XRD and SEM Analysis, and Semiconductor Type Determination of TiO2 for Dye-sensitized Solar Cell

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a wide band-gap n-type semiconductor. Anatase TiO2 is the most common structure used in high performance dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Nanoporous TiO2 serves double-duty as an electron acceptor and a scaffold to hold large numbers of dye molecules in DSSC. The porosity of TiO2 is a key feature as it has roughly a thousand times greater a surface area than the equivalent flat area. In this work, TiO2 crystallite size (43.55 nm) has been calculated by using XRD data, and the morphology and the grain-size of TiO2 (average grain size of 0.2 mm ~ 0.3 mm) with different solvents have been also studied by SEM

Diversity and Abundance of Copepods in Taninthayi Coastal Waters, Myanmar

Diversity and abundance of copepods occurring in Taninthayi coastal waters were studied and analyzed from the samples collected by R/V DR. FRIDTJOF NANSEN during the Myanmar ecosystem survey 2018. Seventy-nine copepods species belonging to calanoids (51 species), cyclopoids (21 species), and harpacticoids (7 species) were identified in the copepods community of Taninthayi coastal waters. Copepods species number and density were high at the nearshore stations (Sts 799, 842, 788) and low at the offshore stations (Sts 846, 802, 823). The resulted diversity index values of copepods were varied from 2.61 to 3.78 in species diversity index (H'), from 0.89 to 0.97 in the evenness index (E'), and from 2.51 to 7.50 in species richness index (D'). According to the correlation matrix, the abundance of copepods was positively correlated with temperature, chlorophyll a and fluorescence, and negatively correlated with salinity and oxygen

Presence of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the 'Granary of Myanmar'.

Melioidosis is a frequently fatal infectious disease caused by the Gram negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei. Although it was originally discovered in Myanmar, the disease disappeared from sight for many decades. This study focuses on detection of B. pseudomallei in soil in selected sampling sites in an attempt to start to fill the gaps in the current status of our knowledge of the geographical distribution of B. pseudomallei in soil in Myanmar. This cross-sectional study consists of 400 soil samples from 10 selected study townships from two major paddy growing regions. Bacterial isolation was done using a simplified method for the isolation of Burkholderia pseudomallei from soil. In this study, only 1% (4/400) of soil samples were found to be positive; two of four were found at 90 cm depth and another two positive samples were found at 30 cm and 60 cm. This survey has confirmed the presence of environmental B. pseudomallei in Myanmar indicating that the conditions are in place for melioidosis acquisition

Implementation of RSS Feed Reader

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technologythat is being used by millions of web users aroundthe world to keep track of their favourite websites.By using RSS, we can stay on top of the news andinformation without repeatedly checking multipleweb sites to see if they have been updated. RSS is atime-saving way to receive and information updates(often called “RSS feeds”, ”news feeds” of simply“feeds” from favourite Web sites and blogs. To readRSS feeds, an RSS reader (also called a “newsaggregator” or a “feed reader” of “RSS aggregator”)is needed. RSS reader is a piece of software thatchecks RSS feeds and read any new articles.In this paper, design and implementation of theRSS aggregator is discussed. Testing results with C#implementation of windows based program of RSSreader is described. Input data of this system can beused from RSS feed from online pages or RSS feedfiles for test cases

Mango (Mangifera indica cv. Sein Ta Lone) ripeness level prediction using color and textural features of combined reflectance-fluorescence images

Sein Ta lone mango of different maturity level images has been obtained using reflectance and fluorescence imaging systems. It has been found that fluorescence images show interesting patterns in correlation with the accumulation of bluish fluorescence compounds in the lenticel spots on the mango surface. Color and textural features of both reflectance and fluorescence images have been evaluated to develop a ripeness prediction model. The results show that combining color features of reflectance image and textural features could increase the R2 of the Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR) model up to 0.97 for Brix prediction and 0.99 for pH prediction with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.5 for both. These results show the potential of the combined reflectance-fluorescence imaging system for mango ripeness assessment

Effect of Alternate Wetting and Drying on Crop Performance, Water Input and Water Productivity of Direct Wet-seeded Inbred and Hybrid Rice

The experiments were conducted to evaluate the yield performance of the inbred and hybrid rice varie-ties under alternate wetting and drying (AWD), to compare the water productivity of rice varieties under AWD condition and to investigate the water saving percent in different rice varieties under AWD. Two water regimes (alternate wetting and drying, AWD and continuous flooding, CF) in main plot and four varieties including two hybrid varieties (Long-9, Yezin Pale Thwe-3) and two inbred varieties (Yaenelo-4 , Yaenelo-1) in sub plot were laid out as split plot design with four replications. During the study peri-od, loam soil in DaikU Township and silty clay loam soil in Maubin Township were observed. The max-imum grain yield and yield components of tested varieties were 2.99 t ha-1 in DaikU and 5.76 t ha-1 in Maubin. The water productivities of AWD were not statistically different with CF but water saving were resulted under AWD in both DaikU and Maubin townships. Hybrid rice produced higher grain yield, yield components, morphological traits and water productivity than those of inbred rice in both townships. Grain yield and water productivity were not significantly different between AWD and CF. However, more water can save under AWD than CF and subsequently found that above 20 % of water saving for hybrid and above 30% for inbred during summer rice growing season in the study areas. Therefore, this study indicated that applied AWD irrigation maintained current yield and reduction of water input for Hybrid and Inbred rice varieties under the tested areas, DaikU and Maubin Townships

Chikungunya Virus Infection in Blood Donors and Patients During Outbreak, Mandalay, Myanmar, 2019

In 2019, an outbreak of chikungunya virus infection occurred in Mandalay, Myanmar, and 3.2% of blood donors and 20.5% of patients who were children were confirmed as being infected. The prevalence rate was up to 6.3% among blood donors. The East Central/ South African genotype was predominantly circulating during this outbreak

Epidemiological characteristics and real‐world treatment outcomes of hepatitis C among HIV/HCV co‐infected patients in Myanmar: A prospective cohort study

Abstract Background and Aims In Myanmar, public sector treatment programs for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were nonexistent until June 2017. WHO highlights the importance of simplification of HCV service delivery through task‐shifting among health workers and decentralization to the primary health care level. Between November 2016 and November 2017, a study was conducted to describe the epidemiological data and real‐world outcomes of treating HIV/HCV coinfected patients with generic direct acting antiviral (DAA) based regimens in the three HIV clinics run by nonspecialist medical doctors in Myanmar. Methods HCV co‐infection among people living with HIV (PLHIV) from two clinics in Yangon city and one clinic in Dawei city was screened by rapid diagnostic tests and confirmed by testing for viral RNA. Nonspecialist medical doctors prescribed sofosbuvir and daclatasvir based regimens (with or without ribavirin) for 12 or 24 weeks based on the HCV genotype and liver fibrosis status. Sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after treatment (SVR12) was assessed to determine cure. Results About 6.5% (1417/21,777) of PLHIV were co‐infected with HCV. Of 864 patients enrolled in the study, 50.8% reported history of substance use, 27% history of invasive medical procedures and 25.6% history of incarceration. Data on treatment outcomes were collected from 267 patients of which 257 (96.3%) achieved SVR12, 7 (2.6%) failed treatment, 2 (0.7%) died and 1 (0.4%) became loss to follow‐up. Conclusion The study results support the integration of hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment with DAA‐based regimens into existing HIV clinics run by nonspecialist medical doctors in a resource‐limited setting. Epidemiological data on HIV/HCV co‐infection call for comprehensive HCV care services among key populations like drug users and prisoners in Yangon and Dawei