LIGHTING – THE WAY TO REDUCING ELECTRICAL ENERGY DEMAND IN UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS IN BANGLADESH

Lighting is one of the dominant electricity demand factors in the building energy sector and has huge potential for demand reduction. However, concerning the efficacy of energy consumption, this potential energy-saving option entails further investigations, particularly for developing countries. This study addresses the issues of an efficient lighting system design for educational institutions with particular attention to classroom and laboratory lighting systems for a university in Bangladesh as a case study. Measurements show that during the daytime, under clear and average sky conditions both rooms received sufficient natural light (>300 lx) for educational activities, whereas under an overcast sky, only 50% space receives sufficient natural light. At night, the installed fluorescent tube lights illuminance level was found insufficient (<300 lx) for educational activities. The inefficient lighting system design was found to be the main reason for this illuminance level. Simulation results reveal that light emitting diode (LED) tube lights with a maintenance factor of 0.8 could save 10,080-15,120 kWh, 91,929-137,894 BDT (1USD=84BDT), and 6,753-10,130 kgCO2-eq, energy, cost, and, greenhouse gas emissions respectively per year for the classrooms

Influence of plant nutrient management on the yield performance of transplant Aman rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh during June to December 2016 to investigate the influence of plant nutrient management on the yield performance of transplant&nbsp;Aman&nbsp;rice varieties. The experiment comprised four varieties&nbsp;viz.,&nbsp;BRRIdhan70, BRRI dhan71, BRRI dhan72 and BRRIdhan73 and six nutrient managements&nbsp;viz.&nbsp;poultry manure 5 t ha-1, recommended dose of prilled urea, P, K, S, Zn (160, 65, 90, 70, 10 kg ha-1&nbsp;&nbsp;of urea, TSP, MoP, Gypsum and Zinc sulphate, respectively), 75% of recommended dose of prilled urea and P, K, S, Zn + poultry manure 2.5 t ha-1, 50% of recommended dose of prilled urea and P, K, S, Zn + poultry manure 5 t ha-1, USG 1.8 g/4 hills and P, K, S, Zn recommended dose, USG 1.8 g/4 hills and P, K, S, Zn + poultry manure 2.5 t ha-1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Number of total tillers hill-1&nbsp;(10.25), number of effective tillers hill-1(8.85), grains panicle-1&nbsp;(94.23), 1000-grain weight (27.81), grain yield (5.88 t ha-1) and straw yield (8.83 t ha-1) were found to be the highest in BRRI dhan72. Among the nutrient management, USG 1.8 g/4 hills and P, K, S, Zn + poultry manure 2.5 t ha-1&nbsp;exhibited its superiority&nbsp; to other treatments in terms of plant height (131.0 cm), number of total tillers hill-1&nbsp;(10.67), number of effective tillers hill-1&nbsp;(9.13), grains panicle-1&nbsp;(92.71), 1000-grain weight (26.82), grain yield (6.0 t ha-1) and straw yield (8.35 t ha-1). The highest grain yield (6.45 t ha-1) was found in BRRI dhan72 combined with USG 1.8 g/4 hills and P, K, S, Zn + poultry manure 2.5 t ha-1&nbsp;and the lowest grain yield (4.85 t ha-1) was found in BRRI dhan71 fertilized with poultry manure 5 t ha-1. From the study, it can be concluded that transplant&nbsp;Aman&nbsp;rice cv. BRRI dhan72 fertilized with USG 1.8 g/4 hills and P, K, S, Zn + poultry manure 2.5 t ha-1&nbsp;appears as the promising practice to obtain the highest grain yield

Floristic divergence of weeds in rice fields under subtropical condition

Weed infestation pattern changes over time for continuous adaptation of similar weed control methods. So, a survey was conducted at Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University from July 2019 to June 2020 to identify the most dominant and abundant weed species as well as to indicate the probable problematic weed in boro and T. aman rice. Seven fields were randomly selected for each of the boro and T. aman rice. The surveys were performed according to quantitative survey technique by using 0.25m2 quadrate with 16 samples from each of the field following the zig-zag method. Sampling was done twice, while the rice plants were at the vegetative stage and at reproductive stage. Fifty one weed species under 23 families were recorded at experimental area of which 42 species (under 18 families) and 38 species (under 20 families) were observed in boro and T. aman, respectively. Poaceae topped the list with 10 species, while Cyperaceae ranked second with six species. The highest number of weed species (no. 42) was observed in boro rice compared to T. aman rice (no. 38). Besides, divergence in the weed composition was also high between both rice fields. Among the 11 abundant weed species, Eleocharis atropurpurea, Echinochloa crusgalli and Monochoria vaginalis were the most frequent and abundant weed species found in both boro rice and T. aman rice. Broadleaves had higher abundance value (246.26% in boro and 332.39% in T. aman) than grasses (188.76% in boro and 146.68% in T. aman) and sedges (164.98% in boro and 120.93% in T. aman). Moreover, the annuals were dominant over the perennials. Therefore, the present results having diversified weed species with different ranks and orders indicated that the weed management strategies should be taken regarding the infestation of dominant weed species of the respective crop

Routing schemes in FANETs: a survey

Flying ad hoc network (FANET) is a self-organizing wireless network that enables inexpensive, flexible, and easy-to-deploy flying nodes, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to communicate among themselves in the absence of fixed network infrastructure. FANET is one of the emerging networks that has an extensive range of next-generation applications. Hence, FANET plays a significant role in achieving application-based goals. Routing enables the flying nodes to collaborate and coordinate among themselves and to establish routes to radio access infrastructure, particularly FANET base station (BS). With a longer route lifetime, the effects of link disconnections and network partitions reduce. Routing must cater to two main characteristics of FANETs that reduce the route lifetime. Firstly, the collaboration nature requires the flying nodes to exchange messages and to coordinate among themselves, causing high energy consumption. Secondly, the mobility pattern of the flying nodes is highly dynamic in a three-dimensional space and they may be spaced far apart, causing link disconnection. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of the limited research work of routing schemes in FANETs. Different aspects, including objectives, challenges, routing metrics, characteristics, and performance measures, are covered. Furthermore, we present open issues

Effect of variety and nutrient sources on growth and yield of broccoli in southern belt of Bangladesh

Ongoing use of synthetic fertilizers affects soil structure. Organic manures can serve as an alternative to synthetic fertilizers. The study evaluated performance of five different types of nutrient sources (T0 =control, T1 = Urea @ 250 kg/ha, TSP @ 150 kg/ha, MoP @ 200 kg/ha, T2 = Cowdung @ 25 t/ha, T3 = Vermi compost @ 5 t/ha, T4 = fermented plant juice @ 500 ml/ha and T5 =Liquid fertilizer (Flora: consists of 20% nitrobenzene) @ 200 ml/ha) on growth and yield of broccoli, cvs. “V1=Known You” and “V2=Early Green”. Yield and yield contributing parameters such as plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaves fresh weight, length of stem, stem diameter, stem fresh weight, days taken for primary curd initiation, curd diameter, fresh weight of primary curd, no. of secondary curd per plant, fresh weight of secondary curd and yield per plot as well as hectare were measured in this experiment. In case of variety, the highest yield/plot 5.83kg and yield/ha 20.23 tons were recorded from “Early green”. Considering the nutrient factor, the highest curd weight (290.4g) per plant and yield/plot (5.01kg) were found in fermented plant juice nutrient sources. The highest benefit cost ratio BCR (3.21:1) was found in V2T4, among all other treatment combinations in respect of net return (Tk. 228934.97/ha) through the use of&nbsp; fermented plant juice. Therefore, it can be concluded that fermented plant juice @ 500 ml/hacan be used to improve vegetative growth, and yield quality and quantity, and the broccoli cv. “Early Green” appears to be the best of the cultivars tested

Survey and taxonomy of clustering algorithms in 5G

The large-scale deployment of fifth generation (5G) is expected to produce a massive amount of data with high variability due to ultra-densification and the rapid increase in a heterogeneous range of applications and services (e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality, and driver-less vehicles), and network devices (e.g., smart gadgets and sensors). Clustering organizes network topology by segregating nodes with similar interests or behaviors in a network into logical groups in order to achieve network-level and cluster-level enhancements, particularly cluster stability, load balancing, social awareness, fairness, and quality of service. Clustering has been investigated to support mobile user equipment (UE) in access networks, whereby UEs form clusters themselves and may connect to BSs. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of the research work of clustering schemes proposed for various scenarios in 5G networks and highlight various aspects of clustering schemes, including objectives, challenges, metrics, characteristics, performance measures. Furthermore, we present open issues of clustering in 5G

Environmental Pollution with Heavy Metals: A Public Health Concern

Heavy metals (HMs) are natural environmental constituents, but their geochemical processes and biochemical equilibrium have been altered by indiscriminate use for human purposes. Due to their toxicity, persistence in the environment and bioaccumulative nature; HMs are well-known environmental contaminants. As result, there is excess release into natural resources such as soil and marine habitats of heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, arsenic, mercury, lead, nickel, copper, zinc, etc. Their natural sources include the weathering of metal-bearing rocks and volcanic eruptions, while mining and other industrial and agricultural practices include anthropogenic sources. Prolonged exposure and increased accumulation of such heavy metals may have detrimental effects on human life and aquatic biota in terms of health. Finally, the environmental issue of public health concern is the pollution of marine and terrestrial environments with toxic heavy metals. Therefore, because of the rising degree of waste disposal from factories day by day, it is a great concern. Pollution of HMs is therefore a problem and the danger of this environment needs to be recognized

Isotherm, kinetic and modeling studies

Funding Information: Funding: The Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University General Research Project under the grant number (R.G.P.2/138/42) and Taif University researchers supporting project number (TURSP–2020/157), Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia. Funding Information: Acknowledgments: The co‐author Ali E. Anqi would like to extend his appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for the support he received through General Re‐ search Project under the grant number (R.G.P.2/138/42). This work was supported by Taif Univer‐ sity researchers supporting project number (TURSP–2020/157), Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia. The first author was thankful to the Directorate of Minorities, Govt. of Karnataka for providing PhD fellowship to conduct the research. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The first-ever use of halloysite nanotube (HNT), a relatively low-cost nanomaterial abun-dantly available with minor toxicity for removing brilliant green dye from aqueous media, is re-ported. The factors affecting adsorption were studied by assessing the adsorption capacity, kinetics, and equilibrium thermodynamic properties. All the experiments were designed at a pH level of around 7. The Redlich-Peterson isotherm model fits best amongst the nine isotherm models studied. The kinetic studies data confirmed a pseudo model of the second order. Robotic investigations pro-pose a rate-controlling advance being overwhelmed by intraparticle dispersion. The adsorbent fea-tures were interpreted using infrared spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Process optimization was carried out using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) through a dual section Fractional Fac-torial Experimental Design to contemplate the impact of boundaries on the course of adsorption. The examination of fluctuation (ANOVA) was utilized to consider the joined impact of the boundaries. The possibilities of the use of dye adsorbing HNT (“sludge”) for the fabrication of the composites using plastic waste are suggested.publishersversionpublishe

In vivo anxiolytic and in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of water-soluble extract (WSE) of Nigella sativa (L.) seeds

The WSE is a highly polar, gummy and mucilaginous bioactive content of the Nigella sativa (L.) seeds. This study reports the anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory effects of WSE investigated using Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) and Hole-Board Test (HBT) in adult mice and human RBCs haemolysis inhibition and protein denaturation respectively. The oral WSE treatment (100 & 200 mg/kg b.w/day) for 72 hours has exhibited slightly better anxiolytic effect (p < 0.05) through the time span (92.33 & 93.33 s) spent in the opened arms of EPM vs. diazepam (1 mg/kg b.w i.p/day; 69.33 s). In HBT, only WSE (200 mg/kg b.w/day) has shown a promising number of mean head pokes (13.27 times/min) vs. diazepam (12.87 times/min). The WSE (62.5-500 mg/mL) exposure has exhibited 40.14-72.18% protection against lysis of RBCs vs. aspirin (57.04-71.48%) whilst 62.67-67.66% inhibition of protein denaturation vs. diclofenac sodium (43.11-80.64%). The current findings suggested WSE has promising anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory activities