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Rapid urbanization and persistent health inequity are two significant phenomena in contemporary developing world. Urban population, albeit with more modern facilities and amenities at their proximity, are subject to extreme variation depending on economic abilities and living conditions. This results in disparate health status among population sub-groups. Achieving equity in health and reduction in under-five mortality rate (U5MR) are two important agenda of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Hence this paper examines the trends in socioeconomic differentials of under-five mortality rate in urban Bangladesh for two decades since early 1990s. Data on urban samples of seven Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys conducted during 1994–2014 were used. Cross-tabular and Cox’s Proportional Hazard Regression analysis were done. Under-five mortality rate decreased from 91.4/1000 in 1994 to 37.3 in 2014 and was 20% higher in towns than cities. Children of illiterate mothers had 2.5 times higher mortality than those of mothers with 6 + years schooling. Mortality in households with the lowest socioeconomic status (SES) was 2.2 times higher than that of children from highest SES households. Inequality in U5MR at various levels of mother’s education and household SES were observed in seven surveys except for 2014 and 2007. For children with birth order of 2 or below and preceding birth interval of 3 + years, U5MR were found lower than their respective counterparts. Steady linear decline in U5MR with increased household SES and birth order of 2 or below observed among children of mothers with 6 + years education and all education category respectively. No significant sex differential in U5MR was observed. No under five mortality were reported among urban under five children who received all basic vaccination. Reduction in U5MR and its socioeconomic inequality will help Bangladesh to achieve SDG targets. Equity focused policies and programmes complemented with monitoring of progress can be of help.

Pakistan is one of the growing nations, specifically in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). During the last decade, an intense rise in the adaptation of ICT has been observed in all the major cities of Pakistan. This includes, but not limited to, e-commerce, mobile technology, computer communication networks, embedded systems, software engineering, etc. Due to the resource constraints, Pakistan is not the producer of any technology; however, it is a potential consumer of numerous technologies and their products. It therefore, attracts most of the producers around the globe to invest in the technology business in Pakistan. According to the Board of Investment (BOI) Pakistan, the country has received more than US$5.7 billion during the last decade as the foreign investment in IT and Telecommunication sectors only. Moreover, it has more than 140 million cellular subscribers, around 45 million 3G/4G subscribers, more than 3 million fixed local line subscribers and approximately 48 million broadband subscribers [1]. Likewise, Pakistan is also one of the biggest buyers of Consumer Electronics (CE). Very few of the local companies are producing CE products, however, a major share of the CE market has been captured by the international brands of China, Japan, Korea, USA, Germany, etc. In the light of the facts, it can be inferred that the application of ICT such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) in consumer electronics has the strong potential in shaping a new dimension of CE business in Pakistan. Moreover, the recent literature has strongly advocated for the scope of 5G IoT/IoUT. This is due to the fact that existing communication infrastructure will not be sufficient to handle modern day IoT/IoUT need. In this article, a comprehensive study on the scope of IoT/IoUT enabled consumer electronics business is presented. In addition, the rationale of 5G IoT/IoUT integration in the developing countries like Pakistan is discussed. Moreover, the threats and opportunities in the business of IoT/IoUT enabled CE devices are also been presented. Finally, this study submits the recommendations to establish IoT/IoUT enabled CE business in Pakistan.

The water allowance for canal systems of Pakistan was designed considering the average values of cropping intensity and irrigation area. However, water allowances would be different if estimated on the basis of real cropping intensities, cropping pattern and actual evapotranspiration. This inequity of water allocation results in decreased agricultural production. Hence, optimal water allowances for given canal commands need to be developed to maximize the efficiency of the existing irrigation system. Therefore, present study aims to assess the difference between the available water supplies and those required on the basis of real field conditions. Crop Water Allocation Model has been used for this purpose. Discharge at the head of each watercourse was predicted on the basis of the actual evapotranspiration, cropping patterns, cropping intensity, the number of days of canal flows in a year and the irrigation efficiency. The predicted optimal water requirements and the design flow rate were also compared for Kasur minor and found that 59 watercourses out of 61 require less water for optimal operation than the designed flow rate. Only two watercourses require more water for optimal conditions than the designed flow rate. Sensitivity and scenario analysis were also performed to evaluate the impact of different agricultural and climatological parameters on the reference crop evapotranspiration and design discharges.

Vehicular edge computing (VEC) is a promising paradigm to offload resource-intensive tasks at the network edge. Owing to time-sensitive and computation-intensive vehicular applications and high mobility scenarios, cost-efficient task offloading in the vehicular environment is still a challenging problem. In this paper, we study the partial task offloading problem in vehicular edge computing in an urban scenario. Where the vehicle computes some part of a task locally, and offload the remaining task to a nearby vehicle and to VEC server subject to the maximum tolerable delay and vehicle’s stay time. To make it cost-efficient, including the cost of the required communication and computing resources, we consider to fully exploit the vehicular available resources. We estimate the transmission rates for the vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication based on practical assumptions. Moreover, we present a mobility-aware partial task offloading algorithm, taking into account the task allocation ratio among the three parts given by the communication environment conditions. Simulation results validate the efficient performance of the proposed scheme that not only enhances the exploitation of vehicular computation resources but also minimizes the overall system cost in comparison to baseline schemes.

Verifiable computation (VC) paradigm has got the captivation that in real term is highlighted by the concept of third party computation. In more explicate terms, VC allows resource constrained clients/organizations to securely outsource expensive computations to untrusted service providers, while acquiring the publicly or privately verifiable results. Many mainstream solutions have been proposed to address the diverse problems within the VC domain. Some of them imposed assumptions over performed computations, while the others took advantage of interactivity /non-interactivity, zero knowledge proofs, and arguments. Further proposals utilized the powers of probabilistic checkable or computationally sound proofs. In this survey, we present a chronological study and classify the VC proposals based on their adopted domains. First, we provide a broader overview of the theoretical advancements while critically analyzing them. Subsequently, we present a comprehensive view of their utilization in the state of the art VC approaches. Moreover, a brief overview of recent proof based VC systems is also presented that lifted up the VC domain to the verge of practicality. We use the presented study and reviewed results to identify the similarities and alterations, modifications, and hybridization of different approaches, while comparing their advantages and reporting their overheads. Finally, we discuss implementation of such VC based systems, their applications, and the likely future directions.

The evolving network technologies aim at meeting the envisioned communication demands of future smart cities and applications. Although software-defined networking (SDN) enables flexible network control, its applicability to mobile networks is still in its infancy. When it comes to introducing the SDN vision to mobile networks, handling of wireless events and mobility management operations stand out as major challenges. In this paper, we study the scalability issues of SDNized wireless networks, specifically those relevant to mobility management. We design and implement different mobility management approaches in SDNized wireless networks and investigate the impact of various system variables on the overall handover delays. We also study the improvements in handover delays: (i) when a proposed proactive mobility management algorithm is implemented; (ii) when the controller delegates partial control of mobility management to the forwarding entities. For the implementation of the proposed approaches on the OpenFlow network, the paper also suggests potential extensions to the OpenFlow protocol. The contributed approaches are validated on a full-scale demonstrator, with results showing that proactive outperforms reactive and that the delegated control approach performs better than proactive for smaller topology sizes. Furthermore, a proposal for LTE X2-specific control delegation is discussed as a use case.

This paper explores the effects of finance on environmental degradation and investigates environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) of each country among 52 that participate in the One Belt and One Road Initiative (OBORI) using the latest long panel data span (1980-2016). We utilized panel long run econometric models (fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic ordinary least square) to explore the long-run estimates in full panel and country level. Moreover, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) causality test is applied to examine the short-run causalities among our considered variables. The empirical findings validate the EKC hypothesis; the long-run estimates point out that finance significantly enhances the environmental degradation (negatively in few cases). The short-run heterogeneous causality confirms the bi-directional causality between finance and environmental degradation. The empirical outcomes suggest that policymakers should consider the environmental degradation issue caused by financial development in the One Belt and One Road region.

Diperiodatoargentate(III) (DPA)/silver(III) complex, [Ag(HIO6)2]5-, in sulfuric acid medium has been used to determine hyoscine butylbromide (HBB) by flow injection (FI) coupled with chemiluminescence (CL) detector. A linear standard curve between the CL intensity and concentration range from 0.005 to 20 mg L-1 was obtained. The determination coefficient (R2), limit of detection (3s × blank), relative standard deviation (RSD) for 0.5 mg L-1 HBB and analytical throughput were 0.9992 (n = 8), 5 × 10-4 mg L-1, 1.5% (n = 10) and 160 injections h-1, respectively. The developed method was applied for the determination of HBB in pharmaceutical formulations with recoveries from 92 ± 4 to 108 ± 3%. For comparison, a spectrophotometric method was used and the results obtained by both methods were in good agreement at a 95% confidence level. The effect of key chemical and physical variables (reagent concentration, flow rate, sample volume, PMT voltage) and interfering species (pharmaceutical excipients and inorganic ions) on the determination of HBB was examined. The possible CL mechanism of HBB on silver(III) complex in sulfuric acid medium was also discussed in brief.

Since the advent of material science, nanomaterials have been the most attractive and alluring research domain of nanotechnology with a variety of applications. Considering the significance of nanomaterials specifically in industrial progressions, the present work demonstrates facile synthesis approach of copper–zinc ferrite nanoparticles and their thermo-physical characterization and evaluation. Analytical grade chemicals were used to synthesize the respective nanoparticles employing the co-precipitation method, with the base solution of NaOH to maintain pH of the solution within range of 12–14. A series of nanoparticles were synthesized varying the amount of copper and zinc precursors, and their thermal and physical properties were evaluated using various analytical tools including XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and thermal constant analyzer.

Background Health literacy (HL) helps individuals to make effective use of available health services. In low-income countries such as Bangladesh, the less than optimum use of services could be due to low levels of HL. Bangladesh’s health service delivery is pluralistic with a mix of public, private and informally trained healthcare providers. Emphasis on HL has been inadequate. Thus, it is important to assess the levels of HL and service utilization patterns. The findings from this study aim to bridge the knowledge gap. Materials and Methods The data for this study came from a cross-sectional survey carried out in September 2014, in Chakaria, a rural area in Bangladesh. A total of 1500 respondents were randomly selected from the population of 80,000 living in the Chakaria study area of icddr, b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh). HL was assessed in terms of knowledge of existing health facilities and sources of information on health care, immunization, diabetes and hypertension. Descriptive and cross-tabular analyses were carried out. Results Chambers of the rural practitioners of allopathic medicine, commonly known as ‘village doctors’, were mentioned by 86% of the respondents as a known health service facility in their area, followed by two public sector community clinics (54.6%) and Union Health and Family Welfare Centres (28.6%). Major sources of information on childhood immunization were government health workers. Almost all of the respondents had heard about diabetes and hypertension (97.4% and 95.4%, respectively). The top three sources of information for diabetes were neighbours (85.7%), followed by relatives (27.9%) and MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) doctors (20.4%). For hypertension, the sources were neighbours (78.0%), followed by village doctors (38.2%), MBBS doctors (23.2%) and relatives (15%). The proportions of respondents who knew diabetes and hypertension control measures were 40.9% and 28.0%, respectively. More females knew about the control of diabetes (44.4% to 36.6%) and hypertension (31.1% to 24.2%) than males. Conclusions A low level of HL in terms of modern health service facilities, diabetes and hypertension clearly indicated the need for a systematic HL programme. The relatively high levels of literacy concerning immunization show that it is possible to enhance HL in areas with low levels of education through systematic awareness-raising programmes, which could result in higher service coverage.

Background The present research was carried out to investigate pharmacological properties of Buxus papillosa C.K. Schneid. (Buxaceae). Methods Buxus papillosa extracts of leaves (BpL), stem (BpS), roots (BpR) and BpL fractions: hexane (BpL-H), aqueous (BpL-A) also plant constituent, cyclomicrobuxine effect were studied in jejunum, atria, aorta and tracheal preparations from rabbit and guine-peg. Results Ca++ antagonistic effect of BpS, BpR, BpL-H, BpL-A and cyclomicrobuxine were conclusively suggested, when spontaneous contractions of rabbit jejunal preparation was relaxed along with subsequent relaxation of potassium chloride (80 mM) induced contractions. Ca++ antagonistic effect was further confirmed, when a prominent right shift like that of verapamil was observed in Ca++ concentration-response curves, drawn in a tissue pretreated with BpL (0.3–1.0 mg/mL). In rabbit tracheal tissues BpL, BpS, BpR, BpL-H and BpL-A produced a prominent relaxation in contractions induced by potassium chloride (80 mM) and carbachol (1 μm). When tested in rabbit aortic rings, BpL, BpS, BpR, BpL-H and BpL-A showed concentration-dependent (0.1–3.0 mg/mL) vasorelaxant effect against phenylephrine (1 μM) and high K+-induced contractions. In isolated guinea-pig right atria, BpL, BpS, BpR, BpL-H and BpL-A suppressed atrial force of spontaneous contractions, with BpL-A being most potent. Conclusions Our results reveal that Buxus papillosa possesses gut, airways and cardiovascular inhibitory actions.

This review was published in the International Review of Education [© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.] and the definite version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-011-9188-x The review website is at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11159-011-9188-x

The increasing number of radio access technologies and the availability of multi-radio devices boost the need for novel resource allocation schemes in cellular networks. This paper uses a cooperative game theoretic approach for resource allocation at the network level, while utilizing simultaneous use of available radio interfaces at the device level. We model resource allocation management using the well known bankruptcy model and apply Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining solution method to find a distribution rule, based on which we propose resource allocation and call admission control schemes. Performance analysis of our allocation and control schemes demonstrates significant improvements over previous approaches in terms of utilization of the available bandwidth and the number of call drops. We also study the performance of proposed approach for different operator policies.

Manzoor Ahmed argues that it is necessary to consider education as transformation and education for transformation and the nature of interaction between the two. He looks at inequalities in education and society through a lens of pragmatic reconciliation among competing theories. He embraces a middle ground of state-led partnership to mitigate forces of social reproduction and to ensure human resource development characterized by quality, relevance and equity in the education system. He sees education and learning as both the means and the purpose of building sustainable societies, where human potential is unlocked and human dignity and rights are cherished.

South Asia, with a quarter of the world’s population, has at least a quarter of the world’s children who should be in primary school but are not. As a region, South Asia will almost certainly fall short of achieving the second EFA goal by 2015: full access to, and completion of, primary education. What can be done now to improve the prospects of achieving the goal as soon after 2015 as possible and to lay a solid foundation for doing so?

Even though most children in Bangladesh are enrolled in school, the country faces enormous challenges in ensuring that children complete primary education, and learn an acceptable amount. Multiple providers—state, quasi-state, and non-state—have helped to raise the initial enrolment rate and improve the gender balance. The critical question is how the multiplicity and diversity of provision can contribute to achieving truly universal primary education with high completion rates and acceptable levels of learning. A range of sub-questions relate to this critical question, including what is meant by multiple provision and how a diversity of provisions can be shaped into a system that serves the goal of effective and equitable access. This article addresses the above questions in the context of the history and educational development in Bangladesh. They are particularly significant at present, as the government is about to implement a new national education policy and design a five-year national development plan (2011–2015), which would have a decisive impact on progress towards achieving the EFA goal of universal primary education by 2015.

The arguments in the article are based on the ongoing discourse in the academic community and among stakeholders, which has contributed to the articulation of the concepts and premises of sustainable development and the role of learning modalities, technologies and networks. The article draws on this discourse to explore the economic aspects of sustainable development, focusing on pervasive poverty, and the implications for educational actions. The concepts and underlying premises of education for sustainable development (ESD) are discussed. The article presents the key elements of an integrated approach to fighting poverty in the context of sustainable development. The role of learning and education in this integrated approach is outlined, framing the educational elements within the perspective of lifelong learning.

Esophageal cancer has diverse incidence worldwide, and genetic/environmental risk factors are supposed to be responsible for it. OGG1 Ser326Cys gene polymorphism (rs1052133) has been found to be associated with different cancer susceptibilities and interaction with different environmental factors. The aim of this study is to detect the role of OGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism in susceptibility to esophageal cancer in two Northern Indian populations having different incidence rates. A total of 737 cases and controls from two high and low at-risk populations were selected for the study. All the subjects were genotyped by PCR with confronting two-pair primers. No significant association was found between OGG1 Ser326Cys genotypes and esophageal cancer risk in both of the populations. Gene-environment analysis revealed no significant interaction between OGG1 Ser326Cys genotypes and smoking/high-salted tea intake habits. OGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism does not have a role in determining susceptibility to esophageal cancer either in high or in low at-risk populations of Northern India.

A 70-year-old male patient presented to our emergency department with trauma left hip following a fall. Physical examination revealed external rotation, slight flexion, adduction, and shortening of the affected limb. There was a palpable fullness in the groin. Radiographic examination revealed fracture neck of femur with femoral head dislocated anteriorly and lying in the obturator foramen. There was an associated femoral head fracture with a fragment of it in the acetabulum. Although this sort of injury has been reported once, the difference in our case lies in the age of the patient; the injury complex was caused by a less severe trauma and a unique mechanism of injury. Also a modification of Brumback classification is proposed to include such fractures more specifically in order to allow comparative analysis in such rare injuries as more and more such case reports are added to literature.

A 31 year old woman presented with the worst headache of her life and was diagnosed with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) by routine unenhanced computed tomography (CT) scan, subsequently confirmed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance venography (MRV). Awareness of this less common cause for acute neurological presentation in the Emergency setting is important; the imaging characteristics of CVST are reviewed.

INTRODUCTION: Patients injured in bear and leopard attacks present with different patterns of injuries and have different mortality rates. A common protocol may not be suitable for the management of injuries inflicted by these two large wild animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted by the Department of Orthopedics, Government Medical College Srinagar (India) to compare the injury patterns among victims of bear and leopard attacks. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-five cases with 120 (77.4%) bear and 35 (22.5%) leopard attacks were recorded over a period of 43 months. Eighty-six males and 34 females including two children were injured in bear attacks. Eleven males and 24 females including 13 children were attacked by leopards. The leopard attacks were usually fatal (48.5%), whereas the bear attacks were mostly nonfatal in nature (1.6%). The patients had a combination of injuries affecting multiple parts of the body. Injuries of the cervical spine, cervical cord, major vessels of neck, pharynx and eye were striking observations in leopard attacks. Fractures of the upper limb, facial and skull bones were common in the victims of bear attacks. The survivors were treated as per advanced life trauma support, with an average follow-up of 24.5 months (5-42 months). CONCLUSION: Wild animals usually attack in remote areas, where composite trauma centers do not exist, and the urgent referrals of these patients will have a significant impact on the final outcome. The management of these patients requires a team approach involving all of the subspecialties of traumatology. Language: en

On October 8, 2005, a major earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Around 90,000 people died in the mass disaster. The Bone and Joint Hospital in Kashmir found itself in a relatively unique situation of having to deal with the orthopedic morbidity generated by this quake. The hospital received 468 patients over a period of 10 days, out of which 463 were received over the initial 5 days. The admission for a single day peaked at 153 patients on the third day. Due to the unprecedented admission in terms of numbers the hospital utilized outreach methods to streamline admission by sending out specialists to the affected areas. Manpower was judiciously utilized to concentrate specialist advise where required. Besides documenting the pattern of trauma, this paper throws light on some unforeseen problems faced in dealing with a large number of patients far exceeding the normal capacity of the hospital.

Equity and gender, despite being universal concerns for all health programmes in Bangladesh, are often missing in many of the health agenda. The health programmes fail to address these important dimensions unless these are specifically included in the planning stage of a programme and are continually monitored for progress. This paper presents the situation of equity in health in Bangladesh, innovations in monitoring equity in the use of health services in general and by the poor in particular, and impact of targeted non-health interventions on health outcomes of the poor. It was argued that an equitable use of health services might also result in enhanced overall coverage of the services. The findings show that government services at the upazila level are used by the poor proportionately more than they are in the community, while at the private facilities, the situation is reverse. Commonly-used monitoring tools, at times, are not very useful for the programme managers to know how well they are doing in reaching the poor. Use of benefit-incidence ratio may provide a quick feedback to the health facility managers about their extent of serving the poor. Similarly, Lot Quality Assurance Sampling can be an easy-to-use tool for monitoring coverage at the community level requiring a very small sample size. Although health problems are biomedical phenomena, their solutions may include actions beyond the biomedical framework. Studies have shown that non-health interventions targeted towards the poor improve the use of health services and reduce mortality among children in poor households. The study on equity and health deals with various interlocking issues, and the examples and views presented in this paper intend to introduce their importance in design­ing and managing health and development programmes. Key words: Equity; Gender; Health; Health services; Monitoring tools; Bangladesh doi:10.3329/jhpn.v26i3.1902 J Health Popul Nutr 2008 Sept:26(3):378-383

Background Management of orthopaedic injuries in polytrauma cases continues to challenge the orthopaedic traumatologist. Mass disasters compound this challenge further due to delayed referral. Recently there has been increasing evidence showing that damage control surgery has advantages that are absent in the early total care modality. We studied the damage control modality in the management of polytrauma cases with orthopaedic injuries who had been referred to our hospital after more than 24 hours of sustaining their injuries in an earthquake. This study was conducted on 51 cases after reviewing their records and complete management one year after the trauma. Results At one year, out of the 62 fractures, 3 were still under treatment, while the others had united. As per the radiological and functional scoring there were 20 excellent, 29 good, 5 fair and 5 poor results. In spite of the delayed referral there was no mortality. Conclusion In situations of delayed referral in areas where composite trauma centers do not exist the damage control modality provides an acceptable method of treatment in the management of polytrauma cases.

This erratum was published in the International Review of Education [© Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.] and the definite version is available at : http://doi.org/110.1007/s11159-011-9209-9. The Journal's website is at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11159-011-9209-9