Sexual Harassment in Bangladesh: A Note on Legal Perspective

This paper offers a description of sexual harassment in Bangladesh. Here the existing laws related to the issue have been analyzed, and a comparative approach to molestation has also been discussed. Different surveys have indicated the increasing rate of sexual harassment in Bangladesh. Countries, such as India, and Pakistan are having specific laws and relevant provisions to mitigate such offenses. Despite having laws regarding such offenses, most countries are unable to fight the social ailment of sexual harassment. The secondary data finds that in 2017, 54.7% of women living in urban areas faced the violence of physical, psychological, financial, and social nature, and received unusual words from the stranger and sometimes also from the known person. Sexual Harassment is taking place in different places including workplaces, educational institutions, and online platforms. The existing legislation regarding such offenses may not be adequate in the current situation as the nature of such offenses has been changed. This paper provides recommendations for amending necessary provisions to mitigate such problems. It highlights different surveys on the issue and elucidates the provisions of sexual harassment. Data have been collected from newspaper articles, journal articles, websites, and case references. The comparative perspective of sexual harassment in different countries has also been discussed in this paper.

Osmolyte-induced water deficit stress mitigation during panicle initiation stage in transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.)

A field experiment was conducted to observe the osmolyte-induced water deficit stress mitigation during the panicle initiation stage in transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. BRRI dhan72). At the panicle initiation stage, plants were simulated with four levels of water regimes viz., well-irrigated (D0), water deficit for 5 d (D1), 10 d (D2) and 15 d (D3). Plants were treated with or without 10 mM of proline (Pro) and trehalose (Tre) as foliar spray started at mid-vegetative stage and continued till the end of stress period. Results revealed that water deficit stress drastically reduced most of the plant morpho-physiological attributes while other yield contributing characters were also affected due to prolonged water deficit stress. However, exogenous application of osmolytes like Pro and Tre significantly increased all those morphological, physiological and yield contributing parameters. Foliar addition of osmolytes concomitantly decreased the number of non-effective tillers hill-1 and the number of unfilled grain panicle-1 under water stress condition. Although both the osmolytes performed well under multiple duration of drought stress, the application of 10 mM Pro markedly improved all growth and yield contributing parameters under D1 water deficit stress compared to other stress durations. Hence, it may be concluded that the use of osmolytes would be a prospective remedy against moderate water deficit stress in transplanted rice production

Bio-Rational Management of Maize Weevil, Sitophilus Zeamais in Maize (Zea Mays) Seeds

Bangladesh is a sub-tropical and humid country. That is why, the infestation of insects during storage is very common here. The maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), locally known as “Katta Poka”, is one of the most serious cosmopolitan pest of stored cereal grain, especially of maize (Zea mays L.), in tropical and subtropical regions including Bangladesh. Considering the issue, the study was conducted in the laboratory of Department of Entomology, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) following completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications to evaluate the efficacy of four locally available botanicals and chemicals. The botanicals used were: Neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf, Datura (Datura stramonium) leaf, Nishinda (Vitex negundo L) leaf and Garlic (Allium sativum L.) tablet powders at three different doses (3, 4 and 5gm)/100g of grain seed against maize weevil. The results revealed that all test materials at 5g doses exhibited higher mortality action against maize weevil while at 3g doses it gave the lowest percentage efficacy. Powdered leaves of neem and datura at 4 and 5gm were showed statistical significant (P<0.01) differences while powdered leaves of nishinda at the similar rates were observed with moderately effectiveness and powdered tablet of garlic gave the lowest mortality rate within 28 days of exposure in all tested doses. These findings suggest that botanical treatments exerted better mortality of maize weevil and reduced maize seed weight loss with higher germination capacity compared to the untreated control. It was also observed that the highest mortality percentage, lowest seed weight loss and highest germination capacity in the seeds which were treated with Sevin 85SP at the rate of 0.25g/100g maize seeds. Maize grains treated with botanicals, indicated that insect reproduction and development were impaired in all botanical pesticides. It is suggested that datura leaf, neem leaf powder can be used as good alternatives to chemical insecticides against S. zeamays due to their higher mortality, lower seed weight losses and higher germination capacity

Computational Investigation Of Zn-based Single Buffer Layers Toward Cd-free High-efficiency CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells

The photovoltaic performance of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)-based solar cells with Cd-free single buffer layers and a barium disulfide (BaSi2) back-surface field (BSF) has been studied through a numerical approach using a one-dimensional solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS-1D). The efficacy of the buffer layer of cadmium sulfide (CdS) via FTO/CdS/CIGS/BaSi2/Mo heterostructure has been studied first and thereafter toxic CdS is replaced by various non-toxic buffers; zinc selenide (ZnSe), indium-doped zinc sulfide (ZnS:In), and indium sulfide (In2S3). Comprehensive research has been performed on the effects of buffer layer thickness, gallium (Ga) concentration in CIGS absorber, BaSi2 BSF doping density, various back contact metals, and cell operating temperature. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the CIGS-based solar cell with the CdS buffer layer is 26.24 percent, while solar cells with Zn-based buffers made of ZnS:In or ZnSe show improved PCE of 17.68 percent and 17.56 percent, respectively. This study demonstrates the enormous potential of Zn-based ZnS:In and ZnSe buffers for the experimental fabrication of high-efficiency thin-film solar cells with the following structure: FTO/buffer/CIGS/BaSi2/Mo

New distribution record and an updated map of Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl, 1820) (Squamata, Scincidae) from Dhaka division, Bangladesh

The Many-lined Sun Skink, Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl, 1820), has so far been reported from seven localities in Bangladesh. We present the first record of this species from Faridpur district of the country. Our new record extends the distribution of the species by nearly 123 km from its nearest previously known record at Jahangiragar University, Dhaka district, and updates the distribution of this poorly known species in Bangladesh

First record of Uperodon globulosus (Günther, 1864) (Anura, Microhylidae) in Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh

Uperodon globulosus (Günther, 1864) has so far been recorded from 6 localities in Bangladesh over the past 3 decades. In June 2017, we found an adult female in a courtyard of a house in Jonail village (Natore district, Rajshahi division, Bangladesh), which is approximately 102 km southwest of the previous nearest previously known occurrence of this species