Noise and Cluster Size Studies of ALPIDE-CMOS Pixel Sensor for pCT

The use of proton beam has been introduced in medical physics for therapeutic purposes in cancer treatment and it has been proven much more efficient than conventional X-ray. Treatment planning in proton therapy is usually provided with information from X-ray CT where X-ray attenuation in tissue is needed to be converted to proton stopping power. This conversion leads to several uncertainties because proton interacts with matter in a different way than the photon. An intuitive way to mitigate this problem is using charged particles as the basis for the CT-scan and this is the time when the idea of “Proton CT” came up. There are nearly 10 pCT prototypes worldwide and all are designed with two separate devices for proton tracking and calorimetry. Few recent studies discovered the potential of merging these two separate systems into one uniquely featured Digital Tracking Calorimeter (DTC). The DTC is made of multiple layers of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) chips. In this study, ALPIDE chip has been brought in as MAPS for DTC. The ALPIDE was developed for the heavy-ion experiment at CERN to detect high energy charged particles. For pCT, ALPIDE is conceptually an ideal sensor because of its low power consumption and chip area with more than half a million pixels with in-pixel readout scheme. This thesis is carried out in three main parts: • Characterization of ALPIDE chip focusing particularly on chip’s threshold and fake hit rate. • Measuring radiation-induced effects on the sensor performance. • Analysing sensor response for different types of radiation. In addition, I contributed to Proton Beam Test at OCL, Oslo and analyzed the data afterward. This thesis also includes the analysis performed on proton beam data and significant findings from the analysis. This study represents a key contribution to pCT in terms of defining the sensor behavior and interpreting sensor response.Master's Thesis in PhysicsMAMN-PHYSPHYS39

Noise and Cluster Size Studies of ALPIDE-CMOS Pixel Sensor for pCT

The use of proton beam has been introduced in medical physics for therapeutic purposes in cancer treatment and it has been proven much more efficient than conventional X-ray. Treatment planning in proton therapy is usually provided with information from X-ray CT where X-ray attenuation in tissue is needed to be converted to proton stopping power. This conversion leads to several uncertainties because proton interacts with matter in a different way than the photon. An intuitive way to mitigate this problem is using charged particles as the basis for the CT-scan and this is the time when the idea of “Proton CT” came up. There are nearly 10 pCT prototypes worldwide and all are designed with two separate devices for proton tracking and calorimetry. Few recent studies discovered the potential of merging these two separate systems into one uniquely featured Digital Tracking Calorimeter (DTC). The DTC is made of multiple layers of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) chips. In this study, ALPIDE chip has been brought in as MAPS for DTC. The ALPIDE was developed for the heavy-ion experiment at CERN to detect high energy charged particles. For pCT, ALPIDE is conceptually an ideal sensor because of its low power consumption and chip area with more than half a million pixels with in-pixel readout scheme. This thesis is carried out in three main parts: • Characterization of ALPIDE chip focusing particularly on chip’s threshold and fake hit rate. • Measuring radiation-induced effects on the sensor performance. • Analysing sensor response for different types of radiation. In addition, I contributed to Proton Beam Test at OCL, Oslo and analyzed the data afterward. This thesis also includes the analysis performed on proton beam data and significant findings from the analysis. This study represents a key contribution to pCT in terms of defining the sensor behavior and interpreting sensor response

Impact of E-resources in Promoting Reading Habits: A Study among the Central Library Users of University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh

The widespread adoption of electronic resources, particularly in the realm of reading books, has transformed the landscape of academic libraries across the globe. This study explores the impact of e-resources on the reading habits and preferences of Central Library users at the University of Rajshahi. By analyzing the attitudes and experiences of students, faculty, and researchers, this research sheds light on the significance of e-resources in modern-day learning environments. The core purposes of the study are to investigate the trend and impact of using electronic resources, to explore the reasons, to know the benefits of using e-resources by the students. Out of 200 students only 85% students are familiar with e-resources. Only 90% of students use e-resources. They use e-resources for learning, reading, teaching, jobs, recreation, news etc. They use different types of e-resources such as e-books, e-journals, e-magazine, e-maps, e-news etc. They prefer mobile phones most to access e-resources. But due to a lack of adequate collection, high speed internet connection, proper knowledge, and infrastructure, they face many difficulties in using e-resources in the central library

Description of patients who died within 30 days of surgery.

Description of patients who died within 30 days of surgery.</p

Surgical procedures categorized by CPT coding.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the surgical practice throughout the world, including elective surgical care. This study investigated the characteristics of patients undergoing elective surgery, the prevalence of COVID-19 infection, the surgical procedures performed, and 30-day mortality in general and pediatric surgical settings in selected tertiary-level hospitals in Bangladesh from November 2020 to August 2021.MethodsThis serial cross-sectional study included 264 patients scheduled for elective surgeries during the study period. All patients underwent COVID-19 real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing within 24 hours before surgery. Data on age, sex, common comorbidities, surgical procedures, and 30-day mortality were collected and analyzed. Furthermore, comparisons were made between COVID-19 positive and negative patients.ResultsThe prevalence of COVID-19 infection among patients was 10.6%. Older age, a history of major surgery within the last three months, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus were significantly associated with COVID-19 infection. All COVID-19-negative patients underwent surgery, while only 46.4% of COVID-19-positive patients underwent surgery. The most common surgical procedures were related to the digestive system, breast, and urinary system. Only one patient (0.4%) died within 30 days after surgery among the COVID-19-negative patients, whereas two patients (7.1%) died among the COVID-19-positive patients: one before surgery and one after surgery.ConclusionsThis study provides valuable insights into the characteristics, burden of COVID-19 infection, and 30-day mortality of patients undergoing elective surgery in tertiary care centers in Bangladesh during the pandemic.</div

Aquaculture and Fisheries in the Sundarbans and Adjacent Areas in Bangladesh: Resources, Productivity, Challenges and Opportunities

Estuarine aquatic systems and braided rivers in and adjacent to the Sundarbans and the vast area of the Ganges tidal floodplain next to the core forest area in Bangladesh holds rice aquatic faunal diversity and provides plenty of opportunities to grow fish, shrimps and crabs. Currently these systems provide direct employment opportunity for 1.2 million people and indirect or seasonal livelihood for more than 10 million people across the southwest coast. Hilsa is the largest fishery in this region and shrimp brings the highest cash and export earnings. Proper implementation of fisheries regulation is critical to ensure conservation of the rich fish diversity of this region as well as to continue to support livelihood of millions of people living on fisheries. While aquaculture is the major contributor to national fish production, agricultural GDP and export earning, it requires planned advancement from the current state to continue to grow in harmony with environment. Integration with rice and other crops, and with mangrove wherever possible can bring long-term sustainability of these systems. Change in the river flow due to siltation and reduced upstream flow, climate change, sea level rise, outbreak of disease in fish and crustaceans are major challenges for future growth and sustainability of both aquaculture and fisheries in this region. Collaborative and multi-disciplinary research should be undertaken to address these challenges. In addition, there should be mechanism to bring research outputs into use and make impact on sustainability

Health effects of ionising radiation in paediatrics undergoing either cardiac fluoroscopy or modern radiotherapy (The HARMONIC project)

The use of ionising radiation (IR) for medical diagnosis and treatment procedures has had a major impact on the survival of paediatric patients. Although the benefits of these techniques lead to efficient health care, evaluation of potential associated long-term health effects is required. HARMONIC aims to better understand the increased risk of cancer and non-cancer effects after exposure to medical IR in children with cancer treated with modern external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) – radiation energy in MeV range – and in children with cardiac defects diagnosed and treated with cardiac fluoroscopy procedures (CFP) – radiation energy in keV range. The project investigates, among survivors of paediatric cancer, potential endocrine dysfunction, cardiovascular and neurovascular damage, health-related quality of life and second (and subsequent) primary cancer (SPC). The cardiac component builds a pooled cohort of approximately 90 000 paediatric patients who underwent CFP during childhood and adolescence to investigate cancer risk following exposure to IR and explore the potential effects of conditions predisposing to cancer. HARMONIC develops software tools to allow dose reconstruction in both EBRT and CFP to enable epidemiological investigations and future optimisation of treatments. With the creation of a biobank of blood and saliva samples, HARMONIC aims to provide a mechanistic understanding of radiation-induced adverse health effects and identify potential biomarkers that can predict these effects