetic Retinopathy patients. Patients attending into Department of Ophthalmology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, who were diagnosed as a type-2 diabetic retinopathy, were the study population of this study. Results: we analyzed 95 diabetic retinopathy patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus of which 61.1% patients were male and 38.95% were female. Out of the 95 patients, 66.3% patients had dry eye and 33.7% patients had no dry eye. After categorization according to severity 17.5% patients had mild, 61.9% had moderate and 20.6% patients had severe dry eye. Study findings showed Dry Eye participants mean (SD) age in years was 56.03 (6.63). The reflex secretion of tears, as measured by Schirmer’s I method, decreased significantly with increasing age and significant influence was seen in Type 2 diabetes patients after 50 year of age. In the present study, 58.7% of dry eye in diabetic retinopathy patients were males and 41.3%% were females. TBUT was found to be less than10 second in 66.3% dry eye patients but normal TBUT in 33.7% patients. Most of the dry eye patients (71.4%) with type 2 diabetic retinopathy had very poor control of diabetes. In this study, 7.9% patients of mild NPDR, 17.5% patients of moderate NPDR, 57.1% patients of severe NPDR and 17.5% patients of PDR had dry eye. A statistically significant (P ≤ 0.000) association was found between type-2 diabetic retinopathy and dry eye. ........................

As a promising optical method used in a variety of applications surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors are employed over a wide range of boundaries. This research proposes a highly sensitive SPR based sensor with a novel hybrid structure using transition metal dichalcogenides (e.g. WSe2, PtSe2) along with black phosphorene (BP) through comprehensive numerical study. To analyze and evaluate the performances of the proposed sensor, the widely used transfer matrix method (TMM) was used. The performances of the sensor were measured in terms of reflectivity, sensitivity, detection accuracy (DA), and figure of merit (FOM). The sensor structure was optimized by changing different structural parameters of the hybrid architecture to obtain better performances. The results revealed that insertion of PtSe2 with WSe2 and BP over a gold layer of the conventional structure improved the performance of the sensor and the maximum sensitivity of the sensor was measured as 200 deg/RIU with a FOM of 17.70 RIU−1. As well, the light penetration through the optimized sensor is investigated using the finite element method (FEM) based software. With this kind of high sensing capabilities, it may be convinced that the proposed sensor can be applied in different fields of biosensing to detect liquid biological and biochemical samples or analytes.

COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software has been used to create a hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) with hexagonal cladding and a rotating hexa elliptical shape core. The hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) fiber is built on five layers of circular air holes, and it is suitable for telecommunication applications especially optical fiber communication in the terahertz (THz) frequency range. The hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) is designed to have an ultra-low effective material loss (EML), a higher core power fraction, a bigger effective area, and reduced confinement loss. The smallest effective material loss from the proposed hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) is 0.00689 cm−1, with a better core power fraction of 82%, less confinement loss of 3.45 × 10–14 cm−1 and a better effective area of 3.65 × 10–4 m2 is achieved at one terahertz (THz) waveguide region. Furthermore, using the features of the V-Parameter, our developed hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) fiber reveals an optical waveguide with one mode throughout a frequency range of terahertz (THz) wave area. So, it has been said that our hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) structure will be highly beneficial for optical fiber communications applications in the THz frequency range.

The advancement of SMEs is accelerated by technological expansions using blockchain technology in the Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 era. Based on current trends in AI and blockchain technology, this study proposes that the distance between entrepreneurs all over the world and their potential workers may be greatly decreased to virtually real-time. A secondary literature review is carried out in order to identify the key developments in IR 4.0 technologies in the SMEs industry, as well as the potential trend that will lead the business sector. The adoption of AI and blockchain technology in the IR 4.0 technologies is projected to make seeking treatments overseas more reasonable, accessible, and health records readily available on a real-time and protected basis. However, it is necessary to highlight that the expansion of SMEs raises the eyebrows of society from the security, social, and economic viewpoints.

The present study was investigated to know the sensory, physicochemical, nutritional and fatty acid properties of seaweed-based cookies prepared with untapped seaweed Ulva intestinalis (UI) from Bangladesh coast. The cookies were formulated with different percentages of UI inclusions both in powdered (PUI) and fragmented (FUI) forms, in order to evaluate different quality attributes in prepared value-added cookies. In sensory analysis, seaweed inclusion levels of 1% PUI, 2.5% PUI, 1% FUI, 2.5% FUI and 5% FUI to cookies were acceptable by panelists. Considering the maximum percentage of seaweed inclusions, 2.5% PUI and 5% FUI were selected for further analysis. The results of physicochemical properties such as moisture content, spread factor, baking loss, pH, cookie density, color, texture properties, volatile basic nitrogen and thiobarbituric acid reactive species were within acceptable limits. In nutritional analysis, 2.5% PUI and 5% FUI cookies showed a remarkable and significant increase in lipid and ash contents, compared to untreated controls. Being the first report on fatty acids profile by UI from Bangladesh, among 24 fatty acids identified, the amount of total saturated, mono-unsaturated, omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids were reported to be 641.9 (36.2%), 563.7 (31.8%), 133.8 (7.6%) and 436.3 (24.6%) μg/g DW, respectively. The results suggest that cookies with 2.5% PUI and 5% FUI can be marketed as healthy foods for consumers.

This paper presents a performance comparison of heterostructure surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors for the application of Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. The comparison is performed and compared with the existing literature based on the performance parameters in terms of several prisms such as BaF2, BK7, CaF2, CsF, SF6, and SiO2, several adhesion layers such as TiO2, Chromium, plasmonic metals such as Ag, Au, and two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) materials such as BP, Graphene, PtSe2 MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, WSe2. To study the performance of the heterostructure SPR sensor, the transfer matrix method (TMM) is applied, and to analyses, the electric field intensity (EFI) near the graphene-sensing layer contact, the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) approach is utilized. Numerical results show that the heterostructure comprised of CaF2/TiO2/Ag/BP/Graphene/Sensing-layer has the best sensitivity and detection accuracy. The proposed sensor has an angle shift sensitivity of 390°/refractive index unit (RIU). Furthermore, the sensor achieved a detection accuracy (DA) of 0.464, a quality factor (QF) of 92.86/RIU, a figure of merit (FOM) of 87.95, and a combined sensitive factor (CSF) of 85.28. Furthermore, varied concentrations (0nM to 1000nM) of biomolecule binding interactions between ligands and analytes have been observed for the prospects of diagnosis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Results demonstrate that the proposed sensor is well suited for real-time and label-free detection particularly SARS-CoV-2 virus detection.

E-commerce, though a recent invention, is now growing significantly all over the world because of the easy availability of the internet and other technological advancements. Holding a positivist philosophy, this study intends to measure the impact of five independent variables, taken from literature, on the online buying behavior of Bangladeshi consumers. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) are two of the highly recognized theories used to explain purchase intention. Combining both theories, the study has taken five variables, including perceived behavioral control, perceived ease of use, attitude, perceived usefulness, and subjective norms to understand their impacts on the online buying decision of Bangladeshi consumers. After synthesizing existing literature, items have been developed to measure the impact validly and reliably. This study analyzes responses from 155 online consumers through an online questionnaire survey using the snowball sampling technique. This study finds that there are significant relationships among attitude, perceived ease of use, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control with customer purchase intention. However, the study has not found any association between perceived usefulness and customers’ online purchase intention. Methodologically, this study extends the study of consumer purchase behavior through the PLS- SEM method. Practically, it points out the key dimensions that online marketers should focus on grasping the attention of their existing and potential customers.

A good syllabus contributes to achieving better learning outcomes. Academic institutions often invest huge amounts in preparing the so-called 'panacea' of a syllabus hoping they could meet the demand of the highly competitive world. Now, however, educationists often get divided on what is instrumental to gaining a higher level of learning outcomes: Is it the quality of syllabus, or the kind of teaching approaches, or quality of teachers and learners, or good academic environment with a proper support system or a combination of all the above? While the academic process around the globe continues amidst these unresolved questions, teaching and learning English in Bangladeshi tertiary institutions for undergraduate students is no exception. Although almost all the students at undergraduate level take some sort of English language course like general English Language (GEL), or foundation English (FE) course, they fail to function when it comes to using the language in a real-life situation. This paper strives to trace out why the students cannot communicate in English properly even after 10 plus years of exposure to the language – 1/2 years at the tertiary level and 8 to 10 years at the primary and secondary levels. The research has adopted both quantitative and qualitative research methods and used two different questionnaires to collect data for the study. Delving into a thorough analysis of the existing syllabuses, the study contends that the syllabus cannot quite prepare the students to be able to function in English in a real-world scenario and, therefore, recommends a revamping of the syllabuses is necessary to produce pragmatic and pedagogical efficacy.

Background: Parathyroid dysfunction leading to symptomatic hypocalcemia is not uncommon following a total or completion thyroidectomy and is often associated with significant patient morbidity and a prolonged hospital stay. The current study is designed to evaluate the role of parathormone (PTH) levels detected in a standard time frame after total thyroidectomy as a predictor of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemia. Objectives: To investigate whether postoperative parathyroid hormone level is a parameter to identify hypocalcemia after total thyroidectomy as well as to find out the optimum cut-off value of parathyroid hormone in early postoperative period. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 103 patients’ male-female with a variety of thyroid disorders with an indication of total thyroidectomy attended the outpatient department and inpatient department of Surgery and Otolaryngology, BSMMU. This study was carried out from March 2018 to September 2019. The routine clinical assessment and the preoperative laboratory investigations were performed before operation. Preoperative levels of serum PTH were measured. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version.22.0. Results: The levels of PTH in the immediate postoperative period showed that 17(16.50%) patients belonged to low PTH (

The present study was investigated to know the sensory, physicochemical, nutritional and fatty acid properties of seaweed-based cookies prepared with untapped seaweed

The present study show the usability of starch (tamarind) based-bio-composite film reinforced by fenugreek by various percentages to replace the traditional petrochemical plastics. The prepared bio-composite films were systematically characterized using the universal testing machine (UTM), soil degradation, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), and antibacterial tests. The experiments showed that a lower percentage of fenugreek improves biodegradation and mechanical strength. More than 60% of biodegradation occurred in only 30 days. Almost 3 N/mm2 tensile strength and 6.5% tensile strain were obtained. The presence of micropores confirmed by SEM images may accelerate the biodegradation process. Antibacterial activity was observed with two samples of synthesized bio-composite, due to photoactive compounds confirmed by FTIR spectra. The glass transition temperature was shown to be higher than the room temperature, with the help of thermal analysis. The prepared bio-composite containing 5% and 10% fenugreek showed antibacterial activities.

Molecular surface representations have been advertised as a great tool to study protein structure and functions, including protein-ligand binding affinity modeling. However, the conventional surface-area-based methods fail to deliver a competitive performance on the energy scoring tasks. The main reason is the lack of crucial physical and chemical interactions encoded in the molecular surface generations. We present novel molecular surface representations embedded in different scales of the element interactive manifolds featuring the dramatically dimensional reduction and accurately physical and biological properties encoders. Those low-dimensional surface-based descriptors are ready to be paired with any advanced machine learning algorithms to explore the essential structure-activity relationships that give rise to the element interactive surface area-based scoring functions (EISA-score). The newly developed EISA-score has outperformed many state-of-the-art models, including various well-established surface-related representations, in standard PDBbind benchmarks.

This investigation aimed to evaluate the effects of the biofloc system on growth, digestive activity, proximate composition, and hematology of Asian stinging catfish for 120 days. Fingerlings (n = ...

Food security and maximum land use system are the priorities of crop production technique in the present global food growing environment. The tomato-Albizia lebbck agroforestry is an effective smart production approach. The aim of this research is to find out the appropriate combination of organic mulch leads the tomato Albizia lebbck agroforestry production as compared to sole cropping technique for growth, yield, and quality that brings health hygiene for fresh and cooked consumption. The experiment was laid out following two factors split plot design with three (3) replications. Tomato in open field (T0) and tomato under Albizia lebbeck woodlot agroforestry system (T1) were arranged in main plots. Conversely, the usage of organic mulches was set in sub-plots viz. M0= No mulch, M1= Ash mulch, M2= Saw dust mulch, and M3= Water hyacinth mulch. The results indicated the highest yield (32.65 t/ha) was found in water hyacinth mulch (M3) and the lowest yield (21.37 t/ha) was detected in M0 without mulch (control). The treatment M3 (water hyacinth mulch) gave the maximum sugar-acid ratio (12.04%) and minimum sugar-acid ratio (9.42%) was found in control (no mulch). Furthermore, the result showed the production potentiality was the highest yield (29.41 t ha-1) was found in tomato- Albizia lebbeck agroforestry (T1) and the lowest yield (25.95 t ha-1) was recorded in sole cropping of tomato (T0). The maximum sugar-acid ratio (11.37%) was found in tomato- Albizia lebbeck agroforestry (T1) and the minimum sugar-acid ratio (10.31%) was found in sole cropping of tomato (T0). On the other, the combined effect tomato- Albizia lebbeck agroforestry with water hyacinth mulch gave the highest yield (35.01 while, the lowest yield (22.47 t ha-1) was observed in sole cropping of tomato without mulch. The research finding also revealed the maximum benefit-cost ratio (4.94) was found from the tomato- Albizia lebbeck agroforestry which was 20 % higher than tomato was grown in sole cropping. Finally, the tomato- Albizia lebbeck agroforestry production in association with organic hyacinth mulch can be an effective production approach for maximum return in terms of yield, quality and money.

This study examines the construction of racialized society and gendered identities in fictional text of Morrison's Beloved. The research aim is to analyze and explore how these identities are constructed in Beloved by using a feminist approach. We find that the imposed ideal of femininity is absorbed and patriarchy is assumed. Female’s black characteristics are repressed both intra-communally and inter-communally. In the former, black female characters are not ‘fitted’ to white femininity as they strive for identity crisis even among the blacks. In the latter, they are whim of male dominance-subject of incest, rape and seduction. Though, women are doubly repressed, it is not the racial discrimination that threatens and jeopardizes black women identity rather a sheer domination of patriarchal power from within and without exaggerating debasing women life among the whites. Therefore, this paper reflects on the manifestation of femininity and patriarchy in a radicalized society and how these two interact in women life in Morison's Beloved.

In this article, a hybrid TiO2/Au/graphene layer-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with improved sensitivity and capability for cancer detection is presented. The finite element method (FEM) was used for numerical analysis. The proposed SPR biosensor was structured based on the angular analysis of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) method for the detection of various types of cancer using the refractive index component. The resonance angle shifted owing to the increment of normal and cancerous cells’ refractive index, which varied between 1.36 and 1.401 for six different types of normal and cancerous cells. According to numerical results, the obtained sensitivities for skin (basal), cervical (HeLa), adrenal gland (PC12), blood (Jurkat), and breast (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) cancer cells were 210 deg/RIU, 245.83 deg/RIU, 264.285 deg/RIU, 285.71 deg/RIU, 292.86 deg/RIU, and 278.57 deg/RIU, respectively. Furthermore, the detection accuracy (DA), figure of merits (FOM), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were also obtained, with values of 0.263 deg−1, 48.02 RIU−1, and 3.84, respectively. Additionally, the distribution of the electric field and the propagation of the magnetic field for resonant and non-resonant conditions of the proposed structure were illustrated. It was found that an enhanced field was exhibited on the surface of the plasmonic material for resonant conditions. We also measured the penetration depth of 180 nm using decayed electric field intensity. Furthermore, the impact of using a TiO2/Au/graphene layer was demonstrated. We further conducted analyses of the effects of the thickness of the gold layer and the effects of additional graphene layers on overall sensitivities for six different types of cancer. The proposed TiO2/Au/graphene layered structure exhibited the highest overall sensitivity in terms of detecting cancerous cells from healthy cells. Moreover, the proposed sensor was numerically analyzed for a wide range of biological solutions (refractive index 1.33–1.41), and the sensor linearity was calculated with a linear regression coefficient (R2) of 0.9858. Finally, numerical results obtained in this manuscript exhibited high sensitivity in comparison with previously reported studies.

In this article, a hybrid TiO2/Au/graphene layer-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with improved sensitivity and capability for cancer detection is presented. The finite element method (FEM) was used for numerical analysis. The proposed SPR biosensor was structured based on the angular analysis of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) method for the detection of various types of cancer using the refractive index component. The resonance angle shifted owing to the increment of normal and cancerous cells' refractive index, which varied between 1.36 and 1.401 for six different types of normal and cancerous cells. According to numerical results, the obtained sensitivities for skin (basal), cervical (HeLa), adrenal gland (PC12), blood (Jurkat), and breast (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) cancer cells were 210 deg/RIU, 245.83 deg/RIU, 264.285 deg/RIU, 285.71 deg/RIU, 292.86 deg/RIU, and 278.57 deg/RIU, respectively. Furthermore, the detection accuracy (DA), figure of merits (FOM), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were also obtained, with values of 0.263 deg

Customer Satisfaction and loyalty are critical indicators of the sharing economy’s long-term viability, particularly in developing countries. The main objective of this study is to develop a service quality model applicable in the sharing economy based on the ridesharing service perspective.Through synthesizing existing theories and literature, the dynamics of ridesharing service quality (RSSQUAL) have been conceptualized. To verify the study using thePLS-SEM analysis technique, data have been collected in Dhaka from 210 users of ridesharing services through an online questionnaire survey. This study finds that ridesharing service quality is a second- order model, whereby six primary dimensions including service availability, ease of use, empathy, tangibles, security & privacy, and cost constitute the primary dimensions. The study also finds significant relationships among RSSQUAL, service loyalty and customer satisfaction. Theoretically, this study extends the research of sharing economy through proposing the RSSQUAL model in a new research context. Practically, companies can focus on key quality dimensions to better satisfy the customers. Finally, the viability of sharing economy in the developing countries has been assessed through the determination of customer service loyalty and satisfaction.

Development of any manufacturing industry highly depends on the employment of the latest technology and well trained manpower. Likewise, automation plays a significant role in every sector of modern industry including Textile. Textile industry is one of the fastest growing manufacturing industries of the new era all around the world where technological development of automated machineries can be seen in almost every section to maintain the better quality product. Higher production with greater efficiency, lower labor cost and minimized wastage percentage with better quality products in each section of production can lead one to the front line of the competitive market. Cutting section of this sector is a very important section where precise cutting with higher accuracy must be maintained to meet the lead time and on time shipment. In Bangladesh, most of the factories use semi-automatic machine to accomplish the cutting process. But with the increasing demand of automated technology, the automatic fabric cutting machine is also being used gradually in some factories because of the higher efficiency and reduced production time. In this paper, the cutting process for same fabric has been studied by using both semi-automatic and full-automatic machine to evaluate the various cutting parameters. This study helps to determine the effectiveness and usefulness of both machines from various perspective of production. The significance and viability of using automatic cutting machines have been reported to cope up with the evaluation of Industry 4.0

This paper presents the coating technology on Nano membrane using SiC-TiO2-Graphene with varying percentages of

The aim of this study is to find out effects of different trellis-vegetables grown at the edge of the rice field on the productivity and profitability of transplanted modern aman rice BINA Dhan-7. The study design was held as a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) since it was repeated three times. The experimental treatments were T1 = rice + bottle gourd, T2 = rice + white gourd, T3 = rice + yard long bean, T4 = rice + bitter gourd and T5 = rice + cucumber. The results revealed that grain yield was the highest (3.48 t ha-1) in rice + cucumber (T5) and the lowest grain yield (2.65 t ha-1) was found in rice + bottle gourd (T1). In terms of vegetable production, the maximum vegetable yield (21.33 t ha-1) was obtained from rice + bottle gourd (T1) and the minimum value (0.25 t ha-1) was received from rice + cucumber (T5) crop combination. Moreover, the highest rice equivalent yield (23.98 t ha-1) was found from rice + bottle gourd (T1) crop combination and lowest value (3.48 t ha-1) was found from rice + cucumber (T5) crop combination. The highest value of gross return (Tk. 316290 ha-1) was obtained from the T1 treatment (rice + bottle gourd) and the lowest value of gross return (Tk. 50835 ha-1) was recorded from the treatment T5. The maximum benefit-cost ratio (3.35) was recorded from T1 treatment and the lowest benefit-cost ratio (0.71) was observed in T5 treatment. Finally, the growing of bottle gourd production at the edge of transplanted aman rice BINA Dhan-7 cultivation approach will be a significantly beneficial production technique.

The main purpose of the study was to find out the extent of use of flood prone lands to mango production by planting different mango varieties, to find out the cause and effect of transformation of flood prone lands to mango production, to measure perception of the growers about using flood prone lands to mango production and explore the relationships between the selected demographic characteristics of the farmers and their perception of using flood prone lands to mango production. The study was conducted in four villages of Shibganj upazila under Chapainawabganj district. The sample size 80, randomly selected from a population of 400 mango growers. Interview schedule was used to collect data. Data were collected personally during 25 July to 15 September, 2016. Pearsons product moment correlation co-efficient (r) was computed to explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the mango growers and their perception on using flood prone lands to mango production. The main three causes of transformation of flood prone lands to mango production were: Mango provides more earning than field crops, the neighbours and other land owners who planted mango trees serve as facilitators for others to follow the same and mango plants once planted give good return for several years; but in case of other crops, one has to grow crops every year. The most important effects of mango cultivation were found: Mango cultivation maintains environmental balance, it helps in earning more money and provide bio-fertilizer by the fallen leaf. The majority (78.75%) of the mango growers possessed high positive perception about mango raising in the flood prone area while 20% had moderate perception about transformation of flood prone lands to mango production. Among the 11 selected socio-economic characteristics of the mango growers, eight characteristics namely education, annual income, farm size, cosmopoliteness, media exposure, organizational participation, innovativeness and knowledge on mango production had positive significant relationship with their perception of using flood prone lands to mango production. The mango growers mentioned a number of problems as well as probable solutions in transformation of flood prone lands to mango production. By taking proper and timely initiatives the transformation process should be enhanced to increase quality mango production and socio-economic development of mango growers. [J Bangladesh Agril Univ 2021; 19(1.000): 109-118]

In this study, noble metal-free Co(OH)F and CoP nanorod electrocatalysts were prepared and explored as bifunctional oxygen electrodes (BOE) in anion exchange membrane-unitized regenerative fuel cells (AEM-URFCs). A CoP nanorod was synthesized from Co(OH)F via the hydrothermal treatment of cobalt nitrate, ammonium fluoride, and urea, followed by phosphorization. The crystal structures, surface morphologies, pore distributions, and elemental statuses of the obtained catalysts were analyzed to identify the changes caused by the incorporation of fluorine and phosphorus. The presence of F and P was confirmed through EDS and XPS analyses, respectively. Using these catalysts, the AEM-based URFCs were operated with hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell mode and pure water in the electrolysis mode. In addition, the electrocatalytic activities of the catalysts were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In the AEM-URFC test, the CoP catalyst in the BOE delivered the best performance in the fuel cell mode (105 mA cm−2 at 0.3 V), and Co(OH)F was suitable for the water electrolyzer mode (30 mA cm−2 at 2.0 V). CoP and Co(OH)F exhibited higher round trip efficiency (RTE) and power densities than the conventional Co3O4 catalyst.

The detection of microorganisms like Pseudomonas are very important as they trigger an infection in human blood, lungs, and different parts of the body causing various ailments. In this paper, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor based on photonic crystal fiber (PCF) has been proposed to detect the presence of Pseudomonas bacteria with attractive performance characteristics. The sensor is designed using a simple circular lattice of PCF, coated with a thin chemically stable gold layer. The performance investigation of the sensor is numerically carried out by using a finite element (FE) based simulation tool where the highest wavelength and amplitude sensitivity are found as 20,000 nm/RIU and 1380 RIU−1, respectively. The sensor shows an excellent spectral resolution of the highest value of $5.26\times 10^{-6}$ RIU, ensuring the capability of identifying a very small change in analyte refractive index (RI) within the range of 1.33 to 1.42. The performance investigation is also carried out altering the diameter of air holes, pitch, and gold layer thickness to explore the variation in phase matching conditions due to the change in structural parameters. As the sensor is adept at detecting the sample with high sensitivity and sensing resolution, the proposed sensor can be highly efficient in detecting Pseudomonas bacteria as well as other organic compounds, and biological analytes.

Global flood hazard is gradually increasing. Though it is impossible to avoid them, losses and damage of hazards (e.g., floods, cyclones, and earthquakes) could be efficiently reduced by reducing household vulnerability with appropriate measures. This study aims to quantitatively measure the household vulnerability of flood hazards as a mitigation tool. It also proposed a unique approach to quantify flood-hazard household vulnerability, and shows its application in the flood prone city of Dhaka as an example case. Data were collected from both slum and non-slum areas to cover the entire urban habitat, and to compare their level of flood vulnerability. A total of 300 households were surveyed by structured questionnaire on the basis of five factors (economic, social, environmental, structural, and institutional) of flood vulnerability. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to measure individual household vulnerability scores by using the relative weightage of variables and indicators with proper standardisation. Analytical results demonstrated that 63.06% slum and 20.02% non-slum households were highly vulnerable to floods. In addition, this paper determined and assessed responsible factors for household flood vulnerability in Dhaka. For structural vulnerability, results exhibited that 82% of slum households were highly vulnerable, and 95.3% of non-slum households were moderately vulnerable. Socially, 67.3% of slum and 78.7% of non-slum households were moderately and low-vulnerable. The majority of slum and non-slum households (84% and 59.3%, respectively) showed high and moderate vulnerability with respect to economic vulnerability. Moreover, 69.3% of slum and 65.3% of nonslum household institutional vulnerability levels were high. Of slum inhabitants, 63.3% were environmentally at high risk, and 78% of non-slum habitats were in the low-vulnerability category. However, as an effective tool to measure location-specific vulnerability, it is applicable for the measuring vulnerability of other cities in the world with proper customisation. On the basis of this study, future research could be conducted with more factors, variables, and indicators of human vulnerability to natural or artificial hazards/disasters. Future work may provide a better reflection of the vulnerability status of single/multiple hazard(s)/disaster(s).

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic. The seriousness of COVID-19 can be realized from the number of victims worldwide and large number of deaths. This paper presents an efficient deep semantic segmentation network (DeepLabv3Plus). Initially, the dynamic adaptive histogram equalization is utilized to enhance the images. Data augmentation techniques are then used to augment the enhanced images. The second stage builds a custom convolutional neural network model using several pretrained ImageNet models and compares them to repeatedly trim the best-performing models to reduce complexity and improve memory efficiency. Several experiments were done using different techniques and parameters. Furthermore, the proposed model achieved an average accuracy of 99.6% and an area under the curve of 0.996 in the COVID-19 detection. This paper will discuss how to train a customized smart convolutional neural network using various parameters on a set of chest X-rays with an accuracy of 99.6%.

ObjectivesPaediatric cancer is a leading cause of death for children. Children in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) were four times more likely to die than children in high-income countries (HICs). This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the delivery of healthcare services worldwide, and exacerbated the disparity in paediatric cancer outcomes between LMICs and HICs.DesignA multicentre, international, collaborative cohort study.Setting91 hospitals and cancer centres in 39 countries providing cancer treatment to paediatric patients between March and December 2020.ParticipantsPatients were included if they were under the age of 18 years, and newly diagnosed with or undergoing active cancer treatment for Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, Wilms’ tumour, sarcoma, retinoblastoma, gliomas, medulloblastomas or neuroblastomas, in keeping with the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer.Main outcome measureAll-cause mortality at 30 days and 90 days.Results1660 patients were recruited. 219 children had changes to their treatment due to the pandemic. Patients in LMICs were primarily affected (n=182/219, 83.1%). Relative to patients with paediatric cancer in HICs, patients with paediatric cancer in LMICs had 12.1 (95% CI 2.93 to 50.3) and 7.9 (95% CI 3.2 to 19.7) times the odds of death at 30 days and 90 days, respectively, after presentation during the COVID-19 pandemic (pConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has affected paediatric oncology service provision. It has disproportionately affected patients in LMICs, highlighting and compounding existing disparities in healthcare systems globally that need addressing urgently. However, many patients with paediatric cancer continued to receive their normal standard of care. This speaks to the adaptability and resilience of healthcare systems and healthcare workers globally.

Oligo(L-lactic acid) (OLLA) was synthesized by ring opening polymerization of L-lactides using stannous octoate (0.03 wt% of lactide). While this served as the initiator, L-lactic acids were the co-initiators at 140 °C for 10 h, wherein L-lactic acids were prepared by hydrolytic degradation of L-lactides at 100 °C for 1 h. The molecular weight or degree of polymerization was controlled with monomer/co-initiator ratio (mol/mol). α-cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) were extracted from jute fiber by subsequent treatment with sodium chlorite (Na2ClO2), NaOH and H2SO4. Grafting of OLLA onto α-cellulose and MCC in toluene was carried out using para-toluene sulphonic acid as a catalyst and potassium persulphate (KPS) as an initiator at 130 °C under 380 mm (Hg) pressure for 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 h. New properties of α-cellulose and MCC were observed due to the successful grafting onto α-cellulose and MCC. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were conducted in order to confirm grafting of OLLA onto cellulose and MCC. The FTIR analysis results showed there are some new characteristic absorption peaks appeared (1728 to 1732 cm−1) in the spectrum, which confirmed the grafting of OLLA onto α-cellulose and MCC was successful. SEM images of α-cellulose and MCC before and after grafting revealed significant changes in surface morphology. Grafting of MCC could be more effective for further application in comparison to α-cellulose.

Education is the backbone of a nation. Only a splendid mentor can provide the educational system for the country by using his or her wisdom. Teachers are obligate to universal and quality education for all; they are central to shaping the minds and attitudes of the coming generations to deal with new global challenges and opportunities. In many countries, the quality of education is undermined by a severe deficit of teachers. The shortage of qualified teachers is hampering efforts in many countries to achieve quality education for all. Teachers are often lacking of good resources such as teaching materials, textbooks, proper training etc. The quality of teaching is cardinal to proper learning outcomes. This implies an education system that attracts and retains a magnificent teaching staff and supports teachers in the classroom, as well as in their continued professional development. Higher education with research is one of the important parts of the education system. The key aims of higher education are to generate the new knowledge, explore research works on different social and development issues, anticipate the needs of the economy and prepare highly skilled workers. In these contexts, higher education should be standard, welfare and sustainable development oriented. The present paper intends to analyze the higher education system of Bangladesh in the light of diversity, quality and accessibility. Journal of Science Foundation 2019;17(2):46-53

This paper evaluates the scope and relative unfeasibility of communicative language teaching (CLT) that was introduced at higher secondary level in Bangladesh to innovate English language teaching (ELT) by replacing grammar translation method (GTM). To substantiate the evaluation, a survey intended to determine the feasibility and relative drawbacks of CLT was made. A total of 100 teachers and 100 students participated in the survey of 10 different colleges of Dhaka and Khulna metropolitan cities of Bangladesh and two different questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data from randomly selected teachers and students. The study reveals that most of the EFL students in Bangladesh could not succeed in learning English language through CLT in spite of studying it for twelve years at their secondary and higher secondary levels. The paper also examines multifaceted problems affecting English language teaching and learning through CLT such as most of the classrooms of Bengali medium colleges are not well-furnished with modern language teaching equipment, lack of training and teaching materials, student’s lack of background knowledge, motivation etc. Therefore, the real outcome of CLT in Bangladesh could not meet the initial dream and promise with which it was introduced and eventually became inappropriate and ineffective.This article critically evaluates CLT focusing on multiple barriers and factors instrumental for the failure of the approach at higher secondary level in Bangladesh. Finally, the study concludes with several recommendations to promote English language teaching at higher secondary level in Bangladesh.

Genomic destabilisation is associated with the induction of mutations, including those in cancer-driver genes, and subsequent clonal evolution of cells with abrogated defence systems. Such mutations are not induced when genome stability is maintained; however, the mechanisms involved in genome stability maintenance remain elusive. Here, resveratrol (and related polyphenols) is shown to enhance genome stability in mouse embryonic fibroblasts, ultimately protecting the cells against the induction of mutations in the ARF/p53 pathway. Replication stress-associated DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) that accumulated with genomic destabilisation were effectively reduced by resveratrol treatment. In addition, resveratrol transiently stabilised the expression of histone H2AX, which is involved in DSB repair. Similar effects on the maintenance of genome stability were observed for related polyphenols. Accordingly, we propose that polyphenol consumption can contribute to the suppression of cancers that develop with genomic instability, as well as lifespan extension.

The main purpose of the study was to determine Common Interest Group members attitude towards National Agricultural Technology Programme (NATP) (phase-I) interventions in the selected areas of Mymensingh district and to explore the relationships between eleven selected characteristics of the CIG members and their attitude towards NATP (phase-I) interventions. A total of 110 CIG members were selected from CIG groups reside in Bailor and Rampur unions of Trishal upazila following simple random sampling technique. Data were collected during 23 September to 20 October, 2018 using a structured interview schedule through face-to-face interview method by the principal author himself. Data were analyzed with a combination of descriptive statistics and inferential statistical technique. Eleven selected characteristics of the CIG members namely; age, education, household size, farm size, annual income, farming experience, organizational participation, training received, credit received, agricultural subsidy received and extension media contact were considered to show relationships with their attitude towards NATP (phase-I) interventions. The majority (60%) of the CIG members had highly favourable attitude towards NATP (phase-I) interventions compared to 39.09% of the respondents had moderately favourable attitude and only 0.91% of the respondents had slightly favourable attitude towards NATP (phase-I) interventions. Correlation analyses indicated that the farm size, annual income, agricultural subsidy received and extension media contact had significant positive relationships with respondents attitude towards NATP (phase-I) interventions. So, these four characteristics had significant contributions on the attitude of CIG members. Age, education, household size, farming experience, organizational participation, training received and credit received had no significant relationship with respondents attitude towards NATP (phase-I) interventions. So, these characteristics had no significant contributions on the attitude of CIG members. The CIG members were found with very much enthusiastic about NATP (phase-I) interventions that could help policy makers to continue their efforts on that issue. [J Bangladesh Agril Univ 2020; 18(1.000): 194-202]

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a power conditioner that provides emergency power to a load when the supply power fails. In on-line UPS, the load is always connected to the inverter through the UPS static switch. Specialized expertise was required for collection, analysis, and dissemination of technical information relating to high quality uninterruptible power systems. Inherent in these responsibilities is the coordination of technical and contractual matters relating to the procurement and installation of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems which were required to support these facilities. The proposed circuit incorporates an AC/DC & DC & AC converter, which provided power factor correction and to assure feedback control. In our project when the AC main is available, the rectifier circuit will supply the power to the inverter as well as to the battery and battery will be charged. If the supply power fails suddenly, the battery will supply power to the inverter without any interruption and delay. In the constant current charging technique, a digital charger was designed and controlled through PIC12F675 microcontroller. In the realized system, The PIC16C73B was used as microcontroller. It was used to generate sinusoidal PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signals that are connected to drive n-channel MOSFETs in inverter to assure feedback control and display units. The power circuit of the proposed UPS system was presented and analyzed. Circuit models were derived and a UPS digital control system using a digital signal processing (DSP) with microcontroller has been developed. The uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) are widely used by power supply during interruption of regular power supply due to load shedding, power failure, power fluctuations including telecommunication systems, medical systems, industrial control systems etc.

This paper proposes a distributed dynamic state estimation algorithm considering packet losses in interconnected smart grid subsystems. Particularly, the distributed filter structure is developed in an interconnected way where the packet dropouts occur in communication links between them. The system error dynamic between true and estimate state is written in a compact form after combining all estimation errors. It can be transformed into the linear matrix inequality framework after introducing semidefinite programming variables. Finally, the local and neighboring gains for the distributed estimator are computed after solving the convex optimization problem. The explore method is applied to the IEEE 14-bus system. In doing this, the state-space model of IEEE 14-bus is obtained using the Holt-Winters method. Simulation results are demonstrated considering packet losses and cyber attacks.

This paper represents the performance analysis of the different shapes of antenna balun and feeding techniques for step constant tapered slot antenna. This work also addresses the benefits of antenna balun (circular and rectangular) along with two types of feeding techniques (Microstrip line L-shape and Microstrip line I-shape). The performance of the antenna for each technique is thoroughly investigated using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio software simulation under the resonant frequency of 5.9 GHz. Results demonstrate that the proposed model is an effective tool for improving antenna performance. Moreover, an extensive comparison has been carried out between the two different shapes, with and without antenna balun and between two feeding techniques focusing on return losses, gain, directivity, and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR).

A robotic wheelchair is assumed to be capable of doing tasks like navigation, obstacle detection, etc. using sensors and intelligence. The initial part of the work was development of a cap controlled wheelchair to test and verify the gesture operation. Following that, a real time operating wheelchair was developed consisting of mode changing option between joystick control mode and head gesture control mode as per as the user’s requirement. The wheelchair consists of MPU6050 sensor, joystick module, RF module, battery, dc motor, toggle switch and Arduino. The movement of the head is detected by MPU6050 and the signal is transmitted to the microcontroller. Then the signal is processed by controller and motion of wheelchair is enabled for navigation. The wheelchair was capable of moving left, right, forward and backward direction. The speed of the wheelchair was 4.8 km/h when tested. Design objective of the wheelchair included cost effectiveness without compromising safety, flexibility and mobility for the users.

Despite advances in the development of individual nanogenerators, the level of output energy generation must be increased to meet the demands of commercial electronic systems and to broaden their scope of application. To harvest low-frequency ambient mechanical energy more efficiently, we proposed a highly integrated hybridized piezoelectric-triboelectric-electromagnetic (tristate) nanogenerator in a uniaxial structure. In its highly integrated approach, a piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) based on CsPbBr