RAZNOLIKOST IHTIOFAUNE JUŽNIH OBALNIH VODA BANGLADEŠA: POSTOJEĆE STANJE, PRIJETNJE I MOGUĆNOSTI OČUVANJA

Despite the enormous anthropogenic and environmental hazards affecting wild fisheries resources, southern coastal waters are still considered one of the aquatic biodiversity hotspots in Bangladesh. Therefore, the present study was conducted to make a complete account of fishes and to assess their condition and conservation status in the rivers spread across four southern coastal districts of Bangladesh. During the study period from January to December 2014, a total of 98 species of fish were recorded belonging to 81 genera, 48 families and 13 orders. Perciforms were recorded as the most diverse fish group in terms of both number and individuals of species observed. Of the 98 species, 26.53% were listed as Locally Threatened in Bangladesh, including 11.22% species listed as Vulnerable, 10.20% as Endangered and 5.10% as Critically Endangered. Four population indices viz, Shannon–Wiener index (H), Simpson’s dominance index (D), Simpson’s index of diversity (1-D) and Margalef’s index (d) were applied to demonstrate the species diversity, richness and evenness of fish in sampling areas and their overall values were 3.54-3.70, 0.04-0.05, 0.95-0.96 and 7.48-8.67, respectively. To sustain the prospect of fisheries biodiversity in the southern coastal areas of Bangladesh, management and conservation strategies like restocking economically important fish species, establishing and maintaining fish sanctuaries, banning indiscriminate fishing and destructive fishing gears, identification and protection of the breeding and nursery grounds should be taken into consideration with utmost priority.Unatoč visokoj ugroženosti brojnim antropogenim i ekološkim faktorima koji utječu na ribolovne resurse, južne priobalne vode se još uvijek smatraju jednom od vodenih vrućih točki biološke raznolikosti u Bangladešu. Ova je studija provedena da bi se utvrdila brojnost riba, ocijenilo njihovo stanje i status zaštite u rijekama koje se prostiru preko četiri južne priobalne oblasti Bangladeša. Tijekom istraživanja, u razdoblju od siječnja do prosinca 2014. godine, zabilježeno je ukupno 98 vrsta riba koje pripadaju 81 rodu, 48 porodica i 13 rodova. Najveću raznolikost u broju jedinki i broju vrsta utvrđena je kod skupine Perciformes. Od 98 vrsta, 26,53% su navedene kao lokalno ugrožene u Bangladešu, uključujući 11,22% vrsta koje su navedene kao ranjive, 10,20% kao ugrožena i 5,10% kao kritično ugrožene. Pri istraživanju četiri populacije utvrđeni su Shannon–Wiener indeks (H), Simpsonov indeks dominacije (D), Simpson indeks raznolikosti (1-D) i Margalefov indeks (d) kako bi se utvrdila raznolikost i bogatstvo vrsta u području istraživanja, čija je ukupna vrijednost iznosila 3,54-3,70, 0,04-0,05, 0,95-0,96 7,48-8,67. Za održanje perspektive ribarske bioraznolikosti u južnim priobalnim područjima Bangladeša, treba uzeti u obzir s najvećim prioritetom strategiju upravljanja i očuvanja kao i poribljavanja gospodarski važnih vrsta riba, uz uspostavljanje i održavanje ribljih skloništa, te zabranu nekritičnog ribolova i destruktivnih ribolovnih alata, identifikaciju i zaštitu područja mrijesta i rastilištu

Enhanced dry process method for modified asphalt containing plastic waste

In recent years, the proliferation of plastic waste has become a global problem. A potential solution to this problem is the dry process, which incorporates plastic waste into asphalt mixtures. However, the dry process often has inconsistent performance due to poor interaction with binder and improper distribution of plastic waste particles in the mixture skeleton. This inconsistency may be caused by inaccurate mixing method, shredding size, mixing temperature and ingredient priorities. Thus, this study aims to improve the consistency of the dry process by comparing the control asphalt mixture and two plastic waste-modified asphalt mixtures prepared using the dry process. This study used crushed granite aggregate with the nominal maximum aggregate size of 14 mm whereas the shredded plastic bag is in the range of 5–10 mm. Quantitative sieving analysis and performance tests were carried out to examine the effects of plastic waste added into the asphalt mixture. The volumetric and performance properties combined with image analysis of the modified mixtures were obtained and compared with the control mixture. In addition, the moisture damage, resilient modulus, creep deformation and rutting were evaluated. This study also highlighted in detail the distribution of plastic particles in the final skeleton of the asphalt mixture. Based on the analysis, an enhanced dry process of mixing procedure was proposed and evaluated. Results showed that the addition of plastic particles using the conventional dry process leads to the deviation in the aggregate structure as high plastic content is added. Furthermore, the enhanced dry process developed in this study presents substantial enhancement in the asphalt performance, particularly with plastic waste that accounts for 20% of the weight of the asphalt binder

Character Education Strategy at Boarding School

The purpose of this article is to describe and determine the planning, implementation, and evaluation of character education at the Qur'an Al-Qosimi Islamic Boarding School. The method in this study uses a qualitative method with the type of case study. The subjects of this study were students of the Al-Qur'an Al-Qosimi Islamic Boarding School. From the findings obtained from character education in PPQ through habituation, giving advice, exemplary, practice and giving rewards and punishments. This article produces (1) Planning that adapts the vision and mission from here, each supervisor has various strategies according to their creativity and abilities. (2) Implementation, namely training and instilling the spirit of honesty, independence, responsibility, compassion, mutual cooperation, simplicity, this can be realized by practicing habituation in everyday life, monitored, supervised, sanctioned, and rewarded, students will be stimulated to do which is even better every time you take action. (3) Evaluation of character formation cannot be carried out by administrators and caregivers alone but must involve other parties as supporters of the success of character education at PPQ so that PPQ cooperates with the pesantren community, santri guardians, and monitors every activity inside and outside the pesantren, so that makes it easier to evaluate each individual student

Fishery

The aim of the present study was to establish the baseline data on fishery biology of Sillaginopsis panijus which is very endemic in the southern coastal waters of Bangladesh. Altogether 300 individuals of S. panijus were sampled from five catchment areas within the Ganges delta in which males represent 46% and females 54% of the total sampled population. The overall sex ratio in the populations agrees with the expected value of 1:1 in normal population. The values of allometric coefficient (b) of the LWRs indicated positive allometric growth (b > 3) in female and combined sexes, while male showed a negative allometric growth (b 0.900. The mean values of CFs for males were higher than those of females in all different length classes. The study would expedite future studies on population assessment and sustainable conservation of the fish species along the southern coastal region of Bangladesh

Unifying the seeds auto generation (SAGE) with knee cartilage segmentation framework: data from the osteoarthritis initiative

Purpose: Manual segmentation is sensitive to operator bias, while semiautomatic random walks segmentation offers an intuitive approach to understand the user knowledge at the expense of large amount of user input. In this paper, we propose a novel random walks seed auto-generation (SAGE) hybrid model that is robust to interobserver error and intensive user intervention. Methods: Knee image is first oversegmented to produce homogeneous superpixels. Then, a ranking model is developed to rank the superpixels according to their affinities to standard priors, wherein background superpixels would have lower ranking values. Finally, seed labels are generated on the background superpixel using Fuzzy C-Means method. Results: SAGE has achieved better interobserver DSCs of 0.94 ± 0.029 and 0.93 ± 0.035 in healthy and OA knee segmentation, respectively. Good segmentation performance has been reported in femoral (Healthy: 0.94 ± 0.036 and OA: 0.93 ± 0.034), tibial (Healthy: 0.91 ± 0.079 and OA: 0.88 ± 0.095) and patellar (Healthy: 0.88 ± 0.10 and OA: 0.84 ± 0.094) cartilage segmentation. Besides, SAGE has demonstrated greater mean readers’ time of 80 ± 19 s and 80 ± 27 s in healthy and OA knee segmentation, respectively. Conclusions: SAGE enhances the efficiency of segmentation process and attains satisfactory segmentation performance compared to manual and random walks segmentation. Future works should validate SAGE on progressive image data cohort using OA biomarkers

Characterisation of microstructural and sound absorption properties of porous asphalt subjected to progressive clogging

Road traffic noise is a significant environmental issue. Porous asphalt is often used to mitigate this problem. However, the clogging issue is one of the main challenges of using porous asphalt. Clogging leads to a significant reduction in permeability and sound absorption as the pavement aged. This study measures the changes in the microstructural properties and sound absorption with multiple clogging cycles via X-ray Computed Tomography scanning. The identification of the presence of clogging particles in the X-ray images is also one of the challenges due to the complexity of image segmentation. Clogging simulation tests are performed on the compacted samples at a concentration of 1.0 g/l and repeated for five clogging cycles. The microstructural analysis shows that severe clogging densification occurred at the top section of the porous asphalt (approximately one-third of the sample height), thereby leading to alteration in the physical void structure and void properties (i.e., percentage, number, and size). Accordingly, the peak of the sound absorption coefficient observed at 800 Hz under an initial condition shifted to a new peak of 630 Hz after severe clogging. Low-frequency sound wave energy has a low attenuation energy that can penetrate the clogged surface given the correlation between the sound absorption coefficient and the air void properties. This study also recommends the use of Non-local mean filter to minimise the effect of white noise (equal signal intensity or density) and improve the accuracy of image segmentation

Effects of pentagonal pore sizes in the zinc hydroxyapatite parietal-temporal implant

To reconstruct the fractured skull, affected patients are advised to undergo cranioplasty, which is a surgical procedure to repair the cranial defect by implanting materials such as autologous bone grafts or synthetic alloplastic materials. The use of synthetic alloplastic materials such as hydroxyapatite (HA) has been widely accepted due to their biocompatibility and suitability for larger cranial defects. The zinc hydroxyapatite (ZnHA) material is favourable as HA mimics 60% of the actual human bone, whereas zinc helps to improve its biomechanical properties. The purpose of this study is to construct the ZnHA cranial implant with different pore sizes of 600, 900, and 1200 µm in pentagonal shapes and to study its mechanical performance. At the end of the research, it was found that the implant with a pore size of 900 µm is the most appropriate implant to be utilized without affecting its mechanical performance. Aspects such as the deformation and von Mises stress are discussed to assist on the development of the ZnHA cranial implant

Human platelet lysate promotes proliferation but fails to maintain chondrogenic markers of chondrocytes

Traditionally, foetal bovine serum (FBS) is used as a serum supplement for stem cell expansion in vitro. However, it is associated with xenoimmunisation and the transmission of animal pathogens, which may cause harm to stem cell recipients. As a safer alternative, human platelet lysate (HPL) has been introduced for propagating stem cells. Chondrocytes are expanded in vitro for cartilage repair via autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI). In this study, we compare the efficacy of HPL prepared from expired platelet concentrates with that of FBS for promoting the proliferation and maintenance of the chondrogenic markers of primary human chondrocytes expanded in vitro. Chondrocytes were cultured in F12:Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 5% HPL, 10% HPL and 10% FBS. The cell morphology, viability and growth rate were examined from passage 1 (P1) to P3. RNA was isolated from P3 cells for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to determine the gene expression level of the chondrogenic, dedifferentiation and hypertrophic markers. HPL promoted chondrocyte proliferation without compromising cell viability. In addition, the chondrocytes cultured with HPL were smaller. However, HPL failed to maintain the chondrogenic markers, except SOX 9 (SRY-box transcription factor 9), which was upregulated, but not significantly. Nonetheless, HPL also suppressed the expression of type X collagen (Col X), a chondrocyte hypertrophic marker. In summary, we demonstrate the benefits of HPL supplementation in human chondrocyte culture, where it enhances cell proliferation and suppresses chondrocyte hypertrophy. In the future, HPL can be used for the large-scale expansion of chondrocytes for ACI