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Bangladesh has predominantly four major river systems. Ganges (Padma) River is one of the prominent rivers which support the life and livelihoods of millions of people in Bangladesh. The riverine area of Bangladesh has always faced some changing stages for radical accretion and erosion of lands. Areas of erosion and deposition were determined from successive changes in the bankline positions. Erosion is more active in course line and deposition in sandbar of river. In this research, the area which is eroded and deposited during 1760–2015 (more than 250 years) was analyzed. Erosion and accretion are measured by using Rennell’s map and Landsat MSS, TM and ETM+ satellite imagery with an average duration of 20 years. Processing of image analysis such as layer stack, image enhancement, mosaic and re-projection is done by different tools of image processing software. The Raster and spatial data have been analyzed by image analysis approaches and geo-processing techniques, while quantitative data have been analyzed by using some other statistical computer software program. It was analyzed through the spatial and temporal variation in the study reaches. These are identified by geo-processing techniques of riverbanks. The highest amount of erosional area occurred during 1760–1975 is 38,633 ha, depositional area is 55,140, and therefore, difference is 16,507, with the lowest amount of erosion occurring during 1995–2015. On the other hand, highest amount of deposition occurred during 1760–2015 is 57,605 ha, erosional land is 33,320 ha and there difference is 24,285 ha, with the lowest amount of deposition occurring during 1975–2015. The erosion and deposition has been comparatively low during 1975–1995 and 1995–2015. Finally it is identified that deposition is more active than erosion in Ganges–Padma River in a long period of time (during 1760–2015).

Rennell has been widely known as the father of the modern maps since the publication of his survey works of 1760s. He made the first nearly accurate map of the then Bengal of the Indian Subcontinent entitled “A Bengal Atlas (1779)”, a work which was considered as the most significant geographical contributions of the British Empire for their strategic and administrative interests. The most important feature of the Atlas is the Ganges Basin which flows as the trans-boundary River of South Asia entrenching India, China and Bangladesh. This study reveals the historical and contextual phenomena of the river like old channels, onomastic and old administrative footprints from Rennell’s Atlas around the old courses of Ganges River, more specifically Plate 18 confining within the territorial extent of current Bangladesh Boundary entrapping the history more than 250 years of the aerial extent encompassing 11,651 km². This research also reveals the map accuracy by calculating the modern graticules comparing the former geographic coordinate systems. In order to develop historical dataset based on Rennell’s map, various modern tools of renowned GIS approaches and corresponding attributes like geo-referencing, digitizing, geo-corrections, projection transformation, calculating geometry, pivot table etc. In the 1760s, Rennell was dependent on the primitive sextant instrument and calculated latitude, longitude assuming Fort William of Kolkata as Zero (0) degree. In this research we integrated Bangladesh Transverse Mercator (BTM) considering World Geodetic System 1984 as datum. The results illustrate the volume of rivers, riverine forest, jheel, char land are occupying 116,600; 215,959; 3573; and 15,471 ha respectively in the Rennell’s map which are currently almost disappeared. In the said plate, marsh land covered the maximum area about 118,676 ha while length of Kaccha (unmetalled) road was 1339 km, though recently metalled road length has been increased dramatically. The detected broad administrative unit was 337. The error result in the present research is with 99% accuracy. This research has highlighted the strengths to retrieve underlying evidences and relevant features and statistical/attribute data from the historical maps using remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) approaches.

Background In Bangladesh, safely managed sanitation (SMS) coverage is low, and diarrheal disease is a significant health problem. This study estimated the inequality in access to SMS facilities at the national and sub-national levels and assessed the prevalence of diarrheal diseases in connection with these improved facilities. Methods Data were extracted from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, conducted during 2017–2018. SMS was defined as using an improved sanitation facility, which designed to hygienically separate excreta from human contact and include the use of a flush toilet connected to piped sewer system, septic tank, ventilated improved pit latrine, pit latrine with a slab, and composting toilet. The slope index of inequality (SII) and multi-level regression models were used for inequality and risk factors of SMS respectively. Results The national coverage of SMS was 44.0% (45.3% and 43.5% in urban and rural areas, respectively). At the sub-national level, the lowest and highest coverage of SMS was observed in Mymensingh (32.9%) and Chittagong (54.1%) divisions, respectively. The national level SII indicated that wealthy households had access to higher SMS by 60.8 percentage points than poor households. Additionally, greater inequality was observed in rural areas, which was 71.9 percentage points higher in the richest households than in the poorest households. The coverage gap between the rich and poor was highest in the Sylhet division (85.3 percentage points higher in rich than in poor) and lowest in Dhaka (34.9 percentage points). Old and highly educated household heads and richest households had better access to higher levels of adequate sanitation. After adjusting for confounding variables, the prevalence of diarrheal disease was 14.0% lower in the SMS user group than in their counterparts. Conclusion Substantial inequalities in access to SMS exist at both national and sub-national levels of Bangladesh, with the prevalence of diarrhea being lower among SMS users. These findings may help to prioritize resources for reducing inequality and expanding the coverage of improved sanitation in Bangladesh.

Wetlands are a vital link between land and water in Bangladesh. A majority of the people of Bangladesh are critically dependent on wetlands. In this paper, the values of wetlands, causes and effects of wetlands degradation, as well as the present wetlands management approach, are analyzed and recommendations for wetlands management are suggested based on participatory rural appraisal (PRA), field visit, personal experience, and existing literature and information. Wetlands play a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance of ecosystems, but wetlands habitat of Bangladesh is under constant threat due to increase of population, intensive agriculture, overfishing, siltation, pollution, ill-planned infrastructures, lack of institutional coordination, lack of awareness, etc. As a result biodiversity is reducing, many species of flora and fauna are threatened, wetlands-based ecosystem is degenerating, and the living conditions of local people are deteriorating as livelihoods, socioeconomic institutions, and cultural values are affected. Wetlands management is not addressed separately in water management activities of Bangladesh. In order to balance human needs and wetlands conservation, a mainly community-based wetlands management approach has been taken in Bangladesh, but this is not enough to prevent the degradation of wetlands. Therefore, Bangladesh now needs a comprehensive strategy combining political, economic, social, and technological approaches to stop further degradation of wetlands. Therefore, wetlands management should be incorporated into a system of integrated land and water use and, indeed, into the socioeconomic system of the country. Policies, strategies, and management plans for sustainable use and conservation of wetlands of Bangladesh must be based on solid knowledge and understanding of their ecological and socioeconomic functions and processes.

Tossa (Corchorus olitorius L.) is a significant cash crop, cultivated commercially in the lower flood plain of Bangladesh. The climatic regimes in Bangladesh are changing as well as the world does. However, this species is threatened by climate change. Occurrences of data on threatened and endangered species are frequently sparse which makes it difficult to analyse the species suitable habitat distribution using various modelling approaches. The current paper used maximum entropy (Maxent) and educational global climate model (EdGCM) modelling to predict and conserve the suitable habitat distributions for Tossa species in Bangladesh to the year 2100. Nine environmental variables, 239 occurrence data and two Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) were used for the Maxent modelling to project the impact of climate change on the Tossa distributions. Furthermore, the EdGCM was used to study the climatic space suitability for the Tossa species in the context of Bangladesh. Both of the climatic scenarios were used for the prediction to the year 2100. The Maxent model performed better than random for the Tossa species with a high AUC value of 0.86. Under the RCP scenarios, the Maxent model predicted habitat reduction for RCP4.5 is 2%, RCP8.5 is 9% and EdGCM is 10.2% from the current localities. The predictive modelling approach presented here is promising and can be applied to other important species for conservation planning, monitoring and management, especially those under the threat of extinction due to climate change.

The aim of this research is to analyse the process of land transformation for an upazila (subdistrict) of Dhaka, the Capital of Bangladesh, using image interpretation techniques and GIS approaches. The analysis spansa time period at decenniali ntervals from 1951 (predevelopmenpt hase)t o 2001 (urbanisation stage). The upazila is considered in Bangladesh to be the main focal point of government planning, land management, environment and development policies. Savar Upazila has been selected as the study area because of its rapidly changing population density, socioeconomicp henomenaa nd land use/coverc hanges ince the independencefr om the Great Britain. The major sources of high resolution (up to a 2.4 metre resolution) remotely sensed data are panchromatic and infrared aerial photography (1953,1984 and 1990); CORONA K114 and K114b spy satellite panoramic film (1962 and 1972) and IRS-ID panchromatic imagery (2000); and DGPS based GCP coordinates of 2001. Digitally converted conventional and Historical administrative, settlement, planning, revenue and topographic maps have been digitised and used at a large-scale of up to 1: 3,960. Moreover, the enhanced 1951,1961,1974,1981,1991 and 2001 population censuses are used in parallel to help interpret images and related factors. In-depth survey and participatory approaches were used during the fieldwork at plot level to help interpret and develop a weighted land cover model and to understand factors responsible for change. In grid format, compatible to temporal image data, detailed land value data were converted into gridded format compatible with a decadal time-series of imagery and from the field for the early 1950s to 2001 integrated with mauza maps. The attribute data have been used as if it was an image data layer in order to visualise land value data. The results illustrate that significant and visible land transformations and population change have occurred over the last half-century from a completely river-dependent countryside to a modem road network orientation, with a change from the byde (low-lying flood-prone area) to chala (highland flood-free area) land economies. A spatio-temporal land transformation index is proposed to explain the complex micro-scale change that have taken place using land use and land value data. Remotely sensed data provides the context with which to interpret past and present land cover and land use. This study shows the importance of modem GIS techniques to integrate enhanced field and secondary data/maps with raster data as well as for mapping historical images and information on the future development, land reform/management, environmental study and planning in Bangladesh.

Respiratory diseases (RD) are significant public health burdens and malignant diseases worldwide. However, the RD-related biological information and interconnection still need to be better understood. Thus, this study aims to detect common differential genes and potential hub genes (HubGs), emphasizing their actions, signaling pathways, regulatory biomarkers for diagnosing RD and candidate drugs for treating RD. In this paper we used integrated bioinformatics approaches (such as, gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, molecular docking, molecular dynamic simulation and network-based molecular interaction analysis). We discovered 73 common DEGs (CDEGs) and ten HubGs ( ATAD2B, PPP1CB, FOXO1, AKT3, BCR, PDE4D, ITGB1, PCBP2, CD44 and SMARCA2 ). Several significant functions and signaling pathways were strongly related to RD. We recognized six transcription factor (TF) proteins (FOXC1, GATA2, FOXL1, YY1, POU2F2 and HINFP ) and five microRNAs (hsa-mir-218-5p, hsa-mir-335-5p, hsa-mir-16-5p, hsa-mir-106b-5p and hsa-mir-15b-5p) as the important transcription and post-transcription regulators of RD. Ten HubGs and six major TF proteins were considered drug-specific receptors. Their binding energy analysis study was carried out with the 63 drug agents detected from network analysis. Finally, the five complexes (the PDE4D -benzo[a]pyrene, SMARCA2 -benzo[a]pyrene, HINFP -benzo[a]pyrene, CD44 -ketotifen and ATAD2B -ponatinib) were selected for RD based on their strong binding affinity scores and stable performance as the most probable repurposable protein-drug complexes. We believe our findings will give readers, wet-lab scientists, and pharmaceuticals a thorough grasp of the biology behind RD.