Cloud-to-Ground Lightning in Cities: Seasonal Variability and Influential Factors

Data availability: The raw data essential for reproducing the findings presented in this article are derived from proprietary commercial sources, and, unfortunately, the authors are not permitted to share this data due to contractual and authorization constraints. The restrictions imposed by the data providers prohibit the authors from making the raw data publicly available. However, the authors are committed to providing any necessary information or details about the data and methodology upon reasonable request to facilitate reproducibility and further scientific inquiry. Interested parties may contact the corresponding author for additional clarification or specific inquiries regarding the data used in this study.Urban-induced land use changes have a significant impact on local weather patterns, leading to increased hydro-meteorological hazards in cities. Despite substantial threats posed to humans, understanding atmospheric hazards related to urbanisation, such as thunderstorms, lightning, and convective precipitation, remains unclear. This study aims to analyse seasonal variability of cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning in the five large metropolitans in Bangladesh utilising six years (2015–2020) of Global Lightning Detection Network (popularly known as GLD360) data. It also investigates factors influencing CG strokes. The analysis revealed substantial seasonal fluctuations in CG strokes, with a noticeable increase in lightning activity during the pre-monsoon months from upwind to metropolitan areas across the five cities. Both season and location appear to impact the diurnal variability of CG strokes in these urban centres. Bivariate regression analysis indicated that precipitation and particulate matter (PM) significantly influence lightning generation, whilst population density, urban size, and mean surface temperature have negligible effects. A sensitivity test employing a random forest (RF) model underscored the pivotal role of PM in CG strokes in four of the five cities assessed, highlighting the enduring impact of extreme pollution on lightning activity. Despite low causalities from CG lightning, the risk of property damage remains high in urban environments. This study provides valuable insights for shaping public policies in Bangladesh, a globally recognised climate hotspot.Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support was received during the preparation of this manuscript

Spatiotemporal dynamics of NO2 concentration with linear mixed models: A Bangladesh case study

There is currently a limited understanding of how climatic and anthropogenic factors affect atmospheric NO2 concentration, and how these factors are associated with air pollution over space and time. Using high-resolution TROPOMI satellite data, this study estimates both the degree of association between climatic and anthropogenic factors, and the spatiotemporal variability of NO2 concentration over Bangladesh. Several linear mixed models were developed to isolate possible factors affecting the NO2 concentration values recorded between July 2018 and June 2019). This included monthly mean maximum temperature (MMAXT), rainfall, wind speed (WS), relative humidity (RH), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), population density, and distance from industrial activities. The study revealed that the very urbanized central region of Bangladesh experienced high NO2 concentrations, particularly from September through to March. Dynamic variables such as RH, MMAXT, RAIN, and WS can positively or negatively influence NO2 depending on the time of year. Areas with a high vegetation cover, a low population density, and located some distance from industrial areas tended to have low NO2 concentrations. This study concluded that policy measures such as transboundary air quality agreements, the introduction of a month-specific green tax, decentralization, industrial relocation, and increased urban tree plantation activities could all prove valuable in reducing NO2 pollution in Bangladesh

Does children’s independent mobility matter? Insights into escorting practices in a developing country

Understanding children’s mobility behaviour and parents escorting practices are important to developing a children-friendly society. But only a few studies concerning children’s mobility behaviour have focused on developing countries. In this study, we attempted to develop an econometric model to understand escorting practices in a developing country. A multinomial logit (MNL) model is developed using travel diary data of 398 elementary school-going children, inhabiting in Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) area of Bangladesh. We have considered different combinations of environmental (both school and neighbourhood environment), socio-cultural, household, and personal factors to explain children’s independent mobility behaviour for both school and discretionary trip purposes. The findings suggested that children’s individual (e.g. education level) and parents’ sociodemographic (e.g. income, access to cars, mother’s education level) facilities available at school, and built-environmental factors (e.g. commercial density, road density, land use mix and proximity to open spaces) are significantly associated with parent’s choice for chauffeuring their children in CCC area. Results will be useful to planners and policy makers for formulating effective measures to promote children’s independent mobility and will be a guideline for urban planners to include children’s mobility demand for the neighbourhood as well as city design

Inducing pluripotency in vitro: recent advances and highlights in induced pluripotent stem cells generation and pluripotency reprogramming

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are considered patient-specific counterparts of embryonic stem cells as they originate from somatic cells after forced expression of pluripotency reprogramming factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc. iPSCs offer unprecedented opportunity for personalized cell therapies in regenerative medicine. In recent years, iPSC technology has undergone substantial improvement to overcome slow and inefficient reprogramming protocols, and to ensure clinical-grade iPSCs and their functional derivatives. Recent developments in iPSC technology include better reprogramming methods employing novel delivery systems such as non-integrating viral and non-viral vectors, and characterization of alternative reprogramming factors. Concurrently, small chemical molecules (inhibitors of specific signalling or epigenetic regulators) have become crucial to iPSC reprogramming; they have the ability to replace putative reprogramming factors and boost reprogramming processes. Moreover, common dietary supplements, such as vitamin C and antioxidants, when introduced into reprogramming media, have been found to improve genomic and epigenomic profiles of iPSCs. In this article, we review the most recent advances in the iPSC field and potent application of iPSCs, in terms of cell therapy and tissue engineering

Draft genome sequence of Grammothele lineata SDL-CO-2015-1, a jute endophyte with a potential for paclitaxel biosynthesis

Grammothele lineata strain SDL-CO-2015-1, a basidiomycete fungus, was identified as an endophyte from a jute species, Corchorus olitorius var. 2015, and found to produce paclitaxel, a diterpenic polyoxygenated pseudoalkaloid with antitumor activity. Here, we report the draft genome sequence (42.8 Mb with 9,395 genes) of this strain

The genome of the Black Bengal goat (Capra hircus)

OBJECTIVES: Black Bengal goat (Capra hircus), a member of the Bovidae family with the unique traits of high prolificacy, skin quality and low demand for food is the most socioeconomically significant goat breed in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the aptitude of adaptation and disease resistance capacity of it is highly notable which makes its whole genome information an area of research interest.DATA DESCRIPTION: The genomic DNA of a local (Chattogram, Bangladesh) healthy male Black Bengal goat (Capra hircus) was extracted and then sequenced. Sequencing was completed using the Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencing platform and the draft assembly was generated using the ARS1 genome as the reference. MAKER gene annotation pipeline was utilized to annotate 26,458 gene models. Genome completeness was assessed using BUSCO (Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs) which showed 82.5% completeness of the assembled genome

How to capture small-scale fisheries’ many contributions to society? – Introducing the ‘Value-Contribution Matrix’ and applying it to the case of a swimming crab fishery in South Korea

To facilitate a systematic and comprehensive capturing of small-scale fisheries’ societal contributions, this chapter proposes a ‘value-contribution matrix’ and applies it to the case of a swimming crab fishery in South Korea. In the matrix, objective, subjective, and relational values are identified for the major stakeholder categories such as fishers, a coastal community and the wider society. Through consideration of these values, multifaceted contributions of the swimming crab fishery were examined and their governance implications drawn. Around the world, small-scale fisheries have been unduly dismissed in policy despite their ubiquity. This analytical tool could prove to be an accessible and pragmatic heuristic for highlighting their varied (both positive and negative) contributions. Learning about which values are being emphasized or neglected, and for whom, and the consequences they generate for stakeholders’ wellbeing, could point to alternate ways of creating a more governable fishery and help to alleviate fishery sustainability challenges