Invention of the plastics has largely been considered as a boon for the modern life due to their light weight, high strength, and versatile application while being cheaper than other alternative materials. However, with the low biodegradability, over consumption, and widespread mismanagement, plastics have now become ubiquitous in all the environmental compartments and are held responsible for causing enormous pollution to air, soil, and water bodies. Bangladesh is no different from this global scenario, though there has been a little effort to assess the amount of plastic waste and its consequence which is necessary to encounter this mounting threat effectively. Taking this into consideration, current study investigates the impacts of plastic pollution including its most threatening formmicroplastics on environment and human health in Bangladesh. The study is based on critical review of existing literatures from the global perspective. It has been found that a major percentage of the used plastic is mismanaged in Bangladesh, posing a great threat to the environment and human health. This article also put forward some recommendations to tackle this pervasive problem alongside the measures already taken by the government. Overall, this work is aimed at creating an urge among the researchers to study the plastic pollution in Bangladesh comprehensively and raising a concern among the appropriate authorities to develop policies and impose necessary actions against plastic pollution before it is too late.
The rapidly declining fossil fuels are no longer able to meet the ever-increasing energy demand. Moreover, they are considered responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, contributing to the global warming. On the other hand, organic wastes, such as kitchen waste (KW) and poultry manure (PM), represent considerable pollution threat to the environment, if not properly managed. Therefore, anaerobic co-digestion of KW and PM could be a sustainable way of producing clean and renewable energy in the form of biogas while minimizing environmental impact. In this study, the anaerobic co-digestion of KW with PM was studied to assess the rate of cumulative biogas (CBG) production and methane percentage in four digester setups (D1, D2, D3, and D4) operated in batch mode. Each digester setup consisted of five parallelly connected laboratory-scale digesters having a capacity of 1 L each. The digester setups were fed with KW and PM at ratios of 1:0 (D1), 1:1 (D2), 2:1 (D3), and 3:1 (D4) at a constant loading rate of 300 mg/L with 50 gm cow manure (CM) as inoculum and were studied at both room temperature (28 °C) and mesophilic temperature (37 °C) over 24 days. The co-digestion of KW with PM demonstrated a synergistic effect which was evidenced by a 16% and 74% increase in CBG production and methane content, respectively, in D2 over D1. The D3 with 66.7% KW and 33.3% PM produced the highest CBG and methane percentage (396 ± 8 mL and 36%) at room temperature. At mesophilic condition, all the digesters showed better performance, and the highest CBG (920 ± 11 mL) and methane content (48%) were observed in D3. The study suggests that co-digestion of KW and PM at mesophilic condition might be a promising way to increase the production of biogas with better methane composition by ensuring nutrient balance, buffering capacity, and stability of the digester.
Anisotropic particles pinned at fluid interfaces tend toward disordered multiparticle configurations due to large, orientationally dependent, capillary forces, which is a significant barrier to exploiting these particles to create functional self-assembled materials. Therefore, current interfacial assembly methods typically focus on isotropic spheres, which have minimal capillary attraction and no dependence on orientation in the plane of the interface. In order to create longrange ordered structures with complex configurations via interfacially trapped anisotropic particles, control over the interparticle interaction energy via external fields and/or particle engineering is necessary. Here, we synthesize colloidal ellipsoids with nanoscale porosity and show that their interparticle capillary attraction at a water−air interface is reduced by an order of magnitude compared to their smooth counterparts. This is accomplished by comparing the behavior of smooth, rough, and porous ellipsoids at a water−air interface. By monitoring the dynamics of two particles approaching one another, we show that the porous particles exhibit a much shorter-range capillary interaction potential, with scaling intriguingly different than theory describing the behavior of smooth ellipsoids. Further, interferometry measurements of the fluid deformation surrounding a single particle shows that the interface around porous ellipsoids does not possess the characteristic quadrupolar symmetry of smooth ellipsoids, and quantitatively confirms the decrease in capillary interaction energy. By engineering nanostructured surface features in this fashion, the interfacial capillary interactions between particles may be controlled, informing an approach for the self-assembly of complex two-dimensional microstructures composed of anisotropic particles.
Being the source of essential minerals, vitamin, and diversity to diet, the demand for consumption of fruits is ever increasing. Among them, many fruits are reach in phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and vitamin C or ascorbic acid, which have huge antioxidant potential and whose intakes are highly encouraged due to their role in reducing cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases [1]. Since the availability of fruits varies from place to place and season to season, consumption of their preserved version has been practiced. One of the best ways to preserve fruit is to store it in juice form. But long term preservation has been a growing concern since the nutritious quality and sensory attributes can be impaired by microorganisms, spoilage enzymes, and undesirable chemical reactions [2]. Moreover, the increasing consciousness about diet and health issues goaded consumer into searching for food products which is of superior nutritional and sensory quality, durable shelf life, and requires minimal processing [3]. To address these issues several treatment methods have been applied among which thermal pasteurization is frequently pronounced. Although thermal processing appear to have extended the shelf life of several juices, it has been demonstrated in several studies that considerable deterioration in sensory, nutritional, and biochemical compounds occur which are very heat sensitive [4,5]. In response to this limitation, researchers have come up with Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) as a nonthermal treatment process which has been proved to decrease microbes and spoilage enzymes to an extent, comparable to that by thermal processes, without sacrifi cing fl avor, color and bioactive compounds [6]. PEF process involves the application of short burst of electric fi eld to a sample placed between two electrodes which causes
Household food security is an emerging public health issue and the rural elderly people are one of the most vulnerable groups for the household food security. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Barobaria union of Gofargaon upazila of Mymensingh district to assess the nutritional status of rural elderly (?60 years) in relation to the household food security. A total of 118 purposively selected elderly were interviewed and measured for height and weight following a standard protocol. The mean (SD) age of the respondents was 68.6 (7.3) years and gender participation was equally represented. Majority (68.6%) of the respondents was illiterate and 92% were Muslims. Mean family size and monthly family income was estimated to be 5.5 and Taka 6106, respectively and 70% of the rural elderly were found to be dependent on their family members as they were not involved in income generation and most of the respondents were the members of joint family. Only about 29% of the total elderly were at the highest quarter of food security. Illiteracy, members of single family and larger family were found to be significantly associated with lower level of household food security (p < 0.05). Although age, sex, personal income and occupational category had no significant association, the total family income was significantly associated with household food security. Among the respondents 56% were underweight including 13% with severe chronic energy deficiency. Only 5.9% were overweight. Illiterates were three times more likely to be underweight than literates (OR 2.95 with 95% CI 1.32, 6.59). Smoking, lower family income, poor housing, single family, irregularity in treatment were significantly associated with underweight. A significant difference was found between mean body mass index of different household food security level (F =3.22, p < 0.05). There was gradual increase of mean body mass index with the improved status of food security level. Policy makers, therefore, need to consider programs that empower people to solve the problem of food insecurity and to improve the nutritional status of rural elderly people. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v40i3.18649 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2011 Vol.40(3):8-11
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