Status of the biodiversity of St. Martin's Island, Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

A total of 234 species of fish have been recorded from the St Martin Island. Of which, 98 species are coral associated. The total number of recorded mollusc and crab species stands at 187 and 7 species respectively. A total of 66 coral species were recorded, of which 19 are fossil corals, 36 living corals and the rest are under 6 families of subclass Octocorallia (soft corals). A total of 14 species of algae have been recorded from the St. Martin's Island. There is an estimated amount of 1500 MT red sea weed biomass available around the St. Martin's Island. The island contains some of the most unique, benthic community associations in Bangladesh, not found anywhere else in the South Asian region. The unique marine communities have very high scientific value for research and monitoring and there are only a few examples worldwide, where coral-algal communities dominate rocky reefs. The economy of the island is based on fishing. It is estimated that, about 1650 MT of fish are caught annually. Over-exploitation of renewable marine and coastal resources (e.g., rocky reef fisheries, coral and shell extraction; removal of coastal vegetation from inter-tidal and sub-tidal habitats) is a major threat to this ecosystem. Destructive fishing practices, mainly the use of rock-weighted gill nets over the inshore boulder reefs is of prime aggravates. Proper implementation of the rules and regulation for Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA's), alternative livelihood for the local people and further research should be immediately taken for sustainable utilization and to save the rich biodiversity of the only coral island in Bangladesh

Medication wastage and its impact on environment: evidence from Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to investigate the critical factors that have impact on environment causes of unused medication. The current study is a descriptive cross-sectional audit involving with patients based on a structured questionnaire format with answer sets. The data is analyzed using partial least square method. The results revealed that excess supplied, expired medicine, changed treatment and side effects have a significant impact on unused medication. In addition, overall unused medication has a significant relationship with environmental effect. In contrast, although excess supplied and side effects have not significant impact on environmental effect, but expired medicine and changed treatment have a significant impact on environmental effect. This survey results suggested; there are few factors which increased the volume of leftover medicine and it has led to an enhanced international awareness of the potential detrimental effects on the environment. More exertion is necessary to raise awareness of people in general as an initial step in promoting behavioral change in connection to medication wastage

Total quality management practices in Islamic banking system: a study in banking sector of Malaysia

Total quality management is evolving over time and like many other industries, it is practicing by Islamic banks in Malaysia. The objective of this study is to identify the need of TQM in Islamic banking system, to understand its role and challenges for implementation. We have used qualitative research methods by taking five interviews and observations of three banks that follow Islamic Shariah principles, located in International Islamic University Malaysia. The findings from this research were comprehensive. TQM significantly impact the performance of Islamic banking system by enhancing customer satisfaction with limited challenges. Continuous improvement of processes involves training of employees. More data can be collected from other banks in available course of time if permits. Research findings can be helpful for those banks who did not implement TQM yet

Evaluation of yield performance and establishment methods of drought tolerant rice genotypes under rainfed condition in drought prone areas of Bangladesh

Two field experiments were carried out at farmer’s field of Rajshahi and Chapainawabgonj under the Department of Agronomy, BINA during aman season of 2017 and 2018 consecutively to evaluate the drought tolerant rice varieties under different establishment methods in rain fed condition. First experiment (E1) was conducted to find out the performance of varieties and second experiment (E2) was to find out the suitability of method of transplanting/sowing in combination with short duration aman varieties. Different methods were as direct seeding, puddled and un-puddled transplanting and cultivars were used to cultivate BRRI dhan56, Binadhan-7, Binadhan-17 (except in second experiment) and Huttra (local cultivar). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The recommended fertilizer doses applied for the experiment were 80 kg N ha-1, 15 kg P ha-1, 50 kg K ha-1, 20 kg S ha-1 and 2 kg Zn ha-1. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and zinc were supplied from urea, TSP, MoP, gypsum and zinc sulphate monohydrate respectively while urea was applied in three equal splits. Among the cultivar Binadhan-17 produced statistically higher grain yield (5.62 t ha-1) at Chapainawabgonj. Among methods Binadhan-7 statistically higher grain yield 5.32 t ha-1 and 5.21 t ha-1, respectively) in puddle transplanting method both Chapainawabgonj and Rajshahi region during 2017. Among the cultivar Huttra (local) produced statistically higher grain yield (5.43 t ha-1) at Chapainawabgonj. Among methods, BRRI dhan56 statistically higher grain yield 6.37 t ha-1 and 6.19 t ha-1, respectively) in puddle transplanting method bothat Rajshahi and Chapainawabgonj during 2018. Overall results indicates that BRRI dhan56, Binadhan-7, Binadhan-17 performed better in puddled transplanting, Huttra (local) in direct seeding method in drought prone region of Bangladesh

pp elastic scattering at LHC in near forward direction

AbstractWe predict pp elastic differential cross section at LHC at the c.m. energy s=14 TeV and momentum transfer range |t|=0–10 GeV2, which is planned to be measured by the TOTEM group. The field theory model underlying our phenomenological investigation describes the nucleon as a composite object with an outer cloud of quark–antiquark condensate, an inner core of topological baryonic charge, and a still smaller quark-bag of valence quarks. The model satisfactorily describes the asymptotic behavior of σtot(s) and ρ(s) as well as the measured p¯p elastic dσ/dt at s=546 GeV, 630 GeV, and 1.8 TeV. The large |t| elastic amplitude of the model incorporates the BFKL pomeron in next to leading order approximation, the perturbative dimensional counting behavior, and the confinement of valence quarks in a small region within the nucleon

Effect of delayed icing on quality changes and shelf-life of some freshwater fish from Bangladesh

The quality and shelf-life of three freshwater fish species of Bangladesh, catla (Catla catla), magur (Clarias batrachus) and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) stored at room temperature and ice were evaluated. Live fishes were killed by cranial spiking and stored at room temperature (27-30 °C), ice stored immediately after death, 5 hr after death and 10 hr after death. The shelf-life and quality of the fishes were evaluated by organoleptic method, rigor-mortis studies and bacteriological assessment. Fishes kept at room temperature became organoleptically unacceptable within 16-20 hr duration. Ice stored fishes showed considerable differences in their shelf-life when icing was delayed for different duration. Shelf-life of catla ice stored immediately after death was 20 days but shelf-life reduced to 12 days when icing delayed for 10 hr after death. Similar trend was observed for two other fish species magur and tilapia. Rigor-index of the fishes stored under different conditions also considerably varied among the three fish species, particularly effect of delayed icing was very much evident. Bacteriological study showed patterns of Aerobic Plate Count (APC) at the end of shelflife study when fishes became organoleptically unacceptable were more or less similar for all the three fish species stored under different conditions. No definite pattern was observed in the generic distribution of bacteria in different fish species under different storage conditions. Micrococcus, Coryneforms, Pseudomonas and Achromobacter were the dominant groups of bacteria isolated from the fishes spoiled at room temperature and ice stored condition

Sedimentology and chemostratigraphy of Carboniferous red beds in the western Moncton Basin, Sussex area, New Brunswick, Canada: possible evidence for a middle Mabou Group unconformity

The area around Penobsquis, east of Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada, is an important location of natural resources for the province. The McCully gas field produces from strata of the Mississippian Horton Group whereas younger strata of the Windsor Group are host to major potash and rocksalt deposits. Overlying these units are over 1 km of poorly understood red beds currently assigned to the Mississippian Mabou Group. To date, this latter unit lacks significant marker beds and has had no useful biostratigraphic recovery, despite recent extraction of close to 5 km of drill core. Research on this core broadly identifies siltstone and sandstone at the base of the Mabou Group that gradually coarsen up into conglomerate. The succession is considered the result of alluvial-fan progradation from the northeast. Within this succession, in several of the cores, is a single interval of localized, horizontally laminated to cross-stratified, bluish-grey sandstone, containing carbonaceous plant fragments and siltstone intraclasts. To assess the importance of this interval in the context of the red bed succession, a total of 131 samples of core from three boreholes have been analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma and spectroscopic techniques to determine chemostratigraphy. Study of various elemental ratios can delineate two packages, one that corresponds to the grey interval and overlying red beds, and the other to the underlying red beds. Changes in the elemental ratios are interpreted to mark a broader population of mineral species related to greater variation of provenance and diagenesis in the upper sediment package. The reduced horizons and rip-up clasts may have been produced by sediment reworking along a boundary that represents an unconformity (in core, a disconformity) at a stratigraphic level near to where one has been inferred by other workers

Effect of tillage and residue retention on maize productivity

In Bangladesh, maize is generally sown after extensive tilth and minimum residue retention. Conservation agriculture (CA) systems reduce the input costs, machinery use, CO2 emissions; and improve soil health (Raper et al., 1994). Crop residues are known to affect soil physical properties (Hulugalle et al., 1986), availability of nutrients (Wade and Sanchez, 1983; Asghar et al., 2006) and soil biological activity (Tian et al., 1993). Crop residue retention has been suggested to improve overall soil fertility and to support sustainable crop production. Crop residue retention under no tillage system reduce soil erosion, increase soil organic matter (SOM), and reduce requirement of labour and fuel under cereal grain and row crop culture (Salinas-Garcia et al., 1997). Kumar and Goh (2000) reported that incorporation of crop residues is essential for sustaining soil productivity through replenishing SOM that not only a key indicator of soil quality, but it also supplies essential nutrients upon mineralization (N, P, and S) and improves soil physical, chemical, and biological properties (Kumar et al., 2001). In our country, the crop residue is used mostly for cattle feed (Saadullah et al., 1991), fuel for stove and some cases burning. It is essential to estimate the amount of crop residue that should be retained in field to get the benefits. Therefore, the present research investigated to find out the minimum tillage with residue retention could be an effective element for maize production

Malaysian white shrimp (P. Vannamei) aquaculture: an application of stochastic frontier analysis on technical efficiency

Shrimp aquaculture is playing a vital role in Malaysian agriculture, especially its increasing contribution to economic growth. White shrimp aquaculture is not only the key player in brackish water shrimp aquaculture but also the largest contributor to Malaysian shrimp aquaculture.This study estimates technical efficiency and investigates factors affecting technical inefficiency of Malaysian white shrimp aquaculture.Stochastic frontier analysis with trans-log production model is applied in this study.Malaysian white shrimp aquaculture farmers have achieved an estimated average technical efficiency of 81.2 percent.Land ownership, shrimp seed size and seminar are the factors having significant impacts on technical inefficiency and thereby playing important roles in improving technical efficiency of this industry.This study suggests that seminar should be conducted by shrimp farming extension agents to enhance knowledge of shrimp farmers.Malaysian government should allocate lands and, provide technical and financial supports to develop this industry. Subsidy on shrimp seed should be also given to encourage shrimp farmers to embrace and adopt quality shrimp seed for their farms