Bangladesh baseline surveys on child labour situation in Bidi Industry in Kushtia, Tangail, and Rangpur districts

The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been working in a collaborative effort with the government, workers' and employees' and organizations, and civil society to prevent and eliminate child labour and its worst forms worldwide. As part of its endeavour, Bangladesh has also been striving to address the child labour issue through government, workers' and employers' organizations, NGOs and other international organizations with the launching of an action-oriented US Department of Labor (USDOL) funded Project titled "Preventing and eliminating the worst forms of child labour in selected formal and informal sectors". This research is a part of it

Impact of Delayed Pain to Needle and Variable Door to Needle Time On In-Hospital Complications in Patients With ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Who Underwent Thrombolysis: A Single-Center Experience.

Background Myocardial infarction is a life-threatening event, and timely intervention is essential to improve patient outcomes and mortality. Previous studies have shown that the time to thrombolysis should be less than 30 minutes of the patient\u27s arrival at the emergency room. Pain-to-needle time is a time from onset of chest pain to the initiation of thrombolysis, and door-to-needle time is a time between arrival to the emergency room to initiation of thrombolytic treatment. Ideally, the target for door-to-needle time should be less than 30 minutes; however, it is unclear if the door-to-needle time has a significant impact on patients presenting later than three hours from the onset of pain. As many of the previous studies were conducted in first-world countries, with established emergency medical services (EMS) systems and pre-hospital ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) triages and protocols, the data is not completely generalizable to developing countries. We, therefore, looked for the impact of the shorter and longer door-to-needle times on patient outcomes who presented to the emergency room (ER) with delayed pain-to-needle times (more than three hours of pain onset). Objective To determine the impact of delayed pain-to-needle time (PNT) with variable door-to-needle time (DNT) on in-hospital complications (post-infarct angina, heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction, and death) in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who underwent thrombolysis. Methods and results A total of 300 STEMI patients who underwent thrombolysis within 12 hours of symptoms onset were included, which were divided into two groups based on PNT. These groups were further divided into subgroups based on DNT. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications between the two groups and between subgroups within each group. The pain-to-needle time was ≤3 hours in 73 (24.3%) patients and \u3e3 hours in 227 (75.7%) patients. In-hospital complications were higher in group II with PNT \u3e3 hours (p3 hours), has a significant impact on in-hospital complications with no difference in mortality

Dynamic Evaluation of Desiccant Dehumidification Evaporative Cooling Options for Greenhouse Air-Conditioning Application in Multan (Pakistan)

This study provides insights into the feasibility of a desiccant dehumidification-based Maisotsenko cycle evaporative cooling (M-DAC) system for greenhouse air-conditioning application. Conventional cooling techniques include direct evaporative cooling, refrigeration systems, and passive/active ventilation. which are commonly used in Pakistan; however, they are either not feasible due to their energy cost, or they cannot efficiently provide an optimum microclimate depending on the regions, the growing seasons, and the crop being cultivated. The M-DAC system was therefore proposed and evaluated as an alternative solution for air conditioning to achieve optimum levels of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) for greenhouse crop production. The objective of this study was to investigate the thermodynamic performance of the proposed system from the viewpoints of the temperature gradient, relative humidity level, VPD, and dehumidification gradient. Results showed that the standalone desiccant air-conditioning (DAC) system created maximum dehumidification gradient (i.e., 16.8 g/kg) and maximum temperature gradient (i.e., 8.4 °C) at 24.3 g/kg and 38.6 °C ambient air conditions, respectively. The DAC coupled with a heat exchanger (DAC+HX) created a temperature gradient nearly equal to ambient air conditions, which is not in the optimal range for greenhouse growing conditions. Analysis of the M-DAC system showed that a maximum air temperature gradient, i.e., 21.9 °C at 39.2 °C ambient air condition, can be achieved, and is considered optimal for most greenhouse crops. Results were validated with two microclimate models (OptDeg and Cft) by taking into account the optimality of VPD at different growth stages of tomato plants. This study suggests that the M-DAC system is a feasible method to be considered as an efficient solution for greenhouse air-conditioning under the climate conditions of Multan (Pakistan)

SEISMIC PERFORMANCE ON FLAT SLABS AND BEAM SLAB IN MULTI STOREY BUILDING

Now a days the use of flat slab building provides many advantages over conventional RC Frame building in terms of architectural flexibility, use of space, easier formwork and shorter construction time. The structural efficiency of the flat-slab construction is hindered by its poor performance under earthquake loading. Whereas the conventional beam slab buildings perform better in seismic regions. In the present work another model with alternate floor flat slab and beam slab is considered and all the nine structures are compared. Conventional RC frame structure, Flat Slab structure and alternate floor flat-beam slab structure of G+10story of plan size of 30mx30m have been considered. The performance of Conventional RC frame structure, Flat Slab structure and alternate floor flat-beam slab structure were studied and for the analysis, seismic zone II is considered. The analysis is done with using E-Tabs 2015 software. It is necessary to analyze seismic behavior of building to see what parameters are going to changes in conventional RC Frame building, flat slab building and alternate floor flat-beam slab building with corner shear wall, middle shear wall and without shear wall. Therefore, the characteristics of the seismic behavior of flat slab and conventional RC Frame buildings suggest that additional measures for guiding the conception and design of these structures in seismic regions are needed and to improve the performance of building having conventional RC building and flat slabs under seismic loading, The objective of the present work is to examine the feasibility of Alternate floor flat slab-beam slab structure and compare the behavior of these nine types of buildings under seismic forces. Present work provides a good source of information on storey drift, storey displacement, base shear, storey shear, column forces and time perio

ISRA-Bloomberg Sharīʿah stock screening and income cleansing methodologies: a conceptual paper

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explain and critically analyse the Sharīʿah screening criteria and cleansing process for income generated from stocks with a special focus on a newly developed ISRA-Bloomberg methodology. Design/methodology/approach - The paper focuses on the methodology of ISRA-Bloomberg in terms of Sharīʿah screening of stocks and the income cleansing process. To achieve this objective, this paper adopts a descriptive approach. Findings - The methodology of ISRA-Bloomberg is unique in terms of its criterion for screening stocks, the cleansing process and coverage of the universe of stocks. It facilitates the investors by offering a novel colour-coding scheme to indicate the Sharīʿah compliance of a stock. It also provides the exact ratios of the Sharīʿah-compliance criteria to the investors so they can closely observe changes in the trend of ratios and decide beforehand whether or not a company is likely to remain within the Sharīʿah-compliant list. The paper further discusses the issues in the screening and cleansing practices faced by the industry. Research limitations/implications - This research is limited to the criteria of screening and income purification of stocks which have been used by ISRA-Bloomberg from a Sharīʿah perspective. Practical/implications - The robust screening criteria and comprehensive analysis of the stocks will enhance the confidence of Islamic capital market participants. The investors, regulators and index providers will be equally able to benefit from this initiative. Originality/value - The paper focuses on the recently established methodology of ISRA-Bloomberg, which has not been discussed in the literature until now. The methodology, because of its exceptionality, may add a new dimension to Sharīʿah screening and cleansing of stocks

TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF CENTER OF MASS, CENTER OF RIGIDITY, CENTER OF STRENGTH OF A BUILDING ON A TORSIONAL MOMENT USING NONLINEAR TIME HISTORY ANALYSIS

Modern architectural design more often than not deals with irregular structures. In these structures, the torsion phenomenon can induce significant stresses, especially in the case of seismic motion. The seismic response of an asymmetric building subjected to ground motion tends to be significantly stronger due to torsional effects. These effects arise from the non uniform distribution of mass, the stiffness, the strength and the torsional components of the ground movement. Torsion has been the cause of major damage to buildings subjected to strong earthquakes, ranging from visible distortion of the structure to structural collapse. It occurs under the action of earthquake forces when the center of mass of the building does not coincide with the center of rigidity. The distance between them is called eccentricity. Lateral force multiplied with this eccentricity causes a torsional moment that must be resisted by the structure. In theory, reducing the distance between the center of mass and center of rigidity should minimize the torsional effects. Six models were considered to test the effects of torsion and rotation wherein, models one, five and six shared column size. Model one served as the basic model while model five had a base isolator incorporated in it and model six implements shear walls. Models two, three and four are similar to the basic model except for the column sizes with the redistribution of strength and stiffness and have no special parameters applied. In this project, it has been evaluated that it is possible to effectively reduce torsional and rotational effect within an irregular building up to 15 stories. Although the base isolator provided the best resistance to deforming forces over the structure, it is worthwhile to note that just the configuration of centers provides an acceptable levels of resistance with significant reduction in cost and is far more feasible in many parts of the world. Keywords: Center of Mass, Center of Rigidity, Center of Strength, Torsional Moment, Nonlinear time history analysis

Dynamic Evaluation of Desiccant Dehumidification Evaporative Cooling Options for Greenhouse Air-Conditioning Application in Multan (Pakistan)

This study provides insights into the feasibility of a desiccant dehumidification-based Maisotsenko cycle evaporative cooling (M-DAC) system for greenhouse air-conditioning application. Conventional cooling techniques include direct evaporative cooling, refrigeration systems, and passive/active ventilation. which are commonly used in Pakistan; however, they are either not feasible due to their energy cost, or they cannot efficiently provide an optimum microclimate depending on the regions, the growing seasons, and the crop being cultivated. The M-DAC system was therefore proposed and evaluated as an alternative solution for air conditioning to achieve optimum levels of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) for greenhouse crop production. The objective of this study was to investigate the thermodynamic performance of the proposed system from the viewpoints of the temperature gradient, relative humidity level, VPD, and dehumidification gradient. Results showed that the standalone desiccant air-conditioning (DAC) system created maximum dehumidification gradient (i.e., 16.8 g/kg) and maximum temperature gradient (i.e., 8.4 °C) at 24.3 g/kg and 38.6 °C ambient air conditions, respectively. The DAC coupled with a heat exchanger (DAC+HX) created a temperature gradient nearly equal to ambient air conditions, which is not in the optimal range for greenhouse growing conditions. Analysis of the M-DAC system showed that a maximum air temperature gradient, i.e., 21.9 °C at 39.2 °C ambient air condition, can be achieved, and is considered optimal for most greenhouse crops. Results were validated with two microclimate models (OptDeg and Cft) by taking into account the optimality of VPD at different growth stages of tomato plants. This study suggests that the M-DAC system is a feasible method to be considered as an efficient solution for greenhouse air-conditioning under the climate conditions of Multan (Pakistan)