Effect of tempering upon the tensile properties of a nanostructured bainitic steel

The tensile properties of a nanostructured carbide-free bainitic steel formed at 200–250 °C are compared against those after tempering sufficiently to remove the retained austenite. Although significant ductility is observed following tempering, a comparison of tempered and untempered samples shows that it is in fact reduced when a comparison is made at identical strength. The shape of the stress–strain curves shows clear evidence that the capacity for work hardening is reduced with the loss of austenite. The nanostructure of the steel transformed at 250 °C is examined by transmission electron microscopy, to compare the as-transformed to the tempered structure. In this case after tempering at 500 °C the energy absorbed during the tensile test is lower, due to the lower strength. Reduction of strength is caused by the slight coarsening of the bainite plates, and lower dislocation density after tempering. Considering the formation of carbide particles in high strength steel, impressive ductility is exhibited even in the tempered condition.The authors would like to thank Professor A. L. Greer for the provision of laboratory facilities at the University of Cambridge and also express their gratitude to the Scholars Rescue Fund of International Institute of Education in Washington DC, for supporting Hala Salman Hasan’s work in Cambridge.This is the accepted manuscript version. The final published version is available from Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921509314009642

Control of Phomopsis Blight of Egg Plant through Fertilizer and Fungicide Management

The experiments were conducted at Laboratory of the Department of Plant Pathology and in the farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh during Rabi season of the year 2007-2008. Four fungicides viz. Bavistin 50 WP (Carbendazim), Tilt 250 EC (Propiconazole), Cupravit 50 WP (Copperoxychloride) and Dithane M-45 (Mancozeb) and micronutrients (Gypsum, ZnO and Boric acid) were evaluated against Phomopsis vexans causing Phomopsis blight and fruit rot of eggplant. The fungicides and micronutrients either applied individually or in combination showed significant effect in terms of per cent leaf infection, fruit infection, leaf area diseased and fruit area diseased in comparison to control. Effect of each fungicide applied in combination with micronutrients always showed better performance in reducing disease incidence and disease severity than the fungicides applied alone. Among the fungicides, Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) proved to be effective arresting the spore germination and mycelia growth of Phomopsis vexans assayed in in vitro test. Reduction of leaf area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 58.17, 67.37, 78.41 and 85.25%, respectively at preflowering, post-flowering, fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 52.22, 58.67, 74.19 and 83.09%, respectively at those stages. Similarly reduction of fruit area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 57.93 and 79.79%, respectively at fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 56.93 and 76.14%, respectively at those stages. Micronutrients had little effect against the disease but significantly better than control.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 3 (1): 66-72, June, 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v3i1.1609

Prevalence and Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Behavioral Risk Factors of Self-Reported Symptoms of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among Ever-Married Women: Evidence from Nationally Representative Surveys in Bangladesh

Sexually transmitted infections (STI) symptoms (e.g., abnormal genital discharge and genital sores/ulcers) are a major public health concern in Bangladesh because the symptoms can indicate an STI and cause sexual and reproductive health complications in women of reproductive age. To our knowledge, no study examined the prevalence and risk factors of STI symptoms using a nationally representative sample. This study investigates the prevalence of STI symptoms among ever-married women in Bangladesh and the associations of STI symptoms with various demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral risk factors using the most recent available data (2007, 2011, and 2014) of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS). The BDHS employs a two-stage stratified sampling technique. The analytic sample comprised 41,777 women of reproductive age (15–49 years). Outcome variables included STI symptoms: abnormal genital discharge and genital sores/ulcers. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to find the adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval to assess the associations of outcome measures with explanatory variables. The study found that the prevalence of abnormal genital discharge and genital sores/ulcers among ever-married women aged 15–49 years was 10% and 6%, respectively. Multi-variable analysis revealed that for women aged 25–34 years, those who used contraceptives and married earlier had an increased likelihood of STI symptoms. Furthermore, women from the wealthiest wealth quintile and couple’s joint decision-making were less likely to have STI symptoms. Findings have implications for interventions efforts aiming to improve women’s sexual and reproductive health in Bangladesh

Applying multi-temporal landsat satellite data and markov-cellular automata to predict forest cover change and forest degradation of sundarban reserve forest, Bangladesh

Overdependence on and exploitation of forest resources have significantly transformed the natural reserve forest of Sundarban, which shares the largest mangrove territory in the world, into a great degradation status. By observing these, a most pressing concern is how much degradation occurred in the past, and what will be the scenarios in the future if they continue? To confirm the degradation status in the past decades and reveal the future trend, we took Sundarban Reserve Forest (SRF) as an example, and used satellite Earth observation historical Landsat imagery between 1989 and 2019 as existing data and primary data. Moreover, a geographic information system model was considered to estimate land cover (LC) change and spatial health quality of the SRF from 1989 to 2029 based on the large and small tree categories. The maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) technique was employed to classify the historical images with five different LC types, which were further considered for future projection (2029) including trends based on 2019 simulation results from 1989 and 2019 LC maps using the Markov-cellular automata model. The overall accuracy achieved was 82.30%~90.49% with a kappa value of 0.75~0.87. The historical result showed forest degradation in the past (1989–2019) of 4773.02 ha yr−1, considered as great forest degradation (GFD) and showed a declining status when moving with the projection (2019–2029) of 1508.53 ha yr−1 and overall there was a decline of 3956.90 ha yr−1 in the 1989–2029 time period. Moreover, the study also observed that dense forest was gradually degraded (good to bad) but, conversely, light forest was enhanced, which will continue in the future even to 2029 if no effective management is carried out. Therefore, by observing the GFD, through spatial forest health quality and forest degradation mapping and assessment, the study suggests a few policies that require the immediate attention of forest policy-makers to implement them immediately and ensure sustainable development in the SRF.</jats:p

The disproportionate case–fatality ratio of COVID-19 between countries with the highest vaccination rates and the rest of the world

Objectives: The global reported cumulative case–fatality ratios (rCFRs) and excess mortality rates of the 20 countries with the highest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rates, the rest of the world and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) were compared before and after the commencement of vaccination programmes. Methods: A time series model was used to understand the trend of rCFR over time, and a generalized linear mixed model was used to understand the effect of vaccination on rCFR. Results: By 31 December 2022, an average of 260.3 doses of COVID-19 vaccine per 100 population had been administered in the top 20 vaccinated countries, compared with 152.1 doses in the rest of the world and 51.2 doses in SSA. The mean rCFR of COVID-19 had decreased by 69.0% in the top 20 vaccinated countries, 26.5% in the rest of the world and 7.6% in SSA. Excess mortality had decreased by 48.7% in the top 20 vaccinated countries, compared with 62.5% in the rest of the world and 60.7% in SSA. In a generalized linear mixed model, the reported number of vaccine doses administered (/100 population) (odds ratio 0.64) was associated with a steeper reduction in COVID-19 rCFR. Conclusions: Vaccine equity and faster roll-out across the world is critically important in reducing COVID-19 transmission and CFR

The Global Case-Fatality Rate of COVID-19 Has Been Declining Since May 2020

Abstract.The objective of this study was to evaluate the trend of reported case fatality rate (rCFR) of COVID-19 over time, using globally reported COVID-19 cases and mortality data. We collected daily COVID-19 diagnoses and mortality data from the WHO’s daily situation reports dated January 1 to December 31, 2020. We performed three time-series models [simple exponential smoothing, auto-regressive integrated moving average, and automatic forecasting time-series (Prophet)] to identify the global trend of rCFR for COVID-19. We used beta regression models to investigate the association between the rCFR and potential predictors of each country and reported incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of each variable. The weekly global cumulative COVID-19 rCFR reached a peak at 7.23% during the 17th week (April 22–28, 2020). We found a positive and increasing trend for global daily rCFR values of COVID-19 until the 17th week (pre-peak period) and then a strong declining trend up until the 53rd week (post-peak period) toward 2.2% (December 29–31, 2020). In pre-peak of rCFR, the percentage of people aged 65 and above and the prevalence of obesity were significantly associated with the COVID-19 rCFR. The declining trend of global COVID-19 rCFR was not merely because of increased COVID-19 testing, because COVID-19 tests per 1,000 population had poor predictive value. Decreasing rCFR could be explained by an increased rate of infection in younger people or by the improvement of health care management, shielding from infection, and/or repurposing of several drugs that had shown a beneficial effect on reducing fatality because of COVID-19.</jats:p

Intra-operative real time intracranial subarachnoid haemorrhage during glial tumour resection: A case report

Glial tumours associated with subarachnoid haemorrhage are very rare. A 64-year-old woman admitted with a history of 3 weeks seizures and a left sided hemiparesis and dysphasia. The magnetic resonance disclosed heterogeneously enhancing a right temporal mass. During surgery, suddenly an abrupt and extensive swelling had occurred both in tumour and the brain tissue. The surgery was completed with a gross total tumour resection together with a partial temporal lobectomy. Postoperative computerized tomography demonstrated a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). A cerebral Magnetic Resonance (MR) angiography showed neither an aneurysm nor arteriovenous malformation. Coincidence of an intracerebral tumour and subarachnoid haemorrhage would be devastating

The disproportionate case-fatality ratio of COVID-19 between top vaccinated countries and the rest of the world

Objectives We compared the global reported cumulative case-fatality ratio (rCFR) and excess mortality between top-20 countries with COVID-19 vaccination rates, the rest of the world and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) before and after commencement of vaccination programmes. Methods We performed time series model to understand the trend of rCFR over time and performed generalized linear mixed model to understand role of vaccination on rCFR. Results By 31 December 2022, on average 260.3 doses of COVID-19 vaccines per 100 people had been administered in the top-20 vaccinated countries, compared to 152.1 doses in the rest of the world, and 51.2 in SSA. The mean rCFR of COVID-19 had dropped by 69.0% in the top in the top-20 vaccinated countries, 26.5% in the rest of the world and 7.6% in SSA. The excess mortality had dropped by 48.7% in top vaccinated countries compared to 62.5% in the rest of the world and 60.7% in SSA. In a generalized linear mixed model, reported number of vaccine doses administered doses (/100 population) (Odds ratio:0.64) was associated with a steeper reduction of the country's COVID-19 rCFR. Conclusions Vaccine equity and faster roll-out across the world is critically important in reducing COVID-19 transmission and CFR

The 2022 dengue outbreak in Bangladesh: hypotheses for the late resurgence of cases and fatalities

Abstract Bangladesh reported the highest number of annual deaths (n = 281) related to dengue virus infection in 2022 since the virus reappeared in the country in 2000. Earlier studies showed that &amp;gt;92% of the annual cases occurred between the months of August and September. The 2022 outbreak is characterized by late onset of dengue cases with unusually higher deaths in colder months, that is, October–December. Here we present possible hypotheses and explanations for this late resurgence of dengue cases. First, in 2022, the rainfall started late in the season. Compared to the monthly average rainfall for September and October between 2003 and 2021, there was 137 mm of additional monthly rainfall recorded in September and October 2022. Furthermore, the year 2022 was relatively warmer with a 0.71°C increased temperature than the mean annual temperature of the past 20 yr. Second, a new dengue virus serotype, DENV-4, had recently reintroduced/reappeared in 2022 and become the dominant serotype in the country for a large naïve population. Third, the post-pandemic return of normalcy after 2 yr of nonpharmaceutical social measures facilitates extra mosquito breeding habitats, especially in construction sites. Community engagement and regular monitoring and destruction of Aedes mosquitoes’ habitats should be prioritized to control dengue virus outbreaks in Bangladesh.</jats:p