Quality Study of Automated Machine Made Environmentally Friendly Brick (KAB) Sample Using Film Neutron Radiography Technique

Neutron radiography (NR) technique has been adopted to study the internal structure and quality of the KAB bricks made by Hoffman kiln method. Thermal neutron radiography facility installed at the tangential beam port of 3 MW TRIGA Mark-II Research Reactor, AERE, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh is used in the present study. Measurements were made to determine the internal structure and quality of the automated machine made environmentally friendly brick sample. In this case, optical density/gray values of the neutron radiographic images of the sample have been measured. From these measurements, the porosity, water penetrating height, water penetrating behavior, initial rapid absorption of water (IRA), elemental distribution/homogeneity and incremental water intrusion area in the sample have been found. From the observation of different properties, it is seen that, homogeneity of the Hoffman kiln brick KAB is not perfectly homogeneous and contains small internal porosity;the incremental water intrusion area is very poor, and the water penetrating height through the two edges is higher than the middle part;the initial rapid absorption (IRA) rate is also very poor and the water penetrating behavior of the samples is different as like as stair, capillary, wave and zigzag shape. From these points of view, it is concluded that the quality of the environmentally friendly brick KAB is better. The results obtained and conclusion made in this study can only be compared to the properties of bricks produced under similar conditions with similar raw materials.

Does an Individual’s Living Accommodation Impact their Ability to Cope with the Pandemic?A Hypothesis for Designing Infrastructure to Eliminate Mental Health Problems during COVID-19

The coronavirus(COVID-19)pandemic has caused severe medical emergencies,economic depression,inflation,social distress,and research burden worldwide.Despite the severity of the spreading COVID-19,individual governments and the World Health Organization have mandated several safety protocols including quarantine,physical distancing,advanced research in decoding the disease mechanism to build an effective vaccine,and promoting mental health to achieve the aim of coping through this infectious pandemic.Around the globe,mental health research emphasizes how social isolation impacts anxiety and depression,however,the cause of mental health depletion due to the type of individual's living accommodation(apartment and house)during a pandemic remains unexplored.The apartments have high elevation and high population density while the houses have low elevation and low population density as they are more spaced apart.This paper presents a novel hypothesis to maintain/enhance individuals’mental health during the pandemic,known as“Modi’s Pandemic Infrastructure Hypothesis”,which suggests that individuals residing in varying living accommodations(i.e.apartment or house)would exhibit a significant difference in the experienced pandemic(i.e.COVID-19)anxiety due to varying amount of experienced“silent stress”.Hence,any type of infrastructure(medical,residential,educational,or corporate)should be designed following the public survey of that geographic area based on hypotheses laid in this paper,to minimize the magnitude of“silent stress”.“Silent stress”can be defined as the stress that is unknowingly experienced in the assimilated living accommodation,which is responsible for depleting individuals’mental health and affecting the ability to cope with the pandemic.In support of this novel hypothesis,previous research has demonstrated that the number of coronavirus per unit area has a positive association with elevation above the ground level while a negative association with the population density.Although the scientific data supports the idea that there would be an equal trade-off in the quantity of coronavirus around an individual in both types of accommodation,however,psychologically the public would perceive it differently.Along with the two key variables(i.e.elevation and population density),other influencing factors would be taken into account while determining the magnitude of silent stress,pandemic anxiety,and the best type of infrastructure.In conclusion,this promising hypothesis will not only help the government to build anxiety-free infrastructure for pandemic times but also increase the effectiveness of medical treatments as mental health and strength is the best medicine to defeat severe diseases.

Role of fatty acids and calcium in male reproduction

Both fatty acids (FAs) and calcium ions play important roles in contraceptive cyclesvia several systems. Polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs) act as precursors for prostaglandin production and can alter the expression of numerous crucial catalysts that are involved in prostaglandin and steroid digestion. Lipids are essential components of cell membranes. A diet rich in PUFAs enhances sperm motility and viability. It also improves testis development and spermatogenesis in several domesticated animal species. Increased PUFA content in spermatozoa increases plasma membrane fluidity, which is important for fertilization. However, the major drawback of high dietary PUFA intake is that it increases the levels of reactive oxygen species in the body. An increase in reactive oxygen species levels markedly affects fertility. Calcium is an important component that acts as an intra-cellular secondary messenger and plays an important role in some of the physiological processes that occur in male gametes. Some of these processes include spermatogenesis, sperm motility, capacitation, acrosome response, and fusion of gametes. These processes are associated with calcium influx through ion protein channels. Dietary fat intake is associated with increased intestinal calcium absorption. In this review, we discuss the impact of lipids, particularly PUFAs and monounsaturated FAs, and calcium ions on male reproduction, along with their effects on each other.