Access to daylight and outdoor views: a comparative study for therapeutic daylighting design

This study compares the impact of access to daylight and the provision of outdoor views and their relationship to patients’ recovery time in an open-heart surgery environment

A simulation assessment of the height of light shelves to enhance daylighting quality in tropical office buildings under overcast sky conditions in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The objective of this paper is to highlight the effectiveness of light shelves in tropical office buildings to enhance interior daylighting quality. Daylight simulation was performed for custom light shelves for a typical office floor of Dhaka City in Bangladesh, to determine the best possible location under overcast sky conditions. Six alternative models of a 3m high study space were created with varying heights of light shelves. The 3D models were first generated in the Ecotect to study the distribution and uniformity of daylight in the interior space with split- flux method. These models were then exported to a physically-based backward raytracer, Radiance Synthetic Imaging software to generate realistic lighting levels for validating and crosschecking the Ecotect results. The results showed that for achieving light levels closest to specified standards, light shelves at a height of 2m above floor level perform better among the seven alternatives studied including the alternative where no light shelves are present. Finally, the decisions were verified with DAYSIM simulation program to ensure the compliance of the decisions with dynamic annual climate-based daylight performance metrics

Systematic study of the therapeutic impact of daylight associated with clinical recovery

Daylight appears to be one of the most important visual and sensual elements of hospital environment for patients ’ health and wellbeing and is often given insufficient priority by researchers, due to its versatility and far-reaching but complex implications. The information related to daylight in hospitals is spread over a wide range of articles and research reports done by either biologists or researchers of therapeutic built environment. Therefore, it is difficult for daylight researcher to link these two and get a complete picture of the possible influences of therapeutic daylight. This paper is aimed at compiling and arranging the findings of two research groups in a line to explore how daylight impacts on patients ’ health and recovery gradually from light incident on patients ’ eye or skin, to the evidences of patients ’ health outcomes in hospital environment. The findings from literature review will strengthen the foundation of researchers who want to investigate the effect of daylight on clinical recovery and intend to design therapeutic daylit hospital buildings

The changing perspective of daylight design to face the challenge of climate change

From the history of human civilization and development of architecture, it is evident that for most of the periods daylight was the leading choice of people and researchers for building illumination, except for a very short period of 50 years (1920 - 1970) in-between. The argument for daylighting has changed in different era, from the one and only source of light to energy efficient source, from healthy source of light to, again unique source of light to stop generation of fossil fuel GHG-emitting energy. The vast campaign for daylight building was started to save energy, but later it was proven that sometimes daylight itself causes extreme cooling load to the building more than the savings from artificial light. Therefore, improper and outthought addition of daylight may cause harm rather than targeted benefit. Now, the uppermost argument and interest for daylighting is its encouraging acceptability to occupants’ health, comfort, performance and satisfaction. Due to the accelerated climate change in future, failure to protect the buildings from UVR from sunlight, can go the other way and could be a threat on human health and wellbeing. This paper presents, how the design philosophy of daylight has changed/ updated with time. The purpose of this paper is, learning from past, highlight the added agendas of climate change for daylight designers and researchers, so that each and every solution and decision of daylight design will not only meet the current requirements and strategy but also fit in future episode

Genetic diversity analysis of some Bangladeshi aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.) using simple sequence repeat markers (SSRM)

In order to germplasm management, conservation, parental identification and proper utilization of aromatic rice germplasm of Bangladesh genetic diversity assessment and molecular characterization is necessary. We used ten microsatellite markers across twenty aromatic rice landraces along with four improved varieties to discriminate and characterize among them. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 8, with an average of 4.30 alleles across 10 loci. A total of 43 polymorphic alleles were detected. The values of Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.217 to 0.835 (average 0.495) which indicate high genetic diversity among the studied aromatic rice genotypes. It was concluded by the PIC value of RM5339 that it might be the finest marker for diversity estimation and characterize of these aromatic rice genotypes, followed by RM334, RM414 and RM28502 markers. The UPGMA cluster dendrogram constructed in this study identified seven clusters with a correlation coefficient 0.874. Molecular characterization of aromatic rice landraces of Bangladesh exhibited large variations among the genotypes. Five rice genotypes namely BRRI dhan38, BRRI dhan50, Bashmoti safed, Malaysira, Khas-kani showed highest genetic dissimilarity among the studied rice genotypes. The findings of this study would be useful for background selection in backcross breeding programs for aromatic rice improvement as well as identification of genetically distant and genetically close accessions for maintenance and conservation

The changing perspective of daylight design to face the challenge of climate change

From the history of human civilization and development of architecture, it is evident that for most of the periods daylight was the leading choice of people and researchers for building illumination, except for a very short period of 50 years (1920 - 1970) in-between. The argument for daylighting has changed in different era, from the one and only source of light to energy efficient source, from healthy source of light to, again unique source of light to stop generation of fossil fuel GHG-emitting energy. The vast campaign for daylight building was started to save energy, but later it was proven that sometimes daylight itself causes extreme cooling load to the building more than the savings from artificial light. Therefore, improper and outthought addition of daylight may cause harm rather than targeted benefit. Now, the uppermost argument and interest for daylighting is its encouraging acceptability to occupants’ health, comfort, performance and satisfaction. Due to the accelerated climate change in future, failure to protect the buildings from UVR from sunlight, can go the other way and could be a threat on human health and wellbeing. This paper presents, how the design philosophy of daylight has changed/ updated with time. The purpose of this paper is, learning from past, highlight the added agendas of climate change for daylight designers and researchers, so that each and every solution and decision of daylight design will not only meet the current requirements and strategy but also fit in future episode

Effect of genotype on proximate composition and biological yield of maize (Zea mays L.)

An experiment was conducted to study the proximate composition of five released maize varieties (Zea mays L.) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), which was popularly growing in Bangladesh namely BHM-5, BHM-8, BHM-13, BHM-15, and Barnali. There was none a single variety performed best in all nutrient parameters. Among these maize varieties, the highest grain weight of 100 seeds, and yield was found in BHM-15 (32.84g and 12.6 ton/ha). In the case of proximate analysis, the highest protein, ash, and fat content was recorded from BHM-15 (13.11%, 2.33%, and 5.44%), the highest carbohydrate content was recorded from BHM-13 (82.40%), and the highest amount of fiber was recorded from BHM-5 (2.07%). On the other hand, the lowest amount of carbohydrate and protein was recorded from BHM-15 (77.67%) and BHM-8 (10.96%), respectively. BHM-13 contained the lowest amount of fiber (1.24%) and fat (4.27%). Barnali and BHM-15 showed better performance for most of the minerals. The findings concluded that the different genotypes of maize differ substantially in their chemical and mineral compositions

A simulation assessment of the height of light shelves to enhance daylighting quality in tropical office buildings under overcast sky conditions in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The objective of this paper is to highlight the effectiveness of light shelves in tropical office buildings to enhance interior daylighting quality. Daylight simulation was performed for custom light shelves for a typical office floor of Dhaka City in Bangladesh, to determine the best possible location under overcast sky conditions. Six alternative models of a 3m high study space were created with varying heights of light shelves. The 3D models were first generated in the Ecotect to study the distribution and uniformity of daylight in the interior space with split- flux method. These models were then exported to a physically-based backward raytracer, Radiance Synthetic Imaging software to generate realistic lighting levels for validating and crosschecking the Ecotect results. The results showed that for achieving light levels closest to specified standards, light shelves at a height of 2m above floor level perform better among the seven alternatives studied including the alternative where no light shelves are present. Finally, the decisions were verified with DAYSIM simulation program to ensure the compliance of the decisions with dynamic annual climate-based daylight performance metrics

Feasibility and effectiveness of electronic vs. paper partograph on improving birth outcomes:A prospective crossover study design

BACKGROUND: The partograph has been endorsed by World Health Organization (WHO) since 1994 which presents an algorithm for assessing maternal and foetal conditions and labor progression. Monitoring labour with a partograph can reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes such as prolonged labor, emergency C-sections, birth asphyxia and stillbirths. However, partograph use is still very low, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). In Bangladesh the reported partograph user rate varies from 1.4% to 33.0%. Recently, an electronic version of the partograph, with the provision of online data entry and user aid for emergency clinical support, has been tested successfully in different settings. With this proven evidence, we conducted and operations research to test the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing an e-partograph, for the first time, in 2 public hospitals in Bangladesh. METHODS: We followed a prospective crossover design. Two secondary level referral hospitals, Jessore and Kushtia District Hospital (DH) were the study sites. All pregnant women who delivered in the study hospitals were the study participants. All nurse-midwives working in the labor ward of study hospitals were trained on appropriate use of both types of partograph along with standard labour management guidelines. Collected quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS 23 statistical software. Discrete variables were expressed as percentages and presented as frequency distribution and cross tabulations. Chi square tests were employed to test the association between exposure and outcome variables. Potential confounding factors were adjusted using multivariate binary logistic regression methods. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). FINDINGS: In total 2918 deliveries were conducted at Jessore DH and 2312 at Kushtia DH during one-year study period. Of them, 1012 (506 in each facility) deliveries were monitored using partograph (paper or electronic). The trends of facility based C-section rates was downwards in both the hospitals; 43% to 37% in Jessore and from 36% to 25% in Kushtia Hospital. There was a significant reduction of prolonged labour with e-partograph use. In Kushtia DH, the prolonged labour rate was 42% during phase 1 with the paper version which came down to 29% during phase-2 with the e-partograph use. The similar result was observed in Jessore DH where the prolonged labour rate reduced to 7% with paper partograph from the reported 30% prolonged labour with e-partograph. The e-partograph user rate was higher than the paper partograph during both phases (phase 1: 3.31, CI: 2.04-5.38, p < .001 and in phase 2: 15.20 CI: 6.36-36.33, p < .001) after adjusting for maternal age, parity, gestational age, religion, mother's education, husband's education, and fetal sex. CONCLUSION: The partograph user rate has significantly improved with the e- partograph and was associated with an overall reduction in cesarean births. Use of the e-partograph was also associated with reduced rates of prolonged labour. This study has added to the growing body of evidence on the positive impact of e-partograph use. We recommend implementing e-partograph intervention at scale in both public and private hospitals in Bangladesh. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03509103