Crisis of Morals and Values: A Bangladesh Perspective

The morals and values which are held in high esteem are now eroding with the progressing trend of modern civilization. This decline has taken a dangerous turn and in consequence it is very difficult for the peace loving people to bear the miserable aspects of life. Relevant examples have been cited from different scenarios of national and international level to evaluate the gravity of the situation resulting from moral degradation owing to the loss of ethics and values among people of all walks of life. The causes of this vicious state of life have been examined in the study through questionnaire and interview with different sections of people. As it is a topic of great interest, teachers, learners and social elites showed keen sense of interest to reflect their opinions as far as the cause and effect of this crisis are interrelated to make the discussion thought provoking and fruitful. The objective of the study is to raise awareness among the people and the practical utility of morals and values. The result of this survey has been thoroughly analyzed and effective suggestions are given for making concerted efforts for solution so that the problem may not destroy our glorious achievement for the country we have so far done right from our independence. Just like all authors valuable research papers we, the writers have spared no pains to mention some objectives in a crystal clear manner keeping abreast of our sincerest attempts to state what our principal goals are and what we really aspire to achieve, par excellence providing relevant data to the best of our ability with vigorous studies that opened a new horizon to us in this field. Change of mind set and above all a holistic stance toward it may invigorate us to eliminate the evil and inculcate proper values and morals for national standard and eminence both at home and abroad

A Noble Proposal for Internet of Garbage Bins (IoGB)

Various technological devices have been developed to meet the ever-increasing demand of today’s cities. Cities, as we can see today, have become highly technology-oriented. However, technological advancement comes at a cost which in this case is the environment of our planet. Therefore, it is necessary to design green cities, which impose as less harm as it possibly can to the environment. One of the most important characteristics of these new cities is the way of managing their waste. Traditional waste management, which employs various sizes and shapes of trash cans at multiple places that are collected by hand after each use is space-consuming, manual, inefficient and often leads to environmental pollution. Therefore, we require a novel approach that is free from these constraints. This paper proposes a garbage management system integrating the fundamental ideas of smart waste management and ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT). The proposed system employs smart cyclic containers that rotate one by one after being filled with rubbish like ‘Merry Go Round’. This approach of waste management solves the problem of space-constraint in an innovative way. A central server monitors the whole system, which further dispatches an autonomous car to collect the waste when necessary. This IoT integrated waste management system is named ‘Internet of Garbage Bins’ (IoGB)

Effects of New Media on English Language Learning Motivation at Tertiary Level

Different new media tools like Facebook, blogs, wikis, Google docs and YouTube are perceived to have effects on English language (L2) learner motivation at the tertiary level in Bangladesh. However, the effects of new media usage on L2 learner motivation are not defined yet in the context. This study investigates the effects of new media usage on L2 learner motivation at the tertiary level. A qualitative research design is used throughout the study to collect and analyze the data. Data were collected through six Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with 30 tertiary level English language learners from eight universities located in Bangladesh. The findings of the study show that new media usage in English language learning motivates learners immensely, transforms dependent and passive learners into active and autonomous learners, makes them participatory, engaging and enthusiastic in learning, and works as a supplement to the classroom teachings. However, culturally inappropriate and wrong interpretation of some language contents in new media tools demotivates learners. Therefore, the usage of new media tools in enhancing learner motivation needs to be keenly monitored to reduce adverse effects. The study recommends future research to be conducted to assess the negative washback of new media usage affecting L2 learners

Probing the antibacterial and anticancer potential of tryptamine based mixed ligand Schiff base Ruthenium(III) complexes

Development of new chemotherapeutic agents to treat microbial infections and recurrent cancers is of pivotal importance. Metal based drugs particularly ruthenium complexes have the uniqueness and desired properties that make them suitable candidates for the search of potential chemotherapeutic agents. In this study, two mixed ligand Ru(III) complexes Ru(Cl)(2)(SB)(Phen] (RC-1) and Ru(Cl)(2)(SB)(Bipy)] (RC-2) were synthesised and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, UV-Vis, H-1, C-13 NMR spectroscopic techniques and their molecular structure was confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Antibacterial activity evaluation against two Gram-positive (S. pneumonia and E. faecalis) and four Gram-negative strains (P. aurogenosa, K. pneumoniae, S. enterica, and E. coli) revealed their moderate antibacterial activity with MIC value of >= 250 mu g/mL. Anticancer activity evaluation against a non-small lung cancer cell line (H1299) revealed the tremendous anticancer activity of these complexes which was further validated by DNA binding and docking results. DNA binding profile of the complexes studied by UV-Visible and fluorescence spectroscopy showed an intercalative binding mode with CT-DNA and an intrinsic binding constant in the range of 3.481-1.015 x 10(5) M-1. Both the complexes were also found to exert weak toxicity to human erythrocytes by haemolytic assay compared to cisplatin. Potential of these complexes as anticancer agents will be further delineated by in vivo studies