Where the sciences meet the craft of engineering

Internet addiction (IA) has emerged as a significant behavioral concern worldwide, and prior research has consistently linked it to loneliness, particularly among young adults. This study examined the level of internet addiction and its correlation with loneliness among undergraduate students of Rajshahi University, and additionally examined whether internet addiction and loneliness differ by gender. Using a correlational design and convenience sampling, data were collected from 60 undergraduate students (33 male, 27 female) from different departments and academic sessions. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Bangla-adapted Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Bangla version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3). Pearson correlation analysis revealed a small, statistically non-significant positive correlation between internet addiction and loneliness, r (58) = .211, p = .105. An independent-samples t -test showed that male students scored significantly higher than female students on internet addiction, t (58) = 2.74, p = .008, whereas no significant gender difference emerged for loneliness, t (58) = 0.71, p = .478. These findings are broadly consistent with previous studies linking excessive internet use to feelings of loneliness and social disconnection. Implications for early identification and intervention among university students, along with study limitations, are discussed. With N = 60, the study’s power to detect an effect of this size was low (~33% at α = .05), so this result should be read as inconclusive rather than as a confirmed null finding; effect sizes ( r 2 = .04; Cohen’s d = 0.71 for the internet-addiction gender difference and 0.19 for the loneliness gender difference) and 95% confidence intervals are reported alongside significance tests throughout.

As a renewable alternative to fossil fuels, the production of bioethanol and biochemicals from lignocellulosic biomass has drawn significant interest. For biochemical conversion, pretreatement is the most crucial step, which removes biomass recalcitrance to improve cellulose’s accessibility for enzymatic saccharification and fermentation. This study investigated the potential of dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment of waste rice straw to produce building-block sugars and bioethanol. The study focused on optimizing several key parameters, including dilute acid concentration (60 mM), pretreatment time (30 minutes), pretreatment temperature (120°C), and liquid-to-solid ratio (5:1). This study also compared the efficiency of dilute acid pretreatment of rice straw with conventional dilute alkali and organosolv pretreatment techniques. The results showed that dilute acid pretreatment effectively dissolved a significant amount of hemicellulose under these circumstances, retaining 97.96% of cellulose in the solid substrate, which led to 64.28% glucose yield in enzymatic saccharification. The rice straw structure underwent morphological changes (i.e., cell wall rupture and changes in crystallinity) as the result of acid pretreatment, which were confirmed using SEM and XRD techniques. Furthermore, Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation trials showed that the total bioethanol yield was 78.7% in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, demonstrating the potential of optimized dilute acid pretreatment in the production of bioethanol from rice straw. This study provides important insights for developing a biorefinery for the effective valorization of rice straw and other agricultural waste biomasses.

This study aimed to assess the quality and suitability of groundwater for drinking purposes, as well as to examine the spatial variation within the area of Rajshahi University, which is located near the mighty Padma River, approximately seven kilometers east of the Rajshahi City Center. A total of twelve water samples were collected from various locations on the campus. The sampling points included Sher-e Bangla Fazlul Haque Hall, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall (Bijoy-24) Hall, Matihar Hall, Sayed Ameer Ali Hall, Nawab Abdul Latif Hall, Shah Makhdum Hall, Shahid Shamsuzzoha Hall, Madar Bux Hall, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Hall, Shahid Ziaur Rahman Hall, Shahid Habibur Rahman Hall, and the Jabir ibn Hayyan Academic Building. The quality of the groundwater was evaluated by measuring several physicochemical parameters: color, taste, odor, temperature, pH, salinity, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total hardness. In comparison to WHO and BDS standards, most of the groundwater samples from the study area fell within permissible limits and were deemed safe for consumption. We also compared the groundwater quality with that of commercially available bottled water in the market. However, when compared to bottled water, most groundwater samples showed significant differences in their quality parameters.

The widespread application of dyes in the textile sector results in the production of highly pigmented and contaminated wastewater, which presents considerable environmental and health risks. This research examines the efficiency of dye removal using eco-friendly bio-adsorbents derived from sugarcane bagasse and rice husk, both of which are plentiful agricultural by-products. The synthesized bio-adsorbents are characterized through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to evaluate their surface properties, structure, and crystallinity and amorphousness. Both agricultural wastes were subjected to drying, grinding, and chemical activation to enhance adsorption properties. The resulting composite bio-adsorbent was used on textile wastewater samples under controlled experimental conditions. Various adsorption tests were performed to analyze the removal effectiveness under different conditions, including contact time, pH, and dosage of the adsorbent. Furthermore, the effect of treatment on essential physicochemical parameters of the textile wastewater, such as pH, BOD, COD, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity, salinity was examined. Kinetics adsorption study also shows here for analyzing the behavior and interaction between adsorbent and adsorbate. The results show a notable efficiency in color removal, supporting the viability of these affordable bio-adsorbents for sustainable and efficient wastewater treatment. For reactive dye waste water, bioadsorbent removed 80.13% color. For basic dye, it removed 87.80% color imparting particles. And for ETP inlet and outlet sample, the percentages were 73.56% and 44.12% respectively. The outcomes underscore a promising alternative to traditional treatment approaches by leveraging agricultural waste materials for environmental remediation.

The textile and apparel industry is one of the pollution intensive and resource consuming industries and responsible for putting a huge amount of negative environmental impact. For making this sector much more environmentally friendly, proper dataset and analysis is required. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can provide a widespread look of environmental impacts of each and every stage of a product’s life cycle. A cradle to gate system boundary was applied to acquire and analysis all the dataset with some key environmental indicators like Water usage, Chemical burden, Land consumption, Energy usage, GHG emission & different pollution factors. Major environmental hotspots can be identified from the whole study. The overall study shows each fibre has different environmental profile. Cotton is extremely dependent on climate. It requires high water, land and agrochemicals. Polyester has a different profile with high energy requirement and contributes to GHG emission. Regenerated cellulose stands in between natural and synthetic fibre but it requires high amount of toxic chemicals for manufacturing. A proper evaluation and analysis is done in this study by comparing different pollution factors, carbon footprinting and eco-cost concept. The study gives a widespread look to identify environmental trade-offs among fibres and helps to identify the sustainable fibre in particular context and which will eventually help to reduce the negative environmental impacts and lessen down the eco burdens.