Search results for: Mohiuddin A. K. Chowdhury

Authors: Bangoura Issa, Ji-Young Kang, M. T. H. Chowdhury, Ji-Eun Lee, Yong-Ki Hong

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Investigation was carried out for the production of value-added abalone Haliotis discus hannai containing bioactive phlorotannin by feeding phlorotannin-rich seaweed Eisenia bicyclis 2 weeks prior to harvesting. Accumulation of phlorotannins was proceded by feeding with E. bicyclis after 4 days of starvation. HPLC purification afforded two major phlorotannins. Mass spectrometry and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance analysis clarified their structures to be as 7-phloroeckol and eckol. Throughout the feeding period of 20 days, 7-phloroeckolol was accumulated in the muscle (foot muscle tissue) up to 0.18±0.12 mg g-1 dry weight of tissue after 12 days. Eckol reached 0.21±0.03 mg g-1 dry weight of tissue after 18 days. By feeding Laminaria japonica as reference, abalone showed no detection of phlorotannins in the muscle tissue. Seaweed consumption and growth rate of abalone revealed almost similar when feed with E. bicyclis or L. japonicain 20 days. Phlorotannins reduction to half-maximal accumulation values took 1.0 day and 2.7 days for 7-phloroeckol and eckol respectively, after replacing the feed to L. japonica.

Keywords: abalone, accumulation, eisenia bicyclis, phlorotannins

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Authors: Mudassar Mohiuddin, Zahid Iqbal

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Introduction: Clostridium perfringens is an important pathogen responsible for causing enteric diseases in both human and animals. The bacteria produce several toxins. These toxins play vital role in the pathogenesis of various fatal enteric diseases and are classified into five types, on the basis of the differential production of Alpha, Beta, Epsilon and Iota toxins. In addition to the so-called major toxins, there are other toxins like beta2 toxin, produced by some strains of C. perfringens which may play a role in the pathogenesis of disease. Aim of the study: In this study a multiplex PCR assay was developed and used for detection of cpb2 gene to identify the Beta2 harboring isolates among different types of C. perfringens. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of β2-toxin gene in local isolates of Clostridium perfringens. Methodology: This was an experimental study. Random sampling technique was used. A total of 97 sheep and goats were included in this study. All were Pakistani local breeds. The samples were collected during the period from Sep, 2014 to Mar, 2015 from selected districts of Punjab province (Pakistan). Faecal samples were cultured in cooked meat media. The identification of Clostridium perfringens was made on the basis of biochemical tests. Multiplex PCR was performed to identify the toxin genes. Results: A total of 43 C. perfringens isolates were genotyped using multiplex PCR assay. The gene encoding C. perfringens β2-toxin (cpb2) was present in more than 50% of the isolates genotyped. However, the prevalence of this gene varied between sheep and goat isolates. Conclusion: The present study suggests the high occurrence of C. perfringens b2-toxin (cpb2) in the local isolates of Pakistan. As β2-toxin is present in both healthy and diseased animals, so further studies are suggested to establish the role of β2-toxin in pathogenesis of the clostridial enteric diseases.

Keywords: beta 2 toxin gene, clostridium perfringens, enteric diseases, goats, multiplex PCR, sheep

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Authors: Arya Prakash Padhi, Anupam Chakrabarti, Rajib Chowdhury

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Topology or layout optimization often gives better performing economic structures and is very helpful in the conceptual design phase. But traditionally it is being done in finite element-based optimization schemes which, although gives a good result, is very time-consuming especially in 3D structures. Among other alternatives machine learning, especially deep learning-based methods, have a very good potential in resolving this computational issue. Here convolutional neural network (3D-CNN) based variational auto encoder (VAE) is trained using a dataset generated from commercially available topology optimization code ABAQUS Tosca using solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method for compliance minimization. The encoded data in latent space is then fed to a 3D generative adversarial network (3D-GAN) to generate the outcome in 64x64x64 size. Here the network consists of 3D volumetric CNN with rectified linear unit (ReLU) activation in between and sigmoid activation in the end. The proposed network is seen to provide almost optimal results with significantly reduced computational time, as there is no iteration involved.

Keywords: 3D generative adversarial network, deep learning, structural topology optimization, variational auto encoder

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Authors: Sanjoy Barua Chowdhury

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This research is an attempt to examine psychological aspect of the Buddha’s most cardinal and fundamental doctrine of Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda) along with drawing out a clear picture of the constituents from the law of causation and analyzes the mental states and motivational factors behind each constituent among twelvefold links. Meticulous research into the doctrine of Dependent Origination reveals how the main links from the doctrine of dependent origination provide a framework for psychological analysis through volitional formation (saṅkhāra), consciousness (viññāna), mentality and materiality (nāma-rūpa), contact (phassa), feeling (vedanā), craving (tanhā) and clinging (upādāna). This paper further illustrates the notion of perception (saññā) which can be found in the function of volitional formation (saṅkhāra) - a contributing factor, according to modern psychology, in the role of understanding human (puggala) motivation. The psychological analysis of dependent origination expounds the concept of personality highlighting present existence through the inter-relationship of the five faculties (pañcaupadānakkhandhā), viz., form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), volitional formation (saṅkhārā) and consciousness (viññāṇa).

Keywords: dependent origination, perception, motivational factors, feelings

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Authors: Tanima Chowdhury, Sanjay Chattopadhaya, Narayan Ch. Saha

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Khoa is an indigenous heat desiccated milk product having very poor shelf life. At ambient condition, shelf-life of khoa is normally only 2 days. The aim of present study was to determine the effect of benzoic acid as preservative as well as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technology to enhance shelf life of khoa at 27±2°C and 65% RH. During storage, analysis of chemical, sensory as well as microbiological characteristics were taken into consideration to mark distinguishable changes between the package of modified atmosphere technology (MAP) and ordinarily packed khoa (with and without preservative) samples. The results indicated a significant decrease of moisture content, pH and sensory scores and increase in titratable acidity, standard plate count and yeast and mould count during storage, irrespective of the type of packaging conditions. However, the rate of changes in characteristics of product packed in modified atmosphere was found to be slow. The storage study indicated that the khoa packed in ordinary packaging, with and without preservative, was acceptable for 4 and 8 days, respectively, whereas for modified atmosphere packed samples, it was consumable up to 8 and 12 days, respectively.

Keywords: benzoic acid, khoa, modified atmosphere packaging, shelf life

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Authors: Apurba Kanti Chowdhury, Taslima Zahan

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The inclusion of mungbean in a cropping pattern not only increases the cropping intensity but also enriches soil health as well as ensures nutrition for the fast-growing population of Bangladesh. A study was conducted in the farmers’ field during 2013-14 and 2014-15 to observe the performance of four-crop based improve cropping pattern Potato-Mungbean-Jute -t.aman rice against the existing cropping pattern Potato-Jute -t.aman rice at Domar, Nilphamari followed by randomized complete block design with three replications. Two years study revealed that inclusion of mungbean and better management practices in improved cropping pattern provided higher economic benefit over the existing pattern by 73.1%. Moreover, the average yield of potato increased in the improved pattern by 64.3% compared to the existing pattern; however yield of jute and t.aman rice in improved pattern declined by 5.6% and 10.7% than the existing pattern, respectively. Nevertheless, the additional yield of mungbean in the improved pattern helped to increase rice equivalent yield of the whole pattern by 38.7% over the existing pattern. Thus, the addition of mungbean in the existing pattern Potato-Jute -t.aman rice seems to be profitable for the farmers and also might be sustainable if the market channel of mungbean developed.

Keywords: crop diversity, food nutrition, production efficiency, yield improvement

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Authors: Nusrat T. Chowdhury

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Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is becoming a key to success for profitable businesses. The various activities contributing to carbon emissions in a supply chain are transportation, ordering and holding of inventory. This research work develops a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model that considers the scenario of a supply chain with multiple periods, multiple products and multiple suppliers. The model assumes that the demand is deterministic, the buyer has a limited storage space in each period, the buyer is responsible for the transportation cost, a supplier-dependent ordering cost applies for each period in which an order is placed on a supplier and inventory shortage is permissible. The model provides an optimal decision regarding what products to order, in what quantities, with which suppliers, and in which periods in order to maximize the profit. For the purpose of evaluating the carbon emissions, three different carbon regulating policies i.e., carbon cap-and-trade, the strict cap on carbon emission and carbon tax on emissions, have been considered. The proposed MINLP has been validated using a randomly generated data set.

Keywords: green supply chain, carbon emission, mixed integer non-linear program, inventory shortage, carbon cap-and-trade

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Authors: Jahedul Islam Chowdhury, Bao Kha Nguyen, David Thornhill, Roy Douglas, Stephen Glover

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Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is the most commonly used method for recovering energy from small sources of heat. The investigation of the ORC in supercritical condition is a new research area as it has a potential to generate high power and thermal efficiency in a waste heat recovery system. This paper presents a steady state ORC model in supercritical condition and its simulations with a real engine’s exhaust data. The key component of ORC, evaporator, is modelled using finite volume method, modelling of all other components of the waste heat recovery system such as pump, expander and condenser are also presented. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of mass flow rate and evaporator outlet temperature on the efficiency of the waste heat recovery process. Additionally, the necessity of maintaining an optimum evaporator outlet temperature is also investigated. Simulation results show that modification of mass flow rate is the key to changing the operating temperature at the evaporator outlet.

Keywords: Organic Rankine cycle, supercritical condition, steady state model, waste heat recovery

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Authors: Pratap Sriram Sundar, Chandan Chowdhury, Sagar Kamarthi

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Nature has perfected her designs over 3.5 billion years of evolution. Research fields such as biomimicry, biomimetics, bionics, bio-inspired computing, and nature-inspired designs have explored nature-made artifacts and systems to understand nature’s mechanisms and intelligence. Learning from nature, the researchers have generated sustainable designs and innovation in a variety of fields such as energy, architecture, agriculture, transportation, communication, and medicine. Axiomatic design offers a method to judge if a design is good. This paper analyzes design aspects of one of the nature’s amazing object: chicken egg. The functional requirements (FRs) of components of the object are tabulated and mapped on to nature-chosen design parameters (DPs). The ‘independence axiom’ of the axiomatic design methodology is applied to analyze couplings and to evaluate if eggs’ design is good (i.e., uncoupled design) or bad (i.e., coupled design). The analysis revealed that eggs design is a good design, i.e., uncoupled design. This approach can be applied to any nature’s artifacts to judge whether their design is a good or a bad. This methodology is valuable for biomimicry studies. This approach can also be a very useful teaching design consideration of biology and bio-inspired innovation.

Keywords: uncoupled design, axiomatic design, nature design, design evaluation

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Authors: Jyothi Nagraj, Sudeshna Mukherjee, Rajdeep Chowdhury

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Autophagy has recently been linked with cancer cell survival post drug insult contributing to acquisition of resistance. However, the molecular signaling governing autophagic survival response is poorly explored. In our study, in osteosarcoma (OS) cells cisplatin shock was found to activate both MAPK and autophagy signaling. An activation of JNK and autophagy acted as pro-survival strategy, while ERK1/2 triggered apoptotic signals upon cisplatin stress. An increased sensitivity of the cells to cisplatin was obtained with simultaneous inhibition of both autophagy and JNK pathway. Furthermore, we observed that the autophagic stimulation upon drug stress regulates other developmentally active signaling pathways like the Hippo pathway in OS cells. Cisplatin resistant cells were thereafter developed by repetitive drug exposure followed by clonal selection. Basal levels of autophagy were found to be high in resistant cells to. However, the signaling mechanism leading to autophagic up-regulation and its regulatory effect differed in OS cells upon attaining drug resistance. Our results provide valuable clues to regulatory dynamics of autophagy that can be considered for development of improved therapeutic strategy against resistant type cancers.

Keywords: JNK, autophagy, drug resistance, cancer

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Authors: Deawan Rakin Ahamed Remal, Sinthia Chowdhury, Sharun Akter Khushbu, Sheak Rashed Haider Noori

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Native Speech to text synthesis has its own leverage for the purpose of mankind. The extensive nature of art to speaking different accents is common but the purpose of communication between two different accent types of people is quite difficult. This problem will be motivated by the extraction of the wrong perception of language meaning. Thus, many existing automatic speech recognition has been placed to detect text. Overall study of this paper mentions a review of NSTTR (Native Speech Text to Text Recognition) synthesis compared with Text to Text recognition. Review has exposed many text to text recognition systems that are at a very early stage to comply with the system by native speech recognition. Many discussions started about the progression of chatbots, linguistic theory another is rule based approach. In the Recent years Deep learning is an overwhelming chapter for text to text learning to detect language nature. To the best of our knowledge, In the sub continent a huge number of people speak in Bangla language but they have different accents in different regions therefore study has been elaborate contradictory discussion achievement of existing works and findings of future needs in Bangla language acoustic accent.

Keywords: TTR, NSTTR, text to text recognition, deep learning, natural language processing

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Authors: M. G. Mostafa, Manjushree Chowdhury, Tapan Kumar Biswas, , Ananda Kumar Saha

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This study focused on effluents characterization and treatment process to reduce of toxicity from tannery effluents. Tanning industry is one of the oldest industries in the world. It is typically characterized as pollutants generated industries which produce wide varieties of high strength toxic chemicals. The study was conducted during the year 2008 to 2009 and the tannery effluents were collected three times in a year from the outlet of some selected leather industries located in Hagaribagh industrial zone Dhaka, Bangladesh. The analysis results of the raw effluents reveal that the effluents were yellowish-brown color, having basic pH, very high value of BOD5¬¬, COD, TDS, TSS, TS, and high concentrations of Cr, Na, SO42-, Cl- and other organic and inorganic constituents. The tannery effluents were treated with various doses of FeCl3 after settling and a subsequent filtration through sand-stone. The study observed that coagulant (FeCl3) 150 mg/L dose around neutral pH showed the best removal efficiency for major physico-chemical parameters. The analysis results of illustrate that the most of the physical and chemical parameters were found well below the prescribed permissible limits for effluent discharged. The study suggests that tannery effluents could be treated by a combined process consisting of settling, filtering and coagulating with FeCl3.

Keywords: characterization, effluent, tannery, treatment

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Authors: Tahsin Shameem, Chowdhury Sadman Jahan, Mohammad Alam

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Interest about Net Zero Energy Buildings have gained traction in recent years following the need to sustain energy consumption with generations on site and to reduce dependence on grid supplied energy from large plants using fossil fuel. With this end in view, building integrated photovoltaics are being studied attempting to utilize all exterior facades of a building to generate power. In this paper, we have looked at the physical parameters defining a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and discussed their impact on energy harvest. Following our discussion and experimental data obtained from literature, we have attempted to optimize these physical parameters accordingly so as to allow maximum light absorption for a given active layer thickness. We then modified a planer DSSC design with our optimized properties to allow adequate light transmission which demonstrated a high fill factor and an External Quantum Efficiency (EQE) of greater than 9% by computer aided design and simulation. In conclusion, a DSSC based solar window with such high output values even after such high light transmission through it definitely flags a promising future for this technology and our work elicits the need for further study and practical experimentation.

Keywords: net zero energy building, integrated photovoltaics, dye sensitized solar cell, fill factor, External Quantum Efficiency

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Authors: Nusrat T. Chowdhury, M. F. Baki, A. Azab

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The production planning problem is concerned with specifying the optimal quantities to produce in order to meet the demand for a prespecified planning horizon with the least possible expenditure. Making the right decisions in production planning will affect directly the performance and productivity of a manufacturing firm, which is important for its ability to compete in the market. Therefore, developing and improving solution procedures for production planning problems is very significant. In this paper, we develop a Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition of a multi-item hierarchical production planning problem with capacity constraint and present a column generation approach to solve the problem. The original Mixed Integer Linear Programming model of the problem is decomposed item by item into a master problem and a number of subproblems. The capacity constraint is considered as the linking constraint between the master problem and the subproblems. The subproblems are solved using the dynamic programming approach. We also propose a multi-step iterative capacity allocation heuristic procedure to handle any kind of infeasibility that arises while solving the problem. We compare the computational performance of the developed solution approach against the state-of-the-art heuristic procedure available in the literature. The results show that the proposed heuristic-based decomposition approach improves the solution quality by 20% as compared to the literature.

Keywords: inventory, multi-level capacitated lot-sizing, emission control, setup carryover

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Authors: Chowdhury Md. Navim Kabir

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Renal impairment is one of the most severe non-communicable diseases around the world. Especially patients with diagnosed/newly diagnosed renal impairment who need surgery are more focused on preoperative and postoperative preparation. Serum creatinine is the prime biochemical marker for assessing renal function, and the level of impairment is widely measured by this marker as well as Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). Objective: Factors responsible for fluctuating serum creatinine during preoperative and postoperative periods and minimizing the process of serum creatinine is the ultimate goal of this study. Method: 37 patients participated in this cross-sectional study who were previously diagnosed/newly diagnosed. They were admitted to different tertiary-level hospitals for emergency or elective surgery. Fifteen patients were admitted in the renal function impairment stage and 22 were admitted as normal patients’. Values of creatinine at the pre-admission stage and 2nd/3rd post-admission follow-up were compared. Results: 0.41 was the average of 22 patients' creatinine between pre-admission and 2nd/3rd follow-up. The responsible factor like prolonged staying, immobilization, co-morbidities, different preoperative antibiotics and Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) were also inducers for creatinine elevation. After postoperative hemodialysis rapid decrease of creatinine is seen in normal patients, but this decrease is very much minor in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) diagnosed patients.

Keywords: CKD, Meropenam, NSAID, comorbidities, immobilized

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Authors: Hossain A., Chowdhury S. I.

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Introduction: The use of a gamma camera is a standard procedure in nuclear medicine facilities or hospitals to diagnose chronic kidney disease (CKD), but the gamma camera does not precisely stage the disease. The authors sought to determine whether they could use an artificial neural network to determine whether CKD was in normal or abnormal stages based on GFR values (ANN). Method: The 250 kidney patients (Training 188, Testing 62) who underwent an ultrasonography test to diagnose a renal test in our nuclear medical center were scanned using a gamma camera. Before the scanning procedure, the patients received an injection of ⁹⁹ᵐTc-DTPA. The gamma camera computes the pre- and post-syringe radioactive counts after the injection has been pushed into the patient's vein. The artificial neural network uses the softmax function with cross-entropy loss to determine whether CKD is normal or abnormal based on the GFR value in the output layer. Results: The proposed ANN model had a 99.20 % accuracy according to K-fold cross-validation. The sensitivity and specificity were 99.10 and 99.20 %, respectively. AUC was 0.994. Conclusion: The proposed model can distinguish between normal and abnormal stages of CKD by using an artificial neural network. The gamma camera could be upgraded to diagnose normal or abnormal stages of CKD with an appropriate GFR value following the clinical application of the proposed model.

Keywords: artificial neural network, glomerular filtration rate, stages of the kidney, gamma camera

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Authors: Ranju Chowdhury, Santosh K. Sarkar

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Trace element accumulation potential of ten mangrove species in individual plant tissues (leaves, bark and root/pneumatophore) along with host sediments was carried out at 2 study sites of diverse environmental stresses of Indian Sundarban Wetland, a UNESCO world heritage site. The study was undertaken with the following objectives: (i) to investigate the extent of accumulation and the distribution of trace metals in plant tissues (ii) to determine whether sediment trace metal levels are correlated with trace metal levels in tissues and (iii) to find out the suitable candidate for phytoremediation species. Mangrove sediments showed unique potential in many- fold increase for most trace metals than plant tissues due to their inherent physicochemical properties. The concentrations of studied 11 trace elements (expressed in µg g -1) showed wide range of variations in host sediment with the following descending order: Fe (2865.31-3019.62) > Mn (646.04- 648.47 > Cu (35.03- 41.55) > Zn (32.51- 36.33) > Ni (34.4- 36.60) > Cr (27.5- 29.54) > Pb (11.6- 20.34) > Co (6.79- 8.55) > As (3.22- 4.41) > Cd (0.19- 0.22) > Hg (0.06- 0.07). The ranges of concentration of trace metals (expressed in µg g -1) for As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in plant tissues were 0.006- 0.31, 0.02- 2.97, 0.10- 4.80, 0.13- 6.49, 4.46- 48.30, 9.20- 938.13, 0.02- 0.13, 9.8- 1726.24, 5.41- 11.34, 0.04 - 7.64, 3.81- 52.20 respectively. Among all trace elements, Cd and Zn were highly bioaccumulated in Excoecaria agallocha (2.97 and 52.20 µg g -1 respectively). The bio- concentration factor (BCF) showed its maximum value (15.5) in E. agallocha for Cd, suggesting that it can be considered as a high-efficient plant for trace metal bioaccumulation. Therefore, phytoremediation could be extensively used for the removal of the toxic contaminants for sustainable management of Sundarban coastal regions.

Keywords: Indian Sundarban, mangroves, phytoremediation, trace elements

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Authors: Fariha Akhter Chowdhury, Mohammad Nurul Islam, Anamika Saha, Sabrina Mahboob, Abu Syed Md. Mosaddek, Md. Omar Faruque, Most. Fahmida Begum, Rajib Bhattacharjee

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Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common infectious diseases in Bangladesh where Escherichia coli is the prevalent organism and responsible for most of the infections. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is known to act as a major virulence factor of E. coli. The present study aimed to purify, extract and visualize LPS of E. coli clinical isolates from urine samples of patients with UTI. The E. coli strain was isolated from the urine samples of 10 patients with UTI and then the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolates was determined. The purification of LPS was carried out using the hot aqueous-phenol method and separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which was directly stained using the modified silver staining method and Coomassie blue. The silver-stained gel demonstrated both smooth and rough type LPS by showing trail-like band patterns with the presence and lacking O-antigen region, respectively. Coomassie blue staining showed no band assuring the absence of any contaminating protein. Our successful extraction of purified LPS from E. coli isolates of UTI patients’ urine samples can be an important step to understand the UTI disease conditions.

Keywords: Escherichia coli, electrophoresis, polyacrylamide gel, silver staining, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)

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Authors: Ashish Kumar, T. Venkatappa Rao, Subhendu Ray Chowdhury, S. V. S. Ramana Reddy

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The main objective of this work is to determine the influence of electron beam irradiation on thermal and mechanical properties of Poly (lactic acid) (PLA)/Poly (ethylene-co-glycidyle methacrylate) (PEGM)/Hexagonal boron nitride (HBN) blend-composites. To reduce the brittleness and improve the toughness of PLA, the PLA/PEGM blend is prepared by using twin-screw Micro compounder. However, the heat deflection temperature (HDT) and other tensile properties were reduced. The HBN has been incorporated into the PLA/PEGM blend as part per hundred i.e. 5 phr and 10phr to improve the HDT. The prepared specimens of blend and blend-composites were irradiated to high energy (4.5 MeV) electron beam (E-beam) at different radiation doses to introduce the cross linking among the polymer chains and uniform dispersion of HBN particles in the PLA/PEGM/HBN blend-composites. The further improvement in the notched impact strength and HDT have been achieved in the case of PLA/PEGM/HBN blend-composites. The irradiated PLA/PEGM/HBN 5phr blend composite shows high notched impact strength and HDT as compared to other unirradiated and E-beam irradiated blend and blend-composites. The improvements in the yield strength and tensile modulus have also been noticed in the case of E-beam irradiated PLA/PEGM/HBN blend-composites as compared to unirradiated blend-composites.

Keywords: blend-composite, e-beam, HDT, PEGM, PLA

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Authors: Mohammad Muntasir Maruf, Muhammad Zillur Rahman Khan, Nasim Jahan, Md. Waziul Alam Chowdhury, Satparkash, Md. Nozrul Islam

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Background: Substance use disorders have become a major public health problem in Bangladesh. Objectives: The present study was designed to assess the pattern of substance use and factors related to it among the hospitalized patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. All the patients who were admitted in a private drug de-addiction clinic in the capital city (Dhaka) of Bangladesh during 1 July-31 December, 2013 and diagnosed as a case of substance use disorder by applying Structured Clinical Interview for DSM- Clinician Version were enrolled in the study. Data were collected through face to face interview by a semi-structured questionnaire and the information was complemented by the case-notes. Study subjects were 105 in number. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: Most (90.5%) of the respondents were male. The mean age of the respondents was 28.8 (± 8.0) years. Majority (91.4%) were poly-substance users. Most (27.6%) respondents used 3 types of substances. Smoking or inhalation was the route used by most (90.5%) respondents. More than three-fourth (81%) of the respondents used nicotine. Among the other substances, majority (79%) used opiates group, followed by cannabinoids group (55.2%) and alcohol (41%). Curiosity, peer pressure and to have enjoyment or fun were identified as the common reasons for initiating substance use. Conclusions: A high proportion of poly-substance use was found. The study findings would help in management and prevention strategy of substance use in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Bangladesh, de-addiction clinic, poly-substance users, substance use disorder

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Authors: Osama Abaza, Tanay Datta Chowdhury

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As a driver's speed increases, so do the probability of an incident and likelihood of injury. The presence of equipment, personnel, and a changing landscape in construction zones create greater potential for incident. This is especially concerning in Alaska, where summer construction activity, coinciding with the peak annual traffic volumes, cannot be avoided. In order to reduce vehicular speeding in work zones, and therefore the probability of crash and incident occurrence, variable speed limit (VSL) systems can be implemented in the form of radar speed display trailers since the radar speed display trailers were shown to be effective at reducing vehicular speed in construction zones. Allocation of VSL not only help reduce the 85th percentile speed but also it will predominantly reduce mean speed as well. Total of 2147 incidents along with 385 crashes occurred only in one month around the construction zone in the Alaska which seriously requires proper attention. This research provided a thorough crash analysis to better understand the cause and provide proper countermeasures. Crashes were predominantly recoded as vehicle- object collision and sideswipe type and thus significant amount of crashes fall in the group of no injury to minor injury type in the severity class. But still, 35 major crashes with 7 fatal ones in a one month period require immediate action like the implementation of the VSL system as it proved to be a speed reducer in the construction zone on Alaskan roadways.

Keywords: speed, construction zone, crash, severity

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Authors: Sunil Mekale, Debasish Chowdhury, Sanchita Patnaik, Amitav Das, Ashok Agarwal

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Background: Odisha is a low HIV prevalence state in India (ANC-HIV positivity of 0.42% as per HIV sentinel surveillance 2010-2011); however, it is an important source migration state with 3.2% of male migrants reporting to be PLHIV. USAID Public Health Foundation of India -PIPPSE project is piloting a source-destination corridor programme between Odisha and Gujarat. In Odisha, the focus has been on developing a comprehensive strategy to reach out to the out migrants and their spouses in the place of their origin based on their availability. The project has made concerted attempts to identify vulnerable districts with high out migration and high positivity rate. Description: 48 out of 97 ICTCs were selected from nine top high out migration districts through multistage sampling. A retrospective descriptive analysis of HIV positive male migrants and their spouses for two years (April 2013-March 2015) was conducted. A total of 3,645 HIV positive records were analysed. Findings: Among 34.2% detected HIV positive in the ICTCs, 23.3% were male migrants and 11% were spouses of male migrants; almost 50% of total ICTC attendees. More than 70% of the PLHIV male migrants and their spouses were less than 45 years old. Conclusions: Couple HIV testing approach may be considered for male migrants and their spouses. ICTC data analysis could guide in identifying the locations with high HIV positivity among male migrants and their spouses.

Keywords: HIV testing, migrants, spouse of migrants, Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC)

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Authors: Md. Shakhawat Ullah Chowdhury

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Mobile school is an innovative methodology in non-formal education to increase access to education for children during conflict through theatre for education for appropriate basic education to children during conflict. The continuous exposure to harsh environments and the nature of the lifestyles of children in conflict make them vulnerable. However, the mobile school initiative takes into consideration the mobile lifestyle of children in conflict. Schools are provided considering the pocket area of the street children with portable chalkboards, tin of books and materials as communities move. Teaching is multi-grade to ensure all children in the community benefit. The established mobile schools, while focused on basic literacy and numeracy skills according to traditions of the communities. The school teachers are selected by the community and trained by a theatre activist. These teachers continue to live and move with the community and provide continuous education for children in conflict. The model proposed a holistic team work to deliver education focused services to the street children’s pocket area where the team is mobile. The team consists of three members –an educator (theatre worker), a psychological counsellor and paramedics. The mobile team is responsible to educate street children and also play dramas which specially produce on the basis of national curriculum and awareness issues for street children. Children enjoy play and learn about life skills and basic literacy and numeracy skills which may be a pillar of humanitarian aid during conflict.

Keywords: vulnerable, children in conflict, mobile schooling, child-friendly

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Authors: Tanvir Ahmed, Musfira Rahman, Rumpa Chowdhury

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We performed laboratory experiments to assess the suitability of using medical waste incineration fly ash in cement as a construction material based on the engineering properties of fly ash-cement matrix and the leaching potential of toxic heavy metals from the stabilized mix. Fly ash-cement samples were prepared with different proportions of fly ash (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by weight) in the laboratory controlled conditions. The solidified matrix exhibited a compressive strength from 3950 to 4980 psi when fly ash is mixed in varying proportions. The 28-day compressive strength has been found to decrease with the increase in fly ash content, but it meets the minimum requirement of compressive strength for cement-mortar. Soundness test results for cement-mortar mixes having up to 15% fly ash. Final and initial setting times of cement have been found to generally increase with fly ash content. Water requirement (for normal consistency) also increased with the increase in fly ash content in cement. Based on physical properties of the cement-mortar matrix it is recommended that up to 10% (by weight) medical waste incineration fly ash can be incorporated for producing cement-mortar of optimum quality. Leaching behaviours of several targeted heavy metals (As, Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb, Hg and Zn) were analyzed using Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) on fly ash and solidified fly ash-cement matrix. It was found that the leached concentrations of As, Cu, Cd, Pb and Zn were reduced by 80.13%, 89.47%, 33.33% and 23.9% respectively for 10% fly ash incorporated cement-mortar matrix compared to that of original fly ash. The leached concentrations of heavy metals were from the matrix were far below the EPA land disposal limits. These results suggest that the solidified fly ash incorporated cement-mortar matrix can effectively confine and immobilize the heavy metals contained in the fly ash.

Keywords: cement-mortar, fly ash, leaching, waste management

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Authors: Priyanka Chowdhury, Asitikantha Sarma, Utpal Ghosh

Abstract:

Hadron therapy using high Linear Energy Transfer (LET) ion beam is producing promising clinical results worldwide. The major advantages are its ability to kill radio-resistant tumor and its anti-metastatic activity. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) inhibitors have been widely used as radiosensitizer, but its role in metastasis is unknown. The purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of PARP-1 depletion in combination with either Carbon Ion Beam (CIB) or gamma irradiation on metastatic potential of cultured cancerous cells. A549 cells were irradiated with CIB (0-4Gy) or gamma (0, 2, 4, 6 and 10 Gy) with and without PARP-1 inhibition. The metastatic potential of the cells was determined by cell migratory assay, expression, and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9, expression of Cadherin, Fibronectin, and Vimentin. CIB exposure reduced migratory property and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 significantly. CIB with PARP-1 inhibition reduced cell migration and Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMPs) activity in a synergistic manner. Expression of MMPs was also down-regulated in CIB and combined treatment. On the contrary, MMP- 2 and MMP-9 activity was significantly increased in gamma irradiated cells but decreased upon combined treatment of gamma and PARP-1 inhibitor. MMPs expression and migration was reduced when gamma irradiation was combined with PARP-1 inhibition. Thus, our study clearly demonstrates that PARP-1 inhibition in combination with either high or low LET can significantly suppress metastatic potential in cancer cells and thereby can be a promising tool in controlling metastatic cancers.

Keywords: high LET, low LET, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), PARP-1

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Authors: Debjani Ghosh, Goutam Chowdhury, Prosenjit Samanta, Asish Kumar Mukhopadhyay

Abstract:

Acute diarrhoea caused by diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) is one of the major public health problem in developing countries, mainly in Asia and Africa. DEC consists of six pathogroups, but the majority of the cases were associated with the three pathogropus, enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC). Hence, we studied the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of these three major DEC pathogroups in hospitalized diarrheal patients in Kolkata, India, during 2012-2019 with a large sample size. 8,891 stool samples were processed, and 7.8% of them was identified as DEC infection screened by multiplex PCR, in which ETEC was most common (47.7%) followed by EAEC (38.4%) and EPEC (13.9%). Clinical patient history suggested that children <5 years of age were mostly affected with ETEC and EAEC, whereas people within >5-14 years of age were significantly associated with EPEC and ETEC infections. Antibiogram profile showed a high prevalence of multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates among DEC (56.9%), in which 9% were resistant to antibiotics of six different antimicrobial classes. Screening of the antibiotic resistance conferring genes in DEC showed the presence of blaCTX-M (30.2%) in highest number followed by blaTEM (27.5%), tetB (18%), sul2 (12.6%), strA (11.8%), aadA1 (9.8%), blaOXA-1 (9%), dfrA1 (1.6%) and blaSHV (1.2%) which indicates the existence of mobile genetic elements in those isolates. Therefore, the presence of MDR DEC strains in higher number alarms the public health authorities to take preventive measures before the upsurge of the DEC caused diarrhea cases in near future.

Keywords: diarrheagenic escherichia coli, ETEC, EAEC, EPEC

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Manendra Singh Parihar, Sandip Ghosh Chowdhury

Abstract:

Austenitic stainless steels are widely used and give a good combination of properties. When this steel is plastically deformed, a phase transformation of the metastable Face Centred Cubic Austenite to the stable Body Centred Cubic (α’) or to the Hexagonal close packed (ԑ) martensite may occur, leading to the enhancement in the mechanical properties like strength. The work was based on variant selection and corresponding texture analysis for the strain induced martensitic transformation during deformation of the parent austenite FCC phase to form the product HCP and the BCC martensite phases separately, obeying their respective orientation relationships. The automated method for reconstruction of the parent phase orientation using the EBSD data of the product phase orientation is done using the MATLAB and TSL-OIM software. The method of triplets was used which involves the formation of a triplet of neighboring product grains having a common variant and linking them using a misorientation-based criterion. This led to the proper reconstruction of the pre-transformation phase orientation data and thus to its microstructure and texture. The computational speed of current method is better compared to the previously used methods of reconstruction. The reconstruction of austenite from ԑ and α’ martensite was carried out for multiple samples and their IPF images, pole figures, inverse pole figures and ODFs were compared. Similar type of results was observed for all samples. The comparison gives the idea for estimating the correct sequence of the transformation i.e. γ → ε → α’ or γ → α’, during deformation of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel.

Keywords: variant selection, reconstruction, EBSD, austenitic stainless steel, martensitic transformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 498

Authors: Toslim Uddin Khan, Jesmin Akter, Mohiuddin Ahmed

Abstract:

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and personal health-care practice is a critical issue to prevent morbidity and other reproductive health complications among adolescent girls in Bangladesh. Inadequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities lead to unhealthy MHM practices that resulted in poor reproductive health outcomes. It is evident from different studies that superstitions and misconception are more common in rural communities that limit young girls’ access to and understanding of the menstrual hygiene and self care practices. The state-of-the-art approach of Social Marketing Company (SMC) is proved to be instrumental in delivering reinforcing health messages, making public health and hygiene products available at the door steps of the community through community mobilization programs in rural Bangladesh. School health program is one of the flagship interventions of SMC to equip adolescent girls and boys with correct knowledge of health and hygiene practices among themselves, their families and peers. In Bangladeshi culture, adolescent girls often feel shy to ask fathers or male family members about buying sanitary napkin from local pharmacy and they seem to be reluctant to seek help regarding their menstrual problems. A recent study reveals that 48% adolescent girls are using sanitary napkins while majority of them are unaware of menstrual hygiene practices in Bangladesh. Under school adolescent program, SMC organizes health education sessions for adolescent girls from grade seven to ten using enter-educate approach with special focus on sexual and reproductive health and menstrual hygiene issues including delaying marriage and first pregnancy. In addition, 2500 rural women entrepreneurs branded as community sales agents are also involved in disseminating health messages and selling priority health products including sanitary napkin at the household level. These women entrepreneurs are serving as a source of sustainable supply of the sanitary napkins for the rural adolescent girls and thereby they are earning profit margins on the sales they make. A recent study on the impact of adolescent program activities reveals that majority (71%) of the school adolescent girls are currently using sanitary napkins. Health education equips and empowers adolescent girls with accurate knowledge about menstrual hygiene practices and self-care as well. Therefore, engagement of female entrepreneurs in school adolescent health program at the community level is one of the promising ways to improve menstrual hygiene practices leading to increased use of sanitary napkin in rural and semi-rural communities in Bangladesh.

Keywords: school adolescent program, social marketing, women entrepreneurs, menstrual hygiene management

Procedia PDF Downloads 200

Authors: Manendra Singh Parihar, Sandip Ghosh Chowdhury

Abstract:

Austenitic stainless steels are widely used and give a good combination of properties. When this steel is plastically deformed, a phase transformation of the metastable Face Centred Cubic Austenite to the stable Body Centred Cubic (α’) or to the Hexagonal close packed (ԑ) martensite may occur, leading to the enhancement in the mechanical properties like strength. The work was based on variant selection and corresponding texture analysis for the strain induced martensitic transformation during deformation of the parent austenite FCC phase to form the product HCP and the BCC martensite phases separately, obeying their respective orientation relationships. The automated method for reconstruction of the parent phase orientation using the EBSD data of the product phase orientation is done using the MATLAB and TSL-OIM software. The method of triplets was used which involves the formation of a triplet of neighboring product grains having a common variant and linking them using a misorientation-based criterion. This led to the proper reconstruction of the pre-transformation phase orientation data and thus to its micro structure and texture. The computational speed of current method is better compared to the previously used methods of reconstruction. The reconstruction of austenite from ԑ and α’ martensite was carried out for multiple samples and their IPF images, pole figures, inverse pole figures and ODFs were compared. Similar type of results was observed for all samples. The comparison gives the idea for estimating the correct sequence of the transformation i.e. γ → ε → α’ or γ → α’, during deformation of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel.

Keywords: variant selection, reconstruction, EBSD, austenitic stainless steel, martensitic transformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 490

Authors: Azaz Zaman, Imtiaz Uddin Chowdhury, Mohammad Shariful Islam

Abstract:

Corporate governance has become a crucial issue in both the business and academic world as a result of world-wide financial scandals and lack of trust in corporate practices. There is no doubt that in order to thrive and attain growth in the market, a company must earn the trust of its stakeholders by consistently delivering on its commitments. Directors of the companies thus comprehend the importance of upfront communication with relevant stakeholders to increase their confidence. The authors of this article argue that practicing good corporate governance is not enough in this highly competitive market place; corporate leaders need to market their good corporate governance practices in order to make the company more attractive to investors. This article also contends that the strength of corporate governance relies wholly upon the extent to which it is communicated simply, effectively and unceasingly to its stakeholders. The main objective of this study, therefore, is to explore the importance of branding good corporate governance in order to increase corporate brand equity, attract investors, and capture market share. A structured questionnaire comprising three sections and a total of 34 questions was prepared and surveyed by the authors among respondents residing in Bangladesh and who also have an academic and corporate background, to investigate the potential impact of branding good corporate governance in the market place. High mean values for individual questions and overall section depict that communicating and branding good corporate governance to the stakeholders will not only boost the investors’ confidence but also increase the corporate brand equity, yielding both profitable and sustainable business environment.

Keywords: brand equity, investors’ preference, good corporate governance, sustainable business environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 114