In this paper, an attempt is being made to examine the causal relationship between per capita electricity consumption and per capita GDP of Bangladesh using the vector error correction specified ...Granger causality test to search their short-run, long-run and joint causal relationships for the period of 1971–2008. Empirical findings reveal that there is a short-run unidirectional causal flow running from per capita electricity consumption to per capita GDP without feedback. The presence of a positive short-run causality explains that an increase in electricity consumption directly affects economic activity in Bangladesh. Likewise, results from joint causality exhibit the same as in short-run. By contrast, long-run results show a bi-directional causality running from electricity consumption to economic growth with feedback. These findings can provide essential policy insights to design immediate and long-term growth prospect for Bangladesh keeping in mind its present planned growth strategy and dismal power and energy sector.
► Short-run causality running from electricity consumption to economic growth. ► Positive SR causality explains electricity generation directly affects economic growth. ► For long run, causality runs from electricity consumption to economic growth with feedback. ► Joint causality implies the same as in short-run.
•This review work provides an up-to date information regarding the nanocellulose production from biomass by mechanical process.•A special focus is devoted to the pretreatment of lignocellulosic ...biomass for less energy consumption.•Application of nanocellulose-based materials for high performance nanobiocomposites and nanopaper technology are presented and discussed.•Chronology, challenges and obstacles of nanocellulose are discussed.
Nanofibrillated cellulose from biomass has recently gained attention owing to their biodegradable nature, low density, high mechanical properties, economic value and renewability. Although they still suffer from two major drawbacks. The first challenge is the exploration of raw materials and its application in nanocomposites production. Second one is high energy consumption regarding the mechanical fibrillation. However, pretreatments before mechanical isolation can overcome this problem. Hydrophilic nature of nano-size cellulose fibers restricts good dispersion of these materials in hydrophobic polymers and therefore, leads to lower mechanical properties. Surface modification before or after mechanical defibrillation could be a solution for this problem. Additionally, drying affects the size of nanofibers and its properties which needs to study further. This review focuses on recent developments in pretreatments, nanofibrillated cellulose production and its application in nanopaper applications, coating additives, security papers, food packaging, and surface modifications and also for first time its drying.
Current Status of Alginate in Drug Delivery Hariyadi, Dewi Melani; Islam, Nazrul
Advances in pharmacological and pharmaceutical sciences,
2020, Volume:
2020
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Alginate is one of the natural polymers that are often used in drug- and protein-delivery systems. The use of alginate can provide several advantages including ease of preparation, biocompatibility, ...biodegradability, and nontoxicity. It can be applied to various routes of drug administration including targeted or localized drug-delivery systems. The development of alginates as a selected polymer in various delivery systems can be adjusted depending on the challenges that must be overcome by drug or proteins or the system itself. The increased effectiveness and safety of sodium alginate in the drug- or protein-delivery system are evidenced by changing the physicochemical characteristics of the drug or proteins. In this review, various routes of alginate-based drug or protein delivery, the effectivity of alginate in the stem cells, and cell encapsulation have been discussed. The recent advances in the in vivo alginate-based drug-delivery systems as well as their toxicities have also been reviewed.
Classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, the novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has spread to Bangladesh since early March of 2020, and people are getting daily updates from the ...social and electronic media. We aimed at assessing the prevalence of anxiety among Bangladeshi people during the pandemic in connection with social media exposure (SME) and electronic media exposure (EME). For this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 880 participants by a self-administered online-based questionnaire relating personal characteristics, self-rate health (SRH), SME, and EME with anxiety. Findings show that around half of the surveyed population experienced a spike of anxiety (49.1%) during the pandemic, ten times higher than the national anxiety rate in 2019. The participants with an increased SME of over four hours per day experienced a higher level of anxiety than individuals with < = 2 hours exposure to social media. Similarly, the anxiety was higher among people with fair/bad SRH compared to individuals with excellent SRH. It is highly recommended to develop active surveillance and effective monitoring systems to reduce the spread of misinformation from both social and electronic media to improve the state of mental health conditions during the pandemic.
•New adsorbents were prepared by combining chitosan and poly(1-vinylimidazole) using a facile technique.•High adsorption capacity was observed with the new adsorbent.•Synergistic effect was realized ...from chitosan and poly(1-vinylimidazole).•Interaction mechanism was also evaluated.
Chitosan and poly(1-vinylimidazole) are both potential adsorbents to remove Cr(VI). Here, we designed the preparation of new adsorbents by combining chitosan and poly(1-vinylimidazole) to get the synergistic effect for the removal of hexavalent chromium. Trimethoxysilyl group terminated poly(1-vinylimidazole)-modified-chitosan composite was successfully synthesized by one-step free radical polymerization based on the grafting backbone of chitosan and vinylimidazole. The resulting adsorbents were used for the removal of Cr(VI) ions from the aqueous solution. The modified chitosan composite was characterized by ATR, FTIR, BET isotherm studies, elemental analysis, TGA, DSC, FE-SEM, and EDX. ATR. FTIR results confirmed the presence of the imidazole group in modified chitosan. The adsorption results were described by the Langmuir isotherm model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 196.1 mg/g for modified chitosan, however, the chitosan yielded 151.5 mg/g. It has been observed that the adsorption of chromium fitted better with the pseudo-second-order kinetics. The modified chitosan composite exhibited greater adsorption capacity than chitosan for hexavalent chromium and has potential application for Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solution containing other common ions with regeneration ability. This novel approach of modifying chitosan with telomerized poly(1-vinyl imidazole) offers potential application in wastewater treatment of different industries releasing Cr (VI).
To evaluate the association between physical distancing interventions and incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) globally.
Natural experiment using interrupted time series analysis, with ...results synthesised using meta-analysis.
149 countries or regions, with data on daily reported cases of covid-19 from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and data on the physical distancing policies from the Oxford covid-19 Government Response Tracker.
Individual countries or regions that implemented one of the five physical distancing interventions (closures of schools, workplaces, and public transport, restrictions on mass gatherings and public events, and restrictions on movement (lockdowns)) between 1 January and 30 May 2020.
Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of covid-19 before and after implementation of physical distancing interventions, estimated using data to 30 May 2020 or 30 days post-intervention, whichever occurred first. IRRs were synthesised across countries using random effects meta-analysis.
On average, implementation of any physical distancing intervention was associated with an overall reduction in covid-19 incidence of 13% (IRR 0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.85 to 0.89; n=149 countries). Closure of public transport was not associated with any additional reduction in covid-19 incidence when the other four physical distancing interventions were in place (pooled IRR with and without public transport closure was 0.85, 0.82 to 0.88; n=72, and 0.87, 0.84 to 0.91; n=32, respectively). Data from 11 countries also suggested similar overall effectiveness (pooled IRR 0.85, 0.81 to 0.89) when school closures, workplace closures, and restrictions on mass gatherings were in place. In terms of sequence of interventions, earlier implementation of lockdown was associated with a larger reduction in covid-19 incidence (pooled IRR 0.86, 0.84 to 0.89; n=105) compared with a delayed implementation of lockdown after other physical distancing interventions were in place (pooled IRR 0.90, 0.87 to 0.94; n=41).
Physical distancing interventions were associated with reductions in the incidence of covid-19 globally. No evidence was found of an additional effect of public transport closure when the other four physical distancing measures were in place. Earlier implementation of lockdown was associated with a larger reduction in the incidence of covid-19. These findings might support policy decisions as countries prepare to impose or lift physical distancing measures in current or future epidemic waves.
Knowing the risk factors like smoking status, overweight/obesity, and hypertension among women of reproductive age could allow the development of an effective strategy for reducing the burden of ...non-noncommunicable diseases. We sought to determine the prevalence and determinants of smoking status, overweight/obesity, hypertension, and cluster of these non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors among Bangladeshi women of reproductive age.
This study utilized the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data from 2017-2018 and analyzed 5,624 women of reproductive age (age 18-49 years). This nationally representative cross-sectional survey utilized a stratified, two-stage sample of households. Poisson regression models with robust error variance were fitted to find the adjusted prevalence ratio (APR) for smoking, overweight/obesity, hypertension, and for the clustering of non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors across demographic variables.
The average age of 5,624 participants was 31 years (SD = 9.1). The prevalence of smoking, overweight/obesity, and hypertension was 9.6%, 31.6%, and 20.3%, respectively. More than one-third of the participants (34.6%) had one non-noncommunicable diseases risk factor, and 12.5% of participants had two non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors. Age, education, wealth index, and geographic location were significantly associated with smoking status, overweight/obesity, and hypertension. Women between 40-49 years had more non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors than 18-29 years aged women (APR: 2.44; 95% CI: 2.22-2.68). Women with no education (APR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.00-1.33), married (APR: 2.32; 95% CI: 1.78-3.04), and widowed/divorced (APR: 2.14; 95% CI: 1.59-2.89) were more likely to experience multiple non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors. Individuals in the Barishal division, a coastal region (APR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.28-1.63) were living with a higher number of risk factors for non-noncommunicable diseases than those in the Dhaka division, the capital of the country. Women who belonged to the richest wealth quintile (APR: 1.82; 95% CI: 1.60-2.07) were more likely to have the risk factors of non-noncommunicable diseases.
The study showed that non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors are more prevalent among women from older age group, currently married and widowed/divorced group, and the wealthiest socio-economic group. Women with higher levels of education were more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and found to have less non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors. Overall, the prevalence and determinants of non-noncommunicable diseases risk factors among reproductive women in Bangladesh highlight the need for targeted public health interventions to increase opportunities for physical activity and reduce the use of tobacco, especially the need for immediate interventions in the coastal region.
This paper is to assess the current trend, implementation and future possibilities of solar home systems (SHS) at the non-electricity provided study area in Bangladesh. The study also suggests an ...applicable plan to solve the problems and assure the proper availability and using compatibility of SHS to the poor and helpless rural people. The study area of the research is Lechraganj Char Union, Harirampur subdistrict of Manikganj district in Bangladesh. The trends and implementation strategies of solar home system (SHS) would be available in the Section 3.1 and Section 3.2; the future possibilities described in the Section 4. One of the major rational of this research is to provide a sample plan of SHS implementations, future propagation process, prospects and issues to be solved can be useful for the whole non grid zones of the country Bangladesh. This could bring more country progress by renewable technology and the lower order citizens of the country by the supply of electricity and also future analysis of SHS. The primary data sources to shape the paper were- personal field observation, field documentation, taking photographs, qualitative household survey, household questionnaire survey, in-depth interview, FGD etc. Secondary data sources were from different books, articles, journals, magazines, newspaper, Government and NGO Organizations, unpublished reports and thesis etc. Various cartographic techniques as like- Produced tables, flow charts, pie-diagrams, graphs, histograms were used for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of implementation of SHS in Harirampur Subdistrict. Proper direction by the government authority and NGOs can improve the current condition and support the off grid citizens of Bangladesh for the penetrating them under the coverage of SHS technology.Further assessment on the implementation of SHS, quality of SHS devices, environmental impacts of SHS, detailed economic advantages can be done for the proper expansion of SHS.
With the increasing need for firms to implement innovation in their pursuit of competitive advantage, open innovation has attracted the growing attention of academics and practitioners. However, the ...current literature has been lopsided, focussing predominantly on the myriad benefits of open innovation. We argue that eulogising only the positive aspects of open innovation is insufficient to help firms and motivate future research. Therefore, we recommend increased attention to the dark side of open innovation, which includes failures that can occur at various stages of the open innovation process. A review of the existing literature reveals that although researchers have, time and again, attempted to document failure in open innovation, this literature is comparatively sparse and fragmented. The extant literature also exhibits an apparent lack of effort to encourage future research, as evidenced by the absence of a comprehensive literature review. We aim to address this research gap by reviewing 76 studies identified by applying a stringent search protocol consistent with the systematic literature review (SLR) methodology. The contributions of this SLR include (a) development of a research profile of the relevant literature, (b) identification of five thematic areas, (c) elucidation of research gaps and suggestion of potential research questions as an agenda for future research on failures in open innovation, (d) formulation of a conceptual framework comprising the antecedents and outcomes of open innovation failure and (e) presentation of the various theoretical and managerial implications for scholars and practitioners.
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