Liquefaction of the Alluvial Soils of Bangladesh

In this paper, the potential of the often-saturated sandy soils that occur within the uppermost sub-surface stratigraphy across the Bangladesh plains to experience initial liquefaction due to seismically induced pore water pressure is evaluated. Bore hole logs from development projects were collected. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) values from the drill holes were utilized as the primary data and a widely practiced computational method was employed to estimate the liquefaction potential. The analysis of data indicated that the uppermost portion of the sandy soil layer within 20 m of the surface is loose and sensitive to liquefaction under the influence of ground shaking induced by earthquake having a peak acceleration of 0.15 g. Recommendations to control the liquefaction phenomenon in the light of the country\u27s environment are included

Equity market contagion during global financial and Eurozone crises: Evidence from a dynamic correlation analysis

The devastation resulting from the recent global financial and Eurozone crises is immense. Most researchers commonly believe that the global financial crisis originated in the United States, and spread immediately to global financial hubs where it eventually became the Eurozone crisis. Several studies have been conducted on financial market contagion during both global and Eurozone crises; however, the issue of whether equity market contagion spreads from the United States to the world equity markets during these crises has not been addressed yet. Through using US dollar-denominated MSCI daily indices from fifty-five equity markets for the period 2003–2013, we have found evidence of contagion in developed and emerging markets during the global and Eurozone crises. We show that contagion spread from the United States to the world markets during both crises. Our regression results identify that the bank risk transfer between the United States and other countries is the key transmission channel for cross-country correlations. This study has an important policy implication for portfolio diversification between the United States and other countries during these crises

Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria in Tertiary Hospitals in Chittagong, Bangladesh

Nosocomial infections (HAI) are major cause for mortality and morbidity worldwide. In low income countries, data suggests 6.5% - 33% of patients have HAI with pneumonia being the most frequent..Antibiotic resistance is highly prevalent in developing countries due to self medication, easy availability and poor regulatory controls. Clinicians have been left with limited antibiotic drug options for the treatment of bacterial infections due to escalated rates of resistance. This comparative study aimed to identify microorganisms from hospital surfaces in two major tertiary care hospitals in Chittagong, Bangladesh. It also identifies antibiotic susceptibility of the samples to antibiotics commonly used in Bangladesh. Samples were collected by swabbing different environmental surface around patients in both hospitals. Identification of bacteria was done by culturing in nutrient media and various common biochemical techniques. Antibiotic sensitivity was determined by disk diffusion method. During the study, 27 samples were collected from different surfaces in different wards of the hospitals. The predominating organisms were Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Serratia. The isolates of organisms showed high level of resistance to commonly used antibiotics especially a fourth generation cephalosporin, cefepime. In addition, antibiotic sensitivity tests showed small colonies or film of growth within zone of inhibition of some of the samples known as “satellite colonies”. The study identified bacterial isolates responsible for HAI in tertiary hospitals and their susceptibility to antibiotics. Further research is currently being conducted on understanding the satellite colonies some of the isolates from hospital surface swabs have exhibited

SNR Improvement and Bandwidth Optimization Technique Using PCM-DSSS Encryption Scheme

Cryptography, the scheme of information stashing and verification, entirely deals with protocols, algorithms and strategies to ensure the precise security facility of the signal consistently by hindering unauthorized access to the confidential information. Albeit in most of the encryption schemes, certain impediments are faced by the service providers such as the expansion of required bandwidth, the fragile encryption technique, the consumption of maximum bandwidth in security purpose, less priority to improvement of SNR of the system, the complexity in decryption and so forth.  This paper illustrates the SNR enhancement & bandwidth optimization technique in security purpose using PCM- DSSS sample by sample encryption scheme. For this purpose, after sampling of a signal, simple mathematical operation is performed in each sample with a time varying arbitrary weights. This arbitrary weight can be obtained from D/A conversion of pseudo noise sequence. Since the bandwidth consumption in security purpose can be minimized in this scheme, a significant portion of unused bandwidth can be used to improve the SNR of the system by reducing quantization noise of encrypted samples. By the same token, the possibility of SNR improvement is demonstrated by reckoning the quantization noise while introducing additional quantization step

Structure, bonding and morphology of hydrothermally synthesised xonotlite

The authors have systematically investigated the role of synthesis conditions upon the structure and morphology of xonotlite. Starting with a mechanochemically prepared, semicrystalline phase with Ca/Si=1, the authors have prepared a series of xonotlite samples hydrothermally, at temperatures between 200 and 250 degrees C. Analysis in each case was by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The authors’ use of a much lower water/solid ratio has indirectly confirmed the ‘through solution’ mechanism of xonotlite formation, where silicate dissolution is a key precursor of xonotlite formation. Concerning the role of temperature, too low a temperature (~200 degrees C) fails to yield xonotlite or leads to increased number of structural defects in the silicate chains of xonotlite and too high a temperature (>250 degrees C) leads to degradation of the xonotlite structure, through leaching of interchain calcium. Synthesis duration meanwhile leads to increased silicate polymerisation due to diminishing of the defects in the silicate chains and more perfect crystal morphologies

DEVELOPMENT OF FERTILIZER RECOMMENDATION FOR MUSTARD-BORO-T.AMAN RICE CROPPING PATTERN UNDER KARATOYA-BANGALI FLOOD PLAIN SOILS

An experiment was conducted at Gabtali, Bogra (AEZ-4) for three years (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004) to determine the optimum fertilizer doses for Mustard-Boro-T. aman cropping pattern which enhanced total production and profit. Six nutrient management packages including one farmers' practice and one control were tested. The other four treatments were soil test based (STB) fertilizer dose for moderate yield goals (MYG) and High yield goals (HYG), STB based fertilizer dose for HYG plus mustard oil cake (400 kg/ha) and fertilizer dose as per country's Fertilizer Recommendation Guide (FRG'97). Three years average results of HYG gave higher yield performance of crops compared to the other treatments. The mean yield performance of treatment T 2 (HYG) over three years of mustard, Boro and T. aman were 1.11, 5.59 and 3.39 t/ha, respectively. The average gross margin (Tk.17408/ha) and MBCR (3.77) of mustard was the highest in T 2 (HYG). Similarly the highest gross margin (Tk .38597 /ha) and mean benefit and cost return (MBCR) (2.77) of Boro rice were observed from T 2 (HYG). It was also observed that the highest gross margin (Tk .23718 /ha) and MBCR of T. aman obtained from T 2

Ten years of survival among early-stage breast cancer patients: a hospital-based study

Background: The incidence rate of breast cancer is gradually increasing all over the world. In Bangladesh, we have very little research-based information regarding the survival of patients with early-stage breast cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the survival outcome of early-stage (Stages I- IIIA) breast cancer among female patients in respect to their age group, stage of the disease, tumor grade, nodal status, and hormone receptor status Methods: This was a prospective observational study focused on the survival outcome conducted in the department of clinical oncology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib medical university (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from December 2011 to December 2021. One hundred and five (105) female patients with early-stage (Stages I-IIIA) breast cancer were selected following the inclusion and exclusion criteria as the study subjects. Properly informed written consent was taken from all the participants before starting data collection. All data were processed, analyzed, and disseminated by MS office and SPSS programs as per need.   Results: The survival rate was found 79% (n=83). We observed stage-wise 10-year overall survival among the participants where 51.60%, 36.10%, and 12.30% survived from tumor stage I, II, and III respectively. We also observed that 29%, 60% and 11% of patients had survived from tumor grade I, II, and III respectively (Out of 83 survival cases). On the other hand, among the 83 10-year survival patients, 53.8% were of negative nodal status whereas 34.20% were of positive nodal status patients. Among the survived 83 patients, 86% were from >40 years’ age group whereas the rest 14% were from <40 years of age group. Conclusions: Early detection and treatment of breast cancer provide a definitive survival benefit. The results of the study showed that comprehensive screening and early detection of breast cancer is required to improve the survival outcome

Antioxidant properties of BJRI vegetable mesta-1 (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.)

Roselle or Mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is one of the plants whose plant parts are used to prepare juices. The Roselle calyx is considered as a good source of antioxidants. But the antioxidant properties of BJRI (Bangladesh Jute Research Institute) released Roselle vegetable variety, BJRI vegetable mesta-1, is not quantified yet. With the objective of making this vegetable more popular among the consumers, an experiment was conducted at the Jute Agriculture Experimental Station, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Jagir, Manikganj to find out the antioxidant properties of BJRI vegetable mesta-1. Total four antioxidant components eg., total phenol content, total flavonoid content, proanthocyanidin content, anthocyanin content and three antioxidant activities eg., DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging, (FRAP) ferric ion reducing antioxidant power, H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide), radical scavenging were measured from the calyx sample of BJRI vegetable mesta-1. Among the four antioxidant components, total flavonoid contents (959.53 mg 100 g–1) posses the highest position and anothocyanine contents (0.17 mg 100 g–1) were in the lowest position. FRAP activities were highest among the antioxidant activities of the calyx of our studied vegetable mesta. Our findings represented the quantity of antioxidant contents of the calyx of BJRI vegetable mesta-1 which justify its uses as natural antioxidants. Thus, Roselle calyx may act as an alternative source of antioxidant rich natural herbal tea

Effective one-dimensionality of AC hopping conduction in the extreme disorder limit

It is argued that in the limit of extreme disorder AC hopping is dominated by "percolation paths". Modelling a percolation path as a one-dimensional path with a sharp jump rate cut-off leads to an expression for the universal AC conductivity, that fits computer simulations in two and three dimensions better than the effective medium approximation.Comment: 6 postscript figure